# Productive Day Rabbit Hunting



## Roosted (Sep 28, 2014)

Wet day with a bit of rain but a friend of mine and his Beagles had a lot of action. Killed 7 and only shot the ones the dogs ran . Jumped a bunch more and did have a few misses but a fun day rabbit hunting over some great Beagles .


----------



## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

haven't done much hunting with dogs but loved it when i did. looks like a great hunt. sure would love to have one of those backs. i know so many get upset over this question. but were you hunting public or private land?? just asking for my own info on the rabbit population.
sherman


----------



## Roosted (Sep 28, 2014)

Hi Sherman . This place we hunted the rabbits is in central Ohio and is private. It is the farm I’ve hunted siince 1999 . It is a very unique farm and believe it or not it has always had a great population of rabbits . It just has the perfect habitat for them.


----------



## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

Wow, nice pic,,,, & a nice productive day out! Suitable for framing,,,,,,, 
It's REALLY nice to see a coupla beagles that actually HELPED YOU OUT! ;>) 
From my sportsman club experiences ,,,, I've seen more deer & fox 'runs', & turkey jumps, than bunnies SHOT!

You made me smile & flash-back when you said that you didn't shoot your JUMPED bunnies!
Ahhh, the sound of good working beagles!!!

I grew up with a slingshot in my pocket, & glass bow in hand,,,,, & my neighbors WAITED for me to come out of the woods with a wheelburrow full of bunnies & pheasants to pass around. (Yes real live native un-stocked city/ steel mill pheasants!)


SO,,,,,,, my neighbor raised beagles, BLUE RIBBON field trial beagles.
He knew I loved to hunt, so he invited me to tag-a-long with them, up Kingsville somewhere.

Off we went,,,,,, he/ WE waited, & waited for those 2 dogs to jump a bunny. I asked him if he wanted me to kick some brush piles to help those dogs out! OH MAN! The answer I got!
"THESE DOGS DON'T NEED NO HELP,,, These dogs can smell a rabbit 1/4 mile away!!!" along with a very stern look,,,,,,,

Well,,, like I said, I GREW UP IN THE WOODS!
There was a fresh heavy snow on the ground,,,, colder than cold, & NO TRACKS anywhere,,,, but all of the saplings were chewed up. ?????
Go figure. 
I was FREEZING & bored just standing there waiting, and didn't even understand why,,,,,,,,, so OFF I WENT! I turned back 180* & didn't go 50yds before I seen 2 ears sticking up above the snow. It was REALLY DUG IN,,, most likely for 24hrs! & those dogs just walked by!?
I kicked some snow at him & off he went,,,, I snapped-shouldered the old .410 & 2 sec later he was DEAD!
WOW! did I 'TICK-OFF' my neighbor,,,,,,,, maybe I shouldn't have laughed at his dogs!!!

I think I 'kicked' & jump-shot 3 that day,,, HE & those beagles got 2. & one of those was one of my jumpers that the dogs picked up on!

NEEDLESS to say,,, I NEVER got invited to go back out with them again! Live & Learn.
Go-Figure,,, again.
Maybe, I just need to walk behind some good dogs like yours,,,, re-install the faith.

Sorry for the Flash-back. Good Times


----------



## 21938 (Feb 17, 2010)

Great day, smiles on men and dogs! The Beagle in the center of the rig for sure knows the command, "look here, hold it"!!!!


----------



## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

Looks like a really great day and some darn good eating. Beagles running rabbits is music to hunters ears. Thanks for the picture. 

Really enjoyed Doboy's story. There is a big difference between beagles that can run a rabbit and those that can bounce and run a rabbit. Years ago we hunted an area at Spencer after a man came out with four field trial beagles and said "no rabbits here, you are wasting your time". By the time he loaded his dogs in the fancy kennel on his truck, our four dogs had a rabbit up and my son dropped it within site of our vehicle. We ended up with nine bunny's, all of which were started by the dogs. Three others holed up on us in the No Rabbit area.


----------



## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

Shortdrift said:


> Looks like a really great day and some darn good eating. Beagles running rabbits is music to hunters ears. Thanks for the picture.
> 
> Really enjoyed Doboy's story. There is a big difference between beagles that can run a rabbit and those that can bounce and run a rabbit. Years ago we hunted an area at Spencer after a man came out with four field trial beagles and said "no rabbits here, you are wasting your time". By the time he loaded his dogs in the fancy kennel on his truck, our four dogs had a rabbit up and my son dropped it within site of our vehicle. We ended up with nine bunny's, all of which were started by the dogs. Three others holed up on us in the No Rabbit area.


thanks roosted for filling in the location.

another great rabbit story. thanks guys for sharing.
sherman


----------



## GalionLex (Oct 19, 2014)

Roosted. Congrats on a great day. There is nothing quite like good beagles on a good tracking day. I always said the dogs could sense a good day. They had an extra bounce in their step. February is the best month to hunt in my opinion. Rabbits that are alive now have probably outwitted a few predators and the buck rabbits get out of their normal home range out looking for a girlfriend. With that in mind, the dogs were especially challenged with long hard running tracks that created some great memories. Hope you guys continue generating more hunting memories with that fine pair of beagles. Best of luck


----------



## Roosted (Sep 28, 2014)

Thank you. Glad you guys liked the photo and a bit of the story of the hunt. I got started hunting rabbits with my Grandpa when I was younger and he always had good Beagles. I still love hearing those hounds running a rabbit and how intense those Beagles can be on the track. Over the years I’ve had some very good Beagles and I would love to have some of those dogs back that are gone now. One particular dog that I bought from a Gentleman in Carrollton Ohio back in the mid 90,s was just Fantastic ! Best Beagle I’ve ever hunted over to this day . Great memories and I still have a bunch of pictures and videos of her hammering a rabbit track .


----------



## Searay (Feb 12, 2007)

Feb. rabbit hunting most killed will be bucks and a 40 min. run is not un common....


----------

