The American Beagler Forum

How do most people kennel their hounds when heading north for a week of hare hunting. Pictures welcome!
Thanks,
Alan

When I go north to hunt I usually go for two weeks and take 4 dogs. I've been doing this ever since I moved here to Tn. from New Hampshire 22 years ago.
I have a fairly spacious dog box that accommodates two dogs on each side easily [ can do three if need be ] and put down a good layer of straw in it.
I also bring a tie-out gang chain for the 4 hounds that I stake out at camp.
We hunt every day, most all day. Quite frankly,if you're hunting your dogs like this all they want to do at the end of the day after being fed is to crawl in to that dog box and go to sleep !
Admittedly it is kind of a hassel if you end up with a day of heavy rain and don't hunt and the dogs spend the day in the box but,if you think about it ....what would they be doing at home with the same weather? SLEEPING !
Enjoy your hunt.

I use my dog trailer overnight and chain gang when I return from hunting for the day to feed them.
My trailer has spring loaded doors so the hounds can come out into the kennel area at night to relieve themselves if need be but more importantly, to get water, I keep a full water dish in each side.
Before I had my trailer, the hounds were dehydrated by morning even though I'd give them plenty of water before putting them in the dog box for the night.
I even use my trailer for trialing, works great!

As Dana stated, hounds are ready to rest at night after putting on 20 miles/day, every day for a week.

Dog box in the bed of the truck at night and on the chain crew during the day when not hunting. We tent camp for two weeks in the North Woods of Maine.

I also use a trailer and a chain gang like swampman. At my cottage on the Island ,I also have an above ground kennel from T.E.Scott that will easily hold 4 hounds.

Thanks guys,
I appreciate it.
Alan

Swampman makes a very important point in his post regarding water. Most folks when on hunting trip will tend to put a few more miles on their dogs than normal. Water access is crucial. It's easy when on a trip where hounds are spending their down time in the box with no water access to forget to be sure they get enough. One way to help them out is to mix some water in with the food and let it soak into the food before feeding. Checking on the dogs before you turn in at night after a long day in the woods provides another opportunity to give them some water and a chance to empty out as well.

Good point Dan, I forgot to mention that I do that as well.
Hard kibble will add to the dehydration over night.
I add warm/hot water to kibble, seems to soak into the kibble faster than cold water.