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)
I'm telling ya right now the only way a dog doing the job right is going to catch a rabbit is if the rabbit is too dumb to go down or sits until the dog is right on top of it...nothing will run it down on the track and kill it...if you got one put you're money where you're mouth is...not trying to call ya out i'm just sayin show me.
I'm tellin' ya right now I have a 12-year-old bitch in the kennel that used to run them down and kill them several time per year...and often in those big strip mines of southern Indiana....on the track...in about 20 minutes. Sometimes she had help, sometimes she didn't. My Rowdy dog used to run 'em down, too. And if we ran them together at our running grounds, or they ended up in the same final cast, you could about count on it happening a percentage of the time if the rabbit stayed up.
A cottontail is not a marathon runner and if one gets caught out of it's home territory, a quick dog putting a lot of pressure on it will run it stiff and overtake it. Ask anyone who has judged a few casts at the Little Pack World if they've ever seen a pack of 4 or 5 run a rabbit down. There have been many a dead rabbit thrown up over a tree limb and the dogs moved to another area to finish a cast.
Joey I have had a dog catch a swamper but the swamper just squat too long and when it jumped back up it was surrounded by the dogs and one caught it, they didn't run it down.
swampers are lot of fun to run and alot of meat in the game bag. heres one for ya i was out hunting and watched a rabbit run down a rabbit tunnel path and right into the side of my dog one day it was a young dog and couldnt keep up with the finished dogs i was hunting that day so it was hanging out with us, and we watched this rabbit come our way and ended up running smack into this young dog, and the dog never could figure out what happened. we ended up shooting the rabbit when it got alil further away.
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bev ive seen them caught in little pack hunts too, like i said dogs can get awful rough. I think i may have seen the dog your talking about and i think i may have seen pups out of that dog too, I think some dogs ive owned were pretty close related to them too. If your talkin about the shoreacres bred dogs i think u had at aubrey holcombes house when i met you in ga with sally and daniel hill. please correct me if im wrong. a powerful dog can catch them, but sometimes the dogs get alil too powerful, and it will bite ya in the butt at least it has me....i dont like that. I guess ive been getting pretty analytical of my dogs lately i ran yesterday and it wasnt good scenting the rabbits where holeing quickly,and we had lots of checks and i watched my dogs swinging 50 plus yards out to pick up checks and the next thing you know you have 2 or 3 dogs wayy out ahead of other dogs that also picked up the check alot closer to the point of loss and things turn into a hot mess pretty quick, that may give you guys an idea of where im coming from. You have hard hitting dogs that look good on a good day and look completely horrible and idiotic on tougher days. that was yesterday and the night before was the night we had that 2 hour chase i mentioned and they got realllllly rough on that rabbit, and it showed the next day when the scenting wasnt as good. It takes good conditions for rabbits to get caught like bev is talking about (in my opinion) or really bad days like i talked about when dogs are everywhere and rabbits get surrounded by rough dogs, they get snatched.
Last edited by ohlinger on Fri Oct 30, 2009 1:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
NO LUCK KENNEL 330-987-5883 noluckkennels.webs.com
Sorry yall.I m sure all of yall have some good dogs that I would be happy to hunt over.You have to understand were I coming from on this.I ve been rabbit hunting for 36 years and never had dogs or seen dog like yall talk about.Sure I had hunters talk about it but never seen it.The only rabbit that I ever catch was one staying to long in the bed or shot and broke down with the gun.I guess you have to have dogs with good eyes beside there nose doing all the work.But I do have something back of the house that can really catch one and never have to feed or water it.My rabbit boxes.Sometime catch two in one night with one box.Thanks yall for understanding just go out and take a kid hunting and have fun.Thanks.
Joey what I have seen the swamp rabbits ( bluetails)around here are a little easyer to catch,just like kyhunter said and the way they turn and go right back through the dogs.A dog with a good eyes can catch these thing.I don t want them in my pen.They just don t last long.
joeyman and rabbitearl in my opinion i would say you guys prbly run pretty good straight dogs then. The only times my dogs have caught rabbits or ive seen other dogs catch rabbits wasnt under the most impressive of track work. it has been like ive been trying to explain. they aint doing it right if they are catching it. I dont think they run rabbits stiff i think they find a stiff dead one out there. Just bc the dogs quit doesnt mean they ran it stiff. well i will just say ive never seen a rabbit ran stiff and ive seen some pretty long hard chases before. Id say if a cottontail is gonna go stiff it wouldve gone stiff the other day when ironjawdogs and myself ran one for 2 hours the other night full speed ahead.
NO LUCK KENNEL 330-987-5883 noluckkennels.webs.com
I've never seen one lock up either. I'm sure it happens just not for everyone. Glad to hear some people have that happen before. Wish it would happen to me someday. Maybe one of these days.
Missouri rabbits running for their lives!!!!
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bev ive seen them caught in little pack hunts too, like i said dogs can get awful rough. I think i may have seen the dog your talking about and i think i may have seen pups out of that dog too, I think some dogs ive owned were pretty close related to them too. If your talkin about the shoreacres bred dogs i think u had at aubrey holcombes house when i met you in ga with sally and daniel hill. please correct me if im wrong.
That was the old female, ohlinger, but she's not shoreacres bred. She's by Goose Creek Sam and a Cress' Comanche Tracker bitch. No cheater, always all up on the rabbit. Her pups were out of a Yellow Creek/Trimmer/Shaker bred male. Both are started now (by others) with good line and foot. I can understand where you may not have encountered the phenomenon often if what I saw in GA was what you have to run in. Nothing could go in a straight line for very far, lol. Southern Indiana, and other parts of Indiana for that matter, it's nothing for a rabbit to run several hundred yds in a straight line when pushed, or be brought around a BIG circle several times. The rabbits do wear out. They can outtwist a dog, but they can't really outrun one for long.
I prefer a run to catch type hounds myself.For hunting swampers and cottontail the run to catch type is the only way to go.If a person was interested in a hunting dog,i would suggest you go Hunting with someone where you live and Hunt.When breeding a hunting dog accomplishment should be the #1 priority.The priority in a hunting dog is to breed the trait of pushing the rabbit to the gun..........Dogs that potter while self checking dont make very good cottontail or swamp rabbit dogs-thats a myth.When people use the the words "chase to catch" they are denoting to other "Houndsman" that they are raising & hunting" non" self checking slow dogs. OR Chase to catch style describes the manner in which a hound pursues a rabbit!
Last edited by ricky murphy on Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I had a 15" bitch back in the Late 80's that caught more rabits that any dog I have ever ran with. She worked a check with her head up outside in and if that rabbitt had squated it was in trouble. She lived to hunt . If you didn't bring a shot gun she may or may not get off the path. Bring a gun along and she was a tireless hunter. Didn't run her much in the spring or summer because she would wipe out all of the little ones. Lost her in a kennel accident before I could raise a litter out of her. Never Trialed her because she wasn't interested.
I have only seen 2 dogs that would run rabbits down and catch. Both were head high runners that were always looking to 'SEE' the rabbit. These dogs depended heavily on pack mates to keep the rabbit going while they would often skirt and cut lines to get sight of the rabbit. A dog is "NOT" going to catch a rabbit by running the scent like I hope we are all breeding for. The exception would be a quatting rabbit that gets discovered.
On a slightly different note, I love the hard pounding head high running dogs, but very very few if any are good in harsh running conditions. It has been my experience that most beagles can only gear down 1-2 speeds. ie...from a 9 speed to a 7 or 7 speed to 5. The very rare outstanding dogs can gear down 3 levels from a 9 to 6. I have never seen a dog that runs a 9-10 speed that could gear down to 4 or 5 when conditions are bad. The moderate or medium fast dogs have always served me better in bad conditions. The head high runners were usually more nuisance than good in bad conditions. On the contrary, nothing is more fun than head high runners with a sping rabbit that wants to run.
Thoughts,
Mybeagles
Rob’s Ranger Rabbit Hunter (Lefty)
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