IT is always a pleasure visiting some of the smaller packs that may not be so much in the public eye, so a visit to the Brosna Foxhounds was long overdue. The first time I visited them was shortly after they were formed some 1995. They have a smashing pack of Old English hounds that some say are one of the best packs in the country and always look well in their coats and demonstrate drive, accuracy on a line and tremendous voice. It is not always the large fashionable kennels that have the most influence on hound breeding in Ireland. In fact you may not hear much mention of the Brosna, and you probably will not see them showing at the major hound shows but if you look closely at the breeding on the winners’ results, and follow what hounds are making an impression in hunt reports, the prefix of the name of those hounds will immediately inform you of the Brosna influence.

Hunting away low key in very trappy country in the midlands of Ireland, the Brosna huntsman Derek McMahon, an agricultural contractor, has a passion for the Old English breed of hound, with some of his foundation hounds going back to Duhallow when Michael Buckley was hunting them. Now some of the best known Old English packs are the Louths, Duhallow, Waterford, Muskerry, County Limericks and the Blazers. Although everybody has their own favourite breed of hound, some huntsmen feel that the Old English are hardier especially in negotiating modern day electric fencing, but then I followed the Ballymacad modern breed of foxhounds last week in the spectacular Cavan Hills doing just that, and also hunting all day in temperatures of 16 degrees, so I think hounds know more about scent than we do. The Old English hound is known for its colour – black, tan and preferably little white – but they are also often tan in colour. McMahon started his pack some 20 seasons ago with Modern hounds, a few Harriers and two couple of Old English hounds. The latter proved to the most suitable for his hunt country, so he started to build up his Old English pack by travelling the country to see hounds working. Unless a potential stallion hound or bitch were at the top of their game hunting, he did not consider them. That’s what it took to breed the superb pack it is today. Over the years, his stallion hounds like Brosna Ton Ton, Logger, Target, Taylor, Postman, Parson, Panther and Londis, have been used by many hunting packs in Ireland like the East Galway, Louth, Macroom, Rockfield, Duhallow, and the North Tipperary.