Name: Padhraic Moynihan.
From: Killarney, Co Kerry
Name of pack: The United Pack.
Kennels based at: The kennels are based at Bishops Castle in Shropshire, England.
What type of hounds: We have 40 couple of Modern Foxhounds with Welsh and fell blood and nine and a half couple of pups to enter next season.
Biggest influences: Myles Healy, huntsman of the Kerry Foxhounds and John MacSweeney, huntsman of the Macroom Foxhounds have shared with me invaluable information and have given me great advice.
Where did your interest in hunting stem from? From the first day I witnessed hounds hunting, I was hooked and the following week I was out on a pony trying my best to stay up with them.
Why did you relocate to the UK and is this your first pack in England? I relocated to the England to gain more hunting experience. It is a very professional sport here and the people live for hunting. The United is my second pack I have hunted with in the U.K. Previous to this, I whipped in with the East Essex Hunt.
Where did you originally gain your hunting experience? I grew up hunting with the Kerry Foxhounds then with the Macroom Foxhounds before going to the Tipperary Foxhounds as first whipper-in.
Daily role as a whipper-in? We start kennels at 6am. We wash down the yards, freshen the beds then walk out the pack.
Once we are back from exercise, we tend to any injuries. It is then time to feed the hounds. They are on a diet of flesh which is provided by the fallen stock, a service our kennel provides. After feeding, I usually go off on the knacker round picking up fallen stock from the landowners in our country. This is an excellent way of keeping in touch with the farmers and keeping them happy.
Once back the fallen stock must be prepared for the hounds for feeding. Then kit must be done for the following day’s hunting and make sure everything else is ready!
Importance of good relations with landowners? Without the landowners you have nothing. In the United country, we are very lucky with the farmers as they love to see us and most of them follow the hunt themselves. Without the landowners, there would be nowhere for our sport to go.
Role of the puppy walkers?: The puppy walkers are brilliant and do their absolute best to put up with hound pups as long as possible, which we all know can be a handful! We have an annual Puppy Show where the puppy walkers are thanked for their hard work in giving the pups a great start and early education and for socialising them.
The best thing about hunting? For me, hunting is all about the hounds seeing them perform well and giving a good days sport thus keeping everybody happy. After all the work that goes on behind the scenes, this is what I love, and seeing the pups enter to become great assets to the team is also very satisfying.
(Hunting reports 106-107)