The American Beagler Forum

I've been running my dogs this spring and for the most part they've been doing pretty good. But today I really don't know what they ran. The last couple of weekends they get chasing a rabbit and if I didn't see the rabbit I would have thought that they would be running a deer as far out they would go before circling the rabbit back. Today they took off on what I thought was a rabbit but they was gone. Another gentleman was out in the woods a good distance from me and saw the dogs go by. I asked him if he saw or heard a deer in front of the dogs and he said he didn't. 1/2 hour later I get one dog back, the gentleman I talked to left, he came back with another dog of mine he found on the road about one and a half miles away. And my last dog came back to the truck about 2 hours later. Do you think it was a deer or fox or what?

sounds to me like trash... do you run cottontail?

Yes, I do and I'm hoping that it was a buck rabbit. But I agree with you, with the trash. I don't think it was a deer though or that man would have seen or heard it, I think. Thanks for the reply and have a great Easter. Phil

Probably a fox. They make big circles and they can be pretty sneaky avoiding sight.

The Easter Bunny has cause many a Beagle to get a spanking. This time of year I would think a big old Buck Cottontail was out sparking.

This time of the year an old buck rabbit will wonder up to two miles away from his home grounds. When pressured by a pack of beagles he will go back to familiar grounds and run there until holed or lost. This is not unusual behavior. During rutting season.

ole buck rabbits are slick and will run a hound that can chase him.Becareful this time of year,make sure u see whats up.

It might be a buck rabbit, but you never know it could be a fox...let's hope not.

I was running in January, when usually rabbits hole really quickly here in eastern Ky, my hounds jumped something at the edge of a briar patch and a pine thicket and ran it almost out of hearing, to the end of a point where there are several cliffs. I hollered for them for a couple of minutes and then persuaded one that had a collar on him, all came back with him in a few minutes. Later some people told me that their hounds had run a bobcat in the exact same area to the exact same place the weekend before. It's not always a deer. BTW, I often wonder if some of the short rabbit races we get in the spring are groundhog chases. I had a couple of beagles when I was a boy that would hole a groundhog and dig it out if it was in a cliff or dodge and come home torn to pieces, dragging what was left of it.

its hard to say but i doubt it was a deer

The tale tale sign of trash is the dogs move out extremely fast and usually in a straight line.Another cause for alarm is no breakdowns.If its off game,theyll run it like theyre tied to it.

After they were gone awhile ( I could still hear them barking a little ) I used my collar on them. ( Tritronics trashbreaker ). If they was on a buck rabbit I hope I didn't confuse them. One of my dogs came back, the other two as explained earlier took awhile to gather up.

Why don't you find deer standing in a field in the evening or early morning, drop your dogs exactly where they were standing. Then you'll know for sure. Make sure that your collars are on before you release them.

I have done that before BJK with great sucess. Some I thought were running deer would not run the deer, but would still run a fox, so putting them on a deer will show you about the deer, but maybe not all trash.

BJK wrote:Why don't you find deer standing in a field in the evening or early morning, drop your dogs exactly where they were standing. Then you'll know for sure. Make sure that your collars are on before you release them.

that worked for one of my dogs. didnt work for the other. i had 2 dogs that i had a problem with running deer. 1 female and 1 male. i went out and turned them out on deer 2 different times. both times both dogs burnt em up. as soon as they started opening i let em have it with my new g2. i dumped em out a 3rd time and neither one took it. ran them throughout the rest of the summer and would occasionally put them on deer and they never took them. opening day comes and we had ran a few and shot a couple then the female opens up and just starts hammering in a straight line for about 100 yards then i seen a big doe bust out of the brush. about that time my male put in with her. i lit them up. so the dogs had learned to not open up when i set them up but as soon as they thought i wasnt looking there they went. the female was the problem. the male would go for awhile before he put in. guess he just couldnt turn down another dog burning one up. i think tri tronics has now fixed that problem. but i cant say i trust him 100 percent. i was told one time never to trust something that would eat its own $hit. not saying setting them up wont work im just telling you what happened to me. good luck with the dogs.......keith