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I love that video! Let the dog do the work. You sit on a hill , drink your coffee and let the dogs bring the rabbit around. I miss that so much!
Too many shots though. My Dad would give me one shell per rabbit with a .410 :)
edited as decimal point in the wrong spot
Its nice to see the dogs work, at what they do but it seems a bit boring waiting for rabbits to come to you. I love to do things myself and move to much to just wait.
If you've spent years training the dog , standing there watching him/her succeed - no greater pleasure- much better than even shooting.
Once your time is up , you gets lots of exercise gathering up your dog. :)
Never looked at it that way (Sharon) I see your point and understand the excitement when your dogs or dog has put everything together. My legs are still good and as long as they are God willing, i will be kicking my own bushes or getting one of my friends too LOL
Tom Gobble
Hunting rabbits with beagles has never been boring to me. To me it is the ultimate using dogs to hunt rabbits and most productive. From the time you load the dogs into a vehicle their excitement is almost infectious causing you to experience the slight rush of adrenalin in anticipation of what is to come.
Once the dogs are released you just set yourself in travel mode to follow them. Then when they pick up a scent and respond vocally your own senses are heighten to a higher level of alert. Now it’s time to find a position near the flush point where you best view of the area can be had for Mr. Rabbits return run. Yes that can be a bit of a waiting game but time passes quickly as you focus on listening to the intensity of the howling as it progresses. As it gets louder you know the return run is in motion and the rabbit being out front can appear anytime. If you are not on full alert an opportunity can be easily missed.
Surprisingly each dog has his own character that you come to know. One beagle used to actually retrieve the rabbit to its owner without being taught. Another beagle was so sharp he literally caught two rabbits in one day and no shots fired. When two certain beagles were employed one would start howling on a warm scent but the other would not howl until it was on a fresh hot scent.
At the end of the day the beagles were usually bloodied a little from their charge through rough terrain but showed contentment when a little caring pat and praise for their effort was given.
Don’t get me wrong as I do enjoy stalking hunts for rabbits but my best memories have been hunting rabbits with dogs. One can really be spoiled with this type of hunting.
Ed
a lot of time I will leave my gun at home and just let the dogs run the bunnys .I just love to see the dogs working Dutch
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Originally Posted by ET1
Exactly. Well said. :)
Hey guys don't get me wrong, I have hunted with friends dogs and enjoyed it. Having a good dog is having the right tools for the Job. It just seems to me that when people post on these type of threads the first thing they say is that you need a dog to be successful, and to someone that has not hunted rabbits might get discouraged not to go because they don't have one. Everyone has there own style and experiences hunting rabbits and what might work for you might not work for someone else.
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Originally Posted by tom gobble
Heres a good comparison its like entering a draw but you only bought 1 ticket but you know everyone else bought 10 each...LOL it really depends on the area your hunting , if those guys in my video I posted (which you should watch) tried hunting without those 6 beagles I dont even think they would get 1 rabbit because the area there hunting was so thick you couldnot even walk let alone shoot a bunny.
rem
Good point. ... but if one is very big on hunting rabbits , and plans to do that for years - get a beagle. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by tom gobble