Author Topic: What is the best rabbit dog? (Read 4401 times)

Qaz · « **on:** December 07, 2009, 08:48:56 AM »

I saw this question on an old post and thought I would bring it back up to the top. You boys need to stay at home if you think a beagle is a real rabbit dog, they are amatures. I had a spaniel as a kid that could run them down and catch them, then bring it to me. I lost count of how many rabbits he caught. I thought he was the best til I saw the neighbors whippit go to town on them. Man, that thing would catch the rabbit before they could run 10 yards a lot of times and if you think they can't find the rabbit and jump it, think again! No gun or ammo is needed.
I love watching and listening to a pack of beagles work a field, but I would much rather watch a whippit catch them!!

Casull · « **Reply #1 on:** December 07, 2009, 09:06:05 AM »

Hell, that ain't rabbit hunting. A beagle is perfect. I want something that WON'T catch the rabbit or push it into the next county. Beagles bring them back to you, like they're supposed to.

rwng · « **Reply #2 on:** December 09, 2009, 06:53:28 AM »

For rabbits, one needs to hunt with Beagles. Period. Like mentioned above, the Beagle brings the rabbit back to you so "you" can shoot it.

Dee · « **Reply #3 on:** December 09, 2009, 07:08:31 AM »

What Qaz may or may not know is that a rabbit, whether it be Cottontail or Jack, runs in a circle. Difference of the two? Size of the circle. A cottontail less than a 35 yard circle, while a jack may be more than a half mile circle.
I grew up on Beagles. Where ever he starts the rabbit (baying) just back off and watch that area. The rabbit will be back by several times if you miss, unless he holes.
Shot'em with rifles, shotguns, pistols, and bows and arrows when I was growin up. I have a Jack Russell that hunts them too but he pushes them to fast.
Beagles are nice little dogs, and easy to get along with.

bobg · « **Reply #4 on:** December 09, 2009, 08:38:59 AM »

I didn't know there was any other rabbit dog but a beagle.

. I raised and sold them for 20 years. At one time i run seven of them at a time. Sure was fun trying to get all of them back in the truck at the end of the hunt. I had a male and female that i finally ended up with. They knew more about rabbits than any dogs i have ever hunted with. The female would figure out where the rabbit was going and circle around ahead of the rabbit and catch the darn thing. Sure took alot of fun out of the hunt.

.
bobg

Dee · « **Reply #5 on:** December 09, 2009, 08:49:57 AM »

I ran'em in packs too bobg. I had an ole male that would set in the middle of a track no matter what. I've seen the rabbit 20 feet in front of him and ole Smokey would never look up. The younger dogs would cut the rabbit off once they figured out which way he was circling, and try to catch him, and many times did, but Smokey never seemed to care.
It is pure pleasure on a smaller scale to what those little hounds work. Have gone with some that ran gray fox too. They would usually catch him, tree him, or hole him. Gray fox run in a circle too. Like the rabbit, they stay fairly close to home.

Oldshooter · « **Reply #6 on:** December 09, 2009, 09:00:23 AM »

Yep, Beagles are the ticket. We always had em for rabbit hunting, One of my fondest memories as a young man was walking the fields with my cousins behind a little pack of beagles and standing when they flushed/ jumped one and waiting till they ran back by to shoot em. We had one that you had to be careful to not shoot cause he was fast and would be 3 or 4 feet behind the rabbit.

Dee · « **Reply #7 on:** December 09, 2009, 09:08:02 AM »

I had one like that. I hooked a 2 foot chain to his collar to slow him down when he was hunting. After a while he got used to trackin slower, and I took the chain off. The running shot got much slower because of it, and fewer rabbits lost.
I wanted them to track slower and the rabbit will stay just ahead of the beagle. He'll hop a little ways and stop and listen to the dog to locate him. That's when I got the rabbit.

Oldshooter · « **Reply #8 on:** December 09, 2009, 09:21:30 AM »

Hey are rabbits still considered "varmits" in Texas, meaning you can headlight em and no bag limit?

Dee · « **Reply #9 on:** December 09, 2009, 09:42:00 AM »

Oh yea! Here though the farmers have started using boom type spray rigs for fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides and several times a year the rabbits and quail get a good soaking of one or the other. Rabbits are on the decline big time in farming land, and quail are non existent.
Don't tell a farmer that though. He gets mad.

Oldshooter · « **Reply #10 on:** December 09, 2009, 10:28:10 AM »

Yep, and I hear that the fire ants are doing a number on the rabbits and quail also.

Dee · « **Reply #11 on:** December 09, 2009, 12:18:48 PM »

South Texas had fire ants years before we did, and I hear they have plenty of quail and rabbits in the ranching areas. We don't have ANY quail, and few rabbits.
How about it South Texas. Are the fire ants gettin all your quail and rabbits?

ToadHill · « **Reply #12 on:** December 09, 2009, 04:12:11 PM »

When I was growing up we always had Beagles. One of them would never chase rabbits, but he was the best pheasant dog I ever saw.

Dee · « **Reply #13 on:** December 09, 2009, 04:15:34 PM »

I have heard of folks huntin pheasants with Beagles, and I could see how that would work too.

bobg · « **Reply #14 on:** December 09, 2009, 05:09:08 PM »

ToadHill, I had one like that too. He didn't know what a rabbit was but he sure was a good pheasant dog. I went out to his dog house to get him one morning and he was gone. Never seen him again. Years later i was told a guy on the next road over had taken him.
bobg

GeneRector · « **Reply #15 on:** December 09, 2009, 08:16:42 PM »

Howdy! Anyone ever used Basset Hounds for rabbit hunting? I am sure they would never catch a rabbit, but they could show you where the rabbit went. Just curious. Most of the people that I have known that hunt rabbits use Beagles.

bobg · « **Reply #16 on:** December 10, 2009, 01:22:43 AM »

I hunted with a guy that had a basset. The dumbest damn thing i ever seen. Wouldn't hunt anything. I also hunted with a guy that had a basset mix. We killed a car load of rabbits in front of that dog. The thing had such sort legs he would run through the brush till the blood run off the end of his. Oh what ever you want to call that little thing that hangs down on a male dog. Can you tell i like to hunt rabbits? Can't do it anymore. In my old age i can't walk through the brush. Sorry i get so long winded when this subject comes up.

bobg

Oldshooter · « **Reply #17 on:** December 10, 2009, 01:47:00 AM »

Quote from: GeneRector on December 09, 2009, 08:16:42 PM

Howdy! Anyone ever used Basset Hounds for rabbit hunting? I am sure they would never catch a rabbit, but they could show you where the rabbit went. Just curious. Most of the people that I have known that hunt rabbits use Beagles.

dont know about rabbits, but i seem to recall they were bred to hunt deer because the deer would not run from them and their short legs helped them get through the brush, if I remember correctly.

Dee · « **Reply #18 on:** December 10, 2009, 03:12:42 AM »

I can see a good FIELD GRADE Bassett making a good rabbit dog. Most failures on ANY DOG, orginally bred for hunting is the dog owner bought a PET QUALITY dog. There is a difference.
The idea is not for the dog to run the rabbit down, it is to push him into moving at a pace you can shoot him with rifle, pistol, shotgun, or bow. Speed is the enemy in brush. Persistance is the key.

fr3db3ar · « **Reply #19 on:** December 10, 2009, 04:03:47 AM »

Hell, the best rabbit dog is the one that will retrieve the dead body after you've shot it and bring it back to you.

Dee · « **Reply #20 on:** December 10, 2009, 04:21:20 AM »

This is my all around dog. When we go to the woods, I can pretty much dictate what we hunt just by calling him off stuff I don't want. He is a butt around strangers as he like only 3 people in the world, doesn't like any other dogs, male or female, (unless of course she's feeling romantic), will fight as soon as he gets there, kills cats, trees squirrels (and catches them sometimes on the ground), hunts rabbits, hogs, snakes, and field mice in my yard (big yard half acre) next agricultural land.
This is "Huff" and he is "huffy"

Tonk · « **Reply #21 on:** December 10, 2009, 06:13:30 PM »

I love to hunt rabbits with several 15 inch Beagles! No better rabbit hunting in my mind. However, in my neck of the woods, the rabbits are nothing like they used to be back in the 60's and the quail too are non-existant for the most part.

I got rid of my beagles over 15 years ago and now only have my upland dogs to hunt. I wish the quail would come back but with all the turkey and fescue grass, I mind that would take a miracle from GOD ALMIGHTY......Amen!

bobg · « **Reply #22 on:** December 11, 2009, 02:59:14 AM »

I had a place that i hunted for 30 years. Started hunting there in the early 60's and hunted there till the late 90's. It was no problem to run the dogs through there and get 3 or 4 rabbits. The guy that owned it was killed in a farming accident. Stopped there one morning and the place was posted. I went to the house to see if i could still hunt there. The woman told me she knew i had hunted there for years but her new husband didn't want anyone in there. I lost one of the best hunting areas i ever hunted.

. Due to a car accident which resulted in busted up legs and two hip replacements. I don't hunt anymore. I am down to two beagles now and they are nothing but big babies. Neither one of them has ever been hunting.
bobg

FredWT · « **Reply #23 on:** December 24, 2009, 05:02:25 PM »

These are my rabbit dogs, in the field and at home.

bobg · « **Reply #24 on:** December 25, 2009, 02:06:13 AM »

Damn Fred those are nice looking dogs. I have one that looks just like that. The guy down the road from me had some pups for sale. I stopped one day to look at them. He told me to pick one out and i could have it. Said he wasn't even going to charge me for her. He said they were eating on there own. Gave me a little bag of the food they were suppose to be eating. What a lie. The dog didn't even know how to eat. My daughter fed her out of a bottle for two weeks. Even carried her to work with her in her purse so she could give her her bottle. As close as we could figure she was only three weeks old when we got her. Darn why did you get me going on beagles again. I love them.

bobg

FredWT · « **Reply #25 on:** December 25, 2009, 04:52:32 AM »

People often tell me that you can not have good hunters and treat them as pets. I say hogwash to that. My BW&T is a puppy of the red and white one, closest to the stove. Pup now weighs 10 pounds more than mom. We were together since the day she was born. Wonderful house pets, super hunters.

mechanic · « **Reply #26 on:** December 25, 2009, 05:08:55 AM »

I like good singin' and a pack of Beagles have great harmony. Don't care if I get the rabbit or not, if I get to hear the dogs.

FredWT · « **Reply #27 on:** December 25, 2009, 05:24:55 AM »

mechanic, I know exactly what you mean!

Benaiah · « **Reply #28 on:** December 26, 2009, 05:01:05 PM »

I have 3 good beagles now, all running, but my male just loves to run the deer. Almost lost him today running deer. Searched the woods for 4 hours, then my wife found him standing in the road right where we had started. Anyway, I am in need of some suggestions to break him of it, short of buying a training collar. Don't want to waste the money buying a training collar and then just have it laying around after he stops on the deer. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

pozoutdoors · « **Reply #29 on:** January 04, 2010, 04:22:51 PM »

I hear ya mechanic. The only beagle we have is our house dog. I just love hearing her run. There's just something about that bawl mouth!!! Ya just got to love it!!!