AFTER more than 35 seasons whipping-in and 11 seasons hunting hounds, Pat Kearns, huntsman of the North Galway Foxhounds, retires at the end of this season. However, he is not retiring from hunting. To mark the occasion, a large group of followers and admirers, including the joint-masters, gathered at the meet at Campbell’s Tavern near his home in Headford, North Galway.

Pat has hunted with both the Bermingham & North Galway Foxhounds (founded in 1946) and the pack, known as the North Galway Foxhounds, was formed in 1985 with masters and huntsmen like Lady Molly Cusack Smith, Michael Dempsey, Henry Gordon, John Pickering, Dick Craven, Dr John Waldron, James Costello, David Bolter, Steven James and Eamonn Smith. They hunt beautiful limestone wall hunting country that stretches to Lough Corrib and parts of Mayo and Roscommon.