The Sound of Music

C.O.B. · 05-05-2012, 09:33 AM

It was 0 Dark Thirty when I climbed out of a perfectly warm bed, put coffee on and squirmed into the long underwear I had laid out the night befor. The cold dark air removed any semblance of sleep as I started the truck and put some heat into her.

By the time the coffee was done I had the truck loaded with extra clothes, Carhart Bibs, gloves, a scarf, 20ga #6 shells and a Parker VHE along with a pair of snowshoes just because it's better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them. With the temperature setting in the truck at 90 and the fan going full blast and both front and rear defrosters on the morning frost had only cleared enough to barely see out the windshield.

The headlights sliced the darkness like twin lasers as I headed west to pick up a couple of other intreped soules who didn't know any better than to go hunting when the temp was hovering in the low single digits.

The snow crunched under the tires as the headlights swept in front of Jacks house. The kitchen light was on and he and his son Uriah were ready. We loaded the rest of the gear and a cooler along with three young upstart Beagles and Hobie a vetran of 15 years. Old Hobe as we called him had seen many a Snow Shoe Hare hunt but it would be a first for the three younger dogs.

Two hours later I pulled off a county road onto a two track. Six inches of fresh snow sparkled in the headlights as we slowly followed the old logging road toward the Ausable River. There is a big bend in the river at this spot and an abondoned Christmass Tree farm on the other side of the road not to far away. The rabbits would run the river bank and try to cross the road to the tree farm. It was a good place to get started. As the dogs shook off the confines of the dog box Jack, Uriah and I spread out to see what we could scare up. A Grouse rocketed out from under a small Cedar tree and just about put me into cardiac arrest. It wasn't long befor Uriah kicked up a White rabbit and rather than shoot it right off he called the dogs over and put them on the track. Hobie sounded off right away and the other three followed. The woods were filled with the sound of Beagles doing what Beagles love to do.

We spread out and waited for the bunny to make it's circle. After about 15 minutes we heard Hobie heading back our way followed by the rest of the pack. A white rabbit on a white background is hard to see by any standard even when it's being chased by a bunch of barking dogs. The dogs went by us but none of us spotted our quarry so we waited for roud two. Jack hollerd "A good Beagle will bring that rabbit back around" and sure enough they did just that. This time the Easter Bunny wasn't so lucky as Uriah made his shot count.

By midmorning we had had several good runs all succesfull in getting the dogs some exposure and some resulted in the addition of the main ingrediant of Rabbit Stew. It was time to give the dogs a break and get some breakfast. We coraled the dogs which was no easy feat and got them some grub and fresh water and loaded them into the dog box. Jack pulled out a Coleman stove fired it up and put coffee on. A cast iron frying pan was next and was immediately lined with bacon. I cut up some potatoes, diced up an ionion and a green pepper. Jack calls this "wrecked breakfast". We scrambled about eight eggs and mixed everything together and along with fresh hot coffee it was fit for a king. As we ate on the tailgate we could hear the ever moving river and a quiet stillness prevailed as if we were the only ones in the county at that moment in time.

With our bellies full and the dogs rested we headed back out to do it all over again. We had moved downriver about a quarter mile and turned the dogs loose. Once again Hobie proved his experience as he started a track and took it out of hearing distance. The other dogs were milling about wondering just where Hobie was when Billy got a hot scent and he lined out and the others followed him. We had four dogs running two different rabbits,the air was full of Beagle music and on a clear cold winter morning what could be better?

This time I was the lucky one to get a crack at the intended target and as the rabbit was making good time well ahead of the young group of pups. I lost him in my line of sight for just a second when the first barrel went off and the load of 6's cut down a small Spruce tree. I regained my composure and followed through with the second shot and the 6's hit their mark.

The afternoon was much the same as the morning and we had good runs. It was getting on towards 4pm and we hadn't heard the dogs in a while and as we had a total of five Snowshoes we called it a successfull day. It was getting colder and as we had to wait for the dogs to come around we gathered some wood and used the paper plates from breakfast to make a fire and warm up. The dogs straggled in over the course of about an hour and we gave them some fresh water and what little scraps were left over from breakfast. When the last one was in the box we put the fire out cleaned up our area as we leave no footprint and headed south for home.

As we headed back I couldn't help but think that the sound of hounds on a cold winter morning making music it just doesn't get any better than that.

charlie cleveland · 05-05-2012, 03:48 PM

that was a good rabbit hunt...i can still hear those beagles....itoo love a good rabbit chase...i went last year with a friend and we had some good chases....yep still hear them beagles... thanks charlie