Today was a bitterly cold one, with temperatures still in the frigid teens when we drove out of the kennels, so we did not know if our three couple of beagles would have cold-noses sharp enough for the freezing forecast. As luck would have it, slowly rising temps, and the beagles’ enthusiastic work ethic magically combined to give us a little sport. We started the draw behind the house, and the fringy border along side the road leading to the pavilion, which looked like it might be good “rabbitat.” There was periodic vocalization from Smolder and Pike as we crept along to the south. Just when we approached a clearing, whipper-in R. Mock thought he might’ve caught a glimpse of movement in the thicket that the beagles had just passed through, so I asked them to try back. Sure enough, the woods erupted with song as the beagles followed the line back to the north. We lost Miss Rabbit in a tangle of vines just before the backyard of the house and she must have hidden her self very well, because the beagles were not able to get her to jump up and run again. We then continued east, with minimal action, although Smolder took great interest in a hole under a thorny bush. We ended at the property just east of the farm, and heard a few voices here and there, but as both the wind and snow began to increase, the beagles never truly owned a line at this point in the fixture. Pike and Smolder were our lead hounds today with excellent back up honors by Jenkins and Iroquois. Gulliver and Guppy seemed a bit distractible in the more challenging scent conditions, but were easily encouraged to go back to work. We had so much fun meeting some new folks in the field and relaxing with gracious landowner Carol Donaldson and her family and stable team. Many thanks to all of the whips for keeping the 4-legged crew on-task... a good day all around!
- rcallister