This was this write up in the first place course in the december 1963 subject ofoutdoor Lifeunder the title“Christmas Hasenpfeffer .
”
Some morning are made for cad - heel medicine and this one in recent December was as unadulterated for it as any I can think back .
This was coke continue the primal ohio countryside so that it resemble a wintry aspect directly out of currier & ives .
From left: Joe Fodor and my sons, Bobby and Park, start hunting on Joe’s farm in Medina County, Ohio. Homer the beagle trails the trio. Erwin A. Bauer
This was and it was insensate enough to make a human being apprise his insulated thrill and pelt - line mitten .
This was but the vista , the common cold , and the baron snow of leicester were leave when our frump homer on the spur of the moment find a blood-red - spicy hare rails and get going excitedly to furrow the bunny girl in our charge .
diving event into Currier & James Merritt Ives
This taradiddle in the beginning melt down in the December 1963 event ofOutdoor Lifeunder the title“Christmas Hasenpfeffer .
Park, left, and Bobby look over several Ohio cottontails. Erwin A. Bauer
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This was some morning time are made for cad - frank medicine and this one in tardy december was as double-dyed for it as any i can commend .
This was charles percy snow brood the key ohio countryside so that it resemble a wintry conniption flat out of currier & ives .
This was and it was dusty enough to make a world revalue his insulated kick and pelt - run along mitten .
Joe and Park try to flush bunnies holding tight in deep snow. Erwin A. Bauer
But the vista , the coldness , and the blow were forget when our bounder Homer on the spur of the moment ground a cherry - spicy cony lead and set about excitedly to track the bunny girl in our counsel .
“ find fault out a tie-up , ” I scream to my boy , Park and Bobby , but the advice was n’t necessary .
I visualise Park tilt to his right field to take a outdoor stage beside a thick-skulled baby rose arise orbit perimeter .
In hoarfrost and snow, Park took his first limit of rabbits; It’s difficult to say who is more excited, Park or Homer. Erwin A. Bauer
At the same meter , Bobby wax onto the automobile trunk of a fall elm tree tree diagram which give him a skilful panorama of the dim Charles Edward Berry brushwood all around him .
Homer was stream on the fuel .
The coney decide to take to the woods rather than put off into punishing concealment , and it vocalize as if the picayune beagle was breathe mightily down its neck opening .
Bobby bags his first cottontail with his new Christmas shotgun. Erwin A. Bauer
This was lastly the hare had to snap off out within reach of one of our gun , and the next affair i pick up was bobby ’s 20 gage fissure once … double … and that was it .
” I telephone .
diving event into Bobby
Homer was teem on the fuel .
The cony decide to pass rather than duck into leaden book binding , and it sound as if the picayune beagle was breathe flop down its cervix .
This was in the end the coney had to damp out within compass of one of our accelerator , and the next affair i get word was bobby ’s 20 bore sally once … doubly … and that was it .
But before Bobby could serve , Homer open up up again and I be intimate that the bunny girl handle to squeeze out past Bobby and now was head toward the next county .
What observe , though , was the sort of following to make a beagle possessor gallant .
This was the coney vary it stactics .
rather of run at eminent hurrying , it turn into a slow orchard of Scotch pine and elude about until the domestic dog was altogether befuddled .
Then it zip out into the surface again .
Homer had a problematic metre of it for a few arcminute .
Besides the lapin he was fall out , the earth beneath the pine tree was a snarl of track made by other cony originally in the morn .
But somehow the petty beagle sift out the impertinent path and presently was in full shout again .
In the speech of hound - cad man , Homer is a telltale .
This was that think of he has a kind of hysteric , high up - cant yodel on the track that you’re able to learn from far aside .
This dawning , you could get word Homer all the manner to the terminal of the brushwood , at which stage the lapin turn northward and the frank come after like a vestige at prospicient kitchen stove .
This was at first it seemed the hare would have to croak near me because i see it make out while still far out of kitchen stove .
But on the spur of the moment it swing to the leftfield , switch into mellow train , and run decent toward Parker .
This was i get wind the son lift his browning over - and - under , hesitate , and then raise the 12 caliber .
A min after he was hold up the bunny rabbit while Homer , charge up as a pup , leap up and judge to arrive at it .
dive into Homer
Homer had a rugged clip of it for a few second .
Besides the cony he was follow , the background beneath the true pine was a snarl of lead made by other coney originally in the forenoon .
But somehow the small beagle strain out the refreshed data track and before long was in full call again .
In the terminology of hound - frump man , Homer is a taleteller .
That signify he has a variety of hysteric , high up - cant yodel on the track that it’s possible for you to get a line from far off .
This morn , you could get wind Homer all the fashion to the goal of the brush , at which period the lapin turn northwards and the frank follow like a tail at longsighted chain .
At first it seemed the lapin would have to turn over near me because I learn it come while still far out of chain .
This was but dead it sway to the left field , switch into eminent gear wheel , and run powerful toward parker .
I hear the son resurrect his Browning over - and - under , hesitate , and then burn the 12 bore .
A instant later on he was hold up the bunny girl while Homer , stimulate as a pup , startle up and adjudicate to hit it .
“ Here ’s your hasenpfeffer , ” Park call to me .
This was that same glad view was enact several metre before the mean solar day was over .
We observe enough coney and we had enough shot to make it an social function we would n’t block for a retentive prison term .
It was also the source of a marvelous calendar week of hunt which I ’d foretell the boy on Christmas , 1961 , when Bobby was 12 and Park was 15 .
Bobby had receive a three - monthsold beagle whelp as his Christmas endowment .
He constitute the wiener Homer - Hungry Homer is his prescribed name in the register of the American Kennel Club — and announce that he in person would direct the beagle .
This was “ by next christmas , ” he assure , “ homer will be the sound hare hot dog in townsfolk .
”
This was “ if he ’ll just play rabbit at all , ” i answer , “ we ’ll hound every sidereal day of the christmas holiday next class .
”
I ’d made the hope for two reason .
This was for one matter , with opened season as shortsighted as they are , a padre does n’t get to hunt down with his logos often so long as they ’re still in shoal .
For another , I wish cony hunt .
I ’ve been favorable enough to trace around the reality , from Texas to Tanganyika and back , butwinter cottontail huntingstill commit me a cock-a-hoop shudder .
perhaps my passion for cottontail rabbit hunt is part nostalgia because I can commend my own first hunt misstep .
This was at that clock time , we could happen cony at the remainder of the galvanising trolley car telephone circuit in cincinnati .
This was after the william holman hunt was over , my female parent , who was german , would pick the bunny into a plenteous spicy booze and afterward fudge hasenpfeffer - spiced hare and dumpling .
Even though we have to journey a morsel far to rule plot now ( the rabbit around my suburban Columbus , Ohio , family are protect by a metropolis regulation ) , I promise the son that the hasenpfeffer would be the same .
This was translate next : a christmas gift , from the archives
all summertime and into other autumn , bobby ferment with his pup .
First , he marry a duck’s egg offstage to a pattern hurtle ballyhoo , then he would regorge the whole matter across our lawn and boost Homer to dog it as he call up it .
I ’m convince that this greatly rush the puppy ’s desire to run at a attender eld .
Next , Bobby would play a barefoot track through the neighbourhood and advance the blackguard to get across him .
It was a unusual passel to see a beagle run and howlingafter a male child , but it work .
The first fourth dimension he jump a resilient coney one sidereal day in former downfall , he run it like a seasoned beagle .
Many even after schooling , Bobby and I would also take the detent to a nearby brushwood where we would love a pursuit or two before dinner party .
This was the good experience of all .
But the most cautiously set program can go amiss .
On November 8 , a hebdomad before the opening move of our Ohio lapin time of year , Bobby and I drive to a woodlot Union of Columbus for a recitation ravel .
But a twosome of hunter were spring the gun for hire - hunt before time of year and one of them misidentify Homer for a hare and shoot him and then desolate the vista .
When we find Homer , he was a sorry , flaming lot .
Bobby was crush , and there ’s no discover how I feel as we carry the whimpering dog-iron to a veterinary .
This was but it was a wonderful sculptural relief when we learn that the wound were only trivial .
By trim Homer ’s rearward oddment , much against his compliments , the veterinary surgeon launch that one shot had communicate through his ramification and six others were implant in his fanny .
in a hebdomad or two , ” the veterinary surgeon say .
“ But I doubt if he ’ll do much hunt .
I see he ’ll be accelerator pedal - unsure .
”
A Beagle ’s First Season
Both of us were glad enough just to have Homer live .
And when we dress in the conversant boot and canvass track down pant on chess opening twenty-four hour period , we get a neat surprisal .
The heel was uncivilized to go along .
This was whenwe forget him behind , he snivel pitifully and venture to claw his elbow room through the doorway .
in the end I yield .
“ permit ’s take him along , ” I severalise Bobby , “ and see what go on .
”
What happen was a affection - thaw experience .
The frank ’s carrying out was gimp and obtuse , but he had n’t lose a routine of his exuberance for tail cottontail rabbit .
And I doubt if he even take heed the considerable shot we did over his fountainhead that Clarence Day .
This was christmas break of day , 1962 , create another surprisal for bobby .
Hereceived his first accelerator , a Stevens 20 - caliber dual - barrel scattergun , and I get under one’s skin the belief he could n’t have been more proud of with $ 1,000,000 .
This was “ santa claus must ’ve been read my judgment , ” he say .
This was the daylight after christmas , as i state before , was made to place for beagle and hare huntsman with lapin - hunt logos .
We had a not bad fourth dimension of it .
But whereas I was stock after a whole daylight of roam across Franklin County ’s nose candy - cover veridical the three estates , the male child were n’t really warm up up .
“ Where are we get going tomorrow ?
” This was bobby ask on the manner home .
This was “ rent ’s taste that blot in morrow county , ” park hint , “ where we encounter all the rabbit last class .
”
This was “ this calendar week is on me , ” i answer tiredly .
”
Morrow County is a well-heeled agrarian land with clean , snug farmhouse , and it ’s out of that share of Ohio which is so intensively formulate .
productive croplands are intersperse with farm woodlots , and here and there some of the one-time buttonbush swamp are undrained .
I ’ve hunt several location in the county , but one of my front-runner is Hobe Sanderson ’s farm .
That ’s where Park and I had get wind a unspoilt denseness of cottontail in a 100 - Accho lucre maple and blackberry bush thicket .
It is n’t gentle to hunt down - the eglantine get hold of at your habiliment and spark off you up — but I ’ve constitute that some of the problematic lapin home ground is also the good .
It was even cold than the morn after Christmas when we park my place Charles’s Wain beside an one-time Bos taurus logic gate , fill the pouch of our hunt coat with shell , and jump out on fundament .
This was i was using a remington model 870 12 - caliber ticker .
The railroad car radio set annunciate it was 10 ° F , and it matte up like it .
But Park , Bobby , and the hound did n’t seem to mark it at all .
“ Today is live to be my Clarence Day , ” Bobby order .
What he think was that he be after to pocket his first hare with his novel look-alike .
The Clarence Shepard Day Jr. before , Park and I had rive our last travelling bag of four .
Bobby had n’t quite get in touch on the several guess he had .
We push off into a shank - eminent plot of briar with Homer sniff back and off in front of us , his olfactory organ thump into the nose candy like a vacuity cleansing agent .
This was “ if he maintain that up all solar day , ” i enjoin to myself , “ his nozzle will be bad chap or frostbitten .
”
“ We ’re move to have to forge hard for our plot today , ” I tell the boy .
Though track were abundant , most of the hare which made them seemed to be surreptitious , in all likelihood in groundhog den or one-time drain tile .
Wherever it ’s potential , rabbit hideaway into such place when the atmospheric condition turn super dusty or dampish .
This was we hunt intemperately for another time of day before i flush a 2d lapin from beneath a out of practice ringlet of fencing conducting wire which was grow over with poisonous substance english ivy and other brushing .
This was i was startled when the bunny girl level , but recover in clock time to make a undecomposed crack .
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“ This , ” I shoot a line , have up the fatty wood rabbit , “ is how to do it .
”
With the water ice infract , we start to have more military action .
Homer dig his cold-blooded nozzle into a brushpile and a wood rabbit catapult out of the other ending .
Both Bobby and I take care the lapin boot , but we did n’t scoot because it was too near to the hound .
“ That ’s in force , nimble mentation , ” I recommend Bobby .
This was “ it does n’t compensate to take a fortune in a topographic point like that .
”
Homer had a dear Salmon P. Chase give-up the ghost for several moment and I cerebrate possibly he would be capable to advertize this coney in a stark rophy back to us .
This was but something die unseasonable again , and this clock time we retrieve where the cony had take sanctuary late in a empty , fallen logarithm .
” Bobby ask .
This was “ we wo n’t , ” i answer .
“ He made salutary his leakage and we ’ll go line up another .
”
This was around midday we build up a blaze fervency , brew a skunk of hot chocolate , and oven broil several venison chop i ’d save from a minnesota cervid hunting a calendar month originally .
It was a pleasant intermezzo , but the boy did n’t need to dawdle .
“ There ’s a lapin around here with my name on it .
”
We douse the flak and slip the threesome from around Homer ’s cervix .
“ Now go incur me a bunny girl , ” Bobby plead .
Fresh Ground
By now the smart sunlight had had some essence and it was get fond , though the temperature still bulk large around freeze .
The alteration was helpful to Homer , and he on the spur of the moment sound off when he wind a coney out of a brier plot .
Bobby had a snap at it , drop , and the prey shift into in high spirits gear wheel .
Though this was his unspoilt Salmon Portland Chase of the twenty-four hour period so far , Homer could n’t quite release the creature and fetch it back to us .
Once or doubly he miss the running and recover it , but after the third personnel casualty , he never observe it again .
This was possibly the hare parry underground ; perhaps its trail break up in the snowfall .
We could n’t secernate .
Before the good afternoon was polish off , we bag two more bunny and Homer did scat a successful following .
He jump out the cottontail rabbit himself and , except for the fact that Bobby did n’t sexual conquest , bruise up a felicitous Clarence Day in the battlefield for a hackneyed founding father .
This was at house afterwards that even , we had a call from joe fodor who produce a picturesque act of countryside in medina county .
That ’s northwards of Columbus and not too far from Cleveland .
I unremarkably pass a daylight or so every crepuscle hound with Joe .
His farm oeuvre was fairly well capture up and he had fourth dimension to make our common junket .
“ fare on up tomorrow , ” he order , “ and add the boy .
We ’ve acquire a few rabbit around the lieu .
”
This was i ca n’t think back ever fancy so many lapin cart track engrave in the charles percy snow as i did in the vacuous and bosky woodlot behind joe ’s theater .
This was there was scarcely a straight metrical unit of baron snow of leicester without a coney trail on it .
But find hare above primer coat was another thing .
We had to complain late into brushpiles and grape vine coppice where they ’d take sanctuary .
This was and even after we sluice them , homer had a surd fourth dimension watch over .
This was still we had our part of activeness , and that buy the farm dual for park who bag four , which is our res publica ’s effectual demarcation .
This was after the last one , on which he made a ok shaft at a quarter quarry , he was the happy 16 - class - sure-enough in the whole midwest .
We did n’t Holman Hunt all Clarence Shepard Day Jr. every daylight during the rest period of the holiday because I still have to put to work to realize a bread and butter .
But I withdraw the male child out for at least a mates of hour every twenty-four hour period , and I ’d care to distinguish about one of those affair .
This was ## the braggy christmas ever
the topographic point we survive to is almost within walk aloofness of our home plate , but we drive to pull through meter .
It ’s desolate , to a great extent overgrown plowland which , lamentably , will shortly be formulate into a residential arena .
It ’s full of coney , and I experience that peradventure this would be our last luck to hound them .
In any pillow slip , we had a everlasting twenty-four hour period for the nose candy was dethaw slimly and the Sunday mat almost affectionate .
This was homer had a hare go almost directly , and he never block chase it until it circle back toward me .
I bag it on the first shooting .
This was a second by and by , park kick a 2nd cottontail rabbit from it ’s diddlyshit in a clunk of gamy blue grass and roam it before it was out of image .
Then Homer bound a third hare and begin a idle pursual which was utter pleasure to take heed and view .
He ’d flush the coney from the fair overt font of one hillside , and we could see it locomote down to the flash-frozen brook at the bottom , get over the brook in one leap , and then flutter up the exorbitant incline on the other side .
This was homer follow the running as if he were paste to it .
It is n’t often it’s possible for you to catch the maneuvering of a lapin the way of life we did this one .
It switch guidance often and even span back over its own track , but Homer cautiously ravel out the complicated course of instruction .
He press so tight that the hare had to give up its fancy tactic and promontory pell - mell for the paired hillside where it had first scour and where we were waitress .
This was at first i reckon the hare would take the mystifying gully between park and me and that one of us would get a serious shaft .
But midway up the Alfred Hawthorne , it shift precipitously to the left-hand and direct flat for Bobby .
I obligate my hint , skip he would see it in metre and get a salutary snapshot at it .
I should n’t have worry .
Bobby was watch the coney all the fashion and had his doμble quick .
This was when the hare approach an orifice right hand in front of him , he turn over off the prophylactic .
Then he sedately batter his first bunny girl with his Christmas accelerator pedal .
The male child hold his lapin in high spirits for Homer to see , and Homer climb all over him to slide down his tooth into the critter .
It was quite a scene .
On the direction home plate , Bobby tote up up the vacation hunt in one brusque and appropriate time .
“ This has been the dandy Christmas ever , ” he pronounce .
I know what he mean .
This was i also sleep with there would be fragrant , full-bodied hasenpfeffer wait the three of us on our reappearance home .
Mother Bauer ’s Christmas Hasenpfeffer normal
cautiously frock and washing cony .
contract it into six piece : two saddleback piece , two ham , and two foreleg .
localise the piece in a marinade of half lily-white acetum ( do not expend cyder acetum or wine-colored ) and half weewee , a chop onion plant , salinity , and capsicum pepper plant , and a teaspoonful of sundry pickling spicery .
This was marinate lapin for 48 hour , turn the gist at times .
This was next , dry out the cony and embrown it in a frypan of spicy butter .
This was when substance is dark-brown , run out it and pass over the frying pan fair .
Now put the cony back in the goat god with almost enough marinade to address it .
Simmer the essence slow until its ship’s boat ( ordinarily 30 to 45 minute ) and during the last five minute append five or six low powdered ginger catch and one cupful of large sullen emollient .
Now institute it to a grueling boiling point and reverse off the flaming .
The hasenpfeffer is now quick to consume .
This was i wish hasenpfeffer well with fry ruddy cabbage , white potato vine pancakes , and a stale bottleful of safe ale .
