Not the sound of a watch, for those of you who are still familiar with the sound of a mechanical watch, but the sound of Rye, Brag and myself as we pulled each tick off of our bodies.

Day didn’t break but instead arrived stealthily with the subtle changing of dark into a gray morning of overcast skies as I pulled into Ryes yard with three beagles, Julie, Dixie and Maizie for company. Brag had to make a detour this morning to pick up Uncle NoPass and his remaining two dogs, Kate and Lacey. Uncle NoPass of the NoPass Chronicles hadn’t hunted since the January of 04 hunts. Old age infirmities had caught up with him. Worse than body slowing down was the lose of hearing. Deprived of hearing the beautiful sounds of dogs in hot pursuit of their prey after a life time of running dogs after various prey, Uncle NoPass couldn’t seem to find the desire to attend the hunts, not even for the socializing. He kept Kate, his last dog acquired as a puppy and Lacey because, well, I suppose old habits die hard. Rye and I pulled into the Capps place out past Dixie in the dim morning light. A patch of wild coneflowers next to the rusted red gate added color to the otherwise grey morning. Surprisingly, no rabbits dashed across the grass access road as we made our way past the turnoff to the lake. Today we were going to start near the old house on the back of the property.
Cuz who had to help in a Fathers day sale at the Grill Outlet Store in what used to be Bibb City before Columbus finally absorbed it had told us to pick up his dogs, Judy, the grand Dame of our packs, Lady, who had mostly shed her deer chasing tendencies and Cuz’s newest dog, Precious. Precious, Jeeze, what a name!

After parking, Rye and I turned the six dogs out. We knew that Brag and Uncle NoPass would be there in less than an hour. The dogs nosed around and took care of some pressing business before jumping the first rabbit of the morning.

These pre-season races are not only enjoyable themselves, but they offered the four main members of the East Alabama Rabbit Hunters and Souse Eaters Benevolent Society a chance to learn where the rabbits would run come hunting season. This pre-season scouting enhanced our reputations by allowing us to position ourselves for maximum effect on both the rabbits and our fair weather occasional hunting partners.

That first rabbit was where we thought he would be and ran a predictable pattern, while Rye and I drank coffee from Uncle NoPass’s old fox hunting thermos that he had given me several years ago while waiting for him and Brag to show up. Around the hill and down into a planted pine bottom, the short legged beagles chased the rabbit, the wonderful sounds they made boiling up and echoing across the short trees.

They had been running for forty minutes or so before we heard the sound of Brag’s truck coming down the trail. As he came around the corner, Rye said “I don’t see NoPass”. Nope, Uncle NoPass was a no show again. “He said he needed to stay home with Gandma, that she wasn’t feeling well.”, Brag said sas he got out and prepared to turn Kate and Lacey out to join the pack. We all knew what the real problem was.

Kate hadn’t been run since that January of 04 hunt and Lacey hadn’t been out of the pen since Uncle NoPass had got her. We didn’t know quite what to expect. Would they hang out under our feet, run trash (deer) or join the pack?

They hung timidly with Brag until he walked through the woods towards where the other dogs were still running the rabbit after a good hour, although I suspect that there were multiple rabbits that were tag teaming the dogs. When Brag got close to the running pack, Kate and Lacey ran to join into the fun.

We walked near the running dogs, positioning ourselves on the trails through the thick briar patches, trying to see the rabbit to no avail. We finally gave up and went back to set on the tail gates to drink coffee, tell lies and listen to the beautiful sound of the pack of eight beagles chasing rabbits…..and pull off ticks.

We had gotten into a heavily infested tick area and were soon pulling off shirts and pulling down pants to remove the little blood suckers. I had dealt with two cases of Lyme Disease and had no wish to have another case. In total, I pulled off fourteen from various places on my body and pulled off three more after getting home.

I had taken a ultra light rod and a tackle box of various small lures, including my favorites, different colored broke backs to use in the lake on the front of the property. I may as well have left them at home, the dogs ran in long circles through a unbelievably thick bowl shaped briar bottom where we couldn’t get to the dogs to break them off. Even after losing the rabbit they stubbornly refused to quit, insisting that he was still in there, somewhere.

They gave up and came out in one‘s and twos. Julie first, shortly followed by Dixie and Maizie. A fifteen minute wait, then Judy and Lady. Another fifteen minute wait, then Lacey.

No Kate or Precious. We hollered and waited. And waited and hollered. “Here Kate. Here, Precious. Come here girls. Come on, Precious.”
“Precious“, Jeeze. You want to feel like a dang fool, try standing in the middle of the woods yelling for a rabbit dog named Precious to come out.

Rye, who is diabetic, needed to get something to eat, so Brag left to take him to his house and put the dogs into Cuz’s pen, so they wouldn’t over heat in the dog boxes. It wasn’t long after they left that Precious showed up. I hollered a few times for Kate and heard a whimpering not far off the road. I walked over and saw Kate falling down as she tried to make her way to the old Pathfinder I drove. I was wondering if the out of shape dog had over heated. Getting closer, I saw a paw hung up in her collar.

I met Brag on my way back and filled him in on what had happened. We made plans to exercise the dogs again next Saturday at day break. I know it’s getting hot, but like any good athlete with plenty of water and the proper conditioning, the pack can handle it