RESULTS - OCTOBER 13 & 14, 2007

The Southern Gents were met at the U.S. Canadian border on Thursday afternoon by Dan Kane, and after a brief inspection by the border control folks, all made their way to Dan’s house to map out the plans for the weekend. Six men and 25 dogs from the U.S. had sojourned 1300 miles to attend the first ever International Beagle in Fox Trial, to be held in Nappanee, Ontario, Canada. Among the travelers were Darrell Summerall, Terry Sinner, Rusty Avins, Alvin Avins, Brooky Evans, and Andy Hodge – all very successful fox beaglers from the south – all bringing very tough competition. We were honored and glad to have them in our company for this trial.

Thursday night we settled them in at Roy Mays’ hunt camp with good “spirits” and a big pot of hot fish chowder. Friday, the Southerners headed for the town of Nappanee to grab a motel room and see some sights. This was the first trip to Canada for the lot of them, and they wanted to have a look around. Friday evening we all met back at Roy’s hunt camp for a supper of baked ham, sticky-sweet baked beans, cole slaw, and all the trimmin’s. Everyone enjoyed good fellowship as dogs from both sides of the border were registered and painted, and the entries for Saturday morning would total 49 pre-qualified, bonified, fox-honkin’ dogs! We were ready to go. Saturday morning found most of us putting on a few extra layers of clothing. Frost was on the ground and the air was crisp. There was a threat of rain, but no serious downpours occurred. At daylight the hounds were cast and judging partners decided – each pair consisting of one American and one Canadian. The dogs immediately got a start and the running at Delmer Seale’s pen didn’t stop until the dogs were caught up at 11:25 am – four hours after they had begun. Game was plentiful, with an abundance of red fox only in that pen, and Roy Mays stated he and his judging partner scored ten crossings in the first hour.

A lot of speculation about whether or not the hounds from the north and south would be evenly matched and evenly talented was voiced, but by the end of the first day, it was apparent we were all running a similar dog. Sure, there were splits – with that many dogs and that many foxes, but they had some awesome packs of 20 – 30 hounds that at times were running together. These dogs don’t seem to know their citizenship, nor did they care. All they wanted to do was catch that red, bushy-tailed sucker, and much to our delight, they tried their best as a group to make that happen.

Above: Harold (the Fox) enjoys the tailgate lunch provided by Linda and Tom Alldread on Saturday. Linda (below) did all the cooking, of course!