HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER

                           

                       

DAYS ON THE ALLEGHENY

HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER

By

Joe Ewing

High HareMan of the

Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

The big woods of the Allegheny has the feeling of an oil field first and a wilderness second.

The following story appeared in the June 2018 issue

of BETTER BEAGLING magazine,  the July issue of
THE RABBIT HUNTER magazine and July issue of AMERICAN BEAGLER magazine

and is presented here for your reading pleasure with authorization of the author.

The air on the Allegheny is cold. The thermometer on the dashboard reads, “Zero”. It’s dark. The sinking sun vanished beyond the distant horizon hours ago. There’s no light pollution here and there’s no moon or stars. It’s zero-dark-thirty. The digital clock on the dashboard reads “8:15”. A stiff north breeze is the only thing moving. I know the wind chill index is low. The truck’s gas gauge reads empty.  I’m running on fumes. I’ll be out for a hike if the motor quits. I haven’t seen another human for hours. My hunting partner deserted me. It’s bowling night and I’m chasing a beagle named Speckles.

They’ve abandoned me before. I’m talking about both of them. I’m accustomed to being forsaken. I had to take him back to town because he couldn’t bear being late for bowling. I had to call home anyway and buy batteries for the electronics. He was telling me how his son didn’t come in until after dark one evening during deer season. “I hope it wasn’t bowling night,” I muttered sarcastically out of the corner of my mouth. I’m not leaving this hound out in the cold. This lost dog thing only happens when I’m low on battery power, short on gasoline or there’s a schedule to meet.

I have a Tracker® receiver clutched in my nearly frostbitten, formerly nicotine stained, fingers and Speckles has a Wildlife Materials® collar draped around her neck. I’ve been chasing this baffling signal from hillside to mountainside since three o’clock this afternoon. I’ve been using this dog retrieval gear for a while now and there’s one thing I should’ve learned and that is not to chase beagles on foot. My dad always told me, “what you lack in your head you’ll make up for in your feet.” I believe him now.  I will not chase these beagles on foot ever again, I keep promising myself, but then I do it again.  The hounds are faster than I am and they always, without fail, beat me back to the truck. I’ve had lost beagles arrive back home before me. This is not my first rodeo.

J. Ewing Photo

Wiggles and Speckles in 2006.

There are miles of roads in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). With the uptick of increased oil and gas developing along with the usual timbering operations there are even more roads being built. Many ANF roads are gated but some gates are left unlocked. The increase in crude oil prices has forced the oil and gas companies to keep their roads open. None-the-less, many hunters carry tire chains, tow straps and tow chains and come-alongs.

J. Ewing Photo

A come-along, come-a-longs or comealongs is a hand operated winch with a ratchet used to pull objects. Four ton come-a-longs are never enough. I’m done with come-a-longs.

I’m done with come-a-longs. They never get me unstuck. A come-along, come-a-longs or comealongs is a hand operated winch with a ratchet used to pull objects. Four ton come-a-longs are never enough.

I chased beagles this morning which was stupid. “Stupid is as stupid does,” said Forest Gump.  Down the mountain I went for a mile before reaching a forest service road where I discovered dog tracks. Up the road the dog tracks went with two sets of tracks turning back toward the pickup. Within minutes the beagles were back at the dog-truck looking for me, except for Speckles. The third set of tracks belong to her and she stayed on the road.

J. Ewing Photo

Just a few of the items I carry while hunting snowshoe hare on the Allegheny in the dead of winter. The items proceeding clockwise from the top left include; a snow shovel, flashlight, 20-foot tow chain, nylon tow strap, jumper cables, choker chains and two sets of tire chains.

Upon returning to the pickup and finding Speckles absent, I took off down the mountain for a second time. The further I went down the mountain the weaker the signal became. I retreated and the signal got stronger. The signal is stronger straight away toward the next mountain which suggests she’s on top of that mountain. I must find her before she drops off the other side. If she goes over the edge I will sure enough lose her signal.

J. Ewing Photo

Wiggles and Speckles on the hunt for hare on the Allegheny in 2009.

Locals, visitors and myself call these hills “mountains”, however, the Allegheny Plateau is a table land or high plain. During the last ice age, the glacier leveled the land. Over the last hundreds of thousands of years, give or take a few years, ancient streams and rivers cut deep valleys into the landscape.  The Allegheny Plateau extends through western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia and eastern Ohio. A large portion of the plateau is known as the “Big Level”.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Allegheny Plateau

Not long ago I chased a signal for miles before it dawned on me the signal was running on the electric line. Luckily, I was not on foot. After reconnoitering, I found old Blackie right where I left him. He was more abandoned than lost.

Blacky, hunting with the author and Master Maine Guide, Bob Howe (R)

I have a good signal now. Standing outside the truck in the cold trying to pinpoint a good signal is getting cold and old. As I idle slowly forward the signal is getting noticeably stronger. The signal is steering me into an oil company installation containing several buildings. I’ve never been here before and I probably shouldn’t be here now especially in the dark. I wonder if the place is alarmed. This oil field is owned by Minard Run Oil Company which is the world’s oldest family owned and operated independent oil producer under the continuous management of one family.

J. Ewing Photo

Wiggles 2007

There are dog tracks in the relatively fresh snow. As I study them they look way too big to belong to Speckles and there’s too many of them. They could be coyote tracks but they seem too big even for coyote. Luckily, there are no wolves on the Allegheny. I swallow hard at the thought of coyotes and wolves. A feeling of uneasiness washes over me followed by a deeper feeling of urgency. I must find Speckles soon.

An ancient wooden oil tank is an ornament in some local’s front yard. The pipe in the foreground may indicate an abandoned, orphaned or a plugged oil well.

These wooden crude tanks were used to separate the crude oil from the produced water. They operated on the simple theory that oil floats on water. The water was then allowed to flow onto the ground. This wooden tank is likely more than a century old. The tanks were often made of cypress wood or redwood. These old oil tanks were so well made that many are still in operation today and many abandoned tanks are so impregnated with crude oil they will undoubtedly last forever.

I hear a gas engine running in one building. Natural gas driven engines are used to power electric generators on these remote oil and gas leases. Many leases are miles from any commercial power line. The electricity produced by the generators power the pumping jacks, lights and other equipment. Natural gas is in endless supply and cheap. The big woods of the Allegheny has the feeling of an oil field first and a wilderness second.

The Allegheny is home to more than 12,000 active gas and oil wells. Some produce hardly a barrel of crude a week, while others produce several times that. Much of the paraffin-rich oil is trucked to the American Refining Group in Bradford, about 6 miles northeast of the ANF, where it's refined into lubricating oil.

Oil wells dotted the landscape many decades before the Allegheny National Forest was created. An additional 100,000 wells may be abandoned or “orphaned”. Orphaned wells are wells whose legal owner is unknown. Thousands of wells have been abandoned for over a century and information about them is impossible to find. Orphaned wells can cause environmental damage by leaking pollutants into the atmosphere or water supplies.

 

J. Ewing Photo

Electric powered oil pumping jack on the high plateau today.

The signal is strong no matter which way I point the receiver. The signal seems strongest toward a three-sided storage building packed full of bales of straw. If I were a beagle this is where I’d be hunkered down for the night. As I shine my quickly dimming flashlight around the area I call out her name, “Speckles?” I yell louder, “Speckles.” No response because she’s not here.

As I make my way back to my idling pick-up I see headlights approaching. Just what I need. I’m not in the mood to do a lot of explaining. As what seems like excessively bright headlights come to a stop, I guess it to be an oilfield worker checking up on his equipment. At least it’s not the game warden, forest ranger or the state police. He has a big black dog in his cab which explains a lot. “Hello,” I shout for no good reason. “I’m looking for a lost beagle,” I try to explain in a lower tone. The man doesn’t seem to care I’m in his compound. I’m relieved.

“I haven’t seen one,” he says. “Some kind of tracking device you got there?” he asks as he hears the beeping coming from the receiver.

“Yep, I’m using this radio tracker to help me locate my dog,” I respond. “The signal brought me here but I don’t think she’s here.” The conversation lasts only seconds.

“I’ll keep an eye out,” he says and with that he’s on his way only giving me an instant to blurt out, “thank you”.

Back in my pick-up, vigorously trying to get some warmth back in my tingling fingers, it occurs to me all of these buildings are made of sheet-metal. Could the signal be bouncing off all this steel, I ask myself? Speckles has to be close.

In 1859, Colonel Edwin L. Drake struck oil on Oil Creek in Venango County which is only 30 miles from where I’m sitting. Drake started the worldwide commercial oil industry. Rapid development spread across the Allegheny Plateau. Most of the land was owned by large timber companies. During this period, developers purchased oil and gas rights from private landowners and began development. Some leases date back to the 1880s. Ninety three percent of the mineral rights under the ANF are privately owned.

Drake oil will museum near Titusville, PA.
By Zamoose - Originally uploaded on en.wikipedia, 

Like I said this, is not my first rodeo. I’ve chased beagles for what seems like more times than the beagles have chased rabbits, which is not true. I’ve chased this Speckles more times than I care to count. She and her litter mate, Wiggles, were always running off when they were pups. They’d hit a forestry road, take off and go for miles. More than once I saw them race right past the dog-truck. They didn’t stop, they never looked back and they had no desire to turn around. I’d have to chase them down.

I’m slowly motoring down a road which leads me deeper into the forest. As the signal gradually grows stronger I approach another gas driven generator and more steel buildings. “This is getting ridiculous,” I say out loud. The signal is strong. I stop the truck, climb out and call, “Speckles, Speckles,” and nothing.

“Speckles, Speckles,” I yell at the top of my lungs. Suddenly she appears like a ghost materializing out of the dark shadows. Fresh mountain air fills my lungs as I take a long and serious sigh of relief. No cold night on the Allegheny for Speckles.

This saga truly took place one evening many years ago. My memory keeps it alive like it was yesterday. A great many things have changed since way back then and many have remained the same. I’m still chasing hare and beagles on the high plateau; however, today I’m the proud owner of a Garmin® Astro® 320®.  I miss that old Tracker® like I miss my last root canal.

There are many new developments on the Allegheny. Hundreds of Marcellus and Utica oil shale wells have been drilled on or near the ANF. Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is a major controversy in Pennsylvania as it is around the world. Water and oil tanker trucks along with the ever-present log trucks compete for space on the narrow forest roads. The diminished price of oil and gas has slowed some practices. The forest service now restricts travel on many of their roads during certain times of the year.

The ANF is labeled, “the land of many uses.” Oil and gas development, timbering and hunting are only three of those many uses. Even though oil and gas development has spoiled many fine snowshoe hare hunting covers the timber industry is creating many more new ones every day. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the world.

Was that night and many other similar days and nights worth it? Being a witness to just one of our Creator’s most magnificent creations, the snowshoe hare in winter, makes it all worthwhile to me.

UPDATE:

Big Woods Hare Hound
Little Toby Creek Speckles
has moved on to that big hunting grounds.

Speckles passed away yesterday (Sept 7, 2018) at the "ripe old age" of one month short of 16 years which is a long life for a hunting hound.

Speckles enjoyed a great life chasing cottontail and hare. Along with her sister, Wiggles, she chased a moose or two in Maine along with hundreds of hare. Besides Maine and Pennsylvania Speckles chased hare on the Tug Hill Plateau and the Adirondack Mountains of New York State.

She was a fixture around Little Toby Creek Kennel for a long time and we will miss her.

Comments from friends and family;

Larenzo Ewing Great writing, really enjoyed reading it. Sorry for your loss

Brenda McMunn Hoover Andy and I send our heartfelt condolences. I remember her as a puppy and Andy has lots of memories of hunts with her. We are in Maine and don't have access to our lineage records; but, Andy was wondering if Molly was one of her pups?

James Kazmarek We are so sorry for your loss. The Cap't and Mrs., Cap't.

NiknMatt Baker So sorry to hear that.

Marty Hrin So sorry it always a bummer when you lose a good dog no mater how old they are

Will-Marylou Moreland Sorry to hear that

Wayne Wilson Each dog plays a special part in our lives

Steven Thompson I'm sorry to hear about Speckles...they don't live long enough!

FOLLOWING SIDNEY CROSBY

June 09-2018

James Creek Sidney Crosby @ home on June 09,2018. Sid is a big dog. He's going to be one powerful hare hound.

James Creek Sidney Crosby is a lap full. Sid is trying to run rabbits, getting better every day.

Sidney loves to run with the pack. I'm not sure he has found a check yet but he tongues.

Sid is able to follow a cottontail through the mowed yard and even better in the golden rod.

Sid hunts hard, knows what he's looking for, takes the line quickly in the right direction and seldom takes the line in the wrong direction. He handles well, follows orders, loves people and other hounds. He may even be a stud dog already.

update
June 11, 2017
Sidney kicked his first rabbit today and ran it a ways before the pack took over.   

A MOST SACRED SHRINE

FROM THE ALLEGHENY PLATEAU

by Joe Ewing

High HareMan of The Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

MEMBERS VISIT ANOTHER OF OUR NATION'S MOST SACRED SHRINES.

All pictures supplied by the author.

On a beautiful day in May four members of the Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny visited another of our nation's most sacred shrines, U. S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery in NW Washington, D.C.
and
President Lincoln's Cottage.

"Located just north of the Armed Forces Retirement Home, more commonly known as the Soldiers’ Home, in Washington, D.C., lies the United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery, one of the country’s oldest national cemeteries.  The cemetery’s rolling hills mark the final resting place for more than 14,000 veterans, including those that fought in the Civil War.  One of the most prominent people buried in the cemetery is Major General John A. Logan, who led the Army of the Tennessee and established the first Decoration Day observances. The cemetery is one of two national cemeteries maintained by the Department of the Army. The cemetery offers a final resting place for residents of the Armed Forces Retirement Home - Washington."-National Park Service website

"During the Civil War, churches and other public buildings around Washington were commandeered for use as military hospitals to care for wounded troops or those stricken with illness on the front lines.  Just days after the Battle of Bull Run, the Commissioners of the United States Military Asylum offered six acres of land at the north end of the Home’s grounds as a burial ground for soldiers and officers.  This offer was accepted in late July 1861, and the first burials were made shortly thereafter on August 3." -National Park Service Website

"From 1861 to 1864, the cemetery accepted thousands of soldiers' remains from 17 of the 25 Union states, quickly filling the six-acre cemetery’s capacity.  An 1874 report on the condition of the cemetery noted more than 5,600 interments, including 278 unknown, 125 Confederate prisoners of war, and 117 civilian relatives of the deceased and employees of the Home.  In 1883, more than nine additional acres were added to the grounds, bringing the cemetery’s total size to nearly sixteen acres.  In 1900, all of the Confederate remains were reinterred in Section 16 of Arlington National Cemetery." National Park Service Website

Soldiers’ Home National Cemetery is the final resting place of 21 recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration, given for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.” -National Park Service website

Soldiers' Home National Cemetery is the final resting place for Edwin Washburn Mallory whose final resting place is seen above and below.

E. W. Mallory, from Ischua, NY, a Private in Company K., 85th New York Infantry served 8 months, was taken sick and died of disease May 17th, 1862 in the hospital in Washington, D.C. He was 23 years old. He was one of the very first soldiers to be buried at the cemetery.

Edwin Washburn Mallory is a distant Uncle to several members of The Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny.

United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery, one of the two national cemeteries maintained by the Department of the Army, is located at 21 Harewood Rd. NW, in Washington, D.C. The cemetery is open every day of the year from 8:00am to 5:00pm (Memorial Day until 7:00pm).  The office is open, subject to the Superintendent's schedule, Monday-Friday from 8:00am to 4:00 pm, except Federal holidays.  The office telephone number is 877-907-8585.  For more information, visit the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery website. While visiting, please be mindful that our national cemeteries are hallowed ground.  Be respectful to all of our nation’s fallen soldiers and their families.  Additional cemetery policies may be posted on site.

Visitors to Soldiers’ Home National Cemetery may also be interested in President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home, on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home.  The cottage is also the subject of an online lesson plan, President Lincoln’s Cottage: A Retreat. The lesson plan has been produced by the National Park Service's Teaching with Historic Places program, which offers a series of online classroom-ready lesson plans on registered historic places. To learn more, visit the Teaching with Historic Places homepage.

The U.S. Soldier's and Airman's Home is also the site of President Lincoln's cottage.

"President Lincoln’s Cottage is an historic site and museum located in the Petworth neighborhood of Northwest Washington, D.C. President Lincoln’s Cottage first opened to the public in February 2008, after an eight-year capital restoration project under the auspices of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is the only place the public can experience the history of Abraham Lincoln’s public and private life where he lived and worked for over a quarter of his presidency. While in residence at the Cottage, Lincoln visited with wounded soldiers, spent time with self-emancipated men, women and children, and developed the Emancipation Proclamation. The human cost of the Civil War surrounded him, undoubtedly impacted his thinking, and strengthened his resolve to challenge the status quo. Through innovative guided tours, exhibits and programs, we use Lincoln’s example to inspire visitors to take their own path to greatness, and preserve this place as an authentic, tangible connection to the past and a beacon of hope for all who take up Lincoln’s unfinished work."-National Trust for Historic Preservation website

Above and below, members of The Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny take time out in the Band Stand while visiting President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldier's Home located in Washington, D.C/ NW

On July 7, 2000, President William J. Clinton declared the Cottage and 2.3 acres of surrounding land the President Lincoln and Soldiers’ Home National Monument in honor of the site’s notable role in the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Despite the designation as a National Monument, the National Park Service plays no role in the stewardship or support of the site. President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home, by agreement with the Armed Forces Retirement Home and National Trust for Historic Preservation, is responsible for the operation and governance of the site and is an independent 501(c)(3).

THANK YOU FOR VISITING OUR SITE AND READING OUR STORY.

If you enjoy this blog please comment and tell others about us.

A NOBLER CALLING

The following article was published in the May 2018 issue of BETTER BEAGLING

magazine.

The article is published here for your reading pleasure with the author's consent.

FROM WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA

ON THE ALLEGHENY PLATEAU

 A NOBLER CALLING!

By

Joe Ewing

CEO & Executive High Hareman of the

Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

 The words haunt the still active portions of my brain. The statements frequent the backcountry roads of my mind. I may be neurotic about it. If my mother said those piercing words once she said them what seems like a hundred thousand times. I had two brothers so the words were definitely overused. I’m certain many men are haunted by the not so unforgettable words of their mothers. Many shrinks and therapists have worked hard trying to convince me everything wrong with me is my mother’s fault. They may be right. Because of her I’ve become hyper. I’m possessed. It took me years to come to this realization.

“Don’t forget a clean hanky!” Her memorable voice still rings. Many days I was almost out the door on my way to my favorite hunting grounds and I couldn’t figure why she was picking on me. Over the course of figuring things out I’ve come to prefer the more macho sounding term, “handkerchief”. I know the macho thing is my father’s doing. All I know is I feel naked without a handkerchief in my right rear pocket. When I instinctively reach for my handkerchief it must be there. Thanks to my mother, I’m possessed with carrying a clean handkerchief at all times.

My Oxford English Dictionary© defines handkerchief as “a square of cotton or other finely woven material, typically carried in one’s pocket and intended for blowing or wiping one’s nose.” I’ve got news for those Brits over in Oxford; my handkerchief is not used for blowing “one’s” nose.  My handkerchief is not even intended for wiping “one’s” nose. Only a few countries in the world still use handkerchiefs regularly for their original purpose (to blow a nose), as it is considered unsanitary in the United States and many European countries.  In my opinion it’s better to wipe my nose on my sleeve. If I can cough into my sleeve, I feel certain I can wipe my snot on my sleeve. My mother didn’t cause me to have a nasal mucus or germ phobia. The exalted handkerchief is designed to be carried in “one’s” pocket and held in reserve for its preordained nobler purpose. By the way, that Oxford Dictionary© has taken up new residence in the burn barrel.

Handkerchiefs have been around for a long time. Richard II of England used a small piece of linen to blow his nose in the fourteenth century. Others contend the handkerchief was developed in Rome around 1000 BC and only used by the wealthy. At some point, a piece of cloth was worn on the head and was called a “kerchief”. Evolution took jurisdiction and the kerchief was redeployed to the hand thus becoming a “handkerchief”. The handkerchief has a long and good-natured history.

The modern-day handkerchief is a hemmed square made of cotton, cotton-synthetic blend, synthetic fabric, silk or linen. Microfiber handkerchiefs are touted to be very soft. High quality premium polyester fabric is accessible. I’ve never owned a linen handkerchief that I know. If I saw one I wouldn’t know the difference. Cotton is probably the best for absorbency and price although a cotton-synthetic blend might be stronger. A worthy size for a handkerchief is 22 inches square. I’ve checked my inventory and my handkerchiefs are dimension deficient.

I’ve discovered another glaring and gruesome imperfection on my handkerchiefs. My handkerchiefs are inscribed with the words, “Made in China.” China! It’s not difficult to find handkerchiefs made in the good old USA. I found some handkerchiefs marked “Made in USA” in a local store so I bought the last three they had on the shelf. When I got home I noticed the small print. It reads, “with imported fabric”. Duped again. Just my luck. I don’t need foreign made handkerchiefs or foreign made dictionaries. It pains me to tell you this, all my handkerchiefs, even the brand-new ones, are resting beside the dictionary in the burn barrel as we speak. I will be buying “made in the USA” made with USA fabric from now on.

Buy American. It’s a long drive to a job in China.

Handkerchiefs and bandanas come in a multitude of colors and designs. They are produced by a huge array of manufacturers. There are bright orange survival handkerchiefs with survival information printed on the material.  There are first aid handkerchiefs with first aid instructions. There are handkerchiefs printed with maps. I found a black handkerchief printed with glow in the dark ink showing the constellations. The list is endless. The most popular design is the classic paisley. Bandanas are a 4^th of July tradition which is news to me. Some of the most popular patterns are American flags they claim. Willie Robertson of the TV show Duck Dynasty fame wears and sells American flag bandanas. To each his own except I’m not wearing my nation’s flag on my head to collect my sweat. 

First Aid Handkerchief.

For the intentions of this essay I will concentrate on the handkerchief. Before getting into the uses of the handkerchief, I found a line supposedly penned by some guy I don’t know, “you can mop your brow with it when you’re sitting on the front porch drinking mint juleps”. I never sit on the front porch.

 

Survival Handkerchief.

Handkerchiefs serve a variety of uses from fashion accessories to health and beauty aids. There are countless ways to wear a handkerchief: as a necktie, headband, pocket square, mini turban, and scarf. I’ve used my handkerchief endlessly in the summer as a sweat band. It works wonders keeping the perspiration out my eyes and helping me keep cool. I place it under my cap to protect my neck from the burning summer sun. I’ll fold it into a “babushka” (triangularly folded kerchief for the head) both summer and winter to keep my head either warm or cool. I wear it as a face mask and neck gaiter for protection and warmth from the biting wind and snow. Remember, I’m not trying to be fashion plate here.

I use my handkerchief as a punkie (no-see-ums, biting midges) swatter. In the days of my youth we neighborhood kids would build a “punkie smudge” to ward off the biting, blood sucking small insects known as punkies which attacked the eyes and invaded the nose. A punkie smudge is built by placing great amounts of green, freshly cut wet grass or hay onto a rip-roaring bonfire. As the grass burns you keep piling it on. The effect of the smudge is an endless amount of smoke which, when built in the evening, covers the neighborhood like a dense blanket of fog. The idea was to ward off the punkies and the mosquitos which were stirred up by the cutting of the hay in the first place. At times the smoke was more wretched than the punkies. The smoke was so thick a handkerchief was desperately deployed as a gas mask. I never heard any of my cantankerous neighbors grouching. The smoke must not have been all that bad. They may have even relished the relief from the nasty punkies.   

Some of the more sober and nobler uses of the handkerchief are: compress bandage, ankle wrap, wet for a hot or cold compress, and one of the most virtuous, the tourniquet. In a serious situation most handkerchiefs would be honored to be torn into strips to tie up a splint. For an injured arm or shoulder a handkerchief can be utilized as a sling. If “one’s” one-hundred percent cotton handkerchief is dry it will take a spark and can be used as tinder to build a fire. Handkerchiefs have been used as signaling devices by waving to get attention. Bright colors work best. The handkerchief can be used as a dust mask or as a disguise to rob a train or a bank. I’m sure the uses are infinite and I could come up with loads more if compelled.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a very crucial use of the noble handkerchief which is the emergency stand-in for t. p. (toilet paper). I personally rip my handkerchief into quarters for this purpose. Enough said? Not quite. I carry an army style entrenching tool in the top of my dog box to bury the handkerchief. If you have to ask, “why bury?”, then you don’t know beagles.

Which brings me to the most important uses of all; emergency beagle care. Most of the uses for people apply to beagles, too. Many people use them on their dogs for fashion accessories, however, my beagles don’t wear pocket squares.

I’ve used a handkerchief along with a stick as a tourniquet on a beagle. Luckily it was only one time and it all worked out okay. Handkerchiefs can be used as an emergency tie out, emergency collar, leash, muzzle and more. Wetting the handkerchief and placing it around the hound’s neck can help keep Fido cool, too.

 

J. Ewing Photo

A handkerchief can be fashioned in an emergency situation to get the hound out of the woods. In this photo Kipper models a field expedient first aid treatment for a torn ear. This “made in china” handkerchief is “earmarked” for the burn barrel.

A common problem for the active beagler is the development of cut pads, sore paws and torn ears. No one I know carries those expensive dog-boots I see advertised. Big Woods Hare Hunter, Andy, fashions a boot, when needed, from gauze and duct tape before going to the field. A handkerchief can be fashioned in an emergency situation to get the hound out of the woods. Andy’s beagles run all day with his boot, however probably not with my handkerchief boot.

J. Ewing Photo

Human ingenuity comes in handy for the beagler. A Big Woods Hare Hunter fashions a boot from gauze and duct tape.

Years ago, when the reclaimed strip mines of Clarion County, Pennsylvania were teeming with cottontails, one or two of the hounds waded through a small run and shortly thereafter got to dancing around as if their feet were on fire. I had eyeballed tanker trucks loading and unloading caustic soda at a storage tank not far up stream. Caustic soda or sodium hydroxide was used for acid mine water purification. Some of the caustic soda surely was leaking into the run. I vaguely remembered from my high school chemistry that caustic soda or lye can cause severe chemical burns. The word “caustic” is synonymous with burning.

J. Ewing Photo

Eight-month-old James Creek Beagles Sidney Crosby finds no joy in being a handkerchief model.

What I didn’t remember or didn’t know is: caustic soda, lye or sodium hydroxide is a very dangerous chemical. It’s used in the manufacture of paper, textiles, drinking water, soaps, detergents and drain cleaner. In the petroleum industry, sodium hydroxide is used as an additive in  drilling mud. This same chemical is used in the production of food. Sodium hydroxide is used for the chemical peeling of fruits and vegetables, chocolate and cocoa processing, caramel coloring production, poultry scalding, soft drink processing and thickening of ice cream. Olives are often soaked in sodium hydroxide for softening. Pretzels are glazed with a sodium hydroxide solution before baking to make them crisp. The uses for sodium hydroxide are boundless.

I remembered first aid for chemical burns is flushing with large amounts of water, however I had no fresh water. The only idea I could come up with was to use my handkerchief. Knowing the area between the dog’s toes is very sensitive I knew to wipe between their toes. It worked and the beagles suffered no lasting injuries. After that day I inaccurately proclaimed the area “acid valley” which was a contradiction of course.

Everywhere I go there will always be some kind of hazard, a busy highway, a quiet country road or a hard-working timbering operation. Training, running and hunting with beagles in the oil, gas and coal fields of Pennsylvania is especially perilous. It’s my responsibility to stay alert to safeguard my best friends.

 

My new American made handkerchiefs. The top three are made “of imported material” and are not long for this world. They would have been nice for “dress” handkerchiefs except that two of them are not paisley design. 

I’m saving my clean handkerchief for some unanticipated principled nobler calling and please, don’t call it a hanky.