SCENTING IN BLACK AND WHITE

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THE SOUND OF HOUNDS WILL NEVER DIE

Hubert, a Grand Gascon Saintongeois, is one of the foundation hounds. “We always call him ‘His Highness Sir Hubert,’ because he very much thinks he deserves it,” says Claire.

SCENTING BLACKin WHITE&

French hounds boost sport in California.

BY EMILY DAILY

“You have to build a hound for your hunt country.” Those words have guided Claire Buchy-Anderson in her twelve-season journey as huntsman of Santa Ynez Valley Hounds in Los Alamos, California.

VAL WESTOVER PHOTOGRAPHY

The arid conditions of the hunt’s central California territory aren’t problematic for the hard-working French hounds.

“They learn the sound of the horn before they’re eight weeks old. They follow her on foot as pups and then mounted later. “It creates a very strong bond,” she says.

For Claire Buchy-Anderson, horses and dogs have been her life. She discovered hounds and hunting in 2006 when she moved to the United States from France and met her husband, Chip Anderson, who was serving as huntsman for Tryon Hounds. After spending some time globe-trotting together, they eventually moved to central California where Chip took a job as huntsman for SYVH. When an injury from his past called for major surgery, Claire carried the horn.

One of her first orders of business became importing the French Blanc et Noir and Gascon Saintongeois hounds to build her pack for that specific hunt country. “If a Gascon cannot smell it, nobody can,” Claire says. She didn’t import the romantic breeds for their noses alone. Perhaps to understand why she forged such an innovative path for her hunt, it helps to understand from where “build a hound for your hunt country” came.

Many of Chip’s stories from the hunt field have graced the pages of various publications (including this one). They tell tales of pursuing glamorous game such as wild boar and jaguar in radically diverse and faraway territories like Italy, Morocco, and South America. When Chip passed in December 2013, he left an anthology’s worth of stories and priceless knowledge. But perhaps those profound words, “you have to build a hound for your hunt country,” have resonated deeply for Buchy-Anderson as she strives to make hunting with SYVH as unique an experience as Chip’s stories, right at home in California. The French Blanc et Noir and Gascon Saintongeois hounds have done just that.

ARID ENVIRONMENT

Imagine following the pack on a crisp, dry, autumn morning. The hounds catch a scent and open up, the field pursues for a minute or two, then the hounds break and resume trailing. This happens for a few hours without a view. Now multiply that heat, dust, and dryness by ten. Then divide the scent by even more.

“Our hunt country is terribly dry, hot, and dusty, especially at the beginning of the season,” Buchy-Anderson says, of the arid Mediterranean-like environment just north of Santa Barbara. “When I talk about a bad scenting day, it means there’s no scent at all. The hounds can walk over a coyote and not smell it. If one hound gets left behind, he won’t be able to track the pack to regroup.”

Blank days like that used to plague the pack. It frustrated her. Then she met Hubert. “I will never forget that day when he was the only one working,” BuchyAnderson described Hubert, the Gascon Saintongeois hound she imported from the Equipage Le Verney aux Fées in 2012. “His nose literally dragged on the ground. He opened and the other hounds had no idea what he was ‘talking about.’ He got louder and louder working his line-up. Then, little by little, other hounds joined in until he led the whole pack to a clapped hare. It was so beautiful. Hubert can track down a dinosaur in the right conditions.”

Buchy-Anderson knew she was on to something. Hubert helped lay the foundation of a pack to suit her hunt country. “When they’re working a line, I cannot

hear anything but them. It’s deafening,” she described the breed’s vociferous nature. She reckons the Gascon’s voice is unmatched. But, unlike foxhounds, they are not sprinters. So, “unless you have eight hours and limitless territory to hunt down your animal, you need a faster hound to catch it.” That’s where the Gascon and foxhound crosses enter the mix.

Finn is one of the French Blanc et Noir hounds. Below: The SYVH hounds are deafening when working a line.

THAT VOICE

The combination, Buchy-Anderson says, produces finely tuned cold nose, loud voices, laser-focused disposition and patience, and utilitarian pack orientation. On the other hand, you also get an extremely sensitive animal with (it bears repeating) a very loud voice, which early on, can truly test one’s resolve as a pack leader.

“They will use every little bit of patience you have,” Buchy-Anderson says. “They take at least three years to mature.” So, she starts them young. They learn the sound of the horn before they’re eight weeks old. They follow her on foot as pups and then mounted later. “It creates a very strong bond,” she says. “Since they have so much voice, you have to put up with a lot of babbling when they’re young. Then, because they’re so sensitive, I can’t be too harsh on them without hurting their feelings, especially the girls.”

Introducing the breed into her kennel also injected some French style into how they hunt. It’s more methodical now. “It’s different than running fast foxhounds on a hotter line,” Buchy-Anderson says. “Both are beautiful, but we just don’t have the scenting conditions to do that here.”

She now hunts her big pack of males two days a week, but limits the brood bitches to once a week to lead the pups when they’re big enough to follow. The boys routinely chase wild boar and coyote, while the bitches and pups pursue hare, “which is actually my favorite game,” Buchy-Anderson says. “Now we rarely have a blank day because these hounds always manage to find something and are able to track it, despite the harsh hunting conditions.”

Not only do the SYV hounds perform well at home, but they’ve also earned accolades at top hound shows and performance trials in her area. She showed a pack of pure Gascons, an inaugural occurrence in the United States, at the last Pacific District Hound Show and won. “Nothing, absolutely nothing, could have made me happier,” Buchy-Anderson says. “Also, Hubert won the title of Best Trailing Hound at the Western States Performance Trials in 2018 and SYVH got the overall second place behind Grand Canyon Hounds.”

“I have to thank the SYVH Masters who have been so supportive,” BuchyAnderson says. “Chip said that I’d have to build a hound for my hunt country. I am working on it!”

GRETCHEN PELHAM

Emily Daily is a writer for Covertside. She’s based in South Carolina.