Change over to bunnies.

Deer season ended Tuesday, and my freezer is sitting pretty well. Sadie, my beagle, has been on standby, waiting for today.

We have about 10" of snow on the ground, but it warmed up to about 40 degrees today with a mild South wind. Made sure my .50 rifle was spotless, and oiled up, and put her away for the time being. Now to get the .62 smooth bore off the rack. Wiped her down, ran a couple dry patches down the bore.

Then I proceeded to get my bag ready for bunny season. After preparing the bag, I took my time and loaded up directly from the bag. first 60gr ffg, a hard card, half a lubed fiber wad, lubed with moose snot, then 65gr #6 shot, and finally an over shot card. Almost ready. Pulled on my overalls, and tried to decide how many layers would be enough. Then I went upstairs to fetch Sadie.

She knew what was going on as soon as I touched her collar and she could hear the bell. She about turned herself inside out. Collar finally on a very wiggly beagle. Downstairs we go. Grab the smoothie and head for the door.

Once outside, Sadie ran for the jeep. Nope, not today. I call her and we head to the woods behind the house. Once I hit the woods I pick the vent and prime up. We have about a half mile walk through deer country before we reach rabbit habitat, so I'll keep her close while she works her wiggles off. Pretty uneventful walk, until we reach the overgrown orchard we set out for.

I've mentioned before about how thick the woods were behind my house. They are thick, but nothing compared to this old orchard. I wait on the edge letting Sadie do her thing. This is our first time out, and all is good. She is happy, the weather is right, the sun is warm, we are sheltered from the breeze, just add rabbits.

It doesn't take long, maybe 10 minutes. She is very thorough and doesn't miss much. We have learned together as she is my first beagle, and this is her fourth season. I can tell by how tight she is working this certain patch that something is up. Before she makes a peep, I see a bunny making its way through the brush toward me. I contemplate shooting it, but the dog hasn't even picked up on it yet, and I want to hear her run. The bunny is sitting 15 yards in front of me when she starts to whimper, she does this just before she lets loose. I think its when she has the scent but is still figuring things out. Whammo, she's got it, and here she comes. Bunny decides to put some distance between them and goes by me at the same 15 yards headed SouthEast. Here comes my Sadie, I've waited a long time to hear her wail. A joy to watch her follow a track. There she goes, really winding up now. Its funny how with time, you know exactly what your dog is doing just by sound. She is doing great, I'm sure I was smiling like an idiot on the edge of the br'r patch.

Now she's headed South, and quickly turns in a Westerly direction heading up hill. Probably 100 yards away or so. I listen intently to every howl and yelp, scanning the thick brush before me on the hillside. She's heading North now, still about 100 yards out. I'm loving this. Slowly she turns, finally coming around, I can tell she is headed my way. To my right I catch movement. Yup, Mr. Bunny is trying to sneak by. Bunny is heading South, maybe 20 yards in to the real thick stuff. I watch for a clearing, as small as it may be, big enough to see a rabbit anyway. Chaboom, the bunny lays still. Sadie is still a couple minutes out. I leave my smoothie on the edge and make my way in the prickers. I get to the bunny about the same time as Sadie. She is rather nonchalant about the whole thing and goes back to work. Our first bunny of the season and it couldn't be any better.

Sadie and I spent about 4 hours harassing those bunnies. She ran several good tracks, and I missed one more, well at least knocked a little hair out of him. At sunset, we walked home. I can tell you I was wore out, but that poor beagle, she stayed in my boot prints all the way home and never deviated. She is sleeping by the wood stove now. Job well done.

Momma said we may have to get a pup to help Sadie out, which totally shocked me. As I said, Sadie is my first beagle, and I am quite impressed with the breed. I used to train waterfowl dogs, and they were good dogs. But I have never seen any animal work as hard as this beagle will. She will run herself lame if you let her. I often wonder what it would be like to hear two dogs run, and if there would really be a benefit to the hunt? One day I may find out, but for now, I consider it a blessing to hear Sadie run the br'er patches. Wish I had a picture of the day, it would have been far more impressive than these words. Thanks for listening. I gotta go spoil Sadie a bit.

GREAT story! We need a picture of Sadie some day.

I had a beagle many years ago. They are a very good dog. Nice size, wonderful temperment. And there is nothing quite like the Beagle Bawl. :thumbsup:

Wonderful story, thank you! Our baby was only half Beagle but she had her daddy's nose and spend her 17&1/2 years walking with her nose about an inch off the ground! I often wondered what it was telling her...and a real dog guy I know told me she was probably getting as much info as the Enterprise's sensors! The only time she ever chased a rabbit was at the wife's home town in Iowa with about two inches of snow on the ground. Penny was trying not to step in it and having trouble keeping all four off the ground at once when Brier Rabbit took off and "They're off!" I'd never seen her running like that in my life. They made two full circles of the town fire station going hell-bent for leather with big ole rooster tails of dirt and debris flying up...they made two circles before I could quit laughing enough to grab her on the third pass! Still laugh at it!

Not much of a hunting story, but a real great memory, thanks. Beagles can be trained to hunt rabbits tag-team. Seems something makes rabbits circle back and if a real chase ensues, Randy told me his would break after the rabbit while the other waited till the rabbit came back by and number 2 took up the chase and number 1 would take a puff. Basically, it's just run one till they give out. Took him several years to get that result and I wouldn't hope to tell you how. Good luck and thanks again for the story!

That was fantastic :hatsoff:

Brits.

Great hunt and great story!

I had a Beagle years ago and so did many of my friends at the same time. We used to run 3 to 4 at the same time quite often. What a blast. And you are right their voice tells ya what's going on too. But man; can they get some pig-headed at times!! They have a "face" that can make the stoniest heart turn to mush!!

TinStar
Soli Deo Gloria!

Great story! It's a lucky man that gets to hang out with his dog for an afternoon.

Dogs are such good people!

GREAT story Silly Goose and I agree that we need a picture of Sadie and throw in that smoothbore just for kicks!
Thanks,
Powderhorn09

Ah Goose,,,smoothbores and beagles,Lucky,Lucky,Lucky

Be Careful! Once you start adding beagles, it can turn into a disease. I know. I didn't stop until I had 13 of 'em. That was quite a while ago. People would let you hunt then.
Trouble is everyone wanted to hunt with my beagles and they started disappearing. I recovered some but had to wind down eventually.

They are wonderful dogs .. enjoy.

Goose, one of the finest posts I have read here in some time. You made my day, and thank you!
Bill

Reminds me of Paige, my last good beagle, haven't had the time to train another one. Hmmm you might have my head spinning now! Good luck this season and happy holidays!

Thanks for the story, Silly Goose! If you (or anyone else who hunts with a beagle) have any advice on dog training (or just bunny hunting in general) for a novice small game hunter-to-be, I'd really appreciate it! We have a no-longer-stray beagle that we took in last winter that I'd like to work with (right now I'm still working on "come back when I blow the horn, please"), but I really don't have a clue what I'm doing!

thanks,
GB (who for the moment, sadly, will be using modern guns (grandfather's .22/410 and g-grandfather's 12ga) but who lusts after a nice smoothbore flintlock or even a double-barrel percussion)

excellent story and sounds like it was a great time for sure

Here are a couple pics from a couple years ago, I promise to take a camera from this point forward.

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Sadie does not like to have her picture taken.

G B, I am no authority on beagles or dog training, but I'll tell you the little bit I know. When I got Sadie, I had never hunted with a beagle before. I sought advice and read from those with more experience.

Of course we worked on the basics of sit, stay and come. Those are necessary just to make a polite dog. I found this beagle to be very independent dog, I'm thinking a hound trait. She quickly learned that when off lead, I could not reinforce commands, she was ever the tester. She was my first venture into an electronic collar. These can be misused very easily. They are for reinforcement, not for making you feel better. The dog must know what is expected before using the collar, they don't magically learn through a shock. But anyway, with proper use, they are very effective.

As far as hunting, I was advised to take her hunting often. Discourage anything to do with deer, and encourage all the bunny scent that you can. If you jump a rabbit, call the dog and put her on the scent as quickly and often as you can, and make a big deal out of it in a positive way. I got Sadie as a Christmas gift when she was 16 weeks old. We sought rabbits often, I put her on every track I could. She didn't seem to care at first. I was told to be patient, the dog will let you know when she is ready. We did this until the end of February when she finally took her first track, and then it was one that she found on her own, I really wasn't sure what happened, and thought something may have had her. :grin:

From then I just kept it up, and exposed her to bunnies as much as I could. I had nothing to judge from, but thought she was doing well. The best part for me, was to observe rabbits moving and then watch her follow the track. Over time I could see her figure things out, it was really quite a process, both enjoyable and rewarding. Taking Sadie out is my favorite pastime, and I rarely miss an opportunity. I don't shoot many rabbits but don't care too either.

The worst part of the whole ordeal is the beating she takes. Man, we pull prickers and burrs out of her for days after a hunt. One time she sliced an ear and came out of the br'r patch with her whole side covered in blood. Dog ears just seem to bleed and bleed. I said before, I've never seen any animal work so hard. She is a pleasure to watch run, for sure.

Yes this is a traditional forum, and these are the only arms I use anymore, but I encourage you to participate, however you do it. There is always time to round out your gear. Good luck, and don't be afraid to PM, I'll help with what I can.

And yes, I do feel like a very lucky fellow, in many ways. :grin:

Never did the train & cuss with a Beagle but German Short Hair Pointers take about the same patience and repeat, patience and repeat. The first year Goldie was out, every shot send her thundering for the geographic center under the car. Just kept with it and she and a male from her first litter later became top rate hunting dogs. You and Sadie are on the right trail to making a terrific hunting team! Good luck and good times! :thumbsup:

I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for posting it. :hatsoff:

I used to have a beagle and her name was Sadie. She never did seem to care much for rabbits. But squirrels and chipmunks was a whole 'nuther story. Yep they can be very bullheaded. LOL.

What I did with my Beagle; Barney, was to get a rabbit in a Havahart trap and release it right in front of him while my friend held him back just a fraction of a second. Only had to do this once and he was going. Of course running with his excellent half brother from the start helped a ton too! :wink:

Had a couple of German Shorthairs and all were easy to train for me ( maybe I was lucky, I don't know). My first; Homer, was pointing pheasants at six months and retrieved his first one at that age. I used Courtenoy (spelling?) quail that I released in front of him from a wire cage. At the moment they flew off I had a friend shoot and it never bothered him. First I let him find the cage hidden in the tall grass and point them.


TinStar
Soli Deo Gloria!

Yeah, Short Hairs almost train themselves. Some of her first litter would toddle about and those little puppies would go ramrod straight in a classic point. Sometimes it'd be a grasshopper, sometimes a katydid...sometimes I think their stinky little butts were upwind of their noses! They all got better with practice and Jerry ended keeping one of the best males to work with Goldie, his mom. They honored one another's point and were a pleasure to work and hunt with. Our biggest 'watch for' was if they picked up a rabbit...you had to be nonchalant or they'd figure rabbit was OK and be basically useless for birds. The male would sometimes jump and try to grab a quail on the rise and we all had to be watchful for that.

The funniest thing that ever happened was that they would be so hyper when they got out of the car we'd have to let them run it off for 5 or 6 minutes till they were ready to hunt. One afternoon as we loaded the artillery and were getting our gear on, the two knotheads ran pell mell through a covey that exploded around them. They both went into full point in mid air and came back down in cartwheels tumbling along the ground but never losing point! How daft is that? Both lay on their sides, facing different directions but frozen in classic point posture!! I was leaning over with hands on knees and gun on ground, laughing my ass off! I've never seen anything so perfect and preposterous, not from that day to this! Working dogs are a true pleasure and blessing!