SEC T I ON T WO
Our hunting season in Pennsylvania runs until the end
of February. Many states have similar seasons.
Rabbits, like other animals, will run in a circle when
chased, often returning very close to the spot where
they were f irst encountered. Sometimes, it takes many
circles to get a rabbit, and the many circles will typically
intersect at one area no bigger than a large front yard.
The circles themselves may get bigger, or more oval, or
even more of a paperclip type shape as the rabbit tries
to stay in the thickets and out of sight.
Cover and terrain will determine the exact course of
the chase. All the while, the beagles are baying, each
with a distinctive voice that I can discern from any
other beagle, whether it be my own hounds or another
person’s pack. It is always a thrill to hear a beagle
puppy bark on a rabbit for the f irst time and throw
that rabbit voice into the wind, a bark that the pup had
never made before.
It isn’t the same voice as it uses when
playing or barking at the mailman. It
sounds nothing like the voice used to beg for
a snack or defend a bone from another dog.
I call it the rabbit voice, and when my pack
of four beagles is all contributing to a chase,
it is better than any four-part harmony, at
least to my ears.
Just by sound, I can tell what dog is solving the most
diff icult tricks that the rabbit has deployed. A bunny
might run straight for 100 yards, turn around, and run
back its own tracks for 50 yards before taking a massive
leap to the side. The dogs, in full pursuit by scent, will
arrive later and have to realize the rabbit did this.
cottontail, travel 100 yards, jumping from
rock to rock in huge leaps that a cottontail
could not make.
Dirt roads are a common trick, zig-zagging as it runs
along the road before entering brush again. The dirt
will not hold scent as well as the vegetation. When
it is not hunting season, I enjoy watching these tricks
and listening to the music. I call it catch and release
hunting.
During a recent snowstorm, I returned from a hunt
with a limit of rabbits to f ind my wife, Renee, was sent
home from work, due to the weather.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I feel like I have been running in circles all morning,”
she replied.
“Us too,” I said as I let the hounds off the leash to curl
up by the wood pellet stove. “I started the stew before
I left.”
“I f igured,” she said.
I processed the rabbits I had just killed and put them in
the refrigerator to soak in water with a bit of salt.
If you are looking for some outdoor pursuits this
winter, and do not want to go skiing, look up your
local beagle folks for a trip af ield. Hound music has no
equal.
It takes a strong nose to smell two tracks on
top of each other, and discern the direction
of travel. The elusive rabbit might run on
a stone wall, or jump a creek. I have seen
snowshoe hare, the larger relative to the
HORI ZONS | 1 5
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