By Shirley Shuman
“Hounds and Hunting”, a national sporting magazine, published a story by local beagle enthusiast Brad Shingler in the June issue. Shingler, whose stories were published in the Braxton Citizens’ News for some time, explained how this and his interest in beagle dogs and rabbit hunting, came about.
His wife Stevie, who at one time worked for the local paper, had all the stories he had written in what he termed “something like a book.” She enjoyed reading the stories and one night, as she browsed through the stories, the idea to have one published came to her. She sent the story, “Special Delivery,” to a few hunting magazines, and “Hounds and Hunting” accepted it for publication. The magazine not only published that story but they also asked to publish more of his work in that magazine and another one, ”Better Beagling,” which they had recently purchased. “Special Delivery,” Shingler explained, “tells of the first time one of my dogs gave me a ‘go-to, in other words returned a rabbit to me.”
Actually, Shingler’s wife first influenced him to write about his hunting adventures. He said, “One day Stevie called me and asked me to write a story for the paper. She had read some of the papers I had written in college and thought they were well done. I put something together, and Ed asked me to continue writing them. I did that for a couple of years.” Many of those stories reflected Shingler’s hunting experiences—always with his beagles while others reflected his respect for outdoorsmen he has “known and admired.”
While his wife initiated his writing, at least two other individuals had a major influence on his interest in the outdoors and hunting. “My dad, Victor Shingler Jr., worked in the mines six days a week,” Shingler said, “but he loved the outdoors and early in my life he introduced me to that lifestyle. I fell in love with it.” The other influence came from one of his instructors at Braxton County High School. He credited John Frazier with getting him interested in rabbit hunting with beagle dogs.” Mr. Frazier had a big influence on my life in a couple of ways,” he noted. “First, he helped me learn to write. I remember getting papers back from him with red ink all over them. I learned a lot there. He also took me rabbit hunting with his beagle dogs. We hunted all over Central West Virginia, and eventually I got my own dogs.”
Shingler’s love for his dogs and their skills have changed part of his outdoor experiences. He no longer carries a gun when he goes out with the dogs. “I’ve gotten to the point that instead of shooting every rabbit we come across, I simply admire what the dogs do. I tell anyone who hunts with me that they may kill as many rabbits as they want, but to be sure not to shoot my dogs,” he said.