Fox Hunting - Call to the Hounds!

One of the most intriguing aspects to me while following the hunts, was the Master's (for Commonwealth Fox Hounds, and shown here with her hounds, Kelsy Able) commands to the hounds. I looked everywhere on the internet and couldn't find any information on these commands; however, Kelsy was able to provide all I was looking for and more!


The Commands

"The words used for commands vary between huntsmen, so what I use with the Commonwealth pack is not necessarily what another huntsman uses with his pack.

"Hold" - We use this one to tell the hounds to stop and stay around me. This one is most often used at the beginning when we must stand and wait before the meet starts.

"Come Around" - This one is used to tell the hounds to pack up, and come around me. Often used in conjunction with hold.

"Come Behind" - This command is used when we move off and I want the hounds to stay together and behind me, like when we are moving off to the first cover or heading back in.

"Leave It" - This one is used to tell a hound to stop what it is doing. Like if it is smelling something it shouldn't or is messing with something that it shouldn't be.

"Hoick, hoick, hoick" - pronounced "ike", tells the hounds to hunt

"Come on" - tells the hound to come back to me, often used with the horn

There are other various little words that I might use like, "this way", "heads up" and "find him now", which are just little words that I have added in to help me with the hounds.

The Horn

There are only two ways that I blow the horn, one is a long rolling blow that tells the hound to come back to me, and the second is a short blow that tells the hounds (and staff) that I have changed direction. I also use the longer blow to call in the staff if I need them, I do this by sounding two blows, one right after the other.

The Hounds

We have thirteen and a half couple of hounds in our kennel (hounds are counted in couples, two per couple). They are all Crossbreeds (a mixture of American and English foxhound) and some have a little bit of Penn-Marydel in them. We have 7 1/2 girls: Patience, Risky, Riddle, Vesper, Venus, Vista, Venture, Lissie, Nectar, Tarnish, Fidget, Fizzle, Lark, Chile and Playful. We have 6 couple of dogs: Valor, Vulcan, Parson, Kipsley, Baltimore, Gallop, Winston, Yankee, Hero, Quigley, Findlay and Neptune."

Many thanks to Kelsy! I'm looking forward to the next hunt so I can "hear" what I've learned!

For more information on Commonwealth Fox Hounds please visit http://commonwealthfoxhounds.org/