The American Beagler Forum

The last Saturday of this coming Sept. will make my 40th consecutive year of having hounds. There has not been a second since that first female beagle I purchased in Sept. of 1977 that I've not had at least 1 hunting hound. Over the years I must say working with young hounds has always brought me the most joy. I love taking them from puppies to the finished product and everything in between.

I'm a month away from our Snowshoe Hare gun season coming to an end and have really enjoyed working with a pair of young dogs I purchased from Swampman in southeastern WI. They are (1) day apart in age and will be two yrs. old in May of this year. Swampman had Joe Kuklenski start them in his pen on hare then brought them home to run cottontail and hare. I take no credit accept for doing what it took to get them here. These (2) hounds have been a real pleasure to run and do a really nice job on hare for me. They compliment each other well and are probably as settled a pair of young dogs as I've ever owned at this age. The female, Belle, has a little better nose. The male, Gator, has the most hunt of any beagle I've ever owned. Two weeks ago I put him down in 46" of snow. I've seen many, many beagles over the years when turned loose in these conditions turn around and look at you as if to say "You expect me to go jump a hare in that crap". Pretty sure that was the deepest snow Gator has ever seen. When I unsnapped the leash he went hunting and never looked back.

Gator is out of FC Wilson's Izzo x FC Green Bay Blue Bay which was also Bay's last litter before she passed away in May of 2016. Belle is out of FC Palin's Pine Run Hootch and FC Plover River Molly. These (2) attached pics were taken the last Sat.in January this year. Gator and Belle ran the same hare that day for (2) hours and 45 mins. They circled it 11 times and I saw it 6 times. I could have easily shot it but chose not to. Where I live and hunt near home, most places have 1 or 2 hare. Shoot them and I'd need to find another spot to run. They've had one hare shot in front of them and that was last fall when Shady Grove was up for a visit and took a couple. I've attached a couple pics. Though Belle looks super small in the pics. She's 13-1/2" - 14". Gator's a big boy!

So what are some of your stories to share about some new upstarts you've got coming along? I always enjoy reading/hearing about others young hounds and where they come from!


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Not me lol

That be me. I enjoy watching them progress from start to finish. It's always an adventure with young dogs. One hunt your so proud of them and the next time you just have to laugh. No reason to get mad at them there just pups. That what I keep telling myself lol. But it's what I like to do.

Wow it seems the older I get the less I enjoy starting and fooling with pups, it takes some real patients but it does have its rewards! I have a 8 1/2 month old male pup that is out of Izzo's sister he has never been in a pen he started in the wild . He has been running for a month now but trust me he has been a pain in my butt on running deer! I run alpha's on my dogs so getting him stopped has not been a problem it just was getting on my nerves, one day 2 weeks ago he ran 3 differant deer chases all of which he was shocked but the last one I fried him real good. Now with that being said I was just about to give up on him and let him go but he is a hunting machine with a million dollar mouth and the last 2 weeks he has not taken a deer and trust me he has had plenty of chances, my other males do not run off game so I think he is starting to figure it out (hopefully). I love to run my hounds and it takes a pretty good hound to set up home with me , I ran this pup pretty hard the last 4 times out and he is starting to get checks and has also has had jumps to his credit the last 3 times out. I think he has what it takes to keep eating my food but he was sure trying my patients.

I got to the point several years ago where I just accepted the fact that most young dogs are going to run trash at some point. Thankfully we have pretty reliable equipment to make the task of breaking a dog from running offgame much easier than it once was. If they show me they have the right tools to run the desired game I'm willing to put in the time to convince them what not to run! There can be some disappointment involved with young dogs but not much more satisfying in seeing them develop into finished hounds if they got the right stuff!

this is what's tough. having raised many pups over 50 years I would PREFER they the run deer when they are very young so it can be corrected immediately. with today's technology, if you have a dog you raised from a pup and he still runs deer after 1.5 years old it's YOUR fault, not your dog's. of course there are some rare exceptionso so now your Beagle is a house pet. the tough part is trying to break them off coyotes. It's very difficult to find a hot coyote track to put them on consistently to break them.if anyone knows of a better way I'm all ears.

The Gator dog ran one on me in early January. When I finally realized what he was running he got "stimulated" and quit immediately and headed for me. Hasn't run an off track since but I'm not going to say he's broke yet. If he runs another on me I'll be calling a coyote hunter and ask if I can drop him with his pack once they get one going. The plan being he'll get disciplined for running the coyote and then have the temptation after the fact to go back in with the pack. If he does he'll get corrected again. This would hopefully do two things. 1.) Make the scent another bad experience and 2.) if necessary make him give it up while under the pressure of the pack in full cry. If that won't change his mind he'll likely get a new home, perhaps with a coyote hunter? I like what he does on hare so am in hopes I'll get him squared away. Hounds with a ton of hunt can be challenging when their young until they understand everything but the desired game is off limits!

Hare chaser that's the best idea I've ever heard of. If I ever have trouble again with one of my dogs that's what I'm gonna do. Thank you.

adirondackjoe wrote:Hare chaser that's the best idea I've ever heard of. If I ever have trouble again with one of my dogs that's what I'm gonna do. Thank you.

Here's hoping neither of us ever have to employ it!!

Had my three pups out yesterday with mom and first jump was three deer, all took off except mom and all got the juice and came right back. That felt great to stop it quick. Mom got a rabbit going and one pup [all 6 months] stayed with her most of the time but no sound. The other two wandered around picking up the scent here and there. The place I run has a large and tall observation mound so I can see what they are doing which makes it fun.
I've raised these grade dogs for 50 yrs. and only breed for myself. Twice I've ran with field trail dogs for fun and both times they outran the pack, one bitch 20 lbs. jumped and stayed 20+ yards in front of the pack all day. 20yrs later I ran a larger male against another small pack in Kentucky and he brought the rabbit back 100 yards ahead of the pack.
When you say you like to work pups I get your drift; what you gonna get next, another method to stop the trash running cause I'm to old to run them down. All the prep work for obedience training prior to the field and in the field makes for great gun dogs. Thanks god for the shock collar.
Had a pair males that the alpha I used a early model collar on and the other no collar cause he was very timid. When he was young he would not come in with the rest of the dogs and I would leave and he'd be back at the truck by the time we got there cause he knew he was alone. As they got older the dog raised with a collar would stop when I hollered wo and Mr. timid would turn and look at me and just keep going on the rabbit. I'd have to wait on the track and intercept him in an unfriendly mode to say the least. So be smart and do the work at home and in the field so you can reap the rewards of a well trained dog.