I've noticed that many only want 15" hounds?

[Dave Swiger]

I have ran 14 to 15 inch beagles from the first.I have a six month old male that is 14, looks like he may go over. Hard to put six months of shoe leather and then have them over. I'm thinking of breeding to smaller males. You see so many Full 15 and over. No doubt genetices, but i think over feeding plays a part also.

Dave

[Briarhoppers]

I'm not super picky about size. I'd say I prefer dogs to be in the 13 1/2 - 14 1/2. I've had big 15" males and at least one that was oversized. This is a bit off topic, but get a pack of big 15" males together and in my opinion you are going to likely have some rough running. That's just been my experience. And I've heard some AKC folks mention that the best running packs at trials are not the 15" males. I'm sure there are many exceptions to this.

Also, off topic - but to follow up on Shandy Grove's comment about dogs crossing net wire fences (woven wire). There is no place I hunt here in middle TN that does have old fences in the trees lines, etc. It is just part of hunting here. And if your dog can't get over, thru, under the fence you are going to have a tough time filling your game bag. That being said, I am glad for the fences - while they can be frustrating for the hunter to cross back and forth, I believe the fences help keep the rabbit population high. I hunted a few different farms this year and noted at each one that we jumped most rabbits near these net wire fences. I believe they help the rabbits escape preditors. At one farm inparticular, we jump rabbit after rabbit around the fences and then moved on back further in the farm in awesome rabbit cover, but no fences and could not even jump a rabbit after the dogs hunted hard for a hour or so. We moved back to the front on the farm where the fences were and started getting jumps again. Just an observation.

-Pete

[S.R.Patch]

I got a little hound like that out of Horn and Lucy named Buster, there's a hole in the chainlink about 4' high that LucyLou ate through off the top of her dogbox. Now both pens hold males but little Buster will jump through this hole about the size of a stove pipe, to eat the food on both sides of the fence. On one side, he just jumps through off the doghouse, but the other, he has an amazing leap with accuracy...

My buddy had a big male and we had one field that had a 5 acre brier patch and it was hard to push a rabbit out of there. Well, the fun thing to do was to take Big Sam and turn him loose in there, the roar of his mouth would start... and then the briers would go to shaking as if a wave of the earth moving had them in a quiver...then, rabbits would start busting out every direction,... nothing was safe in that thicket of tangle when that hound took to shaking it loose... we sure had a lot of fun with that ole hound.

[Panther Creek]

[One last word about fences and dogs that will go over them.They CAN and WILL eventually get hung in them.I had it happen three times this gun season [twice in one day to the same dog! ]Luckily I run bells on all my dogs and try and stay fairly close to them.When they are hanging by their hind leg or foot a couple of feet off the ground they don't make a sound.[/quote]
I had one that DID make a sound! She was screaming so bad, I knew something was wrong. Ran over to her & her left rear leg was caught between the woven wire & the barb wire on top. Got her untangled & on the ground & she took off. She acted fine then but limped a little when we got home. She was fine a week later.

[cjcocodrie]

My preference for the larger hounds comes largely from history - when I started organized beagling the only sanctioned trials were AKC Brace. And the thirteen class was all the "rage". They were being bred smaller & smaller and to be sure they didn't "run" a rabbit they were bred with deformed legs or backs.... since anything that had decent conformation and some size was sold to "hunters" the choice was pretty clear back then. But our hunting terrain and requirements is another factor. We hunt in water a lot - Louisiana swamp rabbits do use the deep swamp when the pressure gets to them - small dogs swim where bigger dogs wade.... and we hunted six days a week, eight hours a day.... smaller hounds needed more resting than their stronger, larger counterparts. Some of the small ones had more heart than size, but they couldn't make three days straight, Ky. Hunter knows what he's talking about. Everyone needs to run their choice and Thank God you can find 13" hounds that can run a rabbit these days, so use what you like (and in my case - what you need)
cj

[Pulpwood725]

Does S I Z E matter?

[PREACHERS KENNEL]

it is all just preference.
that being said i prefer around a 14 inch hound .either way of that a little is fine by me . i aint seen anything just leave them behind so far ,never seen anything they wouldnt go thru or under to get mr . bunny ..

[warddog]

I agree with patch in that the terrain you normally hunt will probably dictate the size hound you pack to it. Some like them big, some like them little but I like them bunnies they bring to the gun a simmering in the kettle!