by Graham Cox-3-
That is why Vincent Routledge, in his 1929 essay The Ideal Retriever And How To Handle Him, begins his ranking of the qualities of a retriever with the unequivocal assertion that 'Nose comes first with a big F'. But he follows it with the observation that brains are every bit as important, if not more so, since without brains a dog will not adapt itself to prevailing conditions and is unlikely to meet the challenge presented by a 'cold line'. Later, in emphasising that a handler should never presume to know better than a dog when it comes to making a first cast Routledge draws on an insight from a celebrated text on hunting.
Peter Beckford published his Thoughts On Hunting in 1781 and included his speculations about scent. They are observations which, it seems, can barely be improved upon from our vantage point two hundred and more years on. Such are the quality of the insights that he offers, that a full quote is warranted.
Experience tells us that difference of soil occasions difference of scent; and on the richness and moderate moisture of the soil does it also depend, I think, as well as on the air. AT the time when the leaves begin to fall, and before they are rotted, we know that scent lies ill in cover. This alone would be sufficient proof that scent does not depend on the air only. A difference of scent is also occasioned by difference of motion: the faster the game goes the less scent it leaves. When game has been ridden after and hurried on by imprudent sportsmen, the scent is less favourable to hounds: one reason of which may be that the particles of scent are then more dissipated; but if the game should have been run by a dog not belonging to the pack, seldom will any scent remain.
I believe it is very difficult to ascertain exactly what scent is: I have known it alter very often the same day. I believe, however, that it depends chiefly on two things - 'The condition the ground is in' and 'The temperature of the air'; both of which I apprehend should be moist without being wet. When both are in this condition the scent is then perfect: and vice versa, when the ground is hard and the air dry, there seldom will be any scent. It scarcely ever lies with a north or east wind; a southerly wind without rain, and a westerly wind that is not rough, are the most favourable.
Storms in the air are great enemies to scent, and seldom fail to take it entirely away. A fine sunshiny day is not often a good hunting day; but what the French call jours des dames (warm without sun) is generally a perfect one: there are not many such in a whole season. In some fogs, I have known the scent lie high; in others, not at all; depending, I believe, in the quarter the wind is in. I have known it lie very high in a mist, when not too wet; but if the wet should hang on the boughs and bushes, it will fall upon the scent and deaden it. When the dogs roll, the scent I have observed seldom lies: for what reason I know not: but with permission, if they smell strong when they first come out of the kennel, the proverb is in their favour: and the smell is prognostic of good luck. When cobwebs hang on the bushes there is seldom much scent. During a white frost, the scent lies high, as it also does when the frost is quite gone. At the time of going off, scent never lies: it is a critical minute for the hounds in which their game is frequently lost. In a great dew, the scent is the same. In healthy countries, where the game brushes as it goes along, scent seldom fails. Where the ground carries, the scent is bad, for a very evident reason, which hare-hunters, who pursue their game over greasy fallows and through dirty roads, have great cause to complain of. A wet night frequently produces good chases, and then the game neither like to run the cover nor the roads.
It has often been remarked, that scent lies best in the richest soils, and countries which are favourable to horses are seldom so to hounds. I have also observed, that in some particular places, let the temperature of the air be as it may, scent never lies.