My Rant for the Day...

[Fleetwood]

Well, I know we talk about this about every year but today, I just can't keep quiet. At the risk of ticking a few people off, I'm going to go ahead and rant. All of us on here have beagles...we love to run them, care for them, raise them, etc. The reason we're on this board for the most part is our mutual love and respect and enjoyment of beagles. Now I ask you, when you put in all the time running dogs, feeding dogs, doctoring dogs, etc, why on earth...WHY ON EARTH!, would you want to jump shoot rabbits?! I don't get it! We hunted today and had some GREAT running. Just so happens there were some other guys hunting on the property too, (big property). After I had kenneled my dogs, a couple of the other guys came over to talk. We talked a while and as they were going back to their side of the property I noticed them kicking every patch of weeds in the field. Their dogs were off running on the other side of the farm yet there they were trying to blast any bunny that would jump in front of their boots.

Don't mean to step on toes guys, but WHY?!!! Lord knows, rabbits are not infinite in their numbers...if you're going to raise and run beagles, let the dogs circle em before you shoot the dang rabbit! I will never understand this.

Sorry, had to get it off my chest.

[Owl Creek]

well Fleet ,
some of them are rabbit hunters some are Houndsmen.
my cousion has no desire to go run dogs. but loves to go shoot some bunnys with me and uncle.
and yes he jump shot ONE....LOL and he will never foget that for the rest of his life.
we still laugh about it. i blew up bad and was up one side and down the other on him. i did have to tell him i was sorry for being so ruff on him tho. it was pretty bad.

for some its about the kill numbers.
for the rest of us its all about the hounds.
and if you are as blessed with honey holes you get both.

[littlewoody]

I hunting with a guy like that. I won't hunt with anyone like that again. Dog has to circle the rabbit first before I shoot.

[yoteslayer]

Totally agree let em circle once. But I have more respect for the guys out kicking brush piles then I do for the guys driving around drinking beer and shooting them out the window in the ditch.

[briarhopper]

had one slippery sucker today we jumped(couldve shot it) took 4big circles to get him ,with a couple missed(2 each) shots halfway. if i wouldnt have seen him several times i would have swor it was a deer. What a loss in experiance for my hounds and the loss of a good memory for my buddy and i , if we would have jump shot. The other 5 we killed, the dogs got goin and circled back.What a great day even if i only killed the one slippery sucker.

[ROCK CREEK KENNELS]

With all the guys I hunt with the rule is the rabbit circles before we even throw the gun up to shot. it gives us time to pay attention to where everyone is and to where the dogs are!

[TOBY]

Fleetwood,
My rule has always been the rabbit must circle before anyone takes a shot.
Now I ask u. Do you predator hunt? I think it's kinda stupid when rabbit hunters don't predator hunt! We kill rabbits year in and year out but do nothing to help the population. Meanwhile Foxes and coyotes are running rampid and everyones complaining about there being no rabbits.
Everyone has there diffrent views on how to hunt. Doesn't mean it's right or wrong!

[Fleetwood]

Yeah I predator hunt. Seriously, what's the point of having beagles if you're going to jump shoot? It just doesn't make sense. JMO though. But, yeah, I try to kill the things that kill rabbits. But back to my question, why would you shoot the rabbit before the dogs ever have a chance to run it? Why feed your hounds all year if you're going to do that? We hunted Saturday and today. Jumped and ran a total of 12 rabbits. Hunted for 4 hours on Saturday and 2 hours today. It's all I was able to go over the busy Christmas weekend and it's against the law to hunt on Sundays in NC. Ya'll know how many of those rabbits I could have shot at? 8. Ya'll know how many rabbits are in my fridge? 2. For me it's about the hounds and developing my pack. I shoot the rabbit for them more than anything. My only point is this: If you say you're a beagler...not a rabbit hunter, but a beagler, why would you ever jump shoot a rabbit?

[lebro]

i want to let the dogs circle the rabbit because it is what i like. i dont care if other parties jump shoot rabbits. every day i have been hunting this year my dogs have been worn out, so i dont care they are having fun and so am i.

[Househounds]

When my dogs were"in training" I felt very strongly about this. Now that my dogs are finished and I have a place I can only run and not shoot, my dogs get in plenty of running so it doesn't bother me as much. When me and my sons go rabbit hunting these days we go to kill rabbits ( a reasonalble amount for the area we are hunting). Generaly we kind of spread out to the known escape routes and shoot when the dogs run them by us, if we can. We do not beat the brush ourselves and shoot them, but my boys have been known to shoot them before the dogs circle them back.

I remember one time Ben made a shot on a rabbit that the dogs jump near us with it running full blast. We were standing near a brush pile the dogs had worked over pretty good and figured if the rabbit was in there he wasn't coming out. We were ready to move on then the dogs barked, the rabbit shot out like a rocket, and he pulled up on that thing and rolled it about 50 yards away. I never thought he would have made that shot.

However, when hunting as someones guest or with others I always make sure I am clear on the rules of engagement so as not to upset any one. I respect people like you that believe in fair chase. Me and my sons have no prolem leaning on our shotguns and letting the dogs run the fur off a rabbit while listening to em work.

[BigStrutter]

I got one even better!!! I used to hunt with a guy that shot at every rabbit he saw, on the jump, in range or 100 yards....it didn't matter. I finally got out on my own and put alot of time and money to raise dogs that can circle a rabbit however many times it takes. So now when I take this guy he knows we don't shoot ont he jump. He'll stomp brush to help the dogs and that's fine.....but.........if he sees the rabbit run out he won't fully pull up and aim and shoot it he will "hip" shoot in the rabbits direction!!!!! Guess it falls in the grey area and he claims it gets his dogs to come and start the run. Most of the time he gets soem pellets in the rabbit and the dogs will catch it. I find it real hard to to tell him no when he calls since he got me back into rabbit hunting so I feel I owe it to him. But now we just hunt together on public land and not any of my goos spots. Figure let him have at it on public land and save my spots.

So Fleetwood...I will never understand why anyone who puts the time and money into raising even half way decent doga would jump shoot rabbits. To each is own though, it's all about having fun as long as it's legal.

Ned

[Buckeye Blues]

If I'm hunting with someone who has never hunted over hounds and we are on my running grounds where i make the rules here is what I tell them. "Don't load your gun until I tell you too." I wait until the dogs make the turn back in our direction. This rule eliminates the jump shot and protects the hounds who may be close on mr. bunny's tail.

[Ohiohntr]

The last two days I have gotten pictures from a local guy. He and his buddy were proud fellas posing with their 9 rabbits in 2hrs of "hunting". He posted the picture on facebook and a guy asked him how the dogs ran and he said they didn't because they ran off from all the gunfire.

The picture I got today was a take of 5 or so rabbits....all jumpshot as well.

I want to question the guy and ask him why he or his buddies even have beagles but I figure it is none of my business, he feeds and takes care of them so he must like to just have them around. If I was going to just "kill rabbits" I would never own a dog because they eat way more food than they will ever put on the table.

[TrevorR]

I kind of agree with you but, I have more farms to hunt than I can in one season, so every farm only gets hunted once a year. I run my dogs 3 to 4 times a week all year in the off season and when season comes in its time to kill the bunnies. I take alot of young hunters, since my son is 11 yrs. old he always has a friends that wants to go, and they could care less if the dogs circle or not they just want to kill a fuzzy bunny! Every rabbit shot gets eaten and that should be all that matters. If you don't like the way somebody hunts just don't hunt with them. Not wanting to get in a pissing match or anything, just get tired of people bitchin about the way others do things! It's called huntin not running season!