By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

The dogs are encouraged to move slowly, no one carries a gun and the rabbits usually die of old age.

Fans of action-packed hunting-related sports should take note: brace beagling isn’t for you.

“People tell me it’s as exciting as watching paint dry,” laughed Helen Gore as two beagles once again marked the track of a rabbit. “I don’t care – I love it.”

Gore and her husband Bud have Bear Branch Kennels in Old Dock. They are part of a tiny group of devotees to a rather unusual sport: brace beagling.

In brace beagling, the tracking dogs are released in large fenced enclosures. A judge or handler strikes the ground where a rabbit has been spotted, and the beagles head for the spot, calling as they follow the trail.

Training for brace beagles is simple, the Gores said.

“They pick it up from being around others,” Helen explained. “You have to teach them a few commands, but most of what they do is done on their own anyway.”

Carefully mown four-foot lanes crisscross the three-acre rabbit “pen” behind the Gores’ home. The practice pen is much smaller than the 30-plus acre pens used in field trials and competitions. Tangled vines and tall grass allow rabbits hiding places between the lanes.

The lanes are wide enough for older beaglers to use golf carts and even wheelchairs to follow their animals during a competition.

While it might not seem that being chased around in a fenced-in pasture is the life of Riley, the quarries sought by brace beagles are often cared for nearly as well as the dogs themselves.

In addition to being given feed supplements, secure breeding boxes and clean water, the rabbits are protected from predators like hawks, owls and foxes by a variety of scarecrows, decoys and flashing lights.

“Most of the rabbits die of old age if they avoid the predators,” Bud explained.

“It’s bad form if a beagle even sees a rabbit,” Helen said. “That means they’re going too fast. It’s more about style and technique – and voice.”

Dakota bawled as his nose went down and his wagging tail pointed almost straight up.

“The dogs are judged on their skills,” Helen explained, “and their voices. There is nothing prettier and happier than the sound of a beagle.”

Slow, but specialized competition

Brace beagling got its start from beagle-owners – also called beaglers – who hunted rabbits with their dogs five or six days per week, then held friendly competitions on Sunday afternoons to win bragging rights.

Today, hundreds of beaglers participate in the sport across the country. Bracing is gaining in popularity with hunters looking for a change – Bud was originally a competition coon hunter before Helen introduced him to bracing –as well as with the older generation.

“We have people from their 40s to their 80’s at field trials,” Helen explained. “There are people who’ve enjoyed this their entire lives, but the younger generation likes the flashier, sexier sports with more action.”

The Gores are the only local beaglers involved in bracing.

“We have to drive to Fayettteville,” Bud explained, “to get to a competition. We usually have to drive four or five hours to get to an event.”

Many brace beagle competitions are held in Piedmont areas throughout the South, which presents a challenge for flatland dogs like the Gores’ beagles.

“When they get going down hill,” Bid explained, “they can jump two or three times what they usually do, and they might catch up to the rabbit. When they’re going uphill, they tire quicker.”

Beagles are entered in field trials in pairs, and a random drawing determines which dog will be released first in each pair. The dogs’ handlers have a strict set of rules covering everything from crowding the lead dog to what happens if the lead dog loses the scent, but the second dog still has the bunny in his nostrils.

“You can see them sometimes when that happens,” Helen said. “The second dog will be barking and wanting to be turned loose, because he knows the lead dog is out of place.

Watching the hounds is a big part of the joy of bracing, the Gores said.

”It isn’t like coon hunting, where you have to catch up after the coon is treed,” Bud explained. “With brace beagling, you can follow along and watch.”

Helen said watching a dog make a mistake is like everything else a beagle does – slow and inevitable.

“That’s when you want to just yell at them to straighten up,” Helen said, “but you can’t. Sometimes they’ll realize they’re doing something wrong, and correct themselves, but sometimes it’s too late, and the other dog moves up.

“Watching your dog being judged, standing there with the crowd, not being able to do a thing about it – you learn to develop a thick skin,” Helen said.

Happy hounds

Unlike hounds used for fox and coon field trials or competition pointers in bird dog events, bracing beagles seem to enjoy the hunt.

Larger hounds can seem all business in a competition, but beagles on a bracing run just seem happy.

On a recent afternoon, as a score of other beagles begged to be turned loose from their kennels, Dakota and Sunset demonstrated their technique.

Each dog shoved his nose into the ground where Bud – using a tallyho stick, named for the traditional command given to dogs when they start – indicated he’d jumped a rabbit a few minutes before. From the time the dogs entered the fenced-in rabbit pen the two beagles wagged their tails as they barked, bayed and called excitedly to indicate the rabbit’s escape path.

The two never stopped wagging their tails until Helen and Bud hooked leads to their collars and began the long, sad trip of 100 yards back to the kennels.

“They want to keep going,” Helen said. “they don’t like to quit.”

A big draw with brace beagling is the beagles themselves, Helen said.

Considered one of the most affectionate and friendly hounds, beagles are also one of the few breeds that can be a house pet and still be a successful hunter. Few brace beagles work as gun dogs, Helen said, and dogs who are unsuitable for hunting or bracing quickly end up as pets.

“We give them away,” Helen said. “We don’t sell them. We don’t have many that don’t work out, but they make wonderful pets.”

The Gores are quick to tell interested visitors about their hobby.

“It’s a dying sport, but that can turn around,” Helen said. “Most of the young people don’t have the patience, but if you just hear those beagles give voice one time, you’re hooked.”

For more information on brace beagling, log on to Bracebegling.com or Americanbracebeaglingassociation.com.