Run to catch

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Hey Tim
Usually I can't. It's a funny thing in that if I shoot a rabbit dead they don't much care about it at all. BUT, if I put a couple of pellets in one and they run it down or when they catch one they'll usually have it pulled apart and be inhaling it like a snake eating a frog before I can get it away from them.
Today with only the two of them running they caught it pretty close to where I was sitting on my camp stool. Queen is pretty possessive of a caught rabbit and Fly won't try and take it from her. I jumped in to the briers pretty quick and convinced her to let me have it.
Yesterday's catch was retrieved from the dogs minus it's head which Josie was inhaling.
I've got no issues whatever with guys that like to shoot rabbits if they're hunting in places where the population is strong. But as far as the dogs are concerned, I'd rather see them hang on to one for an hour or better with unrelenting pressure and catch him then to have guys kill half a dozen of them on the first circle.
Merry Christmas Tim.

[Aubrey Holcombe]

Big ol Merry Christmas. too all and Good Night, too All!
D.R,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>>

[warddog]

I will say that my entire mindset has changed over the years. When I was a kid it was a way of life for my extended family to harvest game to augment the diner table. That went on into my early to late teens although even then it wasn't nearly as important as then. It also was a way of proving that one was a hunter. As the years went by it more and more became the love of the dogs and THEIR chase in doing what they were bred for. In the past numerous years my cousin who I have hunted with those ole days on and I don't really care if we shoot a rabbit or not. Truth is I bought a 410 pistol to rabbit hunt with so "IF" I decided to shoot one the rabblt would have even a bigger advantage. I can't even tell you when I last shot a rabbit but I suspect it was at least 12 years ago when I was working my last pups. I do like to give them fur when they are getting going. We deer and squirrel hunt as well and harvest deer to augment the dinner table as the price of beef has skyrocketed. WE do take them BUT we do NOT fill our tags as we have a deer license bundle that one can take a buck as well as two does off of that license and then you can buy extra licenses to take antlerless deer up to 3 depending on the number within a county you are hunting in. We take one for each of us and that meets our freezer needs so no need to be a glutton even though it is perfectly legal to do so off of the one license. We do still take a limit of squirrels but our hunting them is probably about once or twice a season depending on how many we take when we go. LOVE to eat them too but three or four messes fits my taste buds for the year. Now that my last beagle is 12 years old and I failed to get a litter off her to maintain the line I had I have probably owned my last beagle. That is but one reason as we have lost about all the places to run much less hunt rabbits in and the population around here has dwindled. been on state ground and could hardly jump a rabbit and when merely running or trying to start pups the state ground limited to running only one had to nearly draw a number and get in line to do so. This year deer hunting we noticed that the squirrel population on my property was high enough that they drove us nuts while trying to listen for deer. We had three of us hunting and could count well over the 5 limit every time in the stands. I have never done so before but I decided to buy a squirrel dog. My wife has been wanting another house dog which we also have not had in many years so I decided to try to satisfy her and ME with a squirrel dog puppy. Dang, that actually worked out and she got one for Christmas. LOL Not an actual newly weaned puppy but rather one that is 5 1/2 months old that suited me REALLY good. I will say that we had forgotten the work involved with a pup and being her house dog as well it is even more time consuming as the guy we purchased him from was not going to keep him so had done NOTHING with him including naming him. We have started from ground ZERO but I figure beings he is the wife's house dog she will put as much into him as I will have to. Dang, I wished I had thought of this long ago as it cuts my work in half. LOL Any way it appears I will have to read all your guys stories with the beagles and then move over to some squirrel hunting with dogs sites as well. It appears that this ole dog will have to learn some new tricks and hopefully the ole mind still has some ability to learn. MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to ALL.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Warddog
Your experience mirrors mine very much. When I first started hunting on my own with my own dog I was 15 and I felt like I HAD to come home with dead game to prove that I was capable as a hunter.
When I first started hunting with my dad and his friends with the beagles I needed to show that I was worthy to hunt with the men and dead rabbits was my passing grade.
When I first got in to coon hunting in the mid '70's I was a total newbie to that sport and coon hides at the fur buyer's shed was a way to show that me and my hound had arrived.
When hunting with the guys and the bear pack, the first 5 years I never carried the rifle. But, telling folks that you were treeing bears and letting them go I could tell folks were skeptical. So I carried the rifle and killed three to prove it. Never cared about shooting another bear after that.
During these early years guys were always talking numbers. Using that as the total measuring stick to judge each other as to their hunting prowess.
I knew guys where their dog would go in to an oak or beech grove when the nuts were thick, open, tree and when you'd go in and shine a light it would look like a Christmas tree with all the eyes looking back. Then they'd shoot every coon up. Dog treed once but the numbers got inflated. To me it was kind of like the guys that ran silent trailers and were referred to as "hide hunters". They were cleaning up. If it was only about the numbers then these guys were killing me.
But as I got older it became more and more obvious to me that it was the hound work that I found most rewarding and not the kill. Not how many hides I stretched but how many trees that the hounds showed me with a coon in it. Not if the tailgate was covered with dead rabbits but how many times the beagles kept circling the rabbit or hare. The decision to take game or let them run again pretty much lies with the hunter when the hounds do their job. Don't be too quick to judge the quality of a man's hounds by the amount of game he does or does not take.
Like Warddog mentioned ,hunting territories are constantly shrinking [ at least around here ] and pressure on them is pretty constant.
It's got to the point that I seldom bother to carry the shotgun even during the gun season as I need the rabbits to enjoy my hounds.
Occasionally I get invited to some private ground where no body else hunts and we shoot some rabbits which I will admit does ad something special to the hunt.

[warddog]

Yep, I believe we came from the same hunting mold. I also agree that when we do shoot some rabbits it adds something special to the hunt especially if we are working a pup that runs for its first time, as well as STILL putting that harvest on the dinner table. Those wild game meals take me back to those good ole days when my dad, granddads and uncles were part of our hunting pack putting meat on the table. Every Sunday was a fried chicken meal EXCEPT when we had rabbits and or squirrel in the freezer then it was fried rabbit or squirrel, mashed taters, pan dripping gravy and corn! YES and my wife and I still eat it EXACTLY that way today as she came from a hunting family as well and likes it just as well as I except her family lives in Kansas and were bird dog hunters. That opens the door for another story but for another time. I hope all had a Merry Christmas and wishing you all a happy New Year.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Made a bunch of rabbit jerky yesterday.
It's pretty tasty but everyone likes it and it doesn't last too long.

[warddog]

That's the problem with any jerky I make, everyone likes it and it disappears quickly. I made some from wild turkey my neighbor gave me as he said he didn't like eating wild turkey but loved hunting them better than anything. WELL, that bag of turkey jerky didn't last him two days! LOL Oh and he said the same thing with venison but the deer jerky I made with my jerky shooter made him LOVE it. I'm going to have to stop doing that as my jerky doesn't last very long that way AND my wife always complains that it's gone before she gets her fill.

[Aubrey Holcombe]

HELLO:

D.R. Here thought I better check in as I have not had time to do much on the web sight, Yep got pups on the ground and "Spit" is doing his thing !

Breed him to nice, D.R. Breed female, Gun Dog and she is 10 generations D.R.Chocolate, Tan, White I am thinking now old boy, we going to have some red pups for sure! 62 days later,, she had nine (9) pups Not red pup in the litter, all Blue Ticks ?
Love that 'Spitfire" he is all business, when it come to a Stud Dog!

Hope all is well and enjoying that Stupid, moron that you all call the President??

D.R.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Rabbit Town, USA~~~~~>>

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Hey Daddy Rabbit
Good to hear from you and hope you are doing well. Real glad to hear that you've got some pups from Spitfire and one of your good females. They should make some rabbit dogs ,don't you think?
Ol' Spit is bluetick through and through as both his momma and daddy were blueticks and all his grand parents too. Those genetics pretty strong.
Tough time of the year to raise pups as it's been real cold here. Hope you've got a heat lamp on them.
I'm hoping to raise some pups this year but my females are not co-operating. All past due for their heats. Maybe will have to wait till Spring when the weather breaks.
I've been running the dogs pretty regular and having some outstanding races. Not shooting many. Just enjoying the runs.
My son and I are heading down to Alabama next weekend for a couple days and try and get in to some swamp rabbits. I love running those cane cutters as they'll stretch out a hound about as good as the snowshoe hare.
A friend of mine and his son from New Hampshire are coming down for a week of hunting with me towards the end of February. They both have sisters to Spit and they are some real nice females. They are anxious to come south as they had -21 below up there recently ! Those are some hard conditions for running dogs. Not that they hunted when it was like that !!
We'll head out to west Tn. and run some swampers out there. Guy I knew from my coon hunting days invited us, said his nephew has 500 acres to hunt and to come on.
Looking forward to it.
You take care old friend.

[Aubrey Holcombe]

D.R.
Hope you don't mine me calling you by the initial, since we came up with that when my pup was small, I been calling me and you D.R. Say old "Spit"' gone and got himself some Child Support payment ! Yes sir he is the proud Daddy of seven (7) nice looking pups !

I bought myself the news thing out, it's an electrical Welping Bowl, that thing is somthing else, Friend of mine got one and he say they well worth the money, over $300, but they work when it's cold, I haven't lost but one pup, and it as my fault.

Gotta run many thing to get done, and I am getting slower all the time go slow in order not to fall down and break something.

catch you later, D.R.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>>

















;

[Shady Grove Beagles]

My son Zach and I just got back from several days hunting swamp rabbits down in Alabama.
We harvested some and enjoyed some outstanding long ,hard runs. These swampers can give you runs that can rival that of the northern hare and they swim too.
My son out shot me on the rabbits but I did manage to take a couple.
The beagles showed out like you'd want them to. And although morning temps were mid 20's the days were blue sky and sunny.

[Aubrey Holcombe]

Hay ol man you looking good, notice that you Setting Down, with that Cane Cutter in hand,, looks good, I can hear them hounds burning them up now!!

D.R.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>>

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Nick Allen brought his Allen's Buster Blue over today to breed to my Shady Grove's Fly Girl. The attraction was mutual and they got to the business at hand.
Buster has two litters on the ground and at a year old they are looking real nice.
I'm pretty excited about this cross. Both dogs are 14 3/4", athletically built and have the tools to get the job done. Both have been hunted with success on cotton tail, hare and swampers.
Hope springs eternal.
I mislabeled the pics. Fly is the tri and Buster the bluetick.

[Aubrey Holcombe]

Boss Man:

That Blue Tick, looks a lots like my ' Dr & Dr's Spitfire"" but he looks like he may be a bit taller than spit. Good looking pair of hounds, hope you al have good luck with them litter.

D.R.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>>

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Hey Daddy Rabbit
Ya, Buster looks pretty big in the pic the way he's posed. Just for kicks we measured him several times and he's right at 14 3/4 inches. Fly is the same height so doubt there will be any 13" dogs coming from them.
If I remember right from when I was at your place and from the pic. I took of Spit I'd say he is probably 13 3/4" - 14".
So how are those pups out of Spit growing?
My friends are coming down from New Hampshire next week for a week of hunting. We'll be heading back down to Alabama to get after some of those swampers.
We had planned to go out to west Tn. to hunt swampers with an old coon hunting buddy. He called a couple of nights ago and had to go in the hospital for a cardiac catherization and a couple of stents so he's out of commission for a while.
These fellows have two of Spit's sisters. They've been running in a foot or more of snow and single digit temps. so we'll see how they handle the swamps and running in water.