THE majority of packs you hear of have been hunting for decades if not centuries, however, every pack has to start somewhere. Huntsman Richard Bonham is in the process of establishing the Lakeland Foot Beagles.

The pack will hunt in the Westmeath / Cavan area. There is a tradition of beagling in the area and previously there were up to three beagle packs at one point. However, in recent years all of these packs has disbanded, leaving their followers in need of a new pack.

The Lakeland Foot Beagles have been granted probationary membership with the Irish Master of Beagles Association. The Masters of the pack will be Liz Rozario and Ion Hamilton, and John Casserly will be whipping in.

Bonham, who is a trainee solicitor, has a long standing family connection to hunting. “My parents always hunted, mum with the Meaths and Dad with the Ballymacads. As I never got on well with horses it seemed inevitable that I would end up beagling.

“I started out whipping in to Kieran Lambert in the Balgarretts when I was still in school, and I have been hooked since then,” explained Bonham.

Richard Bonham out exercising the Lakeland Foot Beagles.

LEARNING HIS TRADE

Bonham learnt his trade as huntsman under Kieran Lambert. In his late teenage years he whipped in for Lambert and progressed to hunting the hounds. “I learnt a lot under Kieran and even hunted the hounds myself when he wasn’t available. I also used to help out in the kennels as often as I could, washing out and exercising,” according to Bonham.

This was an invaluable time and experience which made Bonham certain he wanted to continue beagling in the future.

Unfortunately when the Balgarretts were disbanded Bonham was in the process of completing his law degree and was not in a position become huntsman.

Bonham explained: “I hunted the Balgarrett’s for two seasons when Kieran retired but then due to college commitments at the time I was unable to continue. Unfortunately the Balgarrett’s disbanded two seasons ago but the hunt club stayed in place.”

SUPPORT

Setting up a pack of hounds is not a small undertaking. Bonham has been very lucky that the Balgarrett hunt club remained in place. This club have provided great support and knowledge, as well as the odd days labour.

The Lakeland Foot Beagles have a new purpose built kennels just outside of Castlepollard. Building the kennels has very much been a combined effort from the hunt committee, family and friends. The kennels has three lodges for hounds and a large grass run.

The beagling community as a whole have been more than helpful and supportive of the new pack. Bonham currently has 10 couple, some of these hounds were Balgarrett hounds who they got back when the Lake-lands came into existence. However, the majority of hounds have come as drafts from packs in Ireland and in the UK. The Woodrock and Blackwater Valley, Maryboro Farmers, The Park Beagles (south of England) have all been very generous providing hounds.

“The hunt club has been invaluable in setting up the Lakeland Foot Beagles this season and we are very much looking forward to the season ahead.

“Over the last couple of months we have been getting drafts from other packs, from Ireland and England, from as well as breeding some of our own pups.

“We are well in the swing of exercising and getting ready for the hunting season. It’s been a challenge to getting hounds from many different packs and getting them used to me, but I have loved every minute of it,” said Bonham.

Autumn hunting will begin in the coming weeks and hunting will start in early October. Bonham also noted that they are always looking to get more people involved in the hunt and involved in beagling in general. Regular updates can be found on the Lakeland Foot Beagle Facebook page.