The American Beagler Forum

Turned my 8 month old female out of her pen last evening after supper.She's been started for a couple of months now and I've got plenty of rabbits right here at the house so let her out for a little solo running.
She had just gone into the tall weeds near the kennel and I heard her open a couple of barks and just as quick heard a rabbit squeal.I thought"she must have pounced right on one and caught it".I was close so walked right in on her and found her jumping around and "bogger" barking something in the grass.When I first looked at it I wasn't sure what I was seeing.....What it turned out to be was about a 5 foot long black King snake or what some around here call a Rat snake had grabbed that little rabbit and thrown a couple of coils around it and was constricting it.I grabbed the snake around his neck and kept jerking him up and down until he uncoiled and let the rabbit go.I tossed the snake off to the side and picked up the rabbit that was still alive and carried it down to the house to show and tell my wife what I'd just seen.After a couple minutes the rabbit was squirming around in my hands and I set it down and it scampered back off into the tall grass!
Have spent the past 45 years running all kinds of hounds after all kinds of game and have seen some weird stuff but that was a first.

You are a true rabbit advocate! Glad you saved the little guy. That would have been cool to see!

Snakes destroy lots of rabbit nests every year. For me they are on the same list as cats, hawks, owls, and minks & weasels.

Cool

good one dana ... i never seen that either. been hunting all my life .

I would have loved to see that. Glad. You was able to save the rabbit

At our local trial yesterday while I was judging the champ finals I had a hawk take a rabbit in the middle of the chase. Rabbit was pushed out of a clear cut into open hardwoods. I did not see the hawk hit the rabbit but saw it flopping on the ground after the stike and when the dogs got closer the hawk took flight up onto a limb and the rabbit tried to make an escape but got streached buy the dogs. It all happened in maybe 10 seconds. 15 at the max. That is twice I have had a hawk take a rabbit out of a chase. The other time was just a swoop and go.

I've had hawks swoop down on rabbits my beagles were running but never had them grab one.Friend of mine told me about a hawk picking one off in front of his beagles and I thought he was telling me a story until I saw them diving at a rabbit that we were running.
I've heard that is how falconers hunt rabbits.Use a flushing dog to jump the game out of cover so the bird can nail em.I think that would be pretty interesting to see.
I've been hunting before on two different occasions and hung rabbits in a tree / bush to pick up latter on my way out of the woods and come back a couple of hours later and found them gone. Don't know if it was a hawk,owl,coyote,fox?????

Have a friend who has a Jack Russell Terrier. Dog was in front yard and a Red Tail swooped down and took a pass at him. Rolled the dog but didn't get a tallon in him. Came back for a second pass as dog ran up on to the front porch. My friend ran in house and grabbed his 410 sitting by the door. The neighbor saw the show and said my friend couldn't shoot in the city limits. Mt friend responded, "Watch me!!!!" Hawk was gone.