The American Beagler Forum

Figured I'd start a thread just so I can keep track of my rabbit hunting expeditions this year.
Took Crank out to some state ground this morning for our first hunt. Jumped one after about 30 minutes of hunting. Had two good quick circles in a large weed patch, and when he finally came out I dropped him and let Crank run up to him and gave him a good praising. We covered a lot of ground before he finally got another one up. It went out into a bean field and we had about an hour chase to no avail as Crank finally lost it. But we did come back with at least one bunny. Maybe when they finally get all the crops out the rabbits will be a little bit more concentrated instead of being all spread out.

Nice looking dog, what is he out of?

Went out Friday and had 3 really good chases, cover was really thick where we hunted so few shot opportunities, but my uncle got two. His two dogs were pretty cold nosed at first, but Crank finally got a hot one up and it was steady running the rest of the day.

Sunday took Little Bit out with him, she did all the jumping, but Crank just flat out left her once he got on the track. I think she is really too slow to run with him. Jumped three, had two good long chases. Had to call them off one as it was getting close to the road. Third rabbit looked like it had just been weaned! Felt kinda bad after shooting it, lol. It was in some heavy brush that the dogs couldn't really get under, but they never quit and finally chased the lil guy out. So ended up bagging two. Makes 3 for the year and 5 totAl over Crank this year.

Glad to see Crank go to a hunter that's goin to enjoy him!! Crank is out of PPRCH PCH Musgrave's Bloomfield Duke X Prices Jumpin up Jill ( Tadpole and JD breeding ) on the bottom. Crank has rabbit dogs all in his blood should make a really nice hound for years to come.

Went to a place I used to rabbit hunt a lot when I was in high school, ten to twelve years ago. Looks a lot different, 75% of the best hunting has been cleared out. None the less, Crank jumped 4, and we came home with 3. First one was a perfect text book circle. Rabbit came right back to were Crank jumped him after about a 20 minute chase. Second rabbit was jumped in some honeysuckle and after about 2 minutes of hectic sight chasing zig zagging through the thicket all went quite. Crank came back to me which I thought was funny, then I followed him to where he had came from and he lead to a slobber soaked rabbit that he had caught. I missed rabbit three and he went into a log jam that Crank couldn't fit into and after watching him trying to squeeze in from all different directions and climbing all over top of it I leashed him and lead him a little ways down. He jumped rabbit 4 in one of the nastiest brair patches one could imagine. Took about an hour for him to finally push it out of that nasty stuff, and I think I heard him sigh with relief after I let him run up on the dead rabbit, lol. Had a great day of hunting, extremely pleased with how Crank ran and hunted, and got three free dinners!!

Had a short Thanksgiving hunt this morning with my dad, my uncle, and his dog Copper. Crank jumped 4, and we bagged three, I shot one, dad got two,(his first rabbit hunt in 10+ hrs), and we gave all three to my uncle. Crank did really good, was really smoking the first two. Wind picked really hard, think it was blowing the scent around a bit, but they still ran good. Ol copper was wore out, 8years old and outta shape, but never gave up, gotta give him kudos too.

Good posts keep it up. Kinda nice reading your short stories.

Well started out this morning hunting in the wrong direction. Walked about a mile and never got a single bark. Walked back to the truck and started going the other. Made it about 20 yards and Crank jumped one out of some honeysuckle. Ran it to the end of the fence row, brought it back, dead bunny. I jumped the second, put Crank on it, made a small circle then holed it up in some heavy brush. Jumped a third in some Russian olives, ran two big circles then bagged him. Always let Crank run up on the dead rabbits, don't know if it was by accident but he retrieved the last one to me as I was still about 30 yards from it. Nice little surprise to end the hunt with. May try that again, just to see if it was an accident or not.

Went out today in the crusty 5'' snow to a piece of ground that a buddy owns. His grandparents used to live there, but its been abandoned for 10+, and he said he sees a lot of rabbits when he leave out from deer hunting in the evening. Wasn't a lot of thick cover to hunt, about half woods and half field, but went in with high hopes. We'd covered about all 21 acres without a rabbit and was on our way back to the truck. Kicked a small clump of brush and out shot a rabbit and ran into and OLD tin shed that was falling in and full of junk. Crank went in after it, and after about 15 minutes of listening to him bang a rattle around in there, heard the rabbit squealing. Well its safe to say that the retrieve we had last outing was an accident because by the time I fought my way in there he had an entire back leg ate. Twenty yards down from the shed was a pile of cylinder blocks, that Crank got all excited about and kept hustling around. I pushed some blocks around while he kept digging himself in between them and then I seen it sitting inside two blocks beside each other. Kicked the one block over and Crank grabbed it before it even had a chance to run. Supper is cooking now, and the best part about it is that I'm not even gonna have to worry about biting into a BB tonight.

Took Crank out last Monday, still had about 2 inches of snow left on the ground. Crank jumped 3 and I kicked one up. First one was pretty ruff and he kept steeping out on a frozen pond on his checks. Wasn't about to wade out there and get him if he fell in so went ahead leashed him and we moved on. Running got better as the day went on. Still wasn't his usual running style, wasn't as quick and had a few more checks than normal. None the less, he circled the 2nd rabbit twice and the brought the second back around to the gun. Caught him off the fourth as we were running outta time do to an appointment I had. Ended the day with two rabbits and an appointment to get a tooth filling.... least the day started good.

Friday we did A LOT of walking. First spot I just knew we'd do good. Really large weed patch, but guessing the rabbits just weren't in there. Second spot we jumped one right off the bat, he circled it twice then ran across and open field to the "chicken plant", so had to catch him off it. Covered a lot more ground there with no luck. Just don't think the cover was thick enough to really hold rabbits. Third spot we got one up and going pretty quick. Crank ran it for just over an hour before I could finally get shot. Did an excellent job on too. Had two long checks on it, and the first one came after the initial 80 yard sight chase directly after jumping it. Walked off plenty of calories today, but got to watch some really good running, bagged a rabbit, and was able to get a short clip of him running. And yeah, I'm breathing heavy... he can be hard to keep up with some times....lol



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeqxKti1Px8

Great topic!

I enjoy keeping up with you and Crank. Keep the pics, vids, & updates coming.

Our Christmas Eve hunt started with me picking up my dad and then us going to get my uncle and his dog Copper. Dropped the tailgate at 9 o`clock. Copper did a little bit of cold trailing but produced a rabbit by about 15 after. After about an hour of hard chasing uncle Rich made the comment "This one won't be worth shooting, gonna have all the meat ran off him". They were pounding all the way. Had a few checks, but they made quick work of them. I shot at the rabbit at approximately 10:45 and peppered it pretty good. About 100 yards on down the line all went quiet. Crank came out and carried it right to me. Two fetched for the year, and one half eaten by him, guess he just can't make up is mind as what to do with them yet. We didn't have much time left to hunt and that nearly two hr chase flat wore Copper out so we called it a day. Cleaned the rabbit and took it with us to Jordan's grandparents to give to her "Papa", and he was tickled to death with it.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Dads friend Kevin took the two of us, plus my uncle to one of his buddies today. Rich brought his John dog and Copper to run with Crank. We put a shock collar on John to try a cure a couple of his bad habits, but he did good today and we never had to use it.. Kevin's buddy Clint owns 89 acres and lives totally off the grid. All his power comes from solar panels, water from a well with a solar powered pump, etc. Taps his own trees to make syrup, eats a ton of wild game and fish. Lives off the land as much as possible type.
Crank got one up right a way, Copper harked in and they made a quick circle through the weeds and a brush pile back to Clint the landowner for the first rabbit of the year. Copper got a second up and they ran it through the woods to dad who missed, causing the rabbit to vee directly towards me for the punch out. I jumped the third off a pond bank all all three dogs did a superb job of bringing him around 3 times before Kevin got him with a really long shot. That one ran some enormous laps way out in front of the dogs.
After a short break Rich jumped a fourth and while Crank and Copper were running it John got up a fifth. Rich bagged the fourth of the day after passing on several shots because it was too close. Then we headed the dogs down to help out John. Didn't run that one very much longer as it ended up taking a hole. Crank got up a sixth in a huge weed patch. Them dogs pounded that rabbit in there for over 2 1/2 hours. Was really fun listening to them run. Copper who is 8 came out at one point and just layed down, He'd flat out had it. It came out a couple times but never where we could see it or get a shot off, until it made the mistake of dashing across the yard to a deep ditch.. Dogs worked a long check before they jumped him back up out of some old farm implents.Took dad a couple shots, but he redeemed himself and finally ended the long chase.
Dogs were worn out by that chase. Copper stayed close to Richie after that one, but would go check on the other two once in awhile. Crank got up 7th that ran into a drain pipe that they couldn't fit in. Crank wasn't too happy about leaving that one, and went back to it later on to check it out again. Rich shot another one on the jump for his second of the day as we headed back to call it a day.
Totals for the day were Clint 1, Kevin 1, dad 1, Richie 2, and one for myself. Had great running all day long. Couldn't asked for more from any of the dogs., had some of the best running all season. Great way to start off the new year, and was invited to come back before season goes out.

Good story Eric thought Crank did a good job at the trial sat. Your doin a great job with him!!