The American Beagler Forum

Does anybody have any experience with Beagles flushing birds (pheasant, grouse, etc.) I just got a pup not really with the intention of hunting rabbits with it - more so cuz the wife thought it was cute. But I do hunt and figure I might as well train the dog to hunt too. You can probably tell, I'm not a die-hard beagler or rabbit hunter because I'm wondering if a Beagle will hunt up birds too. Is it possible that training it with different scents (rabbit, pheasant, etc) will condition it to chase anything. I don't necessarily want it to be great at either but maybe it can do both just good enough to be better than me randomly stompin around the woods all by myself. Just a thought. Thanks in advance,

Gil

It's a hard question to answer.

I guess if you are not going to rabbit hunt it, I see no problem with it. You will run into problems when you start letting it go after more than one game. Mine will occassionally flush a quail but I consider that trash even though I don't complain when they are on the grill.

I'm with ya Alabama Swamper.
The dogs are scent hounds and will go to where they smell the scent.
I don't hold flushing birds against them and don't try to break them from it like I do deer. The reason being they won't track the birds very far and mess up the hunt.
If you get a chance to bust a few from the covy it's a lot of fun.

gil850,
Don't expect a beagle to hold a point for you. That's just not in them.
If you're going to bird hunt with them you'll have to stay close and don't lose your cool when they get them up before you get in range. Remember rabbit hunters like a good jump and track dog and that's what most are breeding for.

Take care and have fun,
Mony

When we had pheasants to run. You could tell when they were running a pheasant, they barked different than when they ran a rabbit. That gave us time to get up close. You had to stay with the dogs if you wanted a shot. Sometimes they went a good ways. Get your running shoes on, lol

Sure it can be done. A scent is a scent, as long as you train him to follow it. I actually know a guy who had a beagle that would point! It was quite interesting to see and he never actually trained the dog for it.

Dane

I did hunt birds as a young man with Beagles. When the Pheasants have not been hunted at the first of the season it is a kick. The young dogs seemed to want to run them and open on the track. When the birds are hunted awhile you must be in good shape to stay on the dogs. The last quarter of season you must be in super condition. The birds are wild and would rather run than fly. If you can be there when the Beagles flush them you will be sucking a lot of air and its hard to be steady enough to hit hem. But its fun for a young man. Try it , you already have the Beagle.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents. my grandpa had a friend give him 2 beagles back about 35 or 40 yeras ago.. he says they were the best dogs he ever had. he said when they got about 2 years old they started pointing birds as well as running rabbits but they had been running rabbits since they were 6 months. he said when they were workin a rabbit there tail would be working really fast.. he said if they were sniffin out a bird there til would just go back and fourth really slow and eventually stop.. and they'd hold point like that he said. he has old pics of the 2 dogs on a point! looks funnny but it's real! i'v seen pics of him and the 2 dogs with like a limit of quail and rabbit .. soo its possible yea! haha

Thanks for the feedback guys. That's what I was hoping to hear. Maybe my little pup will be at the center of some good stories in the future.

Gil

I used to have a beagle that would flush a phesant, her bark was dramaticly differnt pitch when she was on a bird. I had no problem with her ever runnin off game. I didn't teach her to do this it just happend. It was pretty fun.

Well I guess most of you will say that one of mine "runs trash," but she LOVES chasing kildeer, which is a kind of bird. For those of you not familiar with them, they nest on the ground, and to lure predators away from the nest, they pretend to have a broken wing. Once they attract the predator, they fly away (and repeat the act elsewhere, if necessary).

She'd much rather chase rabbits, but when there are no bunnies to be had…that nose looks for kildeer. She doesn't bawl after them, but she does squeal once in awhile.

ive never tried to discourage my beagles from running partridge (ruffed grouse) ive had a few were real good at it. these are my all time favorite thing to eat.. they bark differently on them and its a short run and they fly.. dog goes back to hunting.. once in a great while i get lucky and get one.. id trade ten hare for one grouse to eat.. pete

Had a funny one happen last year. Was watching this one gyp as she was acting weid. She was coming up on a clump of weeds and was in a stacking mode. Moving forward real slow like a cat and was not opening. She entered the weeds and up come a covy of quail. Same time they flushed see went airborn and took one right out of the air about 3 fett off the deck. All I could do was stand there and laugh and harvest the bonus of the hunt.