When Brad Hudgins of Gloucester, two of his buddies and his 12-year-old son went on a hunting trip to King and Queen on Dec. 26, they planned to spend the night in a cabin on the property. Three of the hunters did, but Hudgins spent the night outdoors after falling into an abandoned well.

Hudgins said he turned his rabbit beagles out that evening, all of them wearing GPS tracking collars. He could tell by their muffled barks that two of them were after something in a hole. By 10 p.m., six of the eight dogs were back and the other two still appeared to be after something in one spot. He thought they would soon give up their pursuit and return.

By midnight, Hudgins prepared to turn in with the other campers, who had already gone to bed. He took off his watch, set it on a table with his cell phone and took one more look at his dog tracker. It showed the two dogs were about 150 yards from the cabin and still had not moved, so he decided to go get them so they wouldn’t sit there all...