A smile is worth a thousand words. Even the smallest of creatures is excited to be part of this Friday afternoon adventure rummaging through the open fields at Paschal Farm in Camden. As the first inaugural Wateree Hounds Sport Week comes to an end, the Wateree Hounds Sporting Club is just getting started with this new yearly old tradition.

Hunting with hounds has been a pastime in the Appalachian regions for centuries, and today, we’re onsite at Paschal Farm for the Beagle Hunt and Soiree, one of the last events of the week. From the onset, excitement radiates from humans and dogs for what is about to happen. And that would be, the boxes will be opened and the field will be ours.

Ramsey Barrett’s Beagles

Barrett and his pack of Orleans Foot Beagles hunt the land. As he flushes out the prospect of rabbits, the beagles are right on his heels in anticipation. Unfortunately, no rabbits to be found on this wintery Friday afternoon. He hunts four different types: cotton tail, snowshoe hair (Maine), cane cutters (Alabama) and swampers (North Carolina). There are nine in the field today since he’s hunting a small area, while another seven are waiting back in the truck. Barrett runs his beagles about five or six times a week, possibly more during the winter months.

We stand together watching the beagles make a return trip to the previous spot where nothing was found. “This is a march to madness,” he says. “They’re ignoring me,” as he continues to blow the horn and track them via satellite. He finally rounds them up, and they know the drill of getting back in the truck. As Barrett removes the tracking device from his dog, he shoves them inside his Gucci bag, ready for the next hunt.

His favorite part of the hunt?
”You know, it's two, two things. One is when a puppy first speaks. It's kind of incredible as he finds his voice, and the penny drops, and it's like, I get it. And then the other, probably my favorite, favorite part is when every single beagle is opening up, just crashing loud, and they're all racing together in full cry. When you have that, it’s what you kind of live for.”

A fine ending to the beagle hunt: (l to r) Joe Hester, Steve Clifton, James Huffman, Ramsey Barrett, and Sam Clifton.

Ned Towell, Master of Wateree Hounds

Fitting In Sporting Week

“It’s been one hell of a hell of a week, and obviously there's been a focus on fox hunting. But what's interesting is, the Low Country Fox Hunt in Charleston, they really put it on the map. They hunt a lot of the plantations. Last week there was a big event down at Belle Meade in Thomson, Georgia. They had performance trials last week that draws a lot of folks. Then this coming week, Aiken will have Whiskey Road. So we just, we were lucky enough to find a weekend or week right in between to sort of fit into that circuit.”

A Professional Huntsman, Sam Clifton

“We started this hunt five years ago, and this is our first year with a professional huntsman. We brought in Sam Clifton, one of the top huntsmen in the country. He’s originally from England, and he's been hunting hounds for 30 years. He was at Green Spring for 11 years, a very prestigious hunt in Maryland. This week, he has been hunting the hounds alongside the huntsman from the other four hunts that have joined us.
”They've been throwing hounds in together, and we've just been sort of hunting together. And each day, a different huntsman sort of picks up, taking the horn, but Sam has, for the most part, been leading the pack and hunting the hounds. So he carries the horn and hunts the hounds, and we're just fortunate to have him and all these other great huntsmen.”

A Southern Tradition to Hunt and Preserve

“It’s something we're going to lose. And more importantly, it's the land we're going to lose. South Carolina is the fastest growing state in the country right now, and if we don't continue the traditions of hunting the properties, we're going to see it turned into developments or and that's just a fact.
”And so for now, we do a lot of preservation work. And personally, that's a mission of mine, is to try and preserve the land as best we can. And if it's not, if it's not a residential development, it's going to be a solar farm. And we need to do the best we can to maintain these traditions, because if we're not out there, somebody else is going to be. And no one is a better conservationist than a hunter. We go out there and we help build maintain trails, build trails, work to build jumps on our property whenever possible, try to scout new property or constantly out there working and just trying to preserve it. And if we can provide a little extra income to a landowner by leasing it, that may be the difference between them wanting to sell it or not.”

An Open Invitation to Hunt

“These folks are avid riders, avid hunters, just sportsman enthusiasts of all types, and and a lot of them, are social members. Folk that just support the sporting community, whether it's horses or hounds, and Camden's been known for it for generations.
”We want to continue the tradition. This is all about tradition.”

Redefining Camden and The Olde English District

“I would say Camden is, what was the tagline? ‘It's morning in Camden.’ We're sort of having a rebirth, a renaissance. We're resurrecting polo. We haven't had polo in Camden for 20 years, and since, there are people that are playing polo, that live in Camden. We've had matches, exhibition matches, but now we have people that are actively living in Camden, that are playing polo. That's something we started here with Wateree Hounds, and we're loving it. We’ve got a lease on the field [downtown Camden], and I believe it's the third oldest field in the country. It was going to be developed 25 years ago, and a gentleman saved it. It's being held by trust. It recently was transferred to another trust, and we were fortunate enough to get a lease on and we're mowing it. We're keeping it up, and in return, we get to use it. And so we've been able to sort of be a part of that resurrection of polo, which is, again, that's sort of the new old Camden that's been dead for a long time.
”This year, we’re bringing back the charter for the United States Polo Association that was originally formed in 1900, so 125 years later, will be reorganized in the Camden Polo Club. Yeah. This is just sort of the beginning of a new era for us.”

2025 Wateree Hounds Sporting Week
January 26 - February 1
Moonlight square Dance and Southern Smokeout at Pleasant Oaks Plantation | Dove Shoot at MacBurn Plantation | Polo Clinic at Historic Camden Polo Field | Golf Tournament at Camden County Club | Beagle Hunt at Paschal Farm | Hunt at Brewers Plantation | Wild Game Dinner and Silent Auction

For more information on the 2026 sporting week, visit the website for more information and ticketing.

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