Hunting terms for beginners

CastleMouse

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Sure! :D
Curdog - A dog which is not a hound.
Blank - A foxless day
Cap - The amount you pay for a days hunting extra to the subscription of the hunt.
Check - A check in the hunt is caused in the temporary loss of the scent.
Cast - What hounds do at a check. It is the action of seeking to recover the line they have been hunting.
Draw - Where hounds enter a covert and look for a fox.
Earth - A foxes burrow
Full Cry - When all hounds are speaking together.
Holloa - (Pronounced Helloa :D) the long drawn out screech denoting the departure of the fox from the covert.
Couple - Hounds are always counted in pairs and there is always a half couple for luck.
Mark - When hounds hunt a fox into it's den.
Den - Where a fox lives.
Point - The point of a hunt is the longest distance in a straight line. This starts from where the fox leaves the covert to where it goes to ground.
Tally Ho What we say when a fox leaves a covert.
Whipper-in - The Huntsman's assistant
Field Master - The person who the field follows and listens to at all times.

Hope that was helpful to some people :)
 

Irishcobs

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Brilliant thank you.
Shall never remember them all though. Maybe I should write them down, though producing a piece of paper at full gallop so I can work out what they shouted may not be the best idea.
 

k9h

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If you dont know what to say then best stay quite. In most situations best to stay quite anyway!! Then you can never be wrong even if you were right in the first place!!
 

Weezy

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*Hound on the left/right* - to be shouted/heeded when a spare hound (or more than one!) comes through the field from behind - get your horse out of the way and let it pass!

*Good Evening* What you bid your fieldmaster, Hunt sec and fellow hunters, foot followers, whoever (!) when you leave, regardless of the time of day

If you see someone with their hand behind their back when you are, for example, lining up to pass through a narrow space, they are alerting you to the fact their horse may kick

* 'ware* simply means BEWARE!
 

Blairite

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Cabbage Green - Hunters and their ilk

The Nature of the BEAST Never Changes - Hunters and their ilk

Mr. Otis Ferry - Drunk Driver and part of the "Toffocrocy"

Mr. Giles Bradshaw - In Breach of the Hunting Act 2004 and criminal
 

JenHunt

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'too warm for scentin' - the air next the ground is too warm and the scent has risen off the ground and is above 'nose height', generally if a rider can smell the 'aniseed' then the hounds can't.

'too cold for scentin' - the cold air has pushed the scent into the sward/bracken/heather and the hounds have difficulty smelling it!

'hounds please' - hounds and master need to get through so turn your horse to face them... never away, you'd get such a bo****king if your horse kicked a hound/master/masters horse.
 

Pondrider

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Hi Bessy

Don't know the Mendip's arrangements, but try to contact the master(s) or hunt secretary as a courtesy prior to turning up at a meet, of if you know someone who hunts with them regularly perhaps that person would allow you to accompany and 'shadow' them? I've ridden with the Mendip a couple of times a few years ago and found them quite friendly then, so hopefully they will still be now - from personal experience most are welcoming to new faces.
 

Haniki

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Castlemouse said:
'Cap - The amount you pay for a days hunting extra to the subscription of the hunt.'
Surely this is field money? A cap is what a non-subscriber pays for a days hunting.
 

Bess

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Castlemouse said:
'Cap - The amount you pay for a days hunting extra to the subscription of the hunt.'
Surely this is field money? A cap is what a non-subscriber pays for a days hunting.
Yes I think you are correct, if you are a subscriber then you don't pay a cap. You pay a cap if you turn up for the day and you are not a member of the hunt.
 

RunToEarth

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I am a subscriber and I pay extra ech time I go out, you are correct though, a cap is a visitors/non members fee, subscribers pay 'wire money' in addition to their subs, which goes into fixing walls knocked down and wire cut, which is slightly frustrating because it's usually not the subbers that knock them down!
 

Asimmons

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"Gate please!" to let people behind know that gate must be shut...if they are some distance away, keep your hand raised until they acknowledge it.
If someone has to get off to do a gate, try and stay with them so their horse soesn't get miffed at everyone charging off!
"Thank you" to anyone who opens a gate/ closes a gate/ drives considerately.
"Good morning/ afternoon" to anyone on foot, in their cars watching, hanging out of windows. gardening etc...to be friendly and dispel myth that we are all stuck up hoorays who ride rough shod over everyone.
"Ware wire" and ware hole" if you see any of these hazards as you wallow through the mud!
 

soundjob

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heel line-when the hounds pick up the scent of a charlie, but have picked the scent up of where they have come from and are therefore heading the wrong direction, at that point the whip should bring the hounds back on to the right scent.

(hard to explain!)
 

Karswell

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As a matter of courtesy, when you have had enough hunting for the day, you should ride up to the huntsman and say something like: "Well done for keeping your dogs barking, I could tell they were happy because they keep wagging their tails". The huntsman will remember your kind words and give special treatment next time you hunt.
 

nick3216

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“Headland please” - keep to the very sides, unploughed or rough, of a field to limit damage. Never ride through plough or seeded fields unless following the field master.

“Sides please” - ride in single file around the side of a field to limit damage.
 

gooseman

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As a new member I am sorry to say that there are only a small number or terms/calls listed and some are incorrect.
'Good evening'.......NEVER, Good NIght........Yes.

You will never learn all from a site as many are not known by even the hunt staff today, so you will have to ask the "old farts" brigade, which includes myself.

Sorry to be a misreable old git!
 
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