Recently when I was in the United States, a friend of mine asked if I attend and photograph an open field coursing event.  At first, thoughts of a red fox being chased by mounted riders in red jackets came to mind; I had no idea exactly what an American coursing event was.  I was quickly put on the straight and narrow by Patrick who informed me that he was a “Hunt Master” – basically a formal name for the person who leads the coursing event and ensures that all the rules are complied with.  I was sceptical about attending, as hunting is not exactly what I do -  but photography is photography, and I didn’t want to disappoint my friend by not attending the event.

An early start from Los Angeles left us speeding crazily up towards the central valley area where we met a dozen and a half other “coursers”.  You could identify them easily as they all attended to their animals with the utmost care and devotion; some courser vehicles almost doubled as modern hotel rooms for dogs  - offering food, water, air conditioning and plush carpets for the owner’s four legged companions.  The first thing that struck me was the keenness of these people – some had travelled many hundreds of miles to attend the day and all were keen to get out into the hot California desert sun and dust to show of the prowess of their hounds (coursers refer to their dogs as hounds & I was constantly in trouble for referring to hounds as dogs).

Without getting into a lot of detail, a coursing event  involves several hounds leashed to their owners who patrol, in line abreast, the desert shrub in the hope of flushing out their quarry (the American Jack Rabbit).  If a jack rabbit is sighted, the coursing master yells “Tally Ho” and two coursers release their hounds.  The hounds are exceptionally fast and chase the jack rabbit for up to half a mile.  The owners and hounds are then cycled so every person has the opportunity of being in the lead action group to take advantage of a “tally ho”.  The event begins just after dawn and goes non stop until just before dusk with the hounds being ranked on their performance by a roving "judge" in a pickup truck.  During this time the hounds may get 2 or 3 opportunities to chase jack rabbits (assuming the coursing master spots the jack rabbit himself).  I was relieved that during my day with the coursers, although a few jack rabbits were chased, none were actually captured or killed by the hounds.

I was very surprised as I had always thought of greyhounds, salukies and whippets as animals bread for the track, however, these hounds were friendly, obedient, and exceptionally playful – all had excellent dispositions. The hounds were some of the most beautiful and well kept companion animals I have seen.  Although I am certainly not a courser, and probably don’t 100% agree in the sport of coursing, it was an interesting day spent with people who love their animals.

Please note that I was asked to photograph the hounds during this coursing event.  Publishing this post does not indicate that I support coursing or hunting in anyway.

Update on Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 9:05PM by Iain D. Williams

Patrick the "Hunt Master" asked if I could add this

This type of hunting (coursing) is one of the oldest human forms of hunting, going back well into the prehistory of humans. I think the only OLDER form of hunting is throwing a rock at something.  Hunting with dogs (and falcons), was very popular during the Middle Ages. This is pretty much the way it was in those times - unlike today, when my folks use high-powered rifles and other weapons to hunt game.

Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, and prehistoric African art frequentlydepict hunting with dogs. The saluki, is more than likely the oldest specialized breed of dog known, tracing its roots well into the past.

It is actually a bit of living history.