The Long Lake Hounds, founded in 1959, is Minnesota’s only hunt. The Long Lake Hounds is a “drag” hunt meaning it doesn’t hunt or involve live foxes. A fox scent is dragged on horseback to simulate the path a pursued fox might take through the woods and over the fields.

The sport comes in riding after the hounds, following the trail of scent over a variety of jumps – mostly coops, split rail fences, woods and fields.

Joint Masters of the Long Lake Hunt are Cindy Piper of Long Lake and Jerry Brost of Buffalo, Minnesota. The huntsman is Junior Lehman and the Kennelman is Dan Zimmerli. The Long Lake Hounds has a clubhouse and kennels for its pack of 20 hounds located in Buffalo, Minnesota.

The Long Lake Hounds is one of 165 hunts in North America recognized by the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America in Millwood, Virginia. Long Lake member- riders range in age from grade schoolers to septuagenarians, and the horses they ride include mixed breed ponies, Connemaras, Arabians, Quarter Horses, Irish sport horses, Paints, Thoroughbreds, a Lippizan, a Percheron and many draft crosses.

Those who foxhunt share in the beauty, excitement and the camaraderie of riding to hounds. Some members like the hounds, some members come to ride, others to jump, and others for the social activities. Many members especially like the traditions, such as the clothes worn and the signals blown on the huntsman’s horn. Nothing about foxhunting has changed for hundreds of years. When you look at old hunting prints from the 19thcentury, it’s the same sport, the same costumes and customs and the same breeds of hounds and horses.

The official season of the Long Lake Hounds begins in July with cubbing season during which young hounds are trained. Hunts are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Long Lake Hunt season ends just before Thanksgiving.

The Long Lake hound pack has been recently reshaped with the advice of world famous huntsman Melvin Poe of Virginia, who is the father of member Bridgett Paradise. Poe is widely acknowledged by his peers as one of the pre-eminent huntsmen in North America.

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