Nighttime running

[#1beaglesNeil]

What do you think about running your dogs after dark.Do you thing its good or bad for them.

[PREACHERS KENNEL]

i only do it in the summer when its real hot . can be bad imo tracks are easier to find ,so could effect hunt in a dog .sure sounds good tho...

but i prefer daytime so i cann see more of whats going on.

[wireman252]

In my opinion ANY running is good for a hound. Day or night. Not running at all is BAD for them. I run more at night than in the day. This is mainly out of necessity. I need to avoid summer heat for the dogs , and myself. Plus rabbits don't seem to like the heat either. I run 99% on public land. There for I share the woods with many a deer hunter. Here in Michigan , deer season starts on October 1st and goes to January 1st.

Now as far as night running harming the" hunt " of a hound , I don't buy it. In my opinion they have good hunt , or they don't. And unfortunately , most dogs I see are only average ,or less than average , on their hunt. But I don't think it has any thing to do with running them at night. My dogs are young , and I have ran plenty in daylight hours as well as night time. Usually it isn't dark when I start out , unless it's deer season. They seem to have the same amount of hunt regardless. I'm not saying I have brush busters. I would say my dogs have average hunt. There is always room for improvement. I have occasionally caught them milling around socializing with pack mates or grazing like cattle on grass. But they do search for a rabbit the same , day or night. Rabbits just seem to be more active at night. Just like most critters.

[packmaster]

I think it`s great for them.alot more rabbits to run,and they seem to stay up longer.as far as hunt goes I see no difference.

[R.Ooten (RUFF)]

I do run some at night in the summer but i can tell you it will take away from the jump power of a dog. they hardly ever jump a rabbit at night.
they just hit a hot track that they can move out on. if this is the only hunting you do (night hunting) for a while you will notice a big change
in the amount of jumped rabbits you get in the day time hunting. the dogs are still hunting but there hunting for a track and not a rabbit.

i will run young dogs at night to help them with there running. but stop when they learn to handle a track.

[Cooz's Beagles]

I started doing it a few weeks ago. Rabbits run great and long... Until Thursday evening around eight thirty- it was just getting really dark, when I had a coyote come in very close. I will probably not run another dog at night again for awhile. I did love it tho till then.

Cooz's Beagles
Cooz's Just Snoopin Around

Lone Pine Cooz's Nicci
Lone Pine Cooz's Swampin' Sammi

[Dillinger09]

I run in to the night a lot during the off season, and I don't know if I can agree that it will take anything away from your dog. I have nights where things look just as bad as they would have in the day light.

[JD Baisden]

I was told by a couple knowledgeable beaglers "You train by day and condition at night". I've seen several dogs that were ran exclusively at night that appeared to have good hunt, but when they were taken out in daylight they just hunted the paths for tracks and had no clue to look for a rabbit in a brush pile. I firmly believe that if you want your dogs hunt to improve, then you need to run them in the daylight and where the brush is thick. jmo!

[beaglerof4]

I run at night some times just to stay away from the bad summer heat.

[BigStrutter]

Ran last night just fo rone last run before our trial this weekend. I would have run during the day but I am working days this week and don't gt off till 6:30pm. Now that temps are cooling off some I will be doing mostly day time running in the pen and in the wild.

Ned

[little e kennels]

i like to run at nights and have not noticed any real problems with how many rabbits they jump. as for me running at night in the near feature it wont happen because we are over run with yotes here in NC

[toldyouso]

First of all running at night does not effect your dogs hunt or jump abilities either your dog hunts or has this trait. Jump dogs r not made the r borned withit or without it. Thats why there r not many of them. And in order to condition a dog you almost have to run at night because a cottontail will not run long enough during the day especially with all the killers running around this time of the year. So i guess after all that i like to run at night year round this way i dont have to share the public ground i run on with guys who r torching hundrends of rabbits a year and then complaining about the rabbit population when they go to competition hunts. Enough said.

[deerhost]

I love running at night. Our rabbit population up here in the north east or at least in my area is not that great. And at this time of the year the rabbits tend to hole pretty fast. So I run at night, alot more rabbit above the ground feeding and they tend to stay up for some long runs. It's a great way for me to give young pups some track time. I put a bell and reflective collor on the pups along with the Garmen tracking collar which flashes red and is easy to see and let the pups run. I've never seen it effect hunt what so ever....Deerhost

[KYRABBITHUNTER]

Due to my work schedule 75% of my running is at night. I'm fortunate to live in the middle of about 250 acres with an average rabbit population. I have never noticed any difference in the jump ability and IMO opinion the dog's either got it or it don't. Regardless, the benefits of running at night outweigh the potential deterrents. Races are much longer at night, and the dog gets to see everything that mr. bunny has in his bag of tricks. Not to mention, with the increased activity at night, the dog has to learn what a "hot" track really is......not where the rabbit crossed it's path from 5-10 minutes ago. It's a perfect time to solo a hound. The biggest draw back to me is Coyotes, and I'm not sure if it's really worse at night than it is in the day. In my area, the yotes tend to move in for a few days, and then I won't hear them for weeks. So, if I know they're there, I don't run.

Monday night I had a 3 hour race. Last night I was running a dog solo and walking a pup on a long line. The pup and I jumped one (or spooked it from where it currently was) and the older dog started running at 8:00. I stayed out for 45 minutes then went inside. I tend to come out every 15 minutes to check on the race. At 11:30 the race was still going on, but at 11:45 I had a hound scratching at the window (seemed odd). So I took him to the pen, walking back to the house I heard several coyotes start in about 150-200 yards across a draw. So, no running at night for a few days, but I will be out listening for the yotes.

[barnold1]

We can't run on CA (public ground) here in MO at night; they have posted hours for access. Consider yourselves lucky if your governing agency isn't this paranoid. On the other hand, I see a lot of guys posting where there's down periods they can't run/hunt...