Hunting, Art and Tradition

What is hunting?

Also known as venery, hunting has a long history. It consists of chasing an animal on foot or on horseback using a pack of dogs known as hounds. Those who practice this style of hunting are known as coursers.

The season for hunting with hounds runs from September to March.
Hunting with hounds has a specific and complex vocabulary and is deeply rooted in our cultural heritage.

Let’s spend a day out hunting!

Hunting with hounds is a group activity and the hunting party, which comprises horses, hounds, h hunt unters and the whipper-in, is called the.

The hounds play the leading role in this kind of hunt, chasing the animal until it is caught. The hunters are there only to serve the hounds.

The whipper-in is in charge of training and taking care of the hounds. Here he is on the left, leading the hunt.

Six species of animal are hunted: young stags, roe deer, boars, foxes, hares and rabbits. Huntsmen never hunt more than one species.

Special clothing and accessories are essential for hunting with hounds. They define each role during the hunt and also enable hunts and their specific characteristics to be recognized.

Special vocabulary is used when referring to hunting clothes. For example, colors are given different names. Red becomes cherry, beige is called doe’s breast and yellow is jonquil.

Another essential accessory for the hunter is the hunting horn.

It enables hunters to communicate with one another during a hunt. There are numerous calls (tunes sounded on the horn) corresponding to each stage of the hunt. Each hunt has its own call. The horn also communicates with the hounds which know what they are supposed to do according to which call is sounded.

In hunting, the expression “hunting horn” is used. The instrument is not called a trumpet.

The horn appeared in the 17th century to add magnificence to hunting with hounds.
Hunting horns are made of brass or copper. They are 4.545 meters long and are tuned to the chord of D.

Three different types of horn were developed:

- the Dampierre, created in the 17th century, is rolled one and a half times

- the Dauphine, dating from the 18th century, is rolled two and a half times

- the Orléans, widely used in the 19th century, is the model still used in hunting with hounds and is rolled three and a half time

Getting started: the hunters lead the hounds to the place where the animal’s traces were found that morning.

The hunt has begun. The hounds follow the scent of a single animal. When the animal is sighted, the hunters sound a call: the view.

Tricks: the hunted animal will use tricks to lose the hounds and hunters. It breaks cover, that is to say it emerges from the wood to try to distance itself from the hounds in the plain. It goes back on its tracks and mixes with other animals to dissipate its scent.

When the hounds have lost the animal’s scent, they are said to have defaulted. In spite of the efforts of the hunters and the pack, the animal may not be found again. The hunt stops. This happens three times out of four on average.

The animal is beaten. It has played its tricks but this time the hounds have got the better of it. It turns to face them and the huntsman dispatches it.

Of the many customs and traditions of venery, that of producing a report after each hunt retracing the route taken by the animal makes each occasion unique.
These reports are sometimes illustrated and can be true works of art.

Hunting has always inspired artists in their pictures, drawings and sculptures.
The Musée du Veneur [Huntsman’s Museum] at Montpoupon in the Loire valley holds a large collection of works by Jules Finot, the Verteville family, Karl Reille, Henri de Linarés and many others.

As a secular tradition, venery is not just a method of hunting. It helps preserve forests and species as well as the skills of craftspeople.

At Montpoupon, surrounded by the Châteaux de la Loire, hunting continues to live through the Musée du Veneur (classed among the great hunting museums of France) and events such as the hunting festival in August and also thanks to the people who have hunted there each winter for centuries.