Hunt - hare dogs vs cottontail dogs

[Hatfield]

Oh look how good that thicket looks! Those dogs didn't even go in there. I know there is a rabbit in that.

Come here dogs, right here, check in here! Dogs went in reluctantly nothing came out!

I played that scene out over and over until I figured out just what you guys said," They know more that I do.".

Now I just watch the guys I hunt with to see if they have any better luck than me with that, put'em in, thing.


HOw about the dogs that go in every thicket turn over every leaf and never jump a rabbit? Then that old bitch that you just wish would hunt a little harder, she jumps just ans many or more than any dog on the ground. I know which one I want and why.

[les guynn]

THINK, I agree with most of the answers here but. I have been running beagles about 52 years now. For most of that time i ran cotton tails just hunted with the dogs i owned and raised so they all new each other and stayed in a pack and hunnted with me and they hit the brush here in WVArgina, and i have killed my share of them. But in 1992 i got this desire to run little back combatition hunts, not knowing much about this sport, so i went and talked to Brian HAYWOOD, HE GOT THIS IDEA OF STARTING A CLUB IN MARYLAND, so we did the only club in Maryland to register under ARHA, So i thought about a dog to run , he said bring one of yours, and that was the beginning of my dogs rangeing out to find a rabbit. because they go with a JUDGE usualy some stranger and 4 dog that may never ever seen each other. So i think that is the start of hunting dogs being trial style hunters. I hunt hare some times, and i think a good dog can ajust either way.GOD BLESS

[Briarhoppers]

A good "rabbit / hare" dog will adjust and find rabbits period. They will adjust if given the chance to the cover and terrain, etc.

However, I have owned both hare blooded hounds and cottontail blooded hounds and do see a difference in their hunt - generally speaking. You can't apply this to all hare dogs and all cottontail dogs, but as a general rule hare hounds will cover more ground and avoid the thickest stuff and keep moving at a good clip. They may be in 150 yards in front of you one minute and then 150 yards behind you the next minute.

Cottontail dogs typically will hit the thickest stuff first and stay in the thickets....no road hunting or avoiding briar thickets or push up piles. They are geared to find the rabbit where he is SITTING, where a hare hound is more likely to pick up the scent of a hare TRACK.

A hare hound may blow through an acre of prime rabbit cover in 1 minutes and off the next area and a cottontail dog may spend 15 min. in that acre of land checking every briar and thicket. Sometimes when weather is bad our cottontails don't move until you just about touch them. There is no scent on the ground, they have to find the rabbit.

The dogs I have right now, w/ the exception to one is a combination of hare and cottontail blood and I have been happy w/ them.

pete

[chuck r]

Joeyman
Like I said I was born in Sikexton, have you hunted Chaffe,Tanner or any were in taht vacinity?

[Joeyman]

Joeyman
Like I said I was born in Sikexton, have you hunted Chaffe,Tanner or any were in taht vacinity?

Hey,

No I don't go down that way. Don 't know where to hunt down there. I hunt mostly West of St. Louis Or North

[Dale L.]

Just curious. What are some bloodlines that would be considered hare blood and some that would be considered cottontail bloodline. And is there a noticeable difference in their hunting style. As far as the cottontail dogs hunting closer and in the thicker stuff.

[pa beagler]

Just curious. What are some bloodlines that would be considered hare blood and some that would be considered cottontail bloodline. And is there a noticeable difference in their hunting style. As far as the cottontail dogs hunting closer and in the thicker stuff.

I was trying to get some info on basically the same question and only a few people responded. Hopefully you have a little more luck on this thread.

[klrconcrete]

I must be awful fortunate, I have never had a hunt that has taken hours to jump a hare, some days take longer than others but thats to be expected had plenty of days that the race wasnt all that pretty after the jump, but jump we did. Kurt Robinson

[Newt]

Just curious. What are some bloodlines that would be considered hare blood and some that would be considered cottontail bloodline. And is there a noticeable difference in their hunting style. As far as the cottontail dogs hunting closer and in the thicker stuff.

I was trying to get some info on basically the same question and only a few people responded. Hopefully you have a little more luck on this thread.

The reason you got little response is because much of it is a matter of interpretation. The beagles that run in the Midwest Gundog Association, Arha Little Pack in general came for the LPH bloodlines or are heavily influenced by LPH breeding. Go to their Website http://www.mid-west-gundog.com/ and browse or http://www.betrbeagle.com/forums/ and look at the "Field Trial" and see the dogs that are placing in their trials.
Deep South SPO, UBGF, NEHBA, and PBGA are normally classified as cottontail bloodlines although some hare bred dogs are successful in the NEHBA and PBGA trials. It will take a little research but you will figure it out.

[snowshoehareguide]

im with you kurt , i like dogs that hunt with me-- my best dog wont hunt for anybody else-
we are a team i absolutely cant stand a dog that goes hunting deep with no concern where i am=

i wonder how many hare he went by if he goes a half mile deep in good cover before he starts

[klrconcrete]

Exactly Pete, If he ends up running a mile in and we kill that hare and then work back towards the truck nine times out of ten we run in the cover that the dog or dogs "hunted" through to begin with. Kurt Robinson

[RiverBottom]

Kurt, Pete, my best dog Rose (not the best jump dog though) hunts right around you. She might get out 100 yards at most. My hunting buddy, Pete agrees with you guys. He loves the way Rose hunts. The other day we were hunting together. Dusty and Hornet went way south and jumped a hare. I called Pete on the radio and told him what was going on (he was north and couldn't hear my dogs). Pete said he would take Rose and go north.

Dusty and Hornet ran their hare past me 3 times (I wasn't gunning, just running), jumped another one and ran the crap out of that one. Good day, most hare I seen in a while. Couple hours later I caught them, loaded them in the truck and went to see what Pete was doing. Pete had walked all over north of me, he says "Never got a bark, there sure ain't many hare in this spot"

I read all the time about guys seeing hare tracks but can't get nothing jumped, happened to me several times. They don't leave the area. If you see one track, he is around somewhere. I want a dog that can find them. I agree, sometimes (more often than not it seems like) those dogs go places you don't want to be, sometimes they pass up hare to find one farther away, they are ALWAYS harder to get in when you want to quit, but they jump a lot more hare, a lot quicker than those close hunters do.

Pa Beagler & Dale, I can't answer your question. Most of the so called "hare dogs" are dogs that are run in large pack on hare trials. Not the same kind of dogs that people who just hunt hare have for the most part. I'm a hare hunter but most of my dogs have cottontail dogs behind them. I don't care. I just look for certain traits. I think I covered the hunt part. I also need lots and lots of nose power. Right now, hard icy crust, you can't get enough nose to run a hare in this country. That doesn't mean my dogs babbel and run their mouth all the time in good weather, they don't. I run faster dogs, hare run faster than cottontails, but I still need some line control. I want 15" dogs, lighter built with good feet so they can go through snow. There are lots of cottontail dogs that fit this description very well. Every hare hunter reading this is thinking "That's not the kind of dog I want". There just isn't a good answer to your question.

[Steve Mikkelson]

.

[mspaci]

My stuff is all hare breeding, but I only hunt cottontails. They are full 15in dogs & they sure do get into the thick stuff. I think it might be an advantage to have a hare dog trained on cottontail. They seem to adapt to the thick stuff nicely. They will range just a bit, usually 100 to 150yrds is max. I really think it has more to do about how & where they were trained. Mike

[tiffinis]

I have to agree with that. We only have Patch hounds, line bred for over a hundred years for hare. We hunt only cottontail and they can get the job done and whoop the tail britches off the cottontail dogs our friends have. We trust them to get the job done and they usually provide us with a full freezer. But shoot and miss and Sage especially will turn around and look at you, huff out his cheeks with a disgusted snort and take off again. Don't ever tell me dogs can't give dirty looks!!