Make sure that every hunter knows the boundaries. Otherwise, you may find one of your friends traveling 30 miles in the wrong direction before he decides to backtrack. Later on, you can enlarge your hunts as the experience of the hunters grows. (Hudson Valley Direction Finding Association hunts for experienced hunters often cover 800-1000 square miles, and some of the groups in the Southwestern U.S. go far beyond that). In the beginning, though, keep your hunt small.
Use any natural boundaries in your area such as major highways or rivers if they are available. It's much easier for hunters to see when they're crossing the Interstate and going out of bounds than for them to see the edge of the "10 mile radius" circle.
If everyone is using the same map you can designate that map's "grid squares" as boundaries. This is not as simple as the major highway boundary approach, but it's better than nothing.
Designate a staging area somewhere near the middle of the area you've chosen for the hunt. This spot should be as high and "in the clear" as possible, to allow everyone to get good clean initial bearings to the hidden transmitter with minimal reflections.
If all participants are not familiar with the area designate a "talk-in" frequency to get everyone to the staging area. If you expect any hunters from out of the area this is a "must".
Remind the hunters to get to the starting area early so that they have plenty of time to set up and test their equipment.
If you're having a "mileage type" hunt select someone (or two) to record the starting odometer readings from the hunters. These can either be given to the huntmaster at the finish or transmitted before the start of the hunt.
Designate a frequency to be used as an "emergency" frequency during the hunt, in case a participant needs assistance during the event. This frequency should be monitored by huntmaster, if at all possible, throughout the hunt. Use the hunt frequency itself if there's no other option.
For the first several hunts, especially if the participants have little or no foxhunting experience, you don't want to make it so challenging that the hunters give up in frustration. Keep it simple. As tempting as it may be to really try to "outfox" the hunters, the Huntmaster's job in these early hunts is simply to serve as a "target". Stay away from any little tricks that you may have heard about to create extra "challenge" for the hunters. There'll be plenty of time for that in later hunts.
Be sure someone records the participants' starting mileage before the hunt and either brings it to you at the finish or transmits it to you before the start. You'll have to tally up the scores after the finish.
Find a safe hiding spot alongside a road or in a parking lot. Keep the safety of the participants in mind. Will a crowd of hunters gathering around you create a safety hazard or nuisance to neighbors? The spot you choose must be freely accessible to the public. Do not hide on private property even if you (as the fox) have the owner's permission. You don't want hunters searching on others' private property during the next hunt.
During the hunt use a power level that will be strong enough to be heard by all hunters at the start, but not so strong that only very sophisticated attenuators can keep the signal within range of the S-meters as hunters approach. Remember, hunters don't need an S-9 signal at the start, especially with the directional gain antennas they'll most likely be using. In the beginning, this will be a judgment call. Try some experiments before the hunt to determine the best compromise for transmitter power.
Keep the power constant throughout the hunt, at least in the beginning. Remember, received signal strength provides a major clue to the hunters about their nearness to the fox, and if you change power during the hunt you'll very likely confuse the beginners who are apt to rely heavily on this information.
Transmit from a stationary, omnidirectional, vertically polarized antenna. Leave the tricks for later.
Keep your transmissions as long as you can without overheating your equipment, at least for the first few hunts. When you're not transmitting hunters have nothing to keep them on track, and frustration quickly builds during long periods of silence. (Don't forget to identify your transmissions as required by FCC regulation.)
IMPORTANT: Don't discuss on the air when, or if, a hunter finds the fox. This will keep all participants' anticipation equally high during the hunt. Beginners may tend to get discouraged if they hear that others have already found the fox while they're still out hunting.
Verbal "needling" or tuanting of the hunters is allowed. Just remember, they WILL find you at some point, so be careful what you say! Personal coaxing does help prevent that discouraging feeling that beginners sometimes get, so use the hunters names and callsigns in your transmissions. As a matter of fact, if this is more of a "training" type hunt than a competition, and you've got a lot of beginners out hunting, you may even want to ask them individually to "check in" with you so you know they're OK. By listening to their signals you may be able to tell if someone is hopelessly off base. Might a judicious hint get them back into the game?
When a hunt team finds you, remember to record their ending mileage if you're scoring a "mileage type" hunt. It may also be interesting to jot down their arrival times. This makes a good topic of conversation when you all meet after the hunt. If it's a "timed" type of hunt don't forget to record their time of arrival as soon as they get in. It's easy to forget to do this in the excitement of being found, and hard (and unfair) to "guestimate" later.
These general guidelines should be able help you organize an enjoyable and successful basic foxhunt. We hope you've enjoyed the reading. Please send us your suggestions on what else we should suggest to new organizers.Publicize the event well in advance in club newsletters, on repeater nets, or just in local conversation to help assure a good turnout. Continue publicity until day of the event, and remember to give strong encouragement to newcomers. Do your best to build anticipation before the hunt. The hunt itself will provide enough excitement to do the rest. If it goes as it should, you'll have a bunch of addicted hunters clamoring for the next hunt.
Hudson Valley Direction Finding
Association