It is not the lack
of foxes that has made the sport so commonly take the form of riding to
drag-hounds, but rather the fact that the majority of those who keep it
up are hard-working business men who wish to make the most out of every
moment of the little time they can spare from their regular occupations.
A single ride across country, or an afternoon at polo, will yield more
exercise, fun, and excitement than can be got out of a week's decorous
and dull riding in the park, and many young fellows have waked up to
this fact.
At one time I did a good deal of hunting with the Meadowbrook hounds, in
the northern part of Long Island. There were plenty of foxes around us,
both red and gray, but partly for the reasons given above, and partly
because the covers were so large and so nearly continuous, they were not
often hunted, although an effort was always made to have one run every
week or so after a wild fox, in order to give a chance for the hounds
to be properly worked and to prevent the runs from becoming a mere
succession of steeple-chases.
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