By Molly Moran
Looking Up
This year, Camargo Hunt celebrates its Centennial. The hunt formed in 1925, when Julius Fleischmann Jr., grandson of the Fleischmann’s Yeast magnate, donated his personal pack of hounds to the new club and recruited the well-heeled sporting men and women of Cincinnati to join him. Fleischmann was the first MFH of the club, and built the kennels on his Cincinnati property. He also began the Camargo Country Club the same year. While the hunt and the country club are now separate entities, they still enjoy a close relationship. As part of the country club’s Centennial celebration this past fall, Camargo Hunt performed a drag demonstration on their golf course, with riders very careful to avoid the well-manicured greens.
While today Camargo enjoys hunting open territory across the rolling hills of northern Kentucky, they still hunt much of that original territory within the city limits of Cincinnati, Ohio, near where Fleischmann’s kennels once stood. The two territories are vastly different—Cincinnati fixtures are very hilly and densely wooded, and enclosed by suburban roads. Both are home to red fox and coyote. Huntsman Katherine Gunter Weathers, currently in her third season at Camargo, has developed two packs—one for Ohio, and one for Kentucky—in order to give good sport in both locations. While Kentucky requires speed and stamina from hounds, Cincinnati necessitates extreme biddability and excellent voice, as the deep ravines muffle and distort hound cries. Some hounds, like Aspen, are brilliant in both territories. Katherine’s strategy has been to breed highly biddable, versatile Crossbreds, and Aspen has been one of her pillars in this effort. Last spring at the Bryn Mawr Hound Show, Aspen won Best Stallion with Get in the Crossbred ring. Full English hound CH Rainbow (2021) won Best Brood Bitch with (Crossbred) Produce. These winning pups are now among Camargo’s first-year entry, and performing impressively well. Katherine’s breeding program has already begun to prove itself successful for this territory.
Camargo is building up its staff as well. This year they have seven honorary whippers-in, four of which started under Katherine’s tutelage in the last three years. She has a solid record of developing junior and new staff. When she was the huntsman for Aiken, her junior development program brought along Mary Taylor Miller, now the huntsman at Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds, and another junior who went on to compete at Defender last year. Last spring, Mary Taylor drafted out five steady hounds to Katherine. These five have been a strong presence in Camargo’s hunting pack this season, and great role models for the young entry. “I don’t think we would be where we are now without her drafts,” Katherine said. She already has one litter by one of the Cheshire dog hounds.
Camargo is working hard to ensure the next 100 years of good sport in their territory by growing their membership and welcoming guests from near and far. Several members own hunt boxes in the Kentucky territory and rent out rooms and stalls; once a month they make it a weekend by hunting both days and having friendly get-togethers on Friday and Saturday nights. Guests can lease experienced hirelings for first flight or for a steady ride with the hilltoppers. Another way Camargo hopes to ensure the success and longevity of the sport is through the newly formed Camargo Hunt Foundation, a separate 501(c)3 organization that exists to preserve the sport through education, conservation, and responsible land stewardship. Over the past few years, Camargo joint-masters and members have been building new jumps in the Cincinnati territory, and the generous landowners in Kentucky are mowing regularly, building more coops, and opening up more trails.
When you join Camargo in the field, you’ll find a supportive, enthusiastic, and fun-loving membership. You might see Carol Hake, still hunting strong at age 89 in third field, or, if it’s a weekend, one of the Junior Scholarship winners on their pony. Joint masters Natalie Nesbitt, Morley Thompson Jr, and Kerry Daus usually lead the three fields, and joint master Barbara Kreider—herself celebrating 50 years of membership and service to the club—will be road whipping, along with Katherine’s husband Eddie Weathers and a small crew of dedicated road whips. You’ll see Katherine carrying the horn and hunting a tight pack on one of her seasoned hunters. If you’re in Kentucky, you’re likely to see the Camargo clubhouse, Brown Hall, decorated to the hilt with vintage hunt and polo memorabilia. If you visit the kennels—a beautiful new facility opened in 2021—you’ll see the next litter of pups, already socialized and friendly, thanks to Katherine and Eddie. In the field, you’re sure to see Aspen, as well as Wheeler, who, like the other pups from last year, are maturing nicely into their roles. At the end of his first season, Wheeler was crowned best entry of the year—the first winner of Camargo’s new Puppy Calcutta, in which members and hound supporters form teams to bid on the puppy they think will perform best in the upcoming season. So far this season, many of the Calcutta pups have been impressive, and it has been a very close match.
If you’re lucky, and you squint hard, you may even see Reynard, sitting on the roof of the fallen-down house. “That is something I will never forget,” says Mikaila, who received a “special award” of a 5-inch toy ladder in good-humored recognition of her escapade, and her dedication to hounds. She is no longer a junior but a full honorary whipper-in and a committed and hard-working member, looking forward to Camargo’s next season, and many to come after that.
