Podcast Progress

Unfortunately I am having a bit of difficulty managing to get hold of people within the hunt who I can interview. However I have called in a few favours with some of my local Hunting friends who have passed on a few numbers which I will attempt.

The first Is Mark Bycroft, Mark is the Huntsman of the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt, and runs the kennels in Felbridge. Unfortunately Mark has had quite a bit of Trouble with Activists and has recently been caught on camera lashing out at a masked saboteur, but there are two sides to every story.

The second is Andrew Siggs, Andrew is a senior agent of the NFU, he has been hunting since he was six, and his mother ran a riding school, where my Mum learnt to ride.

Hildegard Westerkamp

“Imagine radio that, instead of numbing us to sounds, strengthens our imagination and creativity; instead of manipulating us into faster work and more purchasing, it inspires us to invent; instead of overloading us with irrelevant information and fatiguing us, it refreshes our acoustic sensitivity; instead of moving us to ignore thoughts and surroundings, it stimulates listening” (Westerkamp; 2002:89)

"The majority of her compositional output deals with aspects of the acoustic environment: with urban, rural or wilderness soundscapes, with the voices of children, men and women, with noise or silence, music and media sounds, or with the sounds of different cultures, and so on. She has composed film soundtracks, sound documents for radio and has produced and hosted radio programs such as Soundwalking, and Musica Nova on Vancouver Co-operative Radio."

'From the Indian Sound Journal' is one of Westerkamps recording in which she recorded snapshots of places she had visited in India. It takes the listener to locations they have never been or seen and creates the atmosphere and makes an unfamiliar place, familiar through sound. This is something that I want to capture within my podcast; Fox hunting is something very little people know about or have truly experienced, I want my podcast to inform my listeners and create sounds and atmosphere that they can link to the topic. 

19/02/14 Interview Nic Wheeler Huntsman of Coakham Bloodhounds

Location: The Kennels, Silverwicks Farm

Weather: Very Windy 

Equipment

·      Marantz

·      K6

·      Clip Mic

·      Radio Mic

Interview questions

·      What is the history of the Bloodhounds?

·      How is clean boot hunting different from Fox hunting?

·      Has the ban affected your business?

·      What are your experiences with ‘Anti’s’

·      What is the life of the hounds?

·      How would you describe country life?

Outcome

Although I really enjoyed visiting the Bloodhounds and learning about drag hunting, unfortunately while interviewing him, it seems that there isn’t much of a story behind clean boot. Apart from the life of a hound there’s not much else to be said about Bloodhounds. However, it wasn’t a complete waste of time, listening back to the footage it seems that the wind was too strong for the wind making the tracks noisy, which means that next time I will need pop shields for the microphones to give them some protection from the wind, Also the interviewing was good practice for the next time when it counts.

Power Point

Fox Hunting

Fox hunting is when a pack of dogs track down a fox with a field of horses behind, it dates back to the 1600s. In 2004 The Hunting Bill was put in play, which meant that organised hunting using dogs became illegal. There were many protests and riots on both sides of the politics, and people still argue the case today. My local hunt are the Old Surrey and Burstow

"The Burstow date as a foxhound pack from 1866, having previously existed as a harrier pack. Having been kenneled at Poundhill from 1904 until 1909, the pack moved to Felbridge in 1909.

The Old Surrey & Burstow was itself formed in 1915 by the amalgamation of the Old Surrey foxhounds and the Burstow foxhounds, the kennels remaining at Felbridge, where the hounds have been ever since.

The West Kent

The West Kent hounds date back to 1776 when John Warde hunted hounds from Squerries on the edge of Westerham. More recently the West Kent hounds were kenneled at Walters Green near Penshurst when Tim Lyle took the Mastership in 1980. Hounds remained here close to the Point to Point course until the amalgamation in 1999.

On the first ever visit by West Kent hounds to the Peterborough Hound Show, the bitch West Kent "Payment" became the Champion Hound, also being the first ever champion from a two day a week pack. More recently the hounds won the two couple class at Ardingly in 2003 and hopefully in the years to come more will follow!"

Bloodhound Hunting

A Brief Introduction

The Coakham Bloodhounds Hunt was founded in 1976 by the late Neil Wates (see "A Piece from the Past"). We hunt "the cleanboot" (unadulterated human scent left by a man or woman running ahead of the pack). Hunting with a pack of bloodhounds is one of the least artificial method of hunting organised quarry, and, whereas a fox will run freely, a human quarry can make more effective use of the increasingly urbanised countryside. The hounds hunt by scent alone, unlike many other breeds of hounds that hunt by sight 

 When the pack was first established, it hunted with pure bred bloodhounds. But it soon found that, whilst their ability to follow the scent was without compare, they lacked the speed across open countryside and the enthusiasm to cope with natural obstacles. The current pack consists of bloodhounds crossbred to the Dumfriesshire Foxhound, a unique out-cross which has developed the ability of the pack to follow a natural human scent with voice, speed, agility and drive.