His diaries abound with allusions to the sport.  “Went a-hunting with Jacky Custis, and catched a fox after three hours chase; found it in the creek.”  “Mr. Bryan Fairfax, Mr. Grayson, and Phil.  Alexander came home by sunrise.  Hunted and catched a fox with these.  Lord Fairfax, his brother, and Colonel Fairfax, all of whom, with Mr. Fairfax and Mr. Wilson of England, dined here.”  Again, November 26 and 29, “Hunted again with the same party.” “1768, Jan. 8th.  Hunting again with same company.  Started a fox and run him 4 hours.  Took the hounds off at night.”  “Jan. 15.  Shooting.” “16.  At home all day with cards; it snowing.” “23.  Rid to Muddy Hole and directed paths to be cut for foxhunting.”  “Feb. 12.  Catched 2 foxes.”  “Feb. 13.  Catched 2 more foxes.”  “Mar. 2.  Catched fox with bob’d tail and cut ears after 7 hours chase, in which most of the dogs were worsted.”  “Dec. 5.  Fox-hunting with Lord Fairfax and his brother and Colonel Fairfax.  Started a fox and lost it.  Dined at Belvoir and returned in the evening."[1]

[Footnote 1:  MS. Diaries in State Department.]

So the entries run on, for he hunted almost every day in the season, usually with success, but always with persistence.  Like all true sportsmen Washington had a horror of illicit sport of any kind, and although he shot comparatively little, he was much annoyed by a vagabond who lurked in the creeks and inlets on his estate, and slaughtered his canvas-back ducks.  Hearing the report of a gun one morning, he rode through the bushes and saw his poaching friend just shoving off in a canoe.  The rascal raised his gun and covered his pursuer, whereupon Washington, the cold-blooded and patient person so familiar in the myths, dashed his horse headlong into the water, seized the gun, grasped the canoe, and dragging it ashore pulled the man out of the boat and beat him soundly.  If the man had yielded at once he would probably have got off easily enough, but when he put Washington’s life in imminent peril, the wild fighting spirit flared up as usual.

The hunting season was of course that of the most lavish hospitality.  There was always a great deal of dining about, but Mount Vernon was the chief resort, and its doors, ever open, were flung far back when people came for a meet, or gathered to talk over the events of a good run.  Company was the rule and solitude the exception.  When only the family were at dinner, the fact was written down in the diary with great care as an unusual event, for Washington was the soul of hospitality, and although he kept early hours, he loved society and a houseful of people.  Profoundly reserved and silent as to himself, a lover of solitude so far as his own thoughts and feelings were concerned, he was far from being a solitary man in the ordinary acceptation of the word.  He liked life and gayety and conversation, he liked music and dancing or a game of cards when the weather was bad, and he enjoyed heartily the presence of young people and of his own friends.  So Mount Vernon was always full of guests, and the master noted in his diary that although he owned more than a hundred cows he was obliged, nevertheless, to buy butter, which suggests an experience not unknown to gentlemen farmers of any period, and also that company was never lacking in that generous, open house overlooking the Potomac.