The Great Hound
and
Hare Hunt

The Great Hound and Hare Hunt (from the campfiles)

It was the summer of 1964 and a great time to be alive. I was a Salesian brother from the Western Province and got to go to California that year to work at one of the camps. I was assigned to Camp St. Frances near Watsonville on Monterey Bay along with my good friend Larry Mullaly. Larry managed the general entertainment, plays, skits, acting, art and stagecraft. I did the music, campfires and song stuff as well as hike planning, trail following and trapping. We were also cabin councilors so there was plenty of work to do between the two of us. I remember being exhausted just about all the time. When I worked at Camp Don Bosco in New Jersey we had lots of brothers to spread out the activities or cabin responsibilities but at Camp St. Frances we had about ten times the work.

One day Larry and I began to plan for the traditional hound and hare hunt, Larry being the Houndmaster and I, the hare (victim). The kids were all hounds and the goal was simple, to catch the hare. My outfit consisted of a brown mask with painted white whiskers, two big floppy ears and a bushy tail. Here was the way it was supposed to work:

The kids were to gather in front of the mess hall while Larry explained the rules. All kids had to stay together with the houndmaster (impossible). First kid to sight the hare would holler "hare" and the group then would move smartly to the new location. We had about 10 locations mapped out with clues at each one. I would first be sighted down in the campfire area. I would disappear and be again be sighted at the trailhead. Next at the first bend, next at the north road, then on the water tower, then in the area beyond the fence, and finally would get caught on the beach. That was the plan anyway. It did not last long.

So Larry got the kids together and explained the rules, but before he was half done one of the campers saw me hiding at the campfire site and shouted "hare". Every kid in the place started running toward me. There I was standing with 75 bloodthirsty kids coming toward me from all directions! My first thought was "Err..this is not working out quite right." My second thought was "RUN LIKE HELL". I ditched most of the kids by cutting across a path and behind some bushes. I then backtracked and finally got to the trailhead and waved. I immediately noticed that there were kids again in every direction so I went the opposite way and hid for a few minutes. Larry was able to round up some of the kids but several were on every side of me beating through the bushes in mad pursuit. I made a dash for some more bushes and worked my way to the water tower. I climbed up on the tower and again waved to the group. What group! There were kids all over the place. In sheer desperation I just jumped off the water tower (six feet high) and crumpled to the ground. My whole body was aching. In a moment I was off again dodging kids and made it to the beach with several kids in close pursuit. After I had dodged about 6 kids I again backtracked on the beach and there in front of me were about 15 more kids. My luck had finally played out. They ganged tackled me just as the another 500 hounds also closed in and piled on. They tore off my mask and found out who the hare was. They sure had a lot of fun.

That night Larry and I laughed for a long time about the whole thing. I think it was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had in my life. And the kids just loved it too. The number one question they asked for the rest of the season was "when are we going to have another hound and hare hunt? Soon….right. Right.