With my hounds,I chose to hunt only the Snowshoe Hare, as other animals tend to travel too far in the wilderness. Hunting hare also has a special appeal: I believe that it is technically the most difficult animal to hunt with hounds. The hare has the most delicate and ephemeral of all scents and to complicate the matter, it rarely travels in a straight line. It is an expert at dealing with predators and it devises the most diabolical schemes to foil their attempts. My dogs are very fast, but they almost never capture a hare. Unless I decide to shoot one for supper, the hare is always lost and it always wins in the end. It is always a challenge for the dogs to trail successfully, even on good scenting days. On snow it is especially difficult. I started hunting hare with a couple of Beagles, but I knew that I would soon seek another type of hound. It was a matter of personal preference. I wanted a larger hound with longer legs that could handle all the snow that we get here in Eastern Canada and would not be troubled by the coyotes that are now numerous in this area. I imported many hounds from Europe to produce my Oldchap Hounds.

Hunting hare with hounds is a wonderful pastime. It has provided me with hours of enjoyment in the outdoors and allowed me to witness the most interesting and unusual behaviours. Hare are more intelligent than one might think. Since I rarely shoot a hare, I have come to know individual hares quite well, and I marvel at their strategies to fool the hounds. Hunting hare with hounds is probably the friendliest type of hunting one can do: The hare does not have to be killed. The dogs get to do what they love. You have a good reason to take them out and to get a little exercise. The hare, at most, gets irritated and annoyed at the hounds. I invite you to come along with my dogs and I in this world of virtual reality and I hope that through my short video clips, you can get, as I do, a sense of wonder, reverence and admiration for nature and the creatures that live in the wild. I hope as well, that you will share my affection for the dogs that help us understand and appreciate wild creatures in this unique way and allow us to witness and be part of the astonishing dramas that go on daily in the natural world.