Written by Susie Stevenson
March 27, 2005 9:30 am Boot Road fixture in Flagstaff, AZ
On the eighth hunt of the Western Hunt Challenge tour 2005, the Paradise Valley Beagles from Phoenix, AZ were ready for an excellent day of hunting in the high country of Flagstaff. With the weather warm and slightly breezy, Susie Stevenson MB and fieldmaster for the day, introduced her daughter Zoe Stevenson as huntsman and Wendy Borst, Jennie Curé and Jane Murphy as whippers-in.
Zoe cast seven and a half couple beagles into a valley of low sage brush and cinders. Within minutes, the hounds jumped a jackrabbit and quickly caught the line up a cinder hill into the tall pinion pines. Here the field was able to watch the beagles work a line that darted between the juniper trees and pines. The beagles tracked the jackrabbit for ˝ hour east to the base of Cockran Hill. Unfortunately, the hounds lost the jackrabbit in the dry cinders.
The beagle pack then cast back west through more pinions that dotted the grassy areas. The beagles only found scent in the shady areas. They tracked the jackrabbit from patches of pine needles and grass across the black cinders with the help of whipper-in Jane Murphy driving up the dwellers. The hounds kept the line long enough to jump the hunted jackrabbit out of its form. The run continued north uphill through the cinder valley, into the pines again, through a barbed wire fence, and up a small rocky hill. The beagles pulled up at the pipeline road after a long 45 minute run. The field cheered and the staff smiled. It was a great day.
We covered 8 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Paradise Valley Beagles ready to leave the meet
PVB member Ann Ezzell + 'Lionheart' on their first WHC trip with the San Francisco Peaks in the background
