Douglas Hunt

The ex-huntsman whose CV reads like a Who’s Who of hunting

- Frank Houghton Brown

EIGHTY-YEAR-OLD Douglas Hunt has just returned from one of his regular trips to hunt in the Lake District.

“I have been going to the Fells for 44 years,” he says. “I used to hunt with Johnny Richardson when he hunted the Blencathra hounds and he gave me a lovely dog hound, Skiddaw 84, that we used in Hampshire. Now I get the train from Winchester to Penrith, where someone picks me up and takes me hunting for a few days.”

This is a real busman’s holiday for Douglas, who was huntsman at the Hursley Hambledon for 30 seasons.

Douglas was brought up hunting with the Vine where Col Mitchell was the master and huntsman — a gentleman who was to become a central figure in Douglas’ hunting life. He began his hunting career after leaving school in 1954 as the second whipper into Auriol Gaselee, who was master and huntsman of the West Kent.