Beagles and Rabbits

[longislandhunter]

Last week, while hunting squirrels, I met a guy named Frank who was hunting rabbits with his beagles (Ruby and Lightening) and we got to talking.  He was asking me about hunting with air guns and I was asking him about hunting with beagles.  We hit it off and he asked me if I wanted to go rabbit hunting with him and it only took me a second to say "yes" with a big smile.  

Well, we went out on our first hunt this past Friday and we had such a good time that we went out again this morning.  On Fridays hunt Ruby and Lightening did their job and during the course of the hunt ran 4 rabbits to us, we managed to bag one, which Frank got with a great shot.  

On todays hunt I took Frank and the dogs to a little know over grown field I hunt occasionally and the dogs did another great job and gave chase to 5 rabbits, one of which I bagged with a 15 yrd shot as the bunny was blasting past me in overdrive.  We missed the other rabbits but we had a great time.

These were my first real experiences hunting rabbits with beagles but I'm hooked    Just watching the dogs work, hearing them howling as they chase the rabbits, the entire experience is just amazing.  Of course it helps to have a guy like Frank, who's been training and hunting beagles for 30 years,  there to run the hunt

Anyway, Frank and I are going to hook up again after thanksgiving and get back to chasing bunnies, but I wanted to make a short post on our hunt and post the pic of the bunny I bagged today.  

I tried to make this short since it's not air gun related  

Actually, I just figured out a way to make this airgun related   I shot todays rabbit with a load of #7 shot out of my 12 gauge.  When I skinned the rabbit I was confronted with a carcass that had a bunch of tiny holes in it along with all the bloody tissue that resulted when the pellets tore through the bunny.  As I looked at the tissue destruction I immediately thought how much nicer it is when you use an air gun and put a single pellet through the head and don't damage any meat at all     I'm used to having perfectly intact, beautifully perfect skinned critters to freeze.  While the shotgun may win in the power division the air gun definitely gets me vote as the preferred way to harvest game 
Ok, now I feel better,, this post is officially "airgun related"  now 

 

Jeff

[dk1677]

Nice shooting Jeff! Sounds like a good time!

[longislandhunter]

Yeah Dave, these 2 hunts were really an experience for me.  Those 2 beagles made the hunts so exciting it  was awesome.  We would've bagged more of the bunnies but Frank kept putting me in position to intercept the running rabbits and I have to admit by the time I saw them it was to late,, I'm getting better though

I have to say though, as much as I'm enjoying the dog hunting my passion is still sneaking through the woods in stealth mode with an air shooter in my hands 

Jeff

[only1harry]

Nice shooting Jeff.  I bet it's not easy at all to shoot a rabbit running for its life at full speed and zig-zagging the way they do.  It sounds like a lot of fun.  I wonder why they don't show any small-game hunting on the Outdoor Channel.  It's always big game or Predator/Coyote hunting.  Maybe because they miss a lot and don't use airguns?  
I am glad you are getting some practice shooting moving game.  When you start using that electronic call for raccoons, you may have to shoot like that when they come running at you..

[jonnnyboy]

That's a great story Jeff and I'm glad you got one.  Rabbit hunting with beagles is one of the funnest ways to hunt them.   The only problem is the cost of keeping the dogs all year for those few months when you can hunt.  The best way is your way.  Find a friend with the dogs and get him to take you hunting.  I used to have a beagle named Gilligan who would bring a rabbit around only one time.  If you missed that one time, Gilligan would come and lay down at your feet and just look up at you as if he were saying, "I did my part!  What's wrong with you?"

Thanks for the picture and the story.  I hope you get to go a bunch more times and tell us all about it.
joe

[longislandhunter]

Thanks Harry, thanks Joe.   I was thrilled to finally hit a rabbit today   I've got him in the refrigerator soaking in some salt water and even though he's kinda of "torn up" he's going to taste especially good 

Jeff

[Brushy Bill]

Almost brings tears to my eyes.

I had the good fortune to be raised
by a dad who loved rabbit hunting.
We raised beagles and it was incredible.
I remember one spring, we had 18 puppies
to work with. You went out the back door
with a big bowl of puppy chow. All you
saw was ears and tails.

We always took them out "to run"
in the months leading up to season
opening. That was almost as much fun
as actually hunting. The pups that would
hunt were sold at a very reasonable price.
Those that would not were always snatched up
as pets. Their just so dang cute.
We usually had 4 or 5 to hunt with.

Back then, we hunted railroad tracks.
My dad worked for Allison Engine,
(now Rolls Royce) he would work
third shift in the winter just so he
could get more hunting time in.

I wish anyone who likes to hunt
could have the chance to hunt with
beagles. It is incredible just how hard they
will hunt for someone. It is amazing how by
listening to the dogs, you can tell that the rabbit
is coming back to you, and always seemed to
do just that.

My dad would hunt them, and they would hunt
for him until the bottoms of their noses were
literally rubbed raw.

He would have to keep them put up and doctor
them until they healed. During times like that,
we would go hunt private property kicking
them up on our own.

We had one female "Brownie" that was a terrier
beagle mix. Man she was fast, several times
I had to pull off of a shot because she would be too
close to the rabbit. He sold her twice and she would
not hunt for the other guys. He bought her back
both times.

Once we were hunting in Camp Atterbury which
parts of the military base had been turned
over to the state.

Brownie got to running a deer. We was able to
get the other dogs in and she did not return.
My dad told me "cmon we will these dogs home and eat
and come back and get her" he took off his
hunting coat, folded it up and left it
in a briar thicket. When we went back at nearly dark
and walked out to where he left the coat, she was
lying on it, and very happy to see us.

That was the first season he let me carry
a shotgun while hunting with him. It was
a pretty amazing thing for a 10 year old to see.

A year or so after I graduated high school,
there was a conservation officer waiting by
my dad's car where parked at the railroad tracks.

He politely told dad that it was illegal to hunt railroads
now and that he could be arrested for trespassing.
That broke dad's heart. He sold all of the dogs except
for Brownie who was at least 11-12 years old at the time.
Sold his Browning Sweet Sixteen and his Browning 20 gauge.
and never hunted rabbits again.

If there was anything he liked as much as hunting, it was
fishing. (probably even more) He would take us as a family
and camp and fish at least twice a month during the summer.
Other weekends, we would go together or with my grandpa.
There were many times when he would have mom drop us
off at a bridge with a canoe, or two sometimes as I got older
and she would pick us up 1 to 3 days later at another bridge.
We would just float and fish, camp out on a sand bar along
the way. Occasionally we would get a squirrel with the Crosman
Mark 1 he bought me when I was 10. ( yea sure pop, you bought
it for me, what ever mom needs to hear to make it alright,
he was really good at that)

Squirrel and gravy with dad's famous skillet baked biscuits
on a river bank for breakfast, and fresh fish for lunch and
dinner, man that was living life. I still do it more than most
wives and girlfriends would tolerate. Can never go without
thinking about dear ole dad.

I received a lot of really neat gifts from dad over the years.
The memories of hunting, fishing/canoeing/camping trips
are by far the greatest gifts I ever received.

Sorry to ramble on, glad you had the chance to hunt
with your new found friends. Hope you enjoy many more
in the future.
Thanks for rattling my memory bucket.

[john gray]

nothing like the sound of beagles on the run ,sounds like your new friend has opened up another chapter in your life.i grew up also hunting and running beagles ,my dad raised them ,we had 12 at one time .and i am very thankful for that time he spent with me and my 2 older brothers and 2older sisters ,and takeing me hunting deer, rabbits ,nutters and trapping beavers at an early age of 2 ,i will be 39 next month and i can still here the sounds of letting the dogs go and the smell of beaver fat.man those were some great days.i dint have a care in the world ,except wondering when we were going out in the woods again..hey bill GREAT story !!! i know where your comeing from....

[Jonesin]

My Grandfather had a beagle that would run rabbits and I hunted that way more than a few times. It was lots of fun and beats a day of busting brush trying to kick one up!

Cliff

[shadow]

Sounds like you had a great time Jeff and a fine looking harvest there too. Those load of shot's to put some holes in the critters though and it's always nice to see just one hole in the fusebox hehe. Ed

[jonnnyboy]

Jeff, it's obvious that your experience has opened the door to alot of memories for the guys here.  I'm glad you wrote about your hunt.  If you don't care, go hunt some more and write about those too!  AND, don't forget the pictures.

joe

[Predatortip]

Bill you just about made me tear up as well reading your story.
Mine is much the same but with coon hounds also
got my first rabbit with an old 16ga Ivery Johnson single.

Got to do a coon hunt (now living 500 miles apart) with my dad this fall the first time in 25years
I think he'd never thought we'd get to chase them dogs together again, Boy I'm sure glad we did!

Great story Jeff brings back a simpler time.....

[longislandhunter]

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the post.  I've been really enjoying all of your response posts reminiscing about your past hunting experiences with your fathers and friends.  Those are the kind of memories that stay with us our entire lives and stay as vivid in our memories as the day we lived those hunts.  Those are the kind of experiences and memories that help define us.  Reading all of your posts made me think back to my early hunting experiences with my dad.  Some of the best experiences in my life and they'll always be with me even though we can't hunt together anymore. 

Jeff  

[Brushy Bill]

Thanks again for sharing yours Jeff.
It is hard to imagine all the kids growing up
these days that will never have a chance
to experience anything like that.

Had another flash back;
When I was about 13, we were on the railroad tracks.
Dad had just shot a rabbit and as usual the dogs had
came up to us since they saw it was killed.
Dad waved it around in front of them and as usual said
"hunt em outa there". They turned and off into the brush
they went. A covey of quail came up. I was like greased
lightning, the shotgun came up, I saw a bird and fired.
(first time I ever saw one while hunting)
A bird came tumbling down. My dad was ecstatic,
"Yea!! that's the way to do it!!! go see if you can find it,
I don't know if the dogs will try to eat it or not"

I found the bird and as I was coming back out of the
brush, dad had just finished field gutting the rabbit. He was praising
my expert marksmanship and noticed a bummed out look on
my face. He asked me "Whats wrong?" I had to tell him,,,
"this wasn't the one I was aiming at".

He got this blank look on his face and said, "Are ya sure?"
I told him yea, I was aiming at the one to the right of this one.
His blank look continued for what seemed like forever (although
I am sure it was no more than a few seconds) He just started
laughing and said "That's OK, you can still say you shot it!!"

Mom told me she would cook that little bird just for me,
and she did. When I asked dad if he wanted some of it, he said
"no you go ahead and eat it, that's your first one, maybe I'll
get a shot off at one the next time, hopefully it wont be the one
your not shooting at"

Mom looked at him all puzzled, he told her what happened.
We all got a laugh out of it, except I was the one with tasty quail
on my breath. I did manage to hit some I was actually aiming at
in the coming years, although I missed a whole lot more of them than
I ever brought down. Dad always said "good shot, was
that the one you were aiming at?" I guess there are some
things you never get to live down.