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My Lost Buddy

by George McClain :: Featured: August, 2002

It's 5am in the morning I can't sleep. Maybe it’s because all I can think about is running my rabbit hounds Molly and Buddy. Maybe it’s the thought of beating my long time hunting buddy on the number of rabbits we take. Hmm, wonder what Kenny is going to take to shoot on this adventure? It seems “Kenny” loves to carry his 45/410 pistol when we hunt. I bet he brings the old Double Barrel 20ga. When the tally of rabbits is running close he brings the old side by side to help keep up. Well wonder if Noel is going to come along today? Wonder if Butch is up yet? Butch will probably ride with Noel. Guess I have been lying around here long enough.

Man, it will be daylight soon. Better get up and check the weather. I hope there is a fresh coat of snow on the ground to illuminate the rabbit tracks. I like hunting in fresh snow, not only can the dogs smell the tracks but I can see the tracks. Also, this usually keeps the day flowing with endless little brown cottontails to chase. Wow, outside the window the ground is covered with a seamless white blanket. Wonder what the weather channel has forecasted for today? Snow! Lots of snow! Darn, I didn't need to hear that. Guess we will hunt close to home today. That’s OK, it is late in the season we have had some warm days previously. This usually gets the rabbits hot for breeding.

I make all my calls Noel and his dog Daisy will meet us at our place of work. Up threw the yard came Butch and his dog Scooby. Butch and I pick up Kenny at his house and load up his hounds; Lightning, Suzy and Jack. We should have a really nice 7 pack of hounds to hunt with. We decided to hunt close to home since the forecast is for 10 to 12 inches around noon today. We drive up the hollow where we are going to hunt. I keep watching the roadside for rabbit tracks from the previous hours of activity. “There are some”! “There are some more”! “Wow, there's a bunch”!

Finally we are back to where we can hunt. We pull off the Gravel Road and set the hounds on the fresh imprinted hare tracks. Off the hounds go bellowing hard as they can through the dense underbrush. “Get the guns loaded -- they'll be bringing it back around very soon!" The rabbit comes back around several times but no one can get a shot. Now the hounds are out in the far hollow. You can barely hear them. We decide to go where the action is. The hounds are sure having a good time by the sounds of the pack. The fastest way to the dogs is straight through the dense West Virginia underbrush. As we crawl through the brush you can see thousands of cottontail tracks all over the place. The rabbits have been playing in this thicket all night. The snow is packed down tight all over the place from all the movement. We can see little yellow spots all through the snow. The “yellow spots" are where the rabbits have urinated. Also, there are saplings chewed up all around us. When rabbits feed on saplings it looks like a little miniature buck rub. When the winter snow keeps the grasses covered rabbits turn to saplings as a food source. One of their most favorite saplings seems to be sumac trees. Usually this sapling will be no bigger than your wrist. From the base of the sapling to about 10 inches above the ground they will reveal there shinny white inner contents because the cottontail feeds on the bark. We all start emerging out the far edge of the thicket. "Wow, do you see all of the lines going out of this thicket?" Lines are the trail that each rabbit leaves behind them as they flee an area.

By now the snow has started coming down heavily. "Now, what's up with these hounds?" Buddy and Molly are working two different lines close to us. Lightning is headed up the far side of the mountain range. We can hear Jack way off to the right, up in the cove tracking his own hare. There goes Suzy to help Lightning out. Daisy is yelping all around Noel's feet. Man, there are lines going all over the place. My bet is that when the dogs chased the first rabbit through this brush patch they scared more than a dozen rabbits out the far edge. Maybe they are “Wood Rabbit” lines? Woods rabbits are the ones that tend to live in the open woods they like running huge circles if they even do that. I have gone over many Mountain Ranges tracking one wood rabbit and never getting to see him. It’s like pursuing the big “Snowshoe” hare. They tend to run 2-mile circles.

The snow is starting to get very deep. Giant snowflakes are covering everything in sight. The limbs of the trees are starting to hang over like a bow pulled tight. We all come to the decision we better gather the dogs up and get out of here before it gets any worse. We start calling all the dogs in as we head to the truck. “Suzy, Molly, Lightning, Buddy, here! “Jack!”. We all start ordering them back. We make it to the vehicles, “We are one dog short!" “Buddy.” “Buddy, here boy.” “Come on boy.” ”Where is buddy?” “Tally.” “Tally.” “Tally Hoe!" Tally Hoe should have gotten Buddy back. This is what we say when we jump a rabbit. The hounds have learned that “Tally Hoe” means master has a rabbit line 100% of the time. The other dogs at the truck are barking because they think we have a rabbit up. But Buddy doesn't show. Maybe we can get a rabbit going again next to the truck. Buddy should come when he hears them running. We start beating the snow-laden brush for a rabbit. With in minutes Kenny shouts, “Tally Hoe”. Off go the hounds driving the line hard as they can. It’s been 5 minutes and no Buddy. I decide I better backtrack to where we last saw him. I worked my way back and kept calling for Buddy to come. In a depressed frame of mind, “Ohh well, maybe he is back at the truck with Kenny and Noel -- now running their rabbit”. I get back to the guys and he still hasn't showed up. The hounds have holed the rabbit up by now. I know that we are going to have to leave right away because we now have a foot of snow on the ground. And the snow is still coming down in heavy showers. “Boy, this sucks." Kenny told me to sit my coat out next to where we are parked. Sometimes if you sit a article of clothing out the dog will smell you on the garment and hang around looking for his master. I removed my heavy hunting coat; leaving it next to the weeds in the open parking area. I will come back when the snow clears up.

The worst part about leaving Buddy behind is that this is my son’s dog. My son and I raised him from a puppy to the outstanding beagle he is now. It really upset my boy when there was no Buddy when I returned home. Then the phone rings for me to work. See, I plow snow for our local traffic department when the roadways get slick. Then, to top it off I worked a 16 hour shift. So this is going to make me go past 24 hours to return to the hunting area. Even 36 hours later I can't go back to where we have left him. There is two feet of virgin snow on the back roads to where we were hunting. Plus, I have to work another 16 hour shift. My hunting partners Kenny and Noel both went back to look for him on two different occasions. Kenny called for him and could not see any signs of where he had been to the coat. This is starting to look pretty bad now. Noel made it back on the 2nd day and said, “It looks like there has been a dog around your coat by the tracks left in the area”. But Noel could not find him. So now it has been 3 days that Buddy has been gone. This is looking pretty grim now. I could not stand it any longer and took half the day off from work. I decided I better get back there and look for him myself. I went home, got the wife and away we went. We pulled up to the area where we were hunting. There was nothing in sight. All I could do was call him. “Here Buddy!” That was all it took. Peering over the snow, sitting on the coat were two dark eyes with ears pushed forward. I don't know who was happier to see whom.

Buddy crept to me like he was scared to death. I would probably have been scared myself. I thought, “Man, he looks like death warmed over." I kept calling to him in a low voice as he kept creeping towards me. I believe if you are going to approach a scared animal you should get him to come to you. If you move towards them they may leave from feeling threatened by you. If they leave you then leave that animal alone. Give them time. It took him about 30 seconds to reach me across the 15 yard distance. I had my hand extended out as he approached ever so lightly touching him on the head. That was all it took. Buddy was like a little child seeing their grandparents coming through the door. When my wife called him to the car he hopped right in. I went to get my coat and you could see that buddy had been lying on the coat. He was so happy he whined all the way home.

I now try to make sure that all my dogs have their collars on with my name and phone number. This is a must if you are going to hunt. If you have a cell phone, I would suggest that you put that number on there also. You never know someone could call you from within that area. Also pay your taxes for your hounds and rivet the tax tag to the dogs collar. Your local government agencies can locate the owner by their tax number. Another helper is to buy bells so that you can here your dog moving about. If you hunt with more than one hound get different bells. Each bell should carry its own tone. Make sure your dog understands the terms “Down” (to lay down and let me pick you up) and “Here” (come to me). You should practice the Down and Here commands whenever possible. Praise the dog every time they obey. You could also have the dog tattooed, but I have never done that. All these things are no guarantee that you won't lose your dog. But they all could help you get your prize possession back.

If you have a new hound to hunt with don't take him until he or she loves you! So spend time with each one.