Hunting is never so much fun as when you can drop right down in the field and be overrun by 27small Beagles, all eager togive you kisses. The charismatic and colorful Beagles from Settlers Acres gave this and many more memorable experiences to a field full of children on March 15 at Foxboro Farm in Drexel, Mo.

Jim Beisel, the Settlers Acres huntsman and M.B., brought 131³2 couple eager to hunt and bond with the field. Honorary whipper-in Jim Naylor, and honorary whipper-in Jill Turner of the Mission Valley Hunt (Kan.)–on her first Beagle hunt–were there to assist.

Beisel was helpful and considerate in letting the children participate up close and personal with the hounds. That included educating the older kids, and adults, about scenting, following lines, hound work, and rabbit behavior, all at the start of the hunt.

The oldest children were Cody Kandt, Conner Finn, and Greyson Honsinger, all 10. Cody and Conner were on their first beagling adventure and took to it as eagerly as the Beagles did to the numerous lines run that day. Their more experienced buddy, Greyson, had already been on several hunts with Settlers Acres.

“It was really cool, like being a runaway prisoner; I was running through the woods, branches hitting me in the face, out of breath, sliding down the sides of the creek, splashing into the creek, with hounds barking all around me. Who was chasing who?” said Greyson.

The Beagles made a big impression on Cody.

“It’s so much fun just playing with them–their work seems like play,” he said. “I love getting to sit in the grass with them while they crawl all over me with their cold little noses. I really liked running in the creek with them; they could jump right across, but I fell in. It’s not so bad getting wet.”

Never Too Young

One of the nice things about beagling with Beisel is that he allows the children up-front access to the hounds as they’re working, explaining the action and always willing to answer questions.

Several other children were also beagling for the first time: Madelyn McDon-nell, a year-old, made her beagling debut with her parents, Beth and Monty. She had a first-row seat–on her father’s shoulders for most of the day. Even as tall as he is at 6’3″, he managed to not hit any of the tree branches when hounds ran through the woods.

Madelyn was enchanted with the Beagles and watched with a keen eye as they progressed through the day, showing her delight by clapping and cooing “good puppy,” at appropriate times.

Not to be outdone by cousins Madelyn and Greyson, Mason Feiring made his beagling debut also. But at a wee 3-months-old, he was easily satisfied with riding in the Kawasaki Mule vehicle provided for those who weren’t old enough to walk, or even crawl, yet. He did participate by howling on command with the eager Beagles when they opened a little too close for his comfort. But he spent most of the hunt content and quiet like the other members of the field. Masons’ mom, Janel, and dad, Rob, also enjoyed their first Beagle hunt.

Greysons’ nephew, Ethan Armstrong, was out on his first beagle adventure with his parents, Jessica and Jeff. Ethan, a “big boy” at 2-years, was able to keep up on foot for a good portion of the hunt, but he kept sagely quiet in the field, carefully watching hound work, at least until the first rabbit was viewed. He then chipped in with a cry of “Bunny-Ho!”

Rounding out the field were Conner Finns’ parents Sean and Kelly, Lisa Albright, and Mary, the brave nanny, all attending a Beagle hunt for the first time.

Beisel first cast his pack along a draw behind the dam, and hounds diligently worked the covert, pushing out a bunny that hopped south toward the creek before circling back around. The field waited breathlessly while hounds gave beautiful voice through the wooded edge of the pasture. Then, closer to the creek, hounds lost and were picked up and moved to the south side of the creek.

The older boys and adults made it across on foot alongside the Beagles, while the younger ones all piled into the Mule for an adventuresome and somewhat wet crossing.

Once south of the creek, we were in the wooded creekside known as McMahons’ Rabbit Run, due to its dense population of quarry. Typically, Beisel posts his whips at certain vantage points along this draw, and they try to keep a tally of how many rabbits they see.

This proved a good strategy for his whips as well as the field, since the kids couldn’t even keep count of how many “Bunny-Ho’s” they halloaed.

The pack had a fantastic, swift and melodic run down the covert as bunnies ran Pell Mell every which way, but the hounds kept their noses down and worked beautifully, staying together, under Beisel’s command. The field was treated to an incredible display of hound work with voices echoing off the hillside, while they tried to keep from stepping on all the extra cottontails.

After the chase, the Beagles were picked up and watered at the creek, then headed back to the wooded hill, to see what could be found there. “Hill” isn’t a term that fully describes it, though. The boys, hounds and Beisel scrambled nimbly up the sheer cliff above the creek–at least a 35-foot vertical on wet, loamy soil.

The adults on foot didn’t fare so well. Witnessing this beagler’s ignominious slide back down the cliff side and into the creek on her fanny, they wisely chose a different path to the summit, where Beagles waited for no one and were happily chasing another bunny around the hilltop. The boys were also privy to watching two turkeys get flushed by their appearance, as well as one stag. But the Beagles ran true and ignored the tempting scents.

Panting, we adults on foot finally made it to the top in time to pick up hounds and head back down along the creek and to the west. The boys, never seeming to run out of steam, helped move the hounds to the field north of the creek, where we had our second check.

Waiting for those stragglers and the Mule to catch up, the boys promptly flopped down in the grass and were soon covered in Beagles, a totally wonderful experience, said my son, who insisted I experience it too.

Bunny Nirvana

With the check over as quickly as it began, an errant bunny dared to dart out from under the neighbor’s fence line, and in seeing us, doubled back. Our side of this fence is open pasture. The other side is waist-deep honeysuckle vines, covering the ground in all directions and making a virtual nirvana for bunnies. This covert is considered out of country for us, but we had yet to tell that to the Beagles, who were eagerly heading for the off-limits bunny haven.

I volunteered to venture forth into the waist-deep vines along with Jill Turner (on her first Beagle hunt, remember?) as it was my neighbor’s field. Chasing Beagles in waist-high honeysuckle is like trying to chase fish while waist deep in water, but there was another complication.

Once in the vines, I mentioned to Jill that the reason we didn’t hunt this property was the neighbor’s uptight Charolais bull So now we were looking for Beagles in bunny nirvana in waist-deep vines with a mad bull.

Jill suddenly remembered why she preferred the relative safety of foxhunting from horseback. Luckily for us, Beisel has a very biddable pack, and they all emerged from the tempting covert upon his horn call–and much more quickly than we humans could.

During our honeysuckle sojourn, the remainder of the field and the Mule arrived at the check and were ready to continue immediately. The boys, my son in particular, wanted to know why we were so out of breath, after such a nice check. They skipped off with the pack while I caught my breath.

Jill could be heard mumbling about not “needing a personal trainer when there is beagling to be done.”

The day’s last cast was textbook perfect; heading toward a wooded ridge, hounds pushed out a bunny, viewed by all. Even tiny Mason shook his fist upward, and we watched it run full circle, the lead Beagle securing the line and the pack honoring magnificently. They put the “hopper” to ground with the entire field in close attendance and we called it a day, after 31³2 hours on foot.

Happily, the entire group retired to the barn to enjoy a meal and drinks, much pleased with the day’s activities. All the newcomers vowed to return as soon as possible and thanked the staff for providing such a wonderful day of hunting for young and old.