It’s a cold, misty mid-week morning in Epiphany term. You rise with the sun and quickly pull on  the warmest, most weatherproof clothing your wardrobe has to offer, and head downstairs. You  make a packed lunch, fill a flask with your restorative beverage of choice, and head out the door. Being in the throes of summative season, you see your fellow students, equally weary from the  early start coupled with last night’s drinks, heading towards the college library to study. Not you. You will spend the next six hours running through muddy fields and hills with a pack of hounds.  

Beagles first arrived in Britain as a result of the Norman Conquest, and have been used as pack hunting animals from the time of King Edward II, who had his own pack. Due to their small size — which gives the breed its name, originating from the Gaelic word for “small”, beag — and relatively slow speed, beagles are a match really only for rabbits, gaining them popularity when  the appeal of hunting was more about the thrill of the chase rather than the kill. In beagling, this is  still largely the case. 

Today, there are around fifty beagle packs still active in Britain, each with their own geographical  region that they tend to cover. Farmers and landowners who are being pestered by rabbits  ravaging the crops and habitats will organise with their local beagle pack a day which suits all parties, and the hounds will attempt to sniff out the offending animals, picking up and following  their various scent trails in the hopes that they can lay eyes on the rabbits and put an end to the  problem. People are there to keep watch for rabbits, ensure the hounds stay as a pack on one  scent, and, if you develop a particular knack for it, to predict where the rabbit will want to go and  direct the hounds accordingly. 

The barriers to entry for becoming a follower of a beagle pack are incredibly low, making it  arguably one of the lowest-cost sports that university students could get involved in. Typically, a  day’s beagling may cost between £10-20 for a visitor, with proceeds going towards the upkeep of  things like the hunt kennels. There is no specific equipment needed, usually only an old pair of  trainers or football boots for running around in, and a regular allotment of boiled eggs, Tesco  Melton Mowbray pork pies, and cigarettes to ensure you stay well nourished on the day. There is  the odd confusing bit of lingo to get to grips with, as hunting has its own vocabulary, but you can  delight your friends upon your return to the normal world by asking them to pick up a brace of Dr Oetker pizzas for supper. 

Most people who are involved with hunts are volunteers, usually aside from the huntsman who is  tasked with the daily maintenance of the kennels and exercising the hounds, which means there is  ample scope to take a more involved role if one so wishes. For those casual visitors who aren’t  perhaps in the best shape to be running around moors, it is acceptable to take up a valuable  position on top of a hill and keep watch. For those who want some hard exercise, the huntsman  will relish the extra support and will hand you a whip, instructing you to head to a hilltop off on the  horizon, only to be recalled upon your arrival as the rabbit has doubled back on them. 

Much of the beauty of beagling is in the proximity to the action; even as a visitor for the day, you  are directly involved in how the hunt proceeds, influencing where the rabbit and subsequently the  hounds will run to. On numerous occasions, seeing you not as a threat but rather as a method for  confusing its pursuers, a cunning rabbit may make a direct line for you before dipping under the  fence you’re waiting at, sending two dozen hounds roaring onto your position. You may see a  catch, or multiple; you may see none at all; but you will have that rare opportunity to see a key  facet of the natural world up close, and it is an experience worth having. 

There is no better way to see the countryside than from deep within. For those who are only  temporarily resident somewhere, as I was upon going to university in the northeast of England, getting involved in such a sport allows you to avail of unrestricted views of restricted countryside, of moors and valleys normally off-limits to the public, and to begin to piece together the rich tapestry of land that makes up the penumbra around the place you choose to call home. In three  years living in Durham, I traversed the countryside from Lastingham to Hexham, and as far north  as Berwick; back home in Ireland, I have explored the windswept fields of the Antrim coastline,  offering breathtaking views of the Mull of Kintyre seemingly within a stone’s throw. 

Beagling is not exempt from all the trials and tribulations that hunting faces in the modern day

Of course, there is the social aspect, too. Oxford and Cambridge both have affiliated beagle  packs: the Christ Church and Farley Hill at the former, and the Trinity Foot and South Herts at the latter. Here, especially, there are several notoriously fun events planned throughout the year, with particular note given to the TFSHB Hunt Ball, usually in a marquee in a field outside of  Cambridge. This is not the average Cambridge ball; put the picture of high ceilings and a four course dinner out of your head, and replace it with trestle tables, food fights, and mud caked all  over the dance floor, all following a morning’s beagling in the surrounding countryside. Good, honest fun. 

Beagling is not exempt from all the trials and tribulations that hunting faces in the modern day, however. Although the sport will likely remain unscathed by the proposed Labour ban on trail  hunting — as rabbits are live quarry — it still faces huge pressure from several different angles. There is much less support for hunting from the general public now than at any time in the past, which serves to discourage those who may wish to develop an interest in field sports from ever  doing so. Although hunting practices have generally become much more well regulated, the  Overton window has shifted at a quicker rate, and many things which were for a long time considered normal are now viewed as taboo; beagling is no exception. 

This is coupled by the endless presence of hunt saboteurs who seek to disrupt hunts from taking  place at all, whether by intimidation, laying false trails for the hounds to follow, or spreading misinformation, often helped by a good deal of trespassing on private land. It is difficult to encourage people to give beagling a try when they are aware that this is the kind of backlash that they may face.  

A large part of this hatred of field sports comes from the misconception that it is undertaken by  the rich and powerful. This could not be farther from the truth. Not long ago, I was a visitor to a foxhound pack on a day’s hunting in Northern Ireland (where fox hunting is still legal as it is a devolved issue). My colleagues for the day were few — only around five people — but all were distinctly working class. We travelled to the day’s hunting in an old transit van that one of  the volunteers uses as part of his day job as a plumber; several others had similar jobs, and the remainder were smallholder farmers. 

For those of an open mind, there is still much enjoyment to be had beagling

One friend, who took up the sport at university and as a result whipped-in for the Newcastle and  District Beagles for several years, believes that a government ban on hunting is motivated by such  a desire to “tilt at a windmill that was outdated under Blair and is laughable under Starmer”. Quite  right, and even Blair himself is aware now of how ridiculous a sentiment it is, writing in his memoirs A Journey that The Hunting Act 2004 is “one of the domestic legislative measures I most  regret”.  

For those of an open mind, there is still much enjoyment to be had beagling. If you are willing to put aside any preconceptions you have about hunting or the people who may do it, and don’t  mind the early starts and clambering over barbed wire fences, you may find that you actually enjoy yourself. At the very least, it is a more interesting sport to take up than rowing.