The North Hills Hunt
- Dr. Luke Matranga, MFH
- Mr. James Urban, MFH
- Established 1964
- Registered 1965
- Recognized 1968
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The North Hills Hunt |
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40 Years of Tradition
(Updated 04/05/04)
Traditional mounted hunting in the Loess Hills of Western
Iowa,
the Nebraska Sand Hills, farm lands and range areas of Eastern Nebraska.
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It is a sport that stirs the blood of all ages
as they gallop across hills and fields, over fences and through streams, on
glorious autumn mornings and brisk winter days. We are brought together in a
special kinship of the chase, sharing in the exhilaration of the hunt. Those who
glory in the foxhound's cry treasure the ageless tradition of sport with horses
and hounds.
The quarry of North Hills Hunt is both Fox and Coyote, generally dependent upon the area that we are hunting. Some of our fixtures have fox and coyote, some only coyote. It is a challenge to the hunt to try to breed a pack to successfully hunt both. Our pack is a mixed pack with American, Crossbred and English Foxhounds. Our fixtures are varied, from the hilly loess hills area of far western Iowa, the sandhills of north central Nebraska, the farmlands of eastern Nebraska and the rangelands of southeast Nebraska. We are very grateful to the landowners that allow us to use the land to preserve this time honored tradition. We are truly blessed to have such an abundance of land at multiple locations to hunt with thousands of acres of developed country. View our Pictures section for some views of the land we hunt.
The conduct of our hunt is traditional in dress and manner. We usually have two groups of riders following the hounds. Our first flight consists of the experienced riders with experienced horses that can safely navigate our country at speed and all of the obstacles that can be encountered including man made and natural jumps, trees , dry and wet creeks, woods, fields and rangeland. Our 'gate group ' follows as closely as possible but does not take jumps and generally moves at a slower ( walk, trot, canter ) pace but still covers a lot of miles. We have a 'hilltoppers' group of followers in vehicles that follow and watch the hunt from the comfort of their vehicles.
Many of our larger hunts are followed by both formal and informal meals where the thrills and spills of the days sport can be shared over a warm meal and a cold beverage. The largest attendance is at our special hunts including opening hunt, joint hunts, junior hunt and hunts on beautiful fall days. Riders in the field can range from 30 to 60 at these events. During the winter months, the more hardy riders and horses make for a smaller, but more involved hunting experience for all. Visitors and guests are allowed to ride with us on most hunt days ( excluding certain special days - opening, closing and joint hunts ) if you would like to view or participate in a hunt, please contact us so we may discuss this with you and obtain the permission if one of our Masters of Foxhounds for you to do this. Please read the Membership page for capping information and also the Attire and Etiquette sections of this site for more information.