Hunting by Game/Technique > Small Game

rabbits

(1/4) > >>

reubenpa:
I am getting a beagle pup this october from a friend...  No papers but the parents and grandparents of this dog have been excellent rabbit dogs, and the one grandparent was a champion show dog.  He is selling it to me for 25 bucks!!!!!   I am looking forward to it..   I have never been extremely succesful with rabbit hunting as I have always been the dog  lol

RGFIXIT:
Reuben,
Here's a couple of tips from a rabbit hunter and former beagle owner. (Miss Beasley has passed on :'( )

If you get to pick from the litter, pick up each pup and hold it close to your face. Choose the one that cuddles up close and quiets right down. Hopefully it's a female.

Watch them in the group as they play to see if that one is somewhat subordinate. To me thats a good trait in a beagle for a one dog owner.

Take the pup everywhere you can with you. Especially in the field. Mine used to run along at my feet and when she got tired I'd carry her in my hunting coat pocket.

Make the dog your best friend...an easy thing to do with a beagle.

All these things will assure that your new hunting companion will want to find YOU when you're out hunting, not the other way around.

Beasley was as spoiled as a dog could be. She slept with us..had her own pillow on the bed. Her favorite spots were on our lap or curled up next to us on the couch. The only exception was that she never got anything but dog food. Spoiled rotten.

But let me tell you...when I got out her orange collar with that little brass bell, she knew what it was for. She'd run a bunny slow for 45min and work it right back to where it started.  That's the key! Rabbits pretty much run as fast as they have to and always go back to where they were. Kennel beagles get out and go like heck in a straight line pushing the bunny hard and far from you. Many times they get so far as to get lost.

If you're going to hunt this dog alone, make her a pet..make her want to be with you  more than anything. That way when she starts a bunny you have only to position yourself in the general area she took off from and wait. Not only will you get the game you're after, but you'll get your dog back as well.

I often hunted with a friend who owned a male and kept him in a kennel. Boots would be so wired that he'd run right over rabbits. The sad story is that Boots ran a hedgerow for more than a mile one day, straight across a busy highway and was killed by a car. While my friend was chasing his dog ( a very common occurance) Beasley and I took 4 rabbits within a  200 yard area. I didn't move more than 100 feet from where we started and each time I blew my whistle she came right back to me looking for a hug.

A couple of cautions about Beagles though, they are "Nose Brains". When their nose takes over their brains go dead. They are not very leash trainable. They WILL take off.

Also they will eat just about anything and eat till they can't move for their belly dragging on the floor. Mine once managed to get 2 NY strip steaks off our kitchen counter and devour them in the time it took me to light the gas grill.

They are great pets and hunters.
RG

reubenpa:
Wow RG, I figured that you would reply, but that was some post!!!

Thanks a million, but I have one question, what do you mean by subordinate? 

RGFIXIT:
The dominant pups will be all over the others forcing them to play. They're the hyper-active children. Hard to control. Beagles can be exceptional hard heads.

Look for the pup on the bottom of the pile. You'll never have to scold them. Training by reward will accomplish everything. We never raised a hand or voice or swatted our beagle...never had to. In the field she came to either my crow call or the whistle.

Did you know that US Customs uses beagles  around the country to find illegal food and drugs?

There's not much in this world more adorable than a beagle puppy. I envy you.
Bob

Scott:
Don't be afraid to take the runt of the littler either. I think, like Bob said that being a runt they will be a subordinate pup in the litter. My fishing bud Big Pete had hunted and trained beagles for many years. One of the best beagles had was the runt of the litter he called Penny. This dog was so good just plain awesome! Pete and I had 8 years of some of the best bunny hunting we have ever had with that dog.

She would hunt slow, steady and methodical hardly ever losing the trail. When we wanted to move to a new spot, couple calls and BAM she was there ready to kennel up and head off to the next brush thicket. He had another one Snoopy who the was exactly the opposite, dominate. Well this dog would pretty much go insane at the scent of a rabbit he was good just not as consistant as Penny was. You had watch out when you got a bunny if you didn't hold it way above your head that darn Snoopy would get it from you... never seen a beagle that could jump so high. After Penny then Snoopy had passed away Pete never got another beagle I assumed he thought he had the best dog ever and could not top it.


-Scott

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page