Longest solo runs time wise you have ever seen !

[Alabama John]

I'm sure running Hare is much different from down here.

I've enjoyed ya'll telling about them but don't guess I will ever have the opportunity to experience that. PIctures of running in that deep snow are almost unbelievable. Don't see how dogs do it, people either!

\Those patch dogs can run in my experience too. Learn to swim fast too. Great breed.

It takes a while for any dog to learn running in planted rows. Rabbits run down the row for a while them jumps over a row or two. Dog will run wide open down the row and in most cases, until they learn, will run way past where the rabbit jumped over until they realize they are not getting any scent. Seen dogs do that for 100 yards or more.
Experienced dogs will run wide open down a row and keep scent in their nose and when the scent disappears. quickly turn and check two rows on both sides and off again down another row. Seen it too many times. Rabbits cannot keep that running down rows for very long.

Rabbits running in Serecia very long are caught. Body scent stays high up on stems and many dogs will run with heads up. Some dogs will run heads down running foot scent no matter the situation and never lift their heads to get body scent.

Just what I've seen.

[S.R.Patch]

Bama, if you've ran fox with your beagles then you've experienced a hare race. Sometime a grey and sometimes a red...
In my experience if the hare is running like a cottontail, your in a pod of young hare. I've only ran them a dozen yr. but this has been my experience and proof was in the skillet at the end of the day. The group that ran small were killed and were tender in the gravy, We rarely killed the big hare, the races were long and they were smart, you never knew just how far they were ahead of the hounds and most times we would turn them not knowing they had already spotted us moving into position, sometimes you would catch sight for just a brief moment and then they were gone. Their being call the ghost of the north woods is real to me.

[adirondackjoe]

hey patch. you just described hare hunt'n perfectly.

[beagle-runner]

i hunted with a friend of mine early dec on a strip mine close to home here,his dogs started running like 14.7 mile circles according to our alpha,i told him when it was first jumped that it was a deer,he says his dog dont run deer,he knows this 4 fact. what he didnt know was i had 1 dog out of 2 that day that tattle's on trash, eleven dogs all togather running this thing and sounds like their smoke'n it,with the exception of my one standing there looking at me like, it's not legit. after listening to the race 4 a while,i figured out it was a bob cat,my freind still wouldnt have it though,its a rabbit he said,so all said and done one of his freinds he brought with him seen it and killed it,sure enough he bagged his first bob cat.

ive ran heavy equipment for 30 yrs on these old hills, stripping coal,and on road jobs for rifle coal,usally we sowed lespadezia and sercia or however u spell it,unless the land ower requested something else like white clover or alphalha,but that was to expensive for them to sow every where they had to hydroseed back,kept cost to the minimal i guess.

[hlane]

Thats awesome! I I got alot of 4-5 hr solo races on cottontail last spring on heavily hunted land with little game.I love a good solo performance!

I too love a good solo run. You can watch 'em work the check the way it's suppose to be done. I just have one dog, almost 4 years old, that was trained and is still mostly run on sparse game public land. She seems to know that her best chance of finding a rabbit is to find the one that just gave her the slip so she stays on a check until she accounts for it. 3+ hour runs are not uncommon for her, 2+ hour runs are frequent. When I hunt her solo I don't load my gun until she's run it at least an hour. I've lost count of the number of rabbits she's run stiff and brought back to me. Times of those runs range from 1 hour ten minutes to 3+ hours. Rabbits seem to seize up faster in warm weather. I shot one today after 2+ hours. There were no checks longer than about 3 minutes and most under 30 seconds. The last 1/2 hour she was getting closer and the rabbit was looking tired. I really wanted a pup out of her but sadly, last summer, I found out she has thyroid deficiency so, from what I've read, I won't be breeding her ( I'd appreciate any input on this ). With thyroid replacement she is almost back to her old rabbit hatin' self.

I should have been more specific ! lol i wasnt talkin about heads up pounding for 3 or 4+ hrs . just so happens i run an area not to
awful far from sandusky,ohio it has some thickets,weed fields , woods and big thick fence rows . but one area is a old beaver swamp
it has downed trees,logs ,stumps,areas that hold water and the original creek all grown up with swamp grass and multiflora rose.at this time of year (spring,late spring,early summer) its nasty!!! like it or not the heads up runnin stops in there and the rabbit gets
out front of my dog! and he has to gear down grind it out and apply enough pressure on the bunny to get him out of there ! then usually the rabbit takes a spin around the fields and goes back in there! a big nosed dog with gears is what i was talkin about ! keepin the race going!

[S.R.Patch]

I always thought a good hound was a good hound, driving when possible and adjusting when necessary to the scenting and terrain/conditions. A hound that can't or won't adjust to the adverse conditions to maintain the line isn't a very good hound,... and not many rabbits/hare will afford a hound the pleasure of full throttle running without throwing in a few tricks or deterrents that has saved his hide in the past.
When we run hare, it may take a week to settle them back down for cottontail but they will come to adjust and get wright again.
Nose, brains and determination are required of any good hound, through thick or thin... jmho

[hlane]

A dog that is willing to stay in there and grind it out is the one i keep ! thats a rabbit dog to me ! if they want to keep it going
iam willing to sit and listen !!! solo performance !