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Entry: Can Beagles Cause Blindness? Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/can_beagles_cause_blindness#27540 Post contents: The First Time The first time my Dad let me hunt his pack of foxhounds I learned a few lessons. React to your instinct because inaction can lead to events that can spiral out of Control. Back in 1980 I was 20 years old. Having hunted beagles as a kid I thought I was ready to hunt the pack, 40 foxhounds.( My dad had to make a presentation to The Pa. Game Commision therefore would not be able to hunt the pack that Sunday . The prior Month we had 10 hounds caught in traps and found another 20 traps. We found them in a 10 acre block on one hunt. We thought Trapping was a little out of control,. Fur prices were in its heyday. The Game commissioners had a little surprise when he dropped a garbage bag full of traps on the floor, anyway that is a little off topic). The morning of the hunt my Dad said Watch out for 3 or 4 young dogs. The prior hunt they had pulled down an injured deer. So Sunday morning I took the hounds up into the hill. They found a fox and ran him Along the ridge crossing a blacktop road. Further down ridge I noticed the cry of Pack started to decrease. At the end of the ridge there was a strand of round wire That blocked us from accessing the next hard road. (Horseback) We found a stick to prop the wire up and galloped down to the road. I looked up the road to my left and saw an Angry landowner and the pack racing away parallel with the road at top speed. He yelled the hounds were on deer. I told him they couldn’t be, this pack was deerbroken. As I galloped up the road A little voice of doubt started to whisper in my ear. Hounds were just crossing this road As I got there. Only 3 hounds were tonguing the rest were “observers”. At that point There was an impassable swamp and then the PA turnpike. On the map it is between The Downingtown and Morgantown exchanges. The hounds swung to the left. I thought Maybe if I am lucky I can catch them crossing the powerline 2 miles down the road. I Galloped for all I was worth. I could barely hear them but I knew they were going to cross the powerline. Down the powerline I went however I was too late. They crossed. At that point the hounds swung directly towards the turnpike. I galloped down to where The powerline and turnpike met. I looked down the turnpike only to see the deer crossing With 40 hounds only 10 feet behind the deer. I jumped off my horse and handed it to the guy with me. I ran down crossing the turnpike with my .22 in hand. Traffic on this 4 lane highway is nonstop. When I reached the hounds up on the bank they had the deer pinned up against the fence, biting away. I fired the 22 (birdshot) into the pack 4 or 5 times. The hounds started to scatter but I was able to corral them so they wouldn’t cross back over the highway. The deer got up and went Down the fence line and then crawled under a gap. At that moment I realized I needed to get hounds out of this predicament. I thought the best thing to do was stop traffic and recross, because I wasn’t sure if any back hounds would come. I started to wave my arms for traffic to stop but every time the car slowed down, the instant they saw the gun in my hand they sped up with wild looks in their eyes. They thought I was Patton without the medals. I decided to throw the gun back across the highway. Hounds were still sitting on the bank . I started waving my arms again and this beautiful longhaired blonde stops her car and gets out. No problem, everybody stops, both lanes. I called the hounds to come on, retrieved the gun just as the state policeman was pulling up. He made sure the blonde was ok, and trotted off with the pack It was a miracle that not one hound was lost. It was a lesson I will never forget. Sent at: 2008 12 01