A general forum for the discussion of hunting with beagles, guns, clothing and other equipment and just talking dawgs! (Tall tales on hunting allowed, but remember, first liar doesn't stand a chance)
Im not saying my dog is a jump dog but will run 1 to 400 hundred yards ahead of me and the other dogs and usually produce a rabbit within minutes. Both my other dogs hunt close and hard in the brush, but it was cool watching the one dog take off from the other dogs and keep on running until she hit a hot rabbit scent. Well at least it was cool until i figured out that occasionally the supposed 'rabbit' wasnt a rabbit but a squirrel and I now try to make her hunt closer bcause it is easier to get after her if u see the squirrel... She is NOT a jump dog but seems to be fairly good at finding rabbits
As for the question: I like a little bit of both i like em to tear it up but i also like em to find rabbits quickly and i have one dog that just loves to smell smell smell and while he jumps his fair share of rabbits, sometimes takes a long time doing it cause he gets caught up on the smells. lol
Cooz's Beagles
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So lots of different answers.I love to watch a dog that truly uses all there senses. I think brains play a big part of Making a jump dog but as someone said a True Jump dog seems to hit the brush and look as well as try and catch scent. They are truly a beautiful thing to witness in 30 years i have owned 2.1 male and 1 Female.
I love too see adds for Awesome Jump dogs then i have went and watched em, Yea right. Hard hunt does not equal Jump dog.
When the moment of truth arrives, the point of preparation has passed.
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Some of the dogs that hunt thier guts out are hunting like bird dogs. You can watch them run here and there and everywhere ... except the center of a brush pile. I think patience has alot to do with it. The dog has to check an area hard ... amd those that do work up the bunnies that are sitting tight. Those that don' will jump the ones that are free flush or moving around alot. The dog with patience at the end of a month will jump more rabbits no matter the nose power. Just what I have seen from a tailgate. Hell they may have a code between the dogs for all i know
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Both of the jump dogs that I have owned had to have nose power cause I have seen them rear up on their hind legs and sniff the wind, then take off into a briarpatch, and sometimes go 20 or 30 yards deep before opening up like they was looking at him. Funny thing is though, neither of them were very good at running a track and keeping it going, yet I know for a fact they had as good or better of a nose on them than anything I have ever owned. I dont think they had the patience to slow down when they needed to as they were hell bent on catching the rabbit and if the race came out of the cutover and into big timber, they could catch one on a regular basis. The last one I owned died around 10 years ago. He was a big male tri-colored saddleback looking beagle, unregistered. Had to be around 16 inches tall but could get into the tightest places to jump a rabbit. He jumped em just as good at 1pm as he did when you cut him loose at 6am. The other one we owned was also a big unregistered male dog. My dad raised him from a pup back in the mid 1980's and he was bad to the bone also. If I hadnt of had the priviledge of owning those two, I wouldnt know what a jump dog was. I have to laugh when I look on the for sale boards and see people advertising a super jump dog for sale for $400.00 I remember in 1985 we turned down $700.00 for that old dog of ours and he was just an old grade dog. I remember my dad telling the man he wasnt for sale cause if we sold him, we might as well just quit rabbit hunting.
Interesting topic. It seems that a lot of folks have different opinions, but to me what makes a good jump dog has a powerful nose, and smart enough to know where rabbits hide. All of my dogs hunt hard, but my red tick male gets about 80% of the rabbits up. He hunts within 40 yards or so of me, and always seems to find rabbits that other dogs missed that are ahead of me.
Could training be a factor? If a dog is started by taking it along to pack in with dogs allready running, then it doesn't need to START tracks. A dog started solo Must jump and run its own rabbit. Is starting a pup with sight chases a factor? Interesting thread!
Yes I think training is a factor. If you run pups with the dog that jumps 80% of the rabbits it is hard for it to learn. Hunt or jump ability is also in the blood some have it many don't. Nose and desire are important for hunt and these can not be trained but running one solo can allow it to reach its potential.
Though I dont consider myself to own a what I will call a jumpdog, all 8 of my dogs hunt hard and do start rabbits for themselves. They one that currently jumps most of them is the only one that was started in the wild, with no older dog to do the work for him. If he wanted a rabbit to run, he had to go start one so I also think their is something to the training part of it. Also, he was run solo as a pup and had nothing with him to straighten him out on the checks, he had to work em for himself. He is my best all around hound that I currently own and I think this could have something to do with his training methods as a pup as compared to my other hounds that were started in a running pen and then run with an older pup trainer. He also happens to be the most independent and hard headed one that I own but he is always the last to give up on a rabbit.
i have been blessed with 5 jump dogs in my life time. Alamaba John decribed it the best. i dont care witch way they do it as long as they can get it done. i had a female a long time ago i called pepper. i think she was born in 1983 . she was one of the best i have had and when Wayne Waits hunted with me alot then and he was in great health he would walk to fast would not give the dogs time to hunt. he was a bird hunter first and he would be 2 hundred yrds ahead of me and the dogs he could hear her whine one time and he would do a backface real quick and he would come back on the double. i would say what are you doing. he would say every time i heard her wimper. next thing there would be a rabbit jumped. she would wind and trail the rabbit up. would do both. Wayne told everyone she was the best he ever saw.
I thank alot of it is our fault. When we were young we hunted for meat and we bred the hounds that would hunt, find ,trail and some would even retreive. Now I see dogs that are so wired up they don't take time to use their head or their nose. They just rip and run wanting to be in front or first. They can cover more ground then a pointer bird dog and do it fast. They just out run their nose. You ever notice when you hunt a competive dog by themselves the slow down and do a better job. Now through in four more hounds and the race is on. In the past we didn't have to have tracking collars because we knew were our dogs were and our dogs knew were we was. It's time to slow our dogs to a Hunting speed that will maximize their ability.
WildRidge, Good observations, and some sound advice. I was thinking of starting an annual trial around here to showcase the speed of some of the local dogs. Since speed seems to be the determining factor of a good hound, I was thinking about tying a sausage to the bumper of my truck and taking off down the road. The hounds are then turned loose and the dog that is the closest to my bumper at the end of mile would be the winner. It would not be necessary for the dogs to be on a rabbit trail same as some of the trials, and the fact that the hounds couldn't stay in the road would not be a demerit either!
I 've only seen two what I would call true jump dogs in my life,both were small females.They didn't go tearing thru the brush,they hunted at a steady pace and didn't get all scratched up doing it.They both used their eyes as much as their noses it seemed,no barking they hunted quiet ,when they jumped one it was usually real close to being caught.On days when the rabbits held tight they both regulary caught them.Neither one of these dogs were that great on the line.I wasn't lucky enough to owne either one of these hounds.I sure miss hunting with them and watching them do their thing.
