Beagle hunting for rabbits,

[rjricelny]

Will the snow ever stop - golly gee! Finally went rabbit hunting last Sunday. Waist high deep snow some of the times and always above the knees. And of course, in my zeal- didn't even think about bringing my snow shoes.

What a day! two races in four hours, one rabbit, and one stick in the eye. Left a mark from the eye all the ways down to my chin! The cut skin kind of mark too. If it wasn't for my glasses, I might be blind in one eye.

Hurt like hell too, knocked me on my butt! Well, put one rabbit in my coat, I always laugh hard when hunting in deep snow, the sight of those dogs when the crust isn't strong enough to hold them is something to see.

 

[jmabbott888]

I'm looking at buying a house, then a dog, my question is there anything to watch for when getting a beagle pup? I've got 2 boys 4 & 7 & a wife that doesn't want a big dog or a real loud aka always barking, is a beagle a good choice for this? I want a small reasonable quiet dog that I can hunt (or try too lol) that is good with kids. Is this too much to ask of a beagle/ any info would be appreciated.

 

[rjricelny]

jmabbott888, you and your family will love beagles as pets and you as a hunter- no question at all! All of my beagles are kennel dogs- not house dogs.

But, I have read some posts where people do keep their beagles in the house as house dogs and hunt successfully with them. That may be however, I just don't have any personal experience with that.

I do know people who own beagles as pets- not rabbit dogs- and they love them, and how could you not, they are beautiful animals. Anyway, good luck, buy a beagle and go rabbit hunting!!!! You and your boys will love it! Hunting over beagles will provide a lifetime of great family memories!

 

[PoorAim]

My brother has a beagle that is an exceptionally good rabbit dog
(mentioned in my post above). This dog has been raised its whole
life as a "house" dog. Its quiet, lets you know when it needs to go out,
etc, etc...

All of the other beagles we have had have been kennel dogs,
but this latest one proved to me that a beagle can be a good pet
as well as a good hunter.

I would try to hunt your dog when it is still fairly young, as opposed to
letting it be "the pet" for several years before exposing it to hunting. Thats
the only "secret" we used on my brother's dog.


Give one a try, I bet you'll like it

 

[jmabbott888]

Thanks for the info guys, looks like I'll probably be getting a Beagle since the Nova Scotie Tolling Retriever my wife wants is about a grand & thats a bit steep for me lol. What do you use to start a puppy off on so it can learn to hunt? Sorry for the dumb questions but this will be my first endevour into hunting dogs. Should I start out with a scent covered dummy or is there a better way? any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[rjricelny]

jmabbott888, if you can buddy your pup with another experienced rabbit dog and rabbit dog man then, that would be the best way to go about it. Otherwise, training pups without takes a whole lot of time and effort, understanding, for the both dog and man.

First step is to just take him/her out - where you know there will be some rabbits and - stump piles together, and when you bust one out, put your dog on it - with great excitement, and the dog will naturaly start running it.

Repitition will be key, then next thing but not second is gun training the dog so it is not afraid of loud noises or becoming "gun-shy".

For my purposes - I tend to buy beagles already started- and over a year old- due to the time input at the get-go to train pups- I just don't have enough of it.

Anyway, shoot a rabbit and use it's pelt to "toy" with the dog and lay down some "lines" for him too. Put the rest of the rabbit in the freezer for dinner later on. I keep some pelts all year long for my dogs to keep rabbit in their minds when I am not running them.

 

[jmabbott888]

Well we went out looking at dogs today, no luck on finding a good candidate at the sanctuariy or the SPCA, we did find a 2 yr old spaniel mix but she wouldn't even come out of her shelter if the boys were around. I've gotta call a guy here in town that has a 5 month old papered beagle for $200 & see what its like. My boys were so mad at me today when I wouldn't let them get a lab mix puppy, they can't understand it will get way to big for then to play with or live in the apartment till we do get into a house. I'll keep you guys posted on what we find & get.

 

[rjricelny]

$200 for a 5mo papered pup sounds like a pretty good price. Check the parents out and of course talk hunting with the person selling to see how much time the dogs get-

 

[PoorAim]

I'm by NO means an expert on training them, and what little training
was done in my family was not done directly by me.

But... here is what I know from that experience, use at your
own risk.

Try to get a dog from hunting lines. Any random beagle
may work, but you will greatly increase your odds of success
by getting a dog from hunting stock.

Try to get your dog on rabbits fairly young, and regularly. When your
dog jumps a rabbit, let him run it. Don't shoot it right away if you happen
to see it when he first jumps it. Another thing that we did was after
getting a rabbit, call the dog over and praise them and make a big deal
and show them you are happy. I have no idea if this makes I difference, but I think that helps the dog know he did a good thing, and hopefully will do it more.

We never did any "yard work" like you would typically do with a bird dog.
I'm sure a real trainer would, but it somewhat depends on the age of the
dog relative to when the season starts. We were just hacks who took
them hunting as their training and eventually had good luck doing it that
way. The natural desire to look for rabbits, and howl and chase them
when found was pretty strong in most of the beagles we had, and that w
as pretty much the extent of what we asked them to do.

as Rjricelny suggested, if possible take them with other hunting
beagles who know the drill. The young ones seem to learn from
them quite a bit. With that said, I have also seen young dogs who
basically just follow a mature dog around. You think the young dog
"doesn't have it" but then when you start taking the young dog alone,
they hunt fine. Eventually the young dogs would start hunting with
the older dogs, working as a team, I'm not sure if its a confidence or
pecking order thing?

One important thing, is to make sure you have a dog
that will come to you when you call him in the field routinely.
This can be difficult if your dog jumps a deer and decides it's
the biggest rabbit ever, because deer don't circle too well.
We had one dog that needed a shock collar to learn the difference.
Doing some obedience training on coming to a call (or whistle) would probably
be wise especially if your first few hunts will be away from home
in new territory.

Hope this helps,

PA

P.S. $200 sounds good to me, especially if its parents had been hunted

 

[jmabbott888]

Well that dog got sold & so did the $50 male whos owners wouldn't answer the phone for 2 days, so I'm back looking. Is there any other small breed that has hunting genes in them that are good with kids & would do ok in an apartment? When I get a dog I want to get him housebroken then I get to have fun field training him. When it comes to training for rabbit can they tell the diffrence between a cottontail & a jack? Thanks again for all the responses & putting up with some dumb questions.

 

[rjricelny]

For starters, thats pretty good advice from pooraim...

I have never housebroken a dog since I keep mine in an outside kennel so ???? I have heard of "training cages" whereby the cage is suited to fit a dog size and not be too big where the dog has room to do its duty and not lay in it.
The logic is the dog will not "go" where he needs to sit or lie down.

I mainly hunt cottontails with my beagles although, they will run hare too - although they are more or better suited or "sized" o rabbit. They are 14" beagles, not very tall and appropriately sized short legs for hunting rabbits.

Generally, rabbits run shorter circles and hares run larger circles. So, smaller sized dog for rabbits and larger sized dog for hares.

I do have an old beagle - 17", about 15 years old- not kidding, he is an old dog - not as strong as he was last year, I basically retired him this year, but in his younger days, his former owner would take him hare hunting. He is a big beagle, so he was able to put on quite a chase for hare. But, the dog mainly hunted cottontails all year long.

Infact, beagles will run just about anything, deer, fox, coyote, rabbit, hare, pheasant, its the training that defines the dog and the hunt. Whew, that was a long one- gotta go!

 

[Orso]

Check out the following website. They are in SoCal and sell dogs for hunting. I have talked with the owner over the phone (Don, I think and his wife...both very nice) and as soon as I am ready for a dog I will go and check out his dogs. I think they they have a fenced area behind their house where they start their dogs on....It was a while ago when I spoke to them so I hope my memory is correct.

http://www.beaglesunlimited.net/

 

[jmabbott888]

Well the wife & kids got a 3 yr old spaniel-beagal mix that does retrieve. here is a pic of him, I'll see what he does on a rabbit fur covered stuffed animal in a week or so after he gets acclimated to his new home.

 

[rjricelny]

Thats an interesting mix... let us know how well he/she is in the field too.

 

[jmabbott888]

Well we took the dog to the vet today for his free check up & I'm glad we did for a few reasons, 1st he has a tumor or the top we didn't check on wether it was cancer or not, 2nd he needs alot of dental work & the worst part is he nailed my 4 yr old in the hand & left 2 pucture wounds that were real fun to stop the bleeding from. Needless to say the dog went back to the SPCA this afternoon. The good news about this whole thing is that my boys still want a dog, so I guess I'm going to check the breeders & see what I can find. I'll keep you guys filled in on what happens.

 

[rjricelny]

Damn! I'm am real sorry to hear about that! You have got some strong young ones and thats good.

You never know what your gonna get from the spca- thats for sure..

Hope you find a good beagle too! Good breeding will virtually eliminate bad tempermant in a dog, and beagles are known to be some of the best - rjricelny