---

   Fall weather seems to have arrived right on schedule. The temperatures have dropped at the same time the calendar said it was supposed to. This is both unusual and nice. It is good to get the hunting dogs out on a cool morning to practice their skills. Small game season is open so a person can hunt squirrels and rabbits.

   On Saturday mornings, our son, Damon will usually come over for coffee. On the way down the hill to the house, he will turn loose his two beagle hounds to hunt our resident rabbits. By the time we all get our cup of coffee and settled in on the porch, the dogs are on the trail of a rabbit. We enjoy watching and listening to their baying as they go from one place to another in hot pursuit. We can also watch the rabbit as it stays just far enough ahead of the dogs to keep things interesting. It is not what one would call actual hunting as nobody shoots the rabbit. It is more about the chase than getting a rabbit. The dogs have a good time practicing their tracking skills, we enjoy listening, and I also believe the rabbit has a good time. When it gets tired of the game after an hour or so, it disappears over the hill into the heavy timber. The beagles then come to the house, get a drink, and usually take a quick nap on somebody’s lap, getting ready for the next hunt.

   Our grandson, Zane, has been training a squirrel dog. Red has figured out the sport and loves to tree squirrels. It is even more fun for him since now Zane will occasionally shoot a squirrel that Red has treed. The little dog is a bundle of energy that loves nothing more than to be in the timber. He can be sound asleep but if someone says the word “squirrel,” he is up and ready to go. Since squirrel season has opened, there has been several fried squirrel meals at their house. The little dog is good at his job.

   Though Damon and Zane have dogs that could almost be classified as professional hunters, we have two dogs that enjoy hunting also, even if they are not that good at it. Billie, the poodle, and Jag, the antique terrier, both love to chase anything that is willing to run away from them. Billie hunts primarily by sight and Jag is mostly a scent hunter. One would think that would be a good combination for hunting, but neither are highly skilled. Jag will get confused and hunt the scent trail backwards and if Billie loses sight of the prey, it is as if it simply disappeared. For the longest time, I was certain that Billie would not know what to do with a rabbit if he did happen to catch one. I was wrong about that but there was no chance of us having rabbit stew when he got done with it. He caught it, it was his, end of the discussion. The pair are only slightly better at squirrel hunting. If Billie sees a squirrel, he will chase it up a tree and Jag will come check out the scent. The two of them will then sit at the bottom of the tree wondering where the squirrel went. If the squirrel did not jump to another tree and a person wanted, they could probably get it as the two dogs are not letting it come down. As with Damon and the beagles, we enjoy the thrill of the chase when Billie and Jag go after a squirrel and do not really care about getting it.

---