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Haring a run, do's and don'ts: While there are no rules for laying a trail, a well laid trail will: a) Prevent the hare from being caught. b) Allow the pack to arrive at the finish. With that in mind, this is what I use as a guideline when I hare. Reconnaissance: The key to a good run is to scout the area where the run is to be held well in advance. Make sure that there is not to much of any one kind of terrain, (hills, flat city streets, mud, water...). There is nothing worse than running after a hare that doesn't have a clue where they are going or what they are doing. Bad for the hare. Time the run, 45-60 minutes is as much as anyone should have to handle without a beer check in the middle. If the run is shorter or equal to this time then generally no beer check is required. Marking trail: Trail markers no matter what you use, (ie, flour, food color, shards of paper, chalk marks...) should be no further than 100' apart. They don't have to be put in easy to see areas, behind trees, power poles, tops of mail boxes, are good places. When marking city streets try not to mark in areas where something may get parked, or ride over marks rendering them useless. Check points should be plentiful. Not all back checks have to have trail markers, a good hound will figure out pretty quickly that they are on bad trail when they don't find trail markers of any kind. Turning on powder is allowed, so long as it is done after a true trail arrow, if done off a check point, hounds will assume that they are on bad trail, bad for the pack and for the hare at the end. The best weapon against short cutters is the map. Maps will lead the pack over large areas of a run that would not be marked with any other markings. Be generous with true trail arrows if you don't have many check points, don't keep the pack guessing. Circle jerks: Very easy to setup on city streets and wooded trails, keeps the pack together. Bad trails: 1 long bad trail per run is usually good, pick them well, something that cannot be short-cutted out of easily. Other wise keep bad trails to less than 100 yards. Any markings such as BEER NEAR, need to be spelled correctly otherwise they are not true. Word to the wise, one of my favorites. Once BEER NEAR has been found, there are usually no more check points until after the beer check, or if its the finish then within a quarter mile of the finish. The FINISH should be marked plainly, and all members should initial the FINISH. I hope you find this information useful in laying trail, and HAPPY HARING, ON-ON!! Any contributions to this page are welcome, please e-mail me with any input. Thank You, Chris "Dirtbag" Hatter GM, Halve Mein HHH
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