From the baked grits and beef stew on Wednesday night to the last rabbit run by Mandy Bobbit’s Bedlam Beagles on Sunday morning, Donald and Candida Clark provided wonderful hospitality for the 11 packs of Beagles that traveled to their farm in southern Augusta County, Va., for the NBC Spring Beagle Trials on March 31-April 3.

The victory in both the three-couple and eight-couple classes went to the Octorara Beagles of Floyd, Va., who also claimed third in the five-couple.

Octorara also garnered highest-total-score honors for the three classes.

Octorara M.B. and huntsman Larry Bright said he was happier for the chance to run a rabbit for the judges than anything else. Bright, who hunted his pack with the help of his wife, Debbie, said he was pleased that his hounds performed as well as they were able, regardless of what place they got. But he didn’t turn down any of the silver he had to carry home in a big cardboard box.

Ramsey Barrett’s Orlean Beagles (Va.) gave the Octorara pack some stiff competition–placing third in the three-couple and winning the five-couple, but then they were unable to place in the eight-couple.

The real winners in this trial were the 11 entered packs. There were rabbits galore. Every pack hunted at least one rabbit, and most had several. It wasn’t uncommon for three or four rabbits to be viewed out of a covert. And the comradeship and congeniality of this group of people–gathered due to their common love for the art of beagling–was truly gratifying.

Judges Coleman Perrin, ex-MFH of Deep Run Hunt (Va.), and Dick Askins, Jt.-MBH of Upper Bay Bassets (Tenn.), had the good fortune to see each pack run one or more rabbits, allowing them to make informed decisions based on each pack’s hound work. According to Askins, the packs that missed a ribbon usually had one or more hounds out during the run, while those who scored well were able to avoid that pitfall.