Do hunts lose hounds very often?

[Boxers]

I am just wondering if hunts ever lose any hounds. My husband followed one of the local hunts today and then later on someone he knows rang to say they'd seen a lone hound in a village about 3 miles away. They couldn't catch it and in the end it apparently ran off down the main railway line towards London! Someone rang the hunt and they said they would come out and have a look for it I think.

So I was just wondering whether hounds get permanently lost ever?

 

[JenHunt]

I don't know really... I know one of our local packs lost 2 one day and they turned up in the RSPCA place down the road about a week later. (though nobody is sure that it wasn't a little suspicious...)

Plus there's a guy in my parents village who walks about with something on a lead (towing him along) that could easily be a foxhound!

 

[JanetGeorge]

So I was just wondering whether hounds get permanently lost ever?

Very rarely - at least not as a result of being lost out hunting. While the odd hound may run off on a scent and 'lose' the pack, hunt staff will usually stay out until they find them - or be out next day at first light looking for them.

There HAVE been more than a few cases of hounds 'disappearing' from kennels - a whole pack of beagles in one infamous case. And two young bitches who were stolen from a Kent hunt turned up in a dubious 'rescue' centre 100 miles away some 8 months later - they were skin and bone - and totally undisciplined when they were 'retrieved'! One of them was so starved her growth was permanently stunted and she couldn't rejoin the foxhound pack - and went to a mink pack. The 'rescue' centre was clueless about foxhounds and just hadn't fed them anywhere near enough.

 

[millitiger]

We had a couple of hounds turn up at our yard one day- very, very tired and thirsty; think they had been lost for a while!

We locked them in a stable with some water and rung the hunt who came and picked them up and I got a free day out for my trouble

 

[rosie fronfelen]

Lost a promising young hound 2 years ago only between here and the forestry. OH checked all the fence and followed up dozens of sightings all to no avail- we were gutted cos OH adores his hounds.

 

[combat_claire]

It is very rare as JG says for hounds to be lost forever. On occasions when I have been out with our minkhounds and a hound has vanished the Whips and Huntsman stay out for hours - blowing, calling and searching for the missing hound after everyone else has returned for tea until we have got them all back on the van.

I cannot describe the awful sick feeling you get in your stomach when you do a headcount and you are missing half or a couple of hounds and they are nowhere to be seen and don't appear from the undergrowth when blown for. Nor the feeling of joy and relief when they turn up looking rather pleased with themselves!

 

[EAST KENT]

I don't know really... I know one of our local packs lost 2 one day and they turned up in the RSPCA place down the road about a week later. (though nobody is sure that it wasn't a little suspicious...)

Plus there's a guy in my parents village who walks about with something on a lead (towing him along) that could easily be a foxhound!

Hmm, someone needs to get a look in it`s ear for a tattoo then,if it is a hunt hound the info will be plain to see.

 

[rosie fronfelen]

Not all hunts tattoo their hounds EK, we dont, hopefully Dimple was a one off-

 

[Cat&Mouse]

This has often crossed my mind as to whether they lose many but usually all of the field keeps their eyes open for stray or lame hounds. The whole field was called in to try & round up a couple of hounds that had strayed unfortunately one had been hit by a car so sad, the hunt staff were dealing with that. they certainly do not respond to or follow anyone else other than the hunt staff they know who there masters are.

 

[rosie fronfelen]

Have just read that Douglas Bachelor is leaving LACS- Good job and good news!!!

 

[gunnergundog]

Hmm, someone needs to get a look in it`s ear for a tattoo then,if it is a hunt hound the info will be plain to see.

Unfortunately, the local Dogs Trust doesn't know (or chooses not to know) the significance of such a tattoo. One of our hounds went AWOL and ended up at rescue; it had to be recovered by surreptitious means.

 

[Alec Swan]

Have just read that Douglas Bachelor is leaving LACS- Good job and good news!!!

Good job, and good riddance, more like!! I wonder what he'll do with his spare time, support hunting, perhaps? He wouldn't be the first!

I do hope, Rosie, that the first shoots of Spring, and the gradually lengthening hours, are brightening your days. The snowdrops are up, and in flower, and the crocuses are making an effort, here. It wont be long, before the most beautiful of wild flowers, your very own Daffodils, put in their annual appearance.

Alec.

 

[Dobiegirl]

Many years ago when I used to ride second horse for the huntsman it was not unusual for a couple of hounds to follow me but on sending them back on their way would return to the huntsman. It was the horse they recognised not me. But on the odd occasion a hound would be left out but found either later in the day or the next morning. We never lost a hound forever.

 

[rosie fronfelen]

Good job, and good riddance, more like!! I wonder what he'll do with his spare time, support hunting, perhaps? He wouldn't be the first!

I do hope, Rosie, that the first shoots of Spring, and the gradually lengthening hours, are brightening your days. The snowdrops are up, and in flower, and the crocuses are making an effort, here. It wont be long, before the most beautiful of wild flowers, your very own Daffodils, put in their annual appearance.

Alec.

thanks Alec for you few kind words,snow drops are out in abundance, my one wish is to have a healthy bouncing foal in april!!

 

[Foxfolly]

I don't know really... I know one of our local packs lost 2 one day and they turned up in the RSPCA place down the road about a week later. (though nobody is sure that it wasn't a little suspicious...)

Plus there's a guy in my parents village who walks about with something on a lead (towing him along) that could easily be a foxhound!

Would that village be Kilburn out of interest? If so I know exactly who it is!! Especially from the 'being towed' comment...... LOL!!!

If it is who I think, he is a whipper in for a local hunt and it is a hound but not a fox hound, can't remember what type of hound it is but its a bit smaller than a fox hound. She was the runt of the litter and has always been a pet!

 

[Happy Hunter]

Not sure really =- But when I was all done and dusted putting Horse to bed the other day, I crawled in the front door to have the phone ring with the next door neighbour ring telling me she has my dog (Dog was looking me in the eye at the time expecting her dinner)

Cue me driving a hound back to the kennels!
Have taken a few home over the years - I always ring or drive to the trailer site to check if they arent searching. (usually are!)

Wish I got a free day out for it

 

[Ranyhyn]

I was always under the impression a hound that left the pack had a hammering?

 

[Mulberry Fox]

I am interesed by your comments. We have just taken on an injured 3 yr old foxhound from a rescue centre. She is clearly tattooed in both ears and has hunted. I contacetd the MFHA to try to identify her - even if it meant we could use her real name. I received a very curt response stating they had no record of the hound - full stop. Is there a simple guide to iderntifying hounds from tattoos? Any help appreciated.

 

[StarcatcherWilliam]

Our local hunt lost a hound last year and never managed to find it; it was during the cold spell too, poor thing. A few weeks ago one got lost and was hanging around our land for hours. I called the hunt up and they came and fetched her (they were really grateful). Hounds usually manage to find their way back to the location where the meet took place though.

 

[EAST KENT]

Seem to remember it is the hunt letters in the right ear..example EKH..and in the left it`s actual number relative to it`s litter. All my "cur dogs" are tattooed in their right ear with a number indicating who tattooed it,type of dog and then three or four digits specific to that dog.All on a national data base The National Dog Tattoo Register. Best form of ID,and a bloomin Godsend with a pack of border terriers..they change colour as their coats change through the seasons.

 

[EAST KENT]

I was always under the impression a hound that left the pack had a hammering?

Now that would be pretty pointless,usually their homing instinct gets them back to kennels .

 

[FRaNKjaCk]

I have been out with our minkhounds and a hound has vanished the Whips and Huntsman stay out for hours - blowing, calling and searching for the missing hound after everyone else has returned for tea until we have got them all back on the van.

 

[Daddy_Long_Legs]

Similar story in our hunt, don't think we've ever lost one that we've never found.I know on two occassions this year one or two hounds were lost this year in the middle of a cracking hunt and the guys stayed out all evening looking for them and they were both retrieved the next day.

We did have a case though where a local dog pound rang us on numerous occasions to say they had two of our hounds and were caught in the area we hunt in but they weren't our hounds. The dog pound couldn't understand this at all and couldn't understand why the huntsman just wouldn't take them anyway!!!