Albertson fox hunt is truly about fellowship, and food
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 26, 2017 1:48 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
People enjoy plates of barbecue, chicken and fish stew during the 2016 fox hunt fundraiser. This year's fox hunt is scheduled for Feb. 18.
ALBERTSON -- Food, fellowship and fun -- not foxes -- are the real trophies at the annual Washington's Day Fox Hunt and Dog Trials.
The Saturday, Feb. 18, event at the Albertson Ruritan Community Building has been a tradition for nearly 70 years, ever since a small group of people got together in this rural Duplin County community to hold a fox hunt and meal to celebrate the George Washington's Birthday holiday.
Sponsored by the Albertson Ruritan Club, the proceeds are shared by the club, Albertson Volunteer Fire Department and Albertson Recreation Center.
Last year's event cleared about $4,300 for each organization.
It is always held on the Saturday before George Washington's birthday (Feb. 22). This year it falls on Saturday, Feb. 18.
The fun starts before sunrise with a 5 a.m., $5 breakfast of scrambled eggs, grits, sausage, toast and homemade biscuits. The meal ends at 8 a.m.
Normally a couple hundred people show up for the breakfast, Ruritan Willie Rouse said.
A memorial service will start at 7 a.m. to remember people in the community who have died. A community pastor will conduct brief service.
"It is for the people who have supported us in our community, who have attended our fox hunt events, just people we know and who have passed away in the last year," Rouse said.
Breakfast is followed by a lunch of barbecued chicken or pork, or fish stew, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cost is $7, eat-in or take-out.
The dog trials -- which replaced the actual fox hunt some 30 years ago -- start at 7 a.m. and end around noon.
The field usually averages about 250 dogs.
"We are part of (the trials) organization, and we get in on the scheduling," Rouse said. "They go from event to event and they will already have the dogs numbered."
There is a lot of history behind the hunt.
"It was an actual fox hunt back in the '40s, '60s and some part of the '70s, but when the deer started migrating in, the fox hunters wouldn't bring their dogs to this part of the country because they would jump on a deer and might run too far and get away from them," Rouse said. "A fox will pretty much run the same plot of woods where a deer will jump from one woods to another and keep on as long as the dogs are pushing them."
He said the hunt originated with the Ruritan Club and became popular by using it as a fundraiser.
"Washington was known as fox hunter, and it was the time of year. You run dogs when it is cool. It used to be on the Saturday closest (before or after) to the 22nd. For scheduling purposes we made a rule that it be the Saturday before the 22nd, Washington's birthday."
The event is held rain or shine.
Rouse, who joined the Ruritan Club in 1963, and Braxton Grady cook the fish stew.
Rouse has been cooking the fish stew since 1964. Grady started helping about 1985.
Around 800 people normally show up for the lunch, he said, and the event generally nets around $15,000.
One reason is the fire department has got a "pretty good name" for barbecuing pork and chicken, he said.
The fire department will barbecue eight hogs and eight boxes of chickens. Rouse cooks his stew in a 30-gallon kettle and Grady uses a 15-gallon one.
And while that sound like a lot, there have been times when the food is sold out. Such was the case last year when the fish stew was gone by noon.
"I started in the '60s," Rouse said. "It (fish stew) was a side thing that we started for people who didn't especially want barbecue. But fish stew was popular back in this part of the country.
"I tell you there is a lot of history behind it because I have cooked every year since 1964. Back then we thought it had to be cooked with wood. Years when it was windy and cold I'd have to put wind shields. There were certain techniques for cooking with wood. You couldn't let it lay against the pot or it would stick. Then we got smart and went to LP gas which took a lot of work out of it as far as cooking."
Rouse said he puts in potatoes, onions, seasoning, sauces, tomato products and bacon for more seasoning along with rock fish (striped bass) caught by community residents.
Rouse debones the fish he uses. It takes about 125 pounds of fish before they are cleaned to get about 30 pounds of fillet meat without bones, he said.
At the community's 2016 Stewfest Rouse's stew won People's Choice.
"We have about $4,000 invested before make a dime," he said. "It is a risk we take and, hopefully, the weather will be permitting."