New Years Day Hunt Report - Rivendell Farm - 01/01/2022

New Years Day/Hair of the Dog Hunt Rivendell Farm Newbury, OH In Tolkien’s famous tale, “The Hobbit”, Rivendell is a magically beautiful place filled with elves. In NE Ohio, Rivendell is a magically beautiful place filled with rabbits. I have to admit my confidence was a tad shaky at the start of the hunt. With some recent, unfortunate encounters with off-game as well as some non-negotiable no-trespass zones at this fixture, I wondered if today was going to go sideways on me. Our first covert hugged the no-trespass zone, and although we had some promising music here, the line appeared to be leading exactly where we were not permitted to go. So, rather than tempt fate, we decided to cross the pasture with the pack and put in at the thick, marshy fringe surrounding the large pond. The marshy fringe yielded us a very sporting rabbit. We had multiple thrilling views that the field could enjoy from the mowed path. The staff enjoyed a bit of a break (compared to last week’s hill climbing and sprinting event) as this covert was easy to watch, both for views and potential riot. The rabbit circled the covert about four times, giving us an hour and a half of good cry from the beagles before she ran northeast and got away. Apres hunt, landowners Rob and Laura Mock made a great big bonfire in the pasture behind the house so we could stay warm as raindrops begin to fall while we continued to visit and compare notes from the exciting morning we had all just enjoyed. I hope that your start to the New Year felt as promising as ours did here at the Chagrin Valley Beagles. Happy New Year and all the best to our Beagling community near and far!