Running Rabbit Dogs for the first time

[fatnhappy]

I had one of the best beagles ever.
The only time she ever barked was on a hot track. She never howled at home. She was fast enough she could catch rabbits. She'd retrieve them after they were shot so I never once had to dig into raspberry or rose thorn thickets. Most important of all, she had separation anxiety, so when I took her hunting she'd come back and check on me every 1/2 hour or so. I never had to deal with "beagles are done hunting when they're done, not when you're done."
She was a great dog, I miss her.

[smoked turkey]

This post has gotten a lot of us going down memory lane. As a kid we raised mid-sized beagles and hunted the fence rows and brush piles around home. It was great fun and a beagle is my favorite dog. If I ever get another dog I hope it is a beagle. I'm partial to the small frame type. But they are all good. Wolf, it sure looks like good or better than most rabbit country I have hunted in. I'm surprised you didn't get into a mess of em. The predators keep our rabbits in check around here unfortunately.

[JoeJames]

Nothing better than walking along visiting; jumping a rabbit; then waiting for the dogs to circle the rabbit. I've shot a few with my S&W Model 63 22LR when they came up. Carried my old 870 12 gauge with a 20" cylinder bore. When we were ready to go I'd fire the 870 and the dogs would come running. Been ages since I have had Beagles, but dern good memories.

[Rapier]

Never hunted with rabbit dogs.
Hunting squirrels with a good squirrel dog is quite a day. We had a terrier tha would only bark when he had a squirrel treed and he kept his eyes on the squirrel, tree to tree. Never hunted with another dog like him.
My black lab hated squirrels and would hunt them with or without me. If he caught them, he killed them and buried them in the yard or flower bed with their tail sticking straight up, like he had planted them. I thought it was my teen son, until I saw the lab bury one.

[compass will]

We had a pet beagle that also hunted with us. Last trip, we could not get him in the truck. It got dark out, so we had to go 14 miles home. The dog came home on his own 3 days later. He slept for 2 days.

[JoeJames]

We had a pet beagle that also hunted with us. Last trip, we could not get him in the truck. It got dark out, so we had to go 14 miles home. The dog came home on his own 3 days later. He slept for 2 days.

My Beagles were not like that. Once, the dogs were still out in the slough running a rabbit and we'd come back to the truck. I fired the 870 and Sam, a younger Beagle, came running out of the woods and across a plowed field so fast that his legs got tangled up and he did a somersault in a plowed furrow. Only time I have ever seen a Beagle get embarrassed, but Sam sure was that day.

[GregLaROCHE]

I hope that today some beagles are bread for their hunting skills and not looks.

[cainttype]

I see why you didn't kill anything. If my dogs ( when I kept some) had of hung out to get their pictures took like those dogs , I'd have shot the bunch of them. Mine were after a rabbit as soon as they hit the ground. If you think you like coon hunting wait till you hunt rabbits behind a real all business pack of dogs, you'll be ruined. First time I hunted with a fellow that had good dogs cost me $1000.00 before I left the field and another $1200.00 before I had the dogs I wanted.

There’s the voice of experience… I’d have given away the dog that followed me that way long before they reached adulthood, as a pet to a non-hunter.
When you’ve run real bad-boys you get spoiled and have very little tolerance for feeding “useless” hounds.

Glad you had fun, though… Hopefully one day you’ll be able enjoy an outing with the kinda “God’s gift” hounds I’m describing.

[Electrod47]

Wolfdog, "as usual" you know how to have fun. Keep it up.

[Tradbowhunter]

There is nothing like the sound of a good pack of hounds on a track! Hope you had fun and met some new friends along the way.