Otter Hunting,

Horowhenua Chronicle, 9 July 1910, Page 4

Otter Hunting,

A WHITSUNTIDE HOLIDAY

(From a correspondent to the liondou Times.)

The a neien t sport ot otter-hunlt-ill <r lias of titte fallen: somewhat into disrepute. The sportsman is apt to dismiss it with tlie contemptuous epigram "Love anr! lunch,'' while the liumaniitariaii, inspired possibly by the word of the song, " r lhe> blunt-headed otter is speared on the rocks," has eoneeived •against it an especial and most irratioiKil .hostility. Jn point of fact the pnrsinilt of the otter is prohahly t ! h<* least brutalisiii <1; 0!' :rll forms of the chase'; it so comparatively seldom _ loads to bloodshed, and it brings devotees in'to such an intimacy with the morning earth a.nd her wild creatures. The sport has nothing of the gla--111011 r of chivalry t'bai lures even the cockney out to hunt the fox ; nothing of the esotericism 0! fishing tha.li ilia Ices the stranger anion.}? fishermen an Alcibiades at the mysteries; nothing of the teehniea.Hty of games tli'ii.t is apt to roil) the Jitthlete of all intimacy with his mother earth. The otter-dimiter hunts for pure Tovo of his .'iport: and lii.s love is a devotion. Let no one who loves a long Ho and regular meals set out to HI'XT Til l"] OTTFJv; lint if « man does not mind, breakfast at !..'!() a.m. and lunch at 3 p.m., witli perliaj)s a, glass of country ale aiul ii hunch of breiad between times, he will hi-, grateful lor those morning hours. In Mre first place tihe.v doii'h'le the length of your holiday, no small coiisideniiion, surely, for a liu.sy man ; and besides, it is an old spying (never really credited by tlio sluggard) that the morning hours are the most bea.ntiful of the day .and especially arc they beautiful in a. land of streams, where the 111 ist.s give a strange softness 'i'o the lig'ht's iirst purity, .and brake and pollard are alive with the thrill and chatter of .awakening birds. The field will lnv small a,t iirst. and you will have time to look about you liefore the hounds get a drag; when they do, you will have little leisure for the beauties of the st rami side. For there is nothing more fascinating than to wa,tell dtf erhonnd* picking out a scent, especially ii you]' master lie an old-fashioned sportsman who does not carry his hounds forward at every check, and vour pack be well leavened with real otterhounds of the rough hroed, slow and sure to work out every inch of the drag. You can follow every movement of your quarry, who has perhaps precede:! you up .'the stream smile three hours earlier. There is continual music, the doep voices of the

HOUGH DOGS leading most melodiously (tihey are nj ten -but one iWgivi-S tileill lor tlif mellowness of their boasting), ami you think .you must view him every minute. But there comes a check. The otter lias turned up a. side stioain, and the foxhounds of the pack are so hot on it (they nre apt to run too quick, especially early in the .season), that they overrun, and yo slioutinij; oil up stream, to career fuiv.illy •over a wateir-niea-:low, (pilte lost, until a cry from far behind and the master's horn briny them back to tlio scent.

By this time the field has come out in strength. There aro a. good many ladies, a good many roughlooking fellows who are apt to oress on the hounds, a farmer or two, a postimui .and a policeman for a certainty, three clerks from the local bank, and a young blood or two on horseback. If. is a democratic sport. When (he beast is viewed, the last bulwark of reserve breaks down, neighbour clutches at neighbour, sticks wave, and fingers point. You find yourself up to tho waist in •i "stickle" br-tweeii the postman and an obvious poa.cher. The otter's '"chain" «l breath-bubbles is seen coniHi<4d,";wn stream towards you. and vour sticks begin working furiously in the water. There he is—you see his nes>> thrown up to breathe, or reconnoitre, and then ho makes :-itr,:i.ighfc for

THI'T FAT PriUJCAX at the end of ilii' line, is turned l»y liis .stick, and. breaks through n. \vi";ik spot hot ween tire curate and tin* < J heniist'.s assists lit who is jrhiyin<j; truaiit. The only chance now i.s to cut him off lower down t-ho sfcrixun, wliicli mnke.s ;i considerable bend at this point. You scramble out and stumble heavily 'across the fields with tin; wator s(|!iclchin;j; in your boots and running down your leu;s, and finally '> 1 uiti!; i- o-aspiiiiii; into tlio stream while aliove you litwr nia.sler. hounds, .a.nd the rest of the lield rushing down pell-moll to join vou.

Or perhaps your otter takes to ground, and the terriers are- .piilt iiiito the "holt" but fail to bolt li-iin. Spadt.s are called for. and the iield sits driwn on either side the stream to smoke, or nibble s.nnd:wiches, whili the masttr stands on the bank, dripping and iniid-pladtored, to direct operations. This may bo tht c!'d, of bath run and otter, but your master, if he is a good spo'iitsin-an, will kenp the pack off and give t ! he beast a start -w'hen he bolts, .«o that in hii.lf-an-honr you m.ay be off rivgain. perhaps to lose your oilter after all in the 'big lake, for which he makes half .a mile or so across country, with the dogs rapidly overhauling ,'litm, and the field toiliiiig desperately in the rear, to tumble into it .in safety with but a minute or t'WO to .sijfcire.

The M'riter confesses to loo'king back with the greatest plejisuro to flays .such as these when the otter escaped ; for he, is a protty, sunny, little beast, no ii-iglitwalker and olMckeu sna'.tcher, like the fox. However, if it comes to killing, the end is quick, whether the (|uar.ry be "tailod" in the water by tlie huntsman and flung to the pack, or whether the dogs grail) him on dry land. Hut whatever the outcome of the run, -whether you find yourself, late in the afternoon, wet and weary 12 miles from home, or whether you have time for a pipe or (wo on the sunbaked bench at tho inn door after lunch, and a two-hours' ramble iu the cool evening, you will silt down to tlio solid faro of your hostelry at nightfall with a hunger iicgoitten of ]o hours of open sky, and a treasure of keen, delightful memories that will not rapidly ,pa,«s from you.