Old Beagling Days
Old Beagling Days…
From the book “The Seasons End”
I find it unusual that more people don’t take up beagling. It is a great sport for the hunting enthusiast, and I think any dog person would enjoy it. There is little that can give a person more pleasure of a morning than to hear the pack in full cry as they follow a line across the open countryside hot on Sally’s heels as she skips ahead, never really in much of a panic! I enjoy getting a chance to see the hare as the hounds follow. More often than not she will never be in a rush, unless startled from her seat quickly when hounds raise her in a rough field or patch of cover where she might be sitting tight. She will be up and off before we realise, and make good ground before hounds really get a chance to do the same. Other than these moments, I’ve never seen hares panic too much. In fact there are occasions when I have watched them appear to take delight in hounds following.
One morning as I watched hounds pursuing a hare across a lovely green valley, I saw the hare ahead skip through a fence and head up the hill, but halfway up she stopped and looked back. She then appeared to wait until hounds almost caught up and off she went again. This happened several more times during the hunt and she looked as if she was enjoying the fun! Of course she got away, and good luck to her. It is a shame that the anti hunting fraternity have such a negative perception of beagling and I suppose field sports in general. If only they realised that beagle’s have little chance of catching a Hare, nor is it the point of a hunt. For one, a hare can run up to forty miles per hour, and the beagle? Well they definitely can’t run at that speed! Everything is in the hare’s favour, and the goal was never a kill, but merely being outdoors, seeing some good hound work and enjoying the company of like minded individuals. They say Fox Hunters really like foxes, well let me tell you something – Beaglers don’t like Hares, they absolutely adore them! The last thing there interested in is the Hares demise.
No two days are ever the same when following hounds and in fact no two hours or even minutes are ever the same. Everything can change within seconds. One minute the hounds are in full cry and the next, the hare is gone and the hounds have checked and the fog has come down. All of a sudden I can find myself alone on the side of a hill wondering which way my car is, and what gulley the hare dropped into that caused hounds to check! A good few years ago I attended a meet that was one of the most memorable in a long time. The venue was a huge hillside, with some large stones on which we could sit and watch all the action below. It made a bit of a contrast to the usual climbing fences, crawling through hedges and crossing drains.
This particular day took place just after several weeks of snow, and the first hare the hounds put up was pure white. I have never seen many white hares, and none as white as this lady. The view was fantastic and as she skipped across the hillside of dark greens and browns I watched through my binoculars for a better view. Up close she appeared in no rush. The black tips of her ears contrasting against a white almost ghostly looking body as she wove through the heather, knowing where every turn, every blade of grass and every gulley lay. And as quickly as she got up, she disappeared again, leaving puzzled hounds checking for several minutes before putting up another that they would spin round for the next thirty minutes. It was a great day, because not only was the hunting good, but the company was good too. I was along with another follower not ten minutes later, as we walked across the hillside, crossing the deep gullies and side stepping the large clumps of grass, when another white hare got up no more than five feet in front of us. She seemed to simply appear from nowhere, and in no hurry to move simply stared back at us. Perhaps it’s just me, but when you get that close to a hare and they don’t move, they always look like they are about to say something! This obviously young Hare was no great size, and a beautiful sight even if a little less ghostly white that her comrade that the hounds had pursued some minutes earlier. Her coat had remnants of that brown and almost golden hue, intertwined with large patches of white, she was an unusual, but most beautiful hare.
I am always amazed at the variety people that take part in Beagling. Some days I find myself talking with the keenest of terrier men, and the next could be someone who has tagged along for their first day out. This day in particular I was lucky enough to be in the company of another lurcher enthusiast. We spent more time talking lurchers than we did hounds, and it was enjoyable. I suppose when lurcher enthusiasts get together, they are going to talk about lurchers, even at a hound meet! As we sat on the hillside with the sun blazing on top of us, it was as good as a summer’s day. We knew mutual acquaintances and discussed probably every type of Lurcher ever known to man, then hounds, then Hares and then lurchers again! He talked at great length about his own small pack of hounds which he hunted to fox quite regularly along with his young sons. And of course there were some great stories as you would expect from such a keen hunting person. These are the people I enjoy most. The down to earth genuine hunting person who hunts for nothing more than the enjoyment of working dogs and seeing dogs work. And that is why I believe the real working dog enthusiast no matter if he is a lurcher, terrier or even gun dog person cannot help but enjoy the sport of Beagling.
But what of the beagle, I have a lot of admiration for these small, hard working hounds. Their energy seems to have no end, and for their small size you just have to wonder where they get it? Some of the smallest in the pack seem to have the most energy and the biggest hearts. On a day’s hunting I will usually bump into one or two on their own, those that have split from the pack. They might stop and have a quick look around, and then take a quick drink from a puddle before hurrying on to find the rest of the pack. Their determination is admirable, and they just never seem to stop. I have had some great and memorable hunts with the hounds and I remember on my very first day out with them many, many years ago, they were having trouble finding a hare. The huntsman continuously apologised to me and the friend who had come with me for the day, for we had seen no sport all morning. I knew how he felt, because there is nothing worse than taking someone out for absolutely nothing to happen!
As we walked down a field with the hounds a few yards ahead, I felt my foot touch something. I looked down to see a hare explode from the grass and shoot off between my friend and me. He hollered a view and the huntsman immediately turned the hounds and they found the scent instantly. Off they went, and we ran behind trying to keep up. Over fences and through hedges they went; the excitement was so much I paid no heed to an electric fence as I stepped over it and gave myself a bit of a shock in the wrong place! Dave, my friend, thought it was hilarious and could hardly get off the ground laughing.! I can almost feel the pain to this day every time I think about it.
The hounds were still on the hare’s heels and we followed down a steep hill and into a huge stubble field. They went through a few more hedges before coming back our way and onto a small lane where we were standing, before eventually losing their line. There were a few hounds standing about waiting for the others; some were at the hedge trying to find scent and others were drinking from cattle troughs. It was late afternoon in mid autumn and the sun was beginning to drop in the sky. The stubble was almost dripping in the warm golden glow, the air was crispy and the silence said a million words as the young hounds just stood about. I remember looking down at one and he looked back, his small face full of wonder and covered in mud, with bits of bramble and burrs stuck to his ears, this was his destiny, what he was bred for. He was completely satisfied standing there, with his tongue out and his sides heaving. What other life could there be for him other than hunting. I sometimes meet a lady with a Beagle on one of those extendable leads when exercising my own dogs. My heart always goes out to him; Beagles never really look right with a collar and lead on. I often think there is a whole world waiting on him that he probably knows nothing of, that young, dirty but seriously happy hound that looked me in the eye a so many years ago could very well be that sad and overfed hound on the end of an extendable lead, but he will never get to see it unfortunately. Beagles were bred for work, it’s what there about and what there for and they know it too, surely it cant be right having them on an extendable lead for his entire life.
It’s fair to say I have hunted a good few places with the hounds over the years, some being better than others. It seems due to farming practices amongst other things, hares particularly in my area are now forced out of there preferred areas and this has had a decline on their numbers for various reasons. It is a shame as when I was in short trousers I can remember hares being in huge numbers around my home. I sometimes wish I could go back in time and hunt in the huge fields that still surround my house to this day, because back then as a child, simply walking to my grandmother’s house on a Saturday afternoon I would always see a good few hares and even then I was obsessed with them. One of the earliest memories I have and probably one that sparked of my interest in hunting was my father coming in our back door one wet afternoon in the middle of winter with a couple of hares over his shoulder, I couldn’t have been anymore than 6 years old at the time. Back then there was an endless supply of them, and the few people that did catch the odd one for the pot did little harm. Sadly over the years they have declined hugely, and it simply isn’t down to hunting as some people lead us to believe. It appears by all accounts to be modern farming practices that has saw the demise of the hare in my own area and many others. There are still a few around in my district, but a very few that is, and I could count on one hand how many I have saw here in the last six years, a real shame if ever there was one, and It is no accident that the farming practices that do Hares the most damage are carried out here considerably.
As I write this, the season has just drawn to an end. It doesn’t stop though, because there is much to be done. 30 odd couple of Beagles simply won’t switch off for the summer and they will require daily exercise and of course there will be a few young pups to keep everyone busy over the long warm days. These pups however can be safe in the knowledge they have a great life in front of them. They can look forward to those crispy autumn mornings where the fresh line of Hartley will spark their interest and raise their voices until they push her from the cover! Off she will go with the new entry in pursuit, they know exactly what to do, and they don’t require an extendable lead! It’s in their blood as it is in ours, long may we continue.
The Seasons End, “Lurchers, Terriers, Teckels, Hounds & Hog Dogs” – Out of print, but still available from: wwww.anglebooks.com