In the field with father

We celebrate the role-model hunting heroes who are passing on their love of the sport to their children

- CATHERINE AUSTEN

IF YOU asked half a dozen people what they think is hunting’s greatest strength, you’d get as many different answers. Hounds? The immense privilege of crossing usually privately owned parts of the countryside? For many, hunting also comprises a special community of people of all ages and all types. Few activities can boast tiny children and the very old doing the same thing on the same day in the same way. “Children are the future,” we say, watching as half-pints gallop past us, falling in love with the sport to which we are so attached.

But hunting isn’t like kicking a football around in the park. It takes organisation and dedication to take children hunting and ensure they enjoy themselves sufficiently to stick with it long enough to be independent. Hunting mothers, like hens with their tweed-clad brood of chicks, are rightly celebrated. But there are many equally brilliant hunting fathers who deserve their share of the credit.

In the past decade the Heythrop has earned a reputation for being child-friendly, a trait strongly encouraged by Joint Master and huntsman Charles Frampton. There are several notable Heythrop hunting fathers doing a fantastic job of passing on their own love of the sport. Dominic White is the hunt’s vice-chairman and a regular Field Master. His parents loved hunting and introduced their four sons to it, and now all three of Dominic’s own children – Tom, 20, Freddie, 18, and Jim, 16 – hunt.