March   2008   JOINT MASTERS' HUNTING REPORT

It seems amazing that yet another hunting season is nearly over and we are already thinking of lengthening daylight. We think that it can fairly be described as a one of the most difficult seasons for many years - until after Christmas. The re-emergence of foot and mouth played havoc with our Autumn hunting last year and as a result the young hounds got little opportunity to enter properly and this has subsequently meant that keeping them steady has been much more difficult than usual. We thank everyone for their forbearance over this issue. However in November we still managed some enjoyable and exciting days with hounds being particularly persistent at Jervaulx and Eelmire on 6th November followed by a very fast riding day at Downholme the Saturday after. In this early part of the season our ability to get across country was greatly benefited by the dry conditions although yet again early January has produced prodigious amounts of rain.

Scenting conditions started to improve with the rain and in January from the Galphay meet we had a classic hound hunt of an hour or so from a trail laid from Hospital Wood in a large circle through Birkby Nab and the Demolition Ground. The pre hunt ball meet at Newfield produced a fast hunt over natural country from Geoffrey Gill (trail layer Peter Richmond claiming a prize!). We had a good day from the Newby Hall meet when a trail laid from Devonshire Wood soon had the hounds screaming to Copt Hewick where they did a couple of circuits of the park before heading towards the Ripon road. This was however merely a prelude for our best day (so far) from Great Givendale in the Middleton country when we had two excellent hunts, our hounds showing how they can handle big open country at speed. The field enjoyed some jumping on the first run, a hunt of about 4 miles as they ran. However the pace was too great on the second run of nearly 5½ miles as they ran, leaving the huntsman 10 minutes behind at one point, before he caught up, with the field appearing in dribs and drabs 15 minutes or so later. Our thanks to Tim Easby for looking after us so well on this classic day and it was good to see so many West of Yore Subscribers up at the end.

Following a super meet put on by our outgoing secretary, Anne Bailey, on 22 January, hounds ran from Winksley planting towards Scaife before turning to Winksley and eventually losing the trail under Hencliffe. Warwick was able to give the field a good lead across some of our best country. Steven Ward entertained the field plus several visitors from the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester on 26 February with a lovely meet at New Zealand Farm. Followers had to be patient as, due to strong winds, hounds were unable to hunt a trail until 4pm, when they ran at high speed from Geoffrey Gill to Burnt Roots. The season's hunting once again has been enlivened by our excellent Field Master, Warwick, who has combined sensitivity towards the farmers with considerable dash across the country. Our thanks go to the trail layers and gate shutters who have worked hard to make the days as enjoyable as possible and also of course to the farmers and landowners without whose help hunting would be impossible.