The American Beagler Forum

are you guys running the same kind of cottontails we are in jersey and southern ny? I've been at this for almost 50 years and in all that time i ( nor all the guys i run and hunt with) have ever seen a dog catch a mature healthy cottontail rabbit. it simply can't be done around here. I've had my dogs run one rabbit all day 6 plus hours, missed him twice before he holed up. your either running a different kind of rabbit or such wide open ground it allows your dogs to get that close. i shared your post with some of the guys i run with. they got quite a laugh.

Glad to have gave you and your friends a chuckle. I guess we have more suicideal rabbits here. Never been to jersy and nor have I ever been to southern ny. Maybe your rabbits are smarter than ours. Let me get a picture of the rabbit I shot today, and we will see if they look alike?

Maybe it's not the difference in rabbits............

u r right. maybe its the weather.

In defense of Casey...until you have run in Indiana, Kentucky, WV, PA, Ohio, and a few other states with cottontails to know the terrain and habitat you can't really judge this.

I will say personally, the best running rabbits I have ever been around in all of the above states are definitely Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. The rabbits have terrain to NOT hole and or seek refuge and I am sure shear volumes of rabbits may be partly the reason they don't hole and get caught. HERE in WV we have TONS of rabbits that hole quickly!! If you get a good 20-30 minute run from one enjoy it....hours long races are so rare they don't even need mentioned.

This grass being referred to is not super hard for dogs to move thru...it is not a briar thicket...I am confident a rabbit feels safe in it but a dog feels very comfortable moving thru it as well....may make for close encounters that don't end well for the rabbit.

I used to think caught rabbits were bull....BUT when I went to a little better hound several years back...nearly 10...we had multiple days with 2 rabbits caught(NOT SHOT THEN CHASED DOWN), and several days with at least 1 rabbit caught. Athletic hounds....dumb rabbits....relentless track pressure...call it what you want...ALL I know is several dogs came back carrying a FULL grown cottontail in there mouth to us and NO shots were fired.

As stated earlier....some hounds mouth...then mouth...then move. Some mouth and pursue like there next meal is in front of them....get out and take a look at other hounds...maybe a rabbit could be caught now and then....I assure you, when they come carrying a half eaten rabbit you may do more than chuckle....

I'm not saying it's easy for them to catch one and I'm not trying to sound like it happens a lot, but it does happen.

Hey Mr. Joe does this look firmilar??

Here where I hunt there are two times in the year when your likely to catch rabbits. One is in the winter when the snow can be rough on them. And in the spring when you get the buck rabbits that travel and don't know the terrain. I have seen lots of rabbits caught at these times. A few years back I had to stop hunting in one area because they would catch way to many. I can't imagine the dog power being that different so I don't know how to explain, but here in Michigan we catch some, sometimes quite a few.

that sure LOOKS like one of our cottontails and yet.... maybe i better have a little talk with my dogs and see if i can get them to pick up the pace a little. hows the hunt'n out buy you? we're shut down for awhile here. to much snow. the rabbits sit 5 feet from the holes and don't run at all. it's to cold to go north and hare hunt. a waste of gas for sure. anyway good luck to ya.

I need to expand my area for rabbit hunting. Just like Adirondack joe said, here in nj I'll be lucky on a 30 min chase , Usally circle once then go to a hole. Again here in nj most our hunting spots are very small. Or maybe my dogs just suck. Lol.

BCBeagles wrote:In defense of Casey...until you have run in Indiana, Kentucky, WV, PA, Ohio, and a few other states with cottontails to know the terrain and habitat you can't really judge this.

I will say personally, the best running rabbits I have ever been around in all of the above states are definitely Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. The rabbits have terrain to NOT hole and or seek refuge and I am sure shear volumes of rabbits may be partly the reason they don't hole and get caught. HERE in WV we have TONS of rabbits that hole quickly!! If you get a good 20-30 minute run from one enjoy it....hours long races are so rare they don't even need mentioned.

In three years I can only recall one run that I had which was over an hour and half. You are right. 20-30min races are good ones for us in WV. At least in my neck of the woods.

Due to lack of preparation and poor shooting I ran out of shells today. David and I set around talking and while the dogs ran for awhile. Crank ran down a healthy cottontail right in front of us. I've seen him catch a rabbit 5 minutes into a chase and I've watched him solo one for 2+ hours, applying steady pressure and never catch it. A lot just depends on the particular rabbit.

We had two rabbits caught at a trial, last weekend. My dogs have caught rabbits at least two or three times, especially after a long run.

The hound in my avatar (Copper) caught 5 in his lifetime, 2 were on bare ground and the rest on snow. only 1 was on snow where the snow was over 4". He was the only hound I've ever had that could do that.

U CAN ONCE N ALONG WHILE CATCH ONE IN N C WHEN CONDITION R RIGHT

Imho, don't think to terrible about those rabbits that take the short-cuts to the hole. A doe rabbit spends a good portion of time sitting close to the holes and under ground. I would venture a guess if your holing a good number of rabbits in an area, you've got some good breeding stock there for this springs new litters.
A old dear friend told me one time, "if your killing doe rabbits, your shooting them off the dogs jump them or kicking them up jump-shooting them,... you won't get a good race from a doe rabbit."
Keep track and I bet you find this to be mostly true.