The American Beagler Forum

How many run their hounds in the summer? Are you afraid of the snakes for yourself and the hounds. I used to run in the summer but I lost some hounds to snake bites. I know some hounds make it after being bitten, but some don't. Most of mine didn't. Seems they always got bitten in the neck area and a ton of benedryl and the vet didn't hlep. I've not been bitten personally by a poisonous snake but know someone who has and it wasn't a pleasant ordeal. So I don't run in the summer anymore. I run until about the middle of May. I live in western Kentucky and we have an abundance of poisonous snakes. Thanks for listening.

Hey Jerwane good to see you posting. I stopped running in the summer a few years ago, guess it was a combination of things. 1. I got old, 2. The weather began to wear on me, 3. Yes, the snakes got bad. How are things going? I have not talked to you in a while. Gonna have to get tied up on the old land line and chat a spell. Ken/preacherman.

For all of my 50 years of running hounds I always have run year round.
In New Hampshire running the coon hounds and/or beagles at night during the summer months was never an issue. Once the sun went down in the mountains the temps would cool off pretty good and poisonous snakes are barely an issue in that part of the country.
Once I moved to Tennessee I found that if I wanted to run the beagles during June,July and August I either had to start at 4:30-5:00 a.m. or 9:00-10:00 p.m. to get a couple of hours in.
There are some poisonous snakes around but not plentiful and I've never been bothered or had any issues with them in the 27 years I've lived here.
I don't run much in the summer anymore basically because at this age I don't enjoy it and it's hard on the hounds.
When it's hitting the 80's by 10:00 in the morning and it's "the kind of air you can wear" the sweat's dripping off me ain't my kind of hunting.
I head to the lake.

I run year round. No deathly dangerous snakes in my area, yet.
The heat can be dangerous if we aren't careful. I go early in the morning or when its cloudy and damp.
Coyotes are the ever present danger.

Newt wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 28, 2023 1:19 pm

I run year round. No deathly dangerous snakes in my area, yet.
The heat can be dangerous if we aren't careful. I go early in the morning or when its cloudy and damp.
Coyotes are the ever present danger.

It's been 9 years ago but I lost the best young dog I had to coyotes. She could solo a rabbit like a seasoned hound at 6 1/2 months old. Was bracing her and my old dog Crank one morning and a coyote came in and snatched her up. Carried her about 40 yards before dropping her but the damage was already done. We have copperheads along with the occasional cottonmouth or timber rattler(depending on location) but haven't ever had any trouble with them yet (knock on wood)