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This Sunday almost 40 riders will be saddling up their horses for the Bermuda Hunt Club's last big event of the season.

And for the first time in years, Canadian hunt enthusiasts are flying in for the occasion.

But forget your traditional perception of "going hunting" - there are no hounds, foxes or rolling countryside - instead picture beach-trails, spray-painted path markers and a few black and cokes at the finish line.

Daniel Greenslade is one of the "masters" of the hunt and explained that the event is basically a scavenger hunt on horseback.

"A lot of work and effort goes into organizing each hunt," explained Mr. Greenslade. "The riders are all dressed in full riding gear and nobody - except those marking the trail - knows exactly where the finish will be.

"There are check points along the way - of which there can be between seven and 20.

"We follow a mark of paint that has been sprayed on the leaves and foliage - anything that dies.

"Within 10 feet of the markers something has been hidden - like a bag of paperclips.

"Whoever picks up most hidden items, wins."

The Hunt Club has 25 members, who are split into groups of three.

The first Sunday of every month one of those groups organizes the hunt - hiding clues and marking the trail.

This Sunday the hunt starts at Spicelands Riding Centre at 1pm.

It will then go along Burnt House Hill, Tribe Road and along the beach trails.

"We have to get permission from all the homeowners of the property we ride through," said Mr. Greenslade. "Sometimes you're going along at a flat-out gallop, sometimes you're walking carefully over someone's property."

In the fall The Bermuda Hunt Club flew to Ontario where they rode with the prestigious Wellington Waterloo Hunt Club.

This time, they used "proper hunting dogs," following the scent of fox urine, as opposed to any live animals.

"It was a good experience to hunt the more old-fashioned way, using hounds," said Mr. Greenslade. "It was a lot colder."

13 members of the Wellington Waterloo Hunt Club are flying down to Bermuda for the five-mile hunt, where they will borrow horses from Bermuda residents.

There will be a drinks stop for riders at Lighthouse Hill, followed by a jumping competition at the finish and an end of season party.

The Hunt Club had its humble beginnings back in 1875 when several officers of the local army garrison initiated a Bermudian Riding Club.

Through this they organized a Paperchase Club, so called because the trail was originally laid with scattered paper (a practice that stopped on the protest of local landowners).

The wives and sisters of the officers also took part riding sidesaddle, as was customary at the time.

In 1881 Col. Sanford, eager for something a little more like authentic fox hunting, decided to establish a drag hunt and imported specially trained drag hounds for this purpose.

However, this practice was short lived as the hounds ended up dining on the island's feral chickens, rather than following a scent.

This soon put an end to drag hunting in Bermuda.

The Paperchase continued to exist on a casual basis for many years, using much the same format as today's hunt.

A 1932 article in The Bermudian magazine, by E.C. McLaughlin, noted that there were "any number of rough stone walls...very solidly built...often these are hemmed in by thickets of cedar and fiddlewood, and only a narrow path is cleared on either side. Consequently a horse must jump straight and jump true, or he and his rider will be in no end of trouble".

The Paperchase Club continued until 1969, when it became known as the Bermuda Hunt Club.

As the oldest continuously surviving club in Bermuda, the Hunt Club was asked to lead off the 1995 Bermuda Day parade with some of its finest riders and horses.

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