(WWJ) - Snoopy's not the only beagle with a Christmas tree.
The Northern Michigan Hare Association, a beagle club in the Upper Peninsula, holds competitions for beagles to hunt rabbits.
The Neuens Tree Lot, located in Iron Mountain, gives their unused Christmas trees to the Association.
"We run beagles on rabbits,” Dennis Tyson, a member of the club, said. “What I do then is bring the trees back into the woods for cover for the rabbits. They gotta go find the rabbit and chase it."
In an article by WZMQ, field trials for beagles using rabbits dates back to post-WWII.
“Most of the clubs got started like after World War II. The kids came home, and many clubs started between ‘45 and the mid-50’s,” Tyson told WZMQ.
There are quite a few dogs in the NMHA. Tyson told WZMQ that the 25-30 members own anywhere from one to dozens of dogs each.
The next trial for the dogs is in Ironwood in January, and it can draw in people from multiple states. Some of the trials that take place in the fall can bring people from Canada to this “unique sporting tradition,” Tyson told WZMQ.
More information about the Northern Michigan Hare Association can be found on their website.
The Neuens Tree Lot’s Facebook page has information about the items available on site, which the owners told WZMQ can draw people from across the Midwest.