EVERYTHING that happens in the hunt kennels and hound shows in the earlier part of the year are just activities and events that lead up to the first morning of the autumn hunting season. It is usually August for some packs and September for others when hounds are let run for the first time.

A huntsman will have planned and implemented the breeding of his new entry probably 20 months before-hand by selecting a stallion hound that would match a bitch in his kennels, and indeed the profile of the rest of his pack. He may want to breed more voice or more drive into his pack by selecting an Old English cross.