Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 10, 1994 TAG: 9410100077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FOREST LENGTH: Medium
Off to the west, dark gray clouds obscured the twin summits of the Peaks of Otter, threatening to turn the fifth annual Bedford County Hunt Point-to-Point Races into a repeat of last year's washout.
The clouds, though, like the pack of gentle foxhounds, seemed to have more bark than bite.
One rule to remember when attending a hunt club function: Don't call a foxhound a dog. These dogs are no dogs.
Huntsman Bill King, 58, who lives on Fox Valley Farm near Cifax, takes care of the Bedford County Hunt's 30 "couples" of hounds. King, a Pennsylvania native, has been a huntsman since he was 20 and learned the art from his dad, Harry.
The Penn Mary Del hounds owned by the club are bred for "their noise and their nose" and are gentle and sweet, unlike American or English hounds, King explained, sitting astride his 10-year-old Thoroughbred horse, Niki, and waiting to supervise the start of a race.
To turn a hound into a hunter "takes a lot of time and a lot of patience and a lot of love," King said. "They have to respect you and like you, or they won't hunt for you."
King has a favorite among the pack. He's an "ugly old blue tick" named Sonny. "He's got the best nose and the best voice," a deep bark than can be picked out over the rest of the hounds.
Each hound has to be taught to hunt on his own and to hunt with the pack. If one hound is faster than the rest he can string out the pack and ruin the hunt. Different dogs have different skills. Some excel at charging through briars and over jumps after a fox; others have a better nose for tracking a fox on a dry dusty day. Those that don't fit in are given away, King said.
The hunt club has permission from farmers to hunt in an area that stretches over thousands of acres in eastern Bedford County, from Cifax to Lynchburg and from U.S. 460 to Big Island. The club has about 70 riding members.
At the start of a hunt, King and a few assistants take the hounds out into the Bedford County countryside and look for a fox. Then, once the dogs are on a scent, the rest of the riders join the hunt.
The dogs run the fox until they lose him or he goes into a hole.
"We do not try to kill it," King said. And very seldom, he said, do the dogs catch a fox.
The hounds are not neutered, so the good ones can be bred. The 60 of them eat two tons of Sexton Bros. Hound Food a month.
They rarely are sold, but a good one can bring about $1,000, King said.
The hunt club's annual races, held on two farms that were once part of Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest estate, are as much a social affair as they are a sporting event. The day draws competitors from as far away as Richmond, Charlottesville and Blacksburg.
In addition to the races, the hunt club holds a contest for the best tailgate party. (Maybe Virginia Tech should try this.) The winners in this year's category of most elegant spread were Emily and George Moore of Mintwood Farms at Fincastle.
The Moores' daughter, Jennifer, is a Hollins College student who rode her 4-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Magical Myth, in the first race Sunday, a cross-country three-miler with jumps.
The rider who could "rate," or pace, his or her horse the best would win the race, George Moore explained. He watched not only as an interested father but also as the race's sponsor.
Moore urged his daughter on as she passed by on the first of two trips around the course.
"My horse is just cantering; my horse is hardly sweating," he remarked to friends nearby.
Moore, who admitted he tended to be rough on Jennifer, seemed pleased, though, when she finished third out of the four-rider field.
Emily Moore doesn't share her husband's and daughter's passion for horses.
"I just play in my food," she said.
The Moores were giving anyone who ventured by their tent such goodies as crab bites, boiled shrimp, liver pate, bear meat, venison, artichokes, salmon, dates and champagne. Stuffed foxes and grouse in woodland settings served as table centerpieces.
The most expensive things on the tables were the plastic wine glasses, which are not easy to find, Emily Moore said.
The free food is a good way to get people out to the club's races, she said.
"That's the way the churches do it."
by CNB