The American Beagler Forum

ive seen some dogs solo a rabbit for long periods of time (usually in the spring) If the dogs i seen switched rabbits i couldnt tell ya
where it happened ! just wondering what others have seen . Time wise not distance wise and running solo on cottontails

6 hours
Had one dog jump a hare in an area with very little game.
Circled it relentlessly without major breakdowns.
My father shot it right at dusk...figured the dog deserved it.

Thats awesome! I I got alot of 4-5 hr solo races on cottontail last spring on heavily hunted land with little game.I love a good solo performance!

Earlier this season we had a cottontail run for 2+ hours. I got a shot at it around the 1 hour mark but missed. I was kind of worried that I might of hit it but after another hour of running I figured it was doing just fine. Then I let it slip past me again and hole. Lol, my father in law and myself named him ole long winded. Look forward to running him this spring training our pups.

If consistent pressure a cotton tail can't run more than a hour in my experiences. If my hound can't catch one after a consistent pressure I will end up selling that particular hound. My longest run was fifty five minutes but it was fifteen degrees and windy. She tracked it well for the conditions. A lot of breakdowns, but I ended up killing it on the sixth circle. If it was heads up running she would have caught it twenty minutes earlier.

Had a dog solo a cottontail for 2 hours the other night by the clock & I caught him because he was about to catch my good running rabbit. He runs to catch & had very few tough checks. Might have been the best solo performance I've ever seen. Granted, scent was good, but he's good too.

Same here Casey.

Have many times playing with young folks and those that run slower dogs, seen after a half hour or so, a worn out rabbit coming through a soy bean or cotton patch and walked out and picked it up. Made out like I was running it down, but it was actually sitting still or moving all stiff like.

Casey and john
Come to michigan then it is not uncommon to get well over a hour on a cottontail where I live with consistent preasure I have spots that rabbit flat run out of hearing.. I challenge both you guy to bring these rabbit catchers up here and show me!! I got a stop watch and will run it on your hound.. I have seen packs of fc run over a hour pounding and still not catch the rabbit..I get hour chases all the time.. have had several hound snatch them off the ground but it just dont happen every day.. I am willing to bet we can run any of my spots and neither one of your guyes hounds will catch a rabbit. Any time of year I want to see these solo rabbit catchers do it period let alone in a hour

I'm not going to say it would be impossible for a dog to catch a rabbit where we run, but it would be very difficult to run one stiff. We run on a strip job that consists of step terrain, very thick cover, and many places for a rabbit to hole. On occasion, we have races last 1+ hour with very few tough checks and the dogs are heads up running. Also, in the spring when little rabbits are roaming around the dogs usually have no chance of catching them as long as they stay in the sericea. If they come out in the open they would be in trouble though, but a grown rabbit wouldn't be in any danger.

However, I could see a dog catching a rabbit in the flat lands. Not sure what terrain you guys are running in (Casey & John)?

Coal mine ground and strip pit areas. I'd say 85% of the cover is sericea grass.

hlane wrote:Thats awesome! I I got alot of 4-5 hr solo races on cottontail last spring on heavily hunted land with little game.I love a good solo performance!

I too love a good solo run. You can watch 'em work the check the way it's suppose to be done. I just have one dog, almost 4 years old, that was trained and is still mostly run on sparse game public land. She seems to know that her best chance of finding a rabbit is to find the one that just gave her the slip so she stays on a check until she accounts for it. 3+ hour runs are not uncommon for her, 2+ hour runs are frequent. When I hunt her solo I don't load my gun until she's run it at least an hour. I've lost count of the number of rabbits she's run stiff and brought back to me. Times of those runs range from 1 hour ten minutes to 3+ hours. Rabbits seem to seize up faster in warm weather. I shot one today after 2+ hours. There were no checks longer than about 3 minutes and most under 30 seconds. The last 1/2 hour she was getting closer and the rabbit was looking tired. I really wanted a pup out of her but sadly, last summer, I found out she has thyroid deficiency so, from what I've read, I won't be breeding her ( I'd appreciate any input on this ). With thyroid replacement she is almost back to her old rabbit hatin' self.

Very seldom caught one in the mountains where there are holes.

Most caught in areas that can be plowed and where cotton or soy beans are or were.

Most are grade dogs but an occasional dog that was AKC.

One some might remember and ran with or against since she was an ARHA Grand Champion when I got her was Vests lacy from Kentucky. She caught a lot of Cottontails and a few Canecutters when she learned about water.

Its not a big deal and some around here take pride in the number their dogs catch while out running. Its a shame when in late summer, early fall they have them sitting on their tailgate so you can see how many.

Time wise. 60 + hrs. Ran this hare clean out of the country. Lol Many yrs ago we had a hare forced out onto the snow covered frozen waters of St Lawerence river. Managed to tackle two hounds off the line , but My hound Molson Golden took the line out across the river. 4-500 yds to a canadian Island. When the wind blew just right you could occassionally hear him. Was unsafe to cross and he never returned before dark. We tried to go through customs and gain access to island , but four guys , 6 guns and 300 rounds of ammo was not greeted well. Lol. While we continued to hunt for the next couple days , my dad drove all day searching the shore lines. Third day out he heard a hound running in search area. Sure enough he spotted Molson. He was back in NY running a hare in almost the exact same area. Now I'm going on the record and saying, it was the same hare all along. After all ,Molson was Patch/ Bear creek cross. No quit in that breeding.

John, my hound Taz was the same way. When I pick him up from Bill @ Flint River he said he handled good & loved a rabbit race so we took him to the Island and ran him with the hounds,
Well, the evening of the third day he'd decided he'd finally had enough and was tired and hungry to come back to the cabin with us for the night. He went crazy over the hare and we couldn't get him caught till he'd had enough. Every day after that he handled just as Bill had described, I guess his first experience on hare that would stay up and run had him hungry for more till he was 'bout wore out. I'm sure he was on a number of different hare over those three days, but he showed me the same grit and desire that Casey and his mother Ivory had. Bill had got him from Bob McClurg as a pup, he was Buster X Nelli bred and had my old Buckeye hound as his grandpa who was Casey's brother and out of Ivory. He is calm, quiet and clean in the kennel but all business in the field, I hope to have a dozen like him.

hey john look out for those Canadian hares they only speak french.