Hunting in the Langholm area consisted primarily of fox and sometimes otter hunting using hounds. Shooting was mainly for grouse. Deer stalking was less common on border estates compared to the Highlands.
There were two main hunts in the district: the Eskdaill Foxhounds and the Dumfriesshire Foxhounds, with the latter being the more active of the two.
Alexander Hay-Borthwick was a farmer at Billholm, Westerkirk, and master of the Eskdaill hunt from 1905, but resigned as master in 1913 because of a lack of foxes. Otters were reasonably numerous in the local rivers.
Grouse shooting properties and owners included:
- Langholm Moor: 7th Duke of Buccleuch.
- Warbla Moor: 7th Duke of Buccleuch.
- Broomholm: Rev David Maxwell; partly tenanted by Ary Miesegaes.
Shooting properties were carefully managed to allow grouse to breed, e.g. with controlled burning of heather to stop it growing too thick.
Langholm Moor had the reputation of being one of the best grouse moors in the UK, with a high number of birds and well-organised shooting parties hosted in style by the Duke of Buccleuch.
The red grouse shooting season is from 12th August to 10th December, with ‘the Glorious Twelfth‘ of August usually being the occasion of a large number of shooting parties. However, not a single gun was out on the leading moors around Langholm on the Twelfth in 1914 and only the gamekeepers were out the following year.
Only sporadic shooting took place later in 1915 and there were various donations of grouse to the Red Cross hospital by the Duke of Buccleuch and by Ary and Maud Miesegaes.