The American Beagler Forum

What are the best blood lines that y'all have seen do the best in water ?? I mean run a rabbit 100 yards trough water hit a small piece of land then water another 50 yards .


We have a 15" male off Elvis that will hit the swamp on a rabbit and never check up . I have had trouble in the pass with some bloodlines the dogs could not run in a foot of water . The other pups we have off Elivis different litters have not been brought to the swamp yet . If they are like this young male . I have got just what I've been looking far .

We run in a area that thee state has set up weir systems to flood the areas for ducks in the fall and winter . They hold anywhere from a 1foot to 4 feet of water after 1 or 2 runs in the water dogs seem to adjust real good . I run Patch hounds.

Tadpole blood

I thought this was a myth to make me laugh. a guy in Mississippi uses northway and pine mountain chester blood to run swampers in his area. I didn't believe it until I just read this post about dogs tracking though water unreal.

They have some bloodlines that will quit a rabbit when it hits the water if they can't see it . A rabbit dog will check for a double back and then to the left and right along the river bank and if they don't pick the rabbit up . They should swim to the other side and pick it up . All withend under a minute time .

I've run swampers / cane cutters in west Tennessee, Louisiana and in the Mississippi Delta.Make no claims to having "swamp water" dogs but have been successful in taking rabbits whenever we've hunted them.
Of course I've seen many swamp rabbits swim just like a muskrat and have shot several while swimming with just their noses showing.
BIG SURPRISE was last week while hunting cottontails in middle Tn. last week with friend Peter Burns.We were hunting on a farm with several large ponds.We jumped several cottontails out on a peninsula and they immediately took to the water and swam across to the other side with the beagles swimming across after them.Several of the rabbits were soaking wet when shot.
Figure any animal can swim but didn't know that the cotton tail would take water so readily.Beagles were putting a lot of pressure on them and no hesitation to hit the swimming water.
A lot of Ninja blood, Reggie and Thunder Blue.

Shady Grove Beagles wrote:I've run swampers / cane cutters in west Tennessee, Louisiana and in the Mississippi Delta.Make no claims to having "swamp water" dogs but have been successful in taking rabbits whenever we've hunted them.
Of course I've seen many swamp rabbits swim just like a muskrat and have shot several while swimming with just their noses showing.
BIG SURPRISE was last week while hunting cottontails in middle Tn. last week with friend Peter Burns.We were hunting on a farm with several large ponds.We jumped several cottontails out on a peninsula and they immediately took to the water and swam across to the other side with the beagles swimming across after them.Several of the rabbits were soaking wet when shot.
Figure any animal can swim but didn't know that the cotton tail would take water so readily.Beagles were putting a lot of pressure on them and no hesitation to hit the swimming water.
A lot of Ninja blood, Reggie and Thunder Blue.

That's what we mean when we say water dogs . The more you run around water the better that get.We only have one female that will put her head under the water and look . She's not for sale we going to get some pups off her . Now if they go to the end of the river , creek , pond or swamp and the other dogs cross and they stay and bark on the bank . The gators love to eat them !!!they don't come back to the kennel .

main event`s beagles wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 11, 2017 2:05 pm

I thought this was a myth to make me laugh. a guy in Mississippi uses northway and pine mountain chester blood to run swampers in his area. I didn't believe it until I just read this post about dogs tracking though water unreal.

main event text me at 502-376-7691 I would be interested to see what Pine Mt dogs he has down there.

When younger and hunting the ole strip pit spoil banks cottontails took to the water pretty easily. I can only remember one that we had back then that would swim the lake, pond or whatever in pursuit of the rabbit. We haven't hunted those ole strippers for a long time as most have been reclaimed or are private property that can't be hunted. As a kid we hunted them every weekend.

I judged Pacesetter at the Menominee Grounds, back in I believe 1990. If anyone ever ran there, you would remember it as one of the nastiest cedar swamps you've come across, which often times was a flooded mess in the spring with mosquito's the size of song birds (slight exaggeration) and in ample supply. The grounds always held good game and the running was often fast and furious, (but not that year). The year was particularly wet and afterwards I was covered in mud with water well beyond my privates. I was an inexperienced judge at the time, paired with a beagling and judging legend, "John Quigley", who I noted after the trial was not nearly as muddy or wet as I and had gotten twice the score. After getting a faulty hound out of the trial that John caught ghost trailing that a less experienced judge may have given the win (myself), we were able to focus on the pack. Running was very difficult that year as it was an exceptionally wet spring and the grounds for all intents and purposes was under water with very few high spots. As the trial went on only one hound could dig it out and run the hare in that water. A big tri colored male just did his thing, running at maybe medium speed, disregarding the rest of the pack who were me too-ing and getting a whiff of scent every now and then from his hard work. He didn't run it like it was painted, but he ran it pretty damned good considering it was through water, skipping to the few tiny islands of high ground that were in the swamp. I will always remember the water boiling off his coat as he went after the track with a big bawl mouth and his head, mostly high in the air. He was impressive that day for sure. If I wanted a water dog, I'd go after some IFC Trakarab Pacesetter blood.

slaux that is a cool first hand experience on a hound.. always good to hear stories on them ole dogs.

Only ran swampers a couple times but it floods around my running spots frequently. This time of year now a lot of running is done in standing water a couple inches deep.

Haven’t posted here in years, but this post took me back to a really good memory. I had a Weir Creek dog (Boggey Holler & William Webster top and bottom). He had a long bawl mouth and ran the back of my pack most times. There was something about running in water that transformed him and his mouth into another dog. He would switch from his bawl to a machine gun chop, and pick up a gear or three.

My hunting buddies didn’t believe it until they saw it for themselves. After that, it was always a pleasure to know when the rabbit went to water. We would just sit back and wait for the transformation. I miss my old Weir Creek Dirty Little Rascal (Razz).