The American Beagler Forum

I am in search of a Beagle that I can hunt coons with. The terrain that I hunt is really tight and thick, and coon hounds just cant get into it and trail anything effectively. I understand that Beagles aren't a coon hound, but I've hunted scent hounds my whole life, and their always seems to be a dog that will "trash" or hunt non-desirable game. I live in Utah and hunt coon mostly, but fox and mink are not uncommon. I have terriers that I do earthwork with, and the theory is that I can get a good beagle to trail the coons to the den, and then use terriers to work from there. I'm not trying to irritate anybody with hunting off game or trashing, I'm just trying to find a dog that would be a good fit for the needs that I have. Thanks, Steelnfur

And I'm certainly not opposed to running rabbits with dogs, its just that we dont have much for options in that arena. There are a few cottontails, but when they get pushed they head to ground, and the majority of what we have is Jack Rabbits, not sure how that would go, they cover a lot of open ground and they can move.

I think it wouldn't be that hard to train a beagle to run a coon.After all there's states where it's legal to run deer with dogs and many of them use beagles.There's at least one guy and maybe more than one that has posted pics. on this site of coyotes he's run and killed with his beagles.There's a Canadian Beagles on Fox Association in Ontario.When I was growing up we always shot a bunch of pheasants that our beagles would work and flush for the gun.Over the years I've had two occasions where some young beagles being run early in the morning jumped and ran a coon until I hollered em off it.
The problem as I see it is that all these other species are running game that get shot at in front of the dog.I'm not aware of any strain of beagles that naturally locate and tree and will stay at the tree.
I ran coon dogs for 21 years and for me if you didn't have a natural locating,stay put tree dog you didn't have anything.

I don't suppose you remember who it was that posted the beagle with coon pics?
I dont need one that will tree, most of the coons that I hunt will go to the ground.
Steelnfur

I never saw any beagles with coon pics. I mentioned seeing a guy or possibly two that posted pics of some red and white [ Patch hounds?] on here with coyotes they killed in front of their beagles.
If you don't need a tree dog than I'd think any dog that would chase a coon would work.
I've seen some feist squirrel dogs around here that are silent trailers that are death on a coon.

Shady Grove Beagles wrote: ↑

Fri May 25, 2018 8:49 pm

I never saw any beagles with coon pics. I mentioned seeing a guy or possibly two that posted pics of some red and white [ Patch hounds?] on here with coyotes they killed in front of their beagles.
If you don't need a tree dog than I'd think any dog that would chase a coon would work.
I've seen some feist squirrel dogs around here that are silent trailers that are death on a coon.

Shady grove, that would be me. My last coyote beagle (Patch Hound) died several years ago and I haven't trained another one to run coyote. My good friend Tom Launstein still runs coyote with his dogs. These days I'm content just running cottontail at home and hare at my cottage on the Island with that big Sasquatch guy from Wisconsin.

Swampman??

Shady Grove Beagles wrote: ↑

Sat May 26, 2018 5:31 pm

Swampman??

Well if we were playing Jeperdy the correct answer would be : who is swampman? But yes you are correct.

I'm not familiar with the fiest dogs at all, but I am not against any dog that is just a good honest hunter, I just flat like to watch a good dog hunt.
Does anyone know of someone out Utah way that has something good? I can look online as well, but thats more or less a blind search, I'd prefer to have a shot at something that someone else could recommend.
steelnfur

In the area I live in the fiests are commonly used to hunt squirrels and some of them are very good at it, but we are a long way from you.

reddog1 wrote: ↑

Sat May 26, 2018 6:19 pm

Shady Grove Beagles wrote: ↑

Sat May 26, 2018 5:31 pm

Swampman??

Well if we were playing Jeperdy the correct answer would be : who is swampman? But yes you are correct.

Those darn Michiganders and their education system!
Well, if we were playing Jeopardy, the correct answer would be: who is Swampman.

Daily double??