Run to catch

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Do you know your closest hunting buddy of all ?

He's the type that regardless of conditions will go if you go.
Regardless of what tomorrow is, if you stay out late, that's okay with him.
Regardless of who else you invite, he'll go if you go.
Regardless of what time you call him, he eagerly wants to go.
Regardless of what hunting area you choose, he can't wait to get there.
Regardless of how down you are, a chat with him will lift you up.

A handful of feed, clean drinking water and a warm place to sleep is a small price to pay for a hunting buddy like that !

[Aubrey Holcombe]

Dana. dang I didn't know that YOU have ever met MY BEST EVER HUNTING BUDDY AND LONG TIME FRIEND, "DOC" ?

Yep, that old boy fits your list of questions 100 % His real name is Johnny Estes ? Dang I don't even know if, I spelled
his real name correctly ??

We been rabbit hunting together for over 50 years together, never lived close together , in fact "Doc" just retired a few years ago sold his business and bought a home way up in N.E. Ga. At the very top of a mountain, well over a 100 mile from Rabbit Town, USA.

We don't get to see each other much anymore, except during rabbit season and as you know I getting on up in age , l will be be 81 in a few more days. Don't have the, kennels full of good hounds, as once did. I thought about selling out a few years back but Old "Doc" talked me into keeping a few of my hounds and he would come down and drive, pulll a trailer with my Kubota RTV 500 so we kept hunting for the last few years.

YEP, Best friend I EVER HAD "DOC" FIT YOUR LIST OF QUESTIONS, HE IS TOP SHELF FOR SURE..

D.R.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>>

[Newt]

Dana, I have had several friends like that, over the years, but unfortunately most have passed. Like Daddy Rabbit, I don't have the drive/health to run like I did just a few years ago. I'll be seventy nine in August.
I've got four hounds and raise a litter of pups because I have a starting pen and still love to train pups.
I went out yesterday to run and was thinking on the way out. If those old farmers die before me. I will probably lose about the only place I run hounds. There are the WMAs but that is just five mo a year in this area.

[warddog]

Although I am not quite up to Newt and daddy rabbits age I still have about the same physical characteristics. The most important one is the lack of rabbit ground to run and or hunt on. YESW, we have public grounds but they are hunted and or ran to death. I can still walk real good until the nerve gets to acting up and in right butt check and my right leg tingles or goes numb. I have to sit down for a spell but can usually get back up and go. My other problem is that I let my line get away from me and now I have only one dog left and she is 12 years old.

[Hare Chaser]

Maybe I’m the one miss understanding who the Friend/Hunting Buddy is that ShadyGrove is referring to, but my guess is it's the hunters hound/dog, not a human being!

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Ha,ha,ha.
The last sentence of the post kind of points in that direction..............

[Newt]

Maybe I’m the one miss understanding who the Friend/Hunting Buddy is that ShadyGrove is referring to, but my guess is it's the hunters hound/dog, not a human being!

If that is the case, I just gave away one of the best hunting buddies I ever owned.
She was an eleven year old bitch, daughter of FC Bucks Branch Englebert. She was an awesome hound. Like me she got too old to keep up with the pack. When an old gentleman (72) called me wanting a slower hound to start his pups, I gave her to him. I figured Bertie would enjoy running with the pups rather than staying at home or trying to keep up with younger faster dogs.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Been a long hot and humid summer here in Tn. So glad to be getting morning temps in the 50's.
I probably ran my dogs less this July and August than I ever have. Got them out about once a week for 2-3 hours. Just enough to keep them in some kind of shape and keep their edge wore off. As I've gotten older I just don't much care about running in the heat. Can be hard on the dogs. I've got an older veteran pack and they don't really need it. I'm not field trialing or starting any young dogs so -- the dogs hang out in the shade and I usually go to the lake.
Now with the cooler temps. I've run half a dozen times in the last ten days and the dogs have been showing out. Heading to northern New Hampshire in a couple of weeks for ten days of hare hunting. Got to get the girls ready for a daily dose of hare chases. If you've never run hare, a week of hunting them can really test your hounds.
Ran yesterday and had one good race in the corn for almost an hour ,then a short hard chase to a rock pile of about ten minutes.
Conditions must have been perfect today. The girls jumped fairly quickly and put the rabbit around several times in some real thick stuff. Pushed him out in to the woods a couple of times and were running check free and caught him at the 45 minute mark.
Got done chowing down on that one and Fly got another one up. They pounded on this one ,again pushing hard and almost check free and caught him at just shy of an hour.
Jumped the third rabbit and had almost an hour run on him before he holed.
Wish I had someone with me to share.
Here's three of the girls after their morning. Nine year old Tess in the middle and her daughters four year old Queen and six year old Fly
Hope you all have some good running and gunning this season.

[Aubrey Holcombe]

Dana:

Did you breed the one that is, not there this year? Man I been some kind of busy this past summer, breed a few and lots of folks wanting me to start their pups. We keep getting rain Al Summer, so i enjoy staring the pups. The red female that i wanted to breed "Spit" to came in heat but would not let him around her? She has produced me some mighty good, Gun Dog over the last three yeas, but would not, let him around her, I kept them in the big dirt pen that I have down at the kennels, for three weeks but she did not get breed.

So I did not get any Ticks, sure did have a lots of my friends wanting one, I don't even have one for my self.. I will be breeding him to a good friend that has a red tick , got her , from me shod be in heat any time now.

Keep me posted on your North-an trip, always like to hear from you, and the hounds.

D.R./~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>>

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Hey Daddy Rabbit.
Hope all is well with you and the hounds.
The dog not in the pic is my bluetick,Josie, Spit's mother. She was crashed out with the others, just didn't make the picture.
No, I haven't bred her since Spit's litter which was 2 1/2 years ago now. I am thinking about raising a litter out of her as she is due in next month.
At 8 years old Josie hasn't slowed down one bit yet. She's always been a very athletic hound that could run the front and hold it. At 8 she can still run with hounds half her age and show them where the rabbit went.

[S.R.Patch]

I had a oddity with a young bitch this year. She whelped 6 puppies in April and was back in season in Aug., 4 months later. Usually they cycle 6 months after whelping round here. Have any of you had this happen? It appears to have been a true heat cycle cause I put her back with SlimJim and now she's filling out and looks to whelp again in Oct...

[warddog]

WOW, never seen that happen before. Although I do not breed hounds very often I have bred them over the years including coon hounds but never had one do that. Dang you'll have twins 7 months apart! LOL

[Newt]

D.R. I had a Little Ireland bitch once that was in heat. I took her down to Owen Bradford"s Kennel to breed to a Little Ireland bred male. Put her in the cage and she absolutely refused to let him breed her. Then his pet Male Feist came over to the cage. He stuck his nose through the pen wire and got happy. The bitch immediately curled her tail and the stud mounted and bred her. Got six pups, if I remember correctly

[Beagle Huntsman]

I bought a female puppy from Owen Bradford in late 1979. I’ll never forget that drive from Ohio to Alabama to get her. She was by Little Ireland’s Bimbo and out of a Gay Baker female. She made a good solid hound. Won and placed several times at early gundog trials. Did lots of gunning over her. She went to college with me.

[S.R.Patch]

WOW, never seen that happen before. Although I do not breed hounds very often I have bred them over the years including coon hounds but never had one do that. Dang you'll have twins 7 months apart! LOL

Maybe not "twins", but a sure enough large entry next year all from the same cross, if all goes well...lol