Fox Hunt - Part 1 - Shannon County Film Digitization Project

Camera roll 321 is the first of seven (321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327) filmed during an early morning fox hunt with Seaman Rayfield, Edward Piatt, and Edward's nephew, Eugene. While a fox hunt provides the setting for this series of rolls, much of the footage consists of conversation among the participants and responses to questions asked by the filmmakers. Often information is imparted by way of a story. The material covers a wide range of topics including fox hunting, dog breeding, the need men have for a sport, the personality of dogs, marriage, the roles of men and women, raising children, living in the city, Shannon County as home, trading dogs, and swapping knives. Roll 321 begins in the pre-dawn hours as two pickup trucks with dog kennels are driving down a country road. The trucks stop on a gravel road beside an open field. The hounds are loosed from the kennels and run through a fence into the field. Following a short conversation about the weather conditions for hunting, Seaman Rayfield talks about the July breed of fox hound, explains some of finer points of fox hunting, and tells why he considers it a sport. Footage shot on May 31, 1979, in Shannon County, Missouri.
Part of the raw footage recorded 1978-1979 for the 1981 documentary motion pictures "Shannon County: Home" and "Shannon County: Hearts of the Children." Located in Special Collections, Meyer Library, Missouri State University.
For more information on the Shannon County Film Digitization Project: purl.missourist...