Competitors enjoy camaraderie at Don McVay Sr. Memorial Beagle Hunt
Skeeter Warner and Dave Miller brought their dogs down from Michigan to compete in the Don McVay Sr. Memorial Beagle Hunt held Sept. 9-11 at Schumaker Farms. There were competitors from numerous states in addition to Michigan including Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee. Josie Sellers | Beacon
WEST LAFAYETTE – The Don McVay Sr. Memorial Beagle Hunt isn’t just about finding out who has the best dogs. It’s also about spending time with people who have the same interests.
“It’s like a big reunion,” said Roy Swafford. “I’ve met some great people I wouldn’t have met any other way.”
Swafford traveled from Michigan for the event held Sept. 9-11 at Schumaker Farms. The hunt is held in honor of the late Don McVay Sr. and is organized by the Coshocton County Beagle Club.
“He’d be overjoyed by all these people,” said Vada McVay, Don’s widow. “A lot of them knew him and a lot of them didn’t. I met one fellow who said he remembered him from when we had a filling station in Otsego.”
Vada’s son Dave said they had 247 dogs at the hunt this year and once again there were people attending from numerous states. He believes their hunt draws so many people because of the raffle they have and because it is a family event.
“There are a lot of families here,” Dave said. “Guys bring their wives and their kids and with the raffle you can lose in the hunt and still go home a winner. A guy from Virginia won the thirty-eight hundred dollar dog trailer we raffled off and there also were guns, dog boxes, gun safes and just a variety of other hunt related things raffled off.”
This was Dave Miller and Skeeter Warner’s first time at the hunt and they were both enjoying themselves.
“Everyone knows about this hunt because it’s well publicized,” Miller said. “There are a lot of really good dogs here and high quality competition.”
He and Warner are both from Michigan.
“I’ve learned a lot here,” Warner said.
They spent part of Sunday morning at the event chatting with fellow attendees of the hunt, Swafford and Chip Eisenhut from West Virginia.
“I like that people are talking and that they aren’t sitting here texting or talking on their phones,” Miller said.
He also noticed that most people were genuinely happy for each other no matter how their dog performed.
“Three out of four dogs on a cast are going to come back losers ever time, but you’ve had four happy people come back most times,” Miller said.
Swafford agreed with him.
“Everyone wants the best dog to get credit,” he said.
Category: Clubs & Organizations
