The hounds and first line of riders of the Wayne-DuPage Hunt jump a short fence while following the scent of fox urine laid out for the hounds to track. (Rick West | Staff Photographer)
The first rule of the Wayne-DuPage Hunt club is don’t make assumptions about the hunt club members.
Yes, they appear to be a large group on horseback with a pack of barking hounds in pursuit of foxes. Yes, several riders carry whips. Yes, the closing ceremony is called “The Kill.”
But there are no foxes, except for those wild creatures that occasionally join the crowd of spectators. The whips are essentially noisemakers, cracked to get the hounds’ attention. Nobody carries a weapon, and there is no blood.
“We’ve never killed an animal,” says Fred Iozzo, 71, who leads the hunt as Huntsman and has held the prestigious Master of Foxhounds elected position title for the past 27 years. “We’ve never killed a toad as far as I know.”
Members talk about how much they love their horses, love their hounds, love the tradition, love dressing up, love the etiquette, love the lingo, love the camaraderie, love nature, and many even love foxes. Wayne-DuPage Hunt, a merger between Wayne Hunt and DuPage Hunt of Wheaton in the mid-1930s, has been recognized by the Masters of Foxhound Association since 1940.
From their first hunt in Wayne, generally in mid-April, to the last hunt of the year, generally in early December, the group with 65 riding members usually conducts hunts at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and enjoys a longer, more populated hunt at 10 a.m. on Sundays. Instead of a “live” hunt chasing foxes, the hounds follow the “drag,” a scent (usually fox urine) on a lure that is pulled across the grounds by riders on horseback before the hunt starts in Wayne.
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