I haven't gotten to run my beagles in a long time so the only sport they get is what's in the yard. Luckily there is quite a bit in the yard. They get the occasional possum, rats, snakes, beetles . . . .
They also get to dig holes. In fact I encourage it, as long as it's not to dig out.
High energy hunting dogs need an outlet and a way to express their instincts. Of all my beagles/hounds, Lucy has been the most tenacious. She bounced off the walls the first year or so of her life, especially if she wasn't able to go to the hunt club to trail. She would literally trail until she dropped. I sure do miss listening to them trail and watching them on my garmin astro gps.
Pic after a hard day of trailing.
Oh well. She is older and calmer now and spends her energy guarding the perimeter of the yard against all intruders.
There is a mindset among many hunters that if you give your dog attention and take care of it, they won't hunt. But nothing could be further from the truth. I let mine sleep in the camper with us and ride inside the truck, if a deer was lost it was my precious little baby that found it! The other dogs didn't seem to know what was expected. Lucy has found deer in places that people swore the deer did not go. Instead of interfering with her instincts, and turn her around, I would just let her do her thing. She found them. Every. Time.