The American Beagler Forum

when running do you follow your dogs or do you make them follow a course you have set out. i have been with some guys they follow there dogs and some make there dogs go with them. some times when i'm going to run after work i've been thinking about the course i want to go all day and the dogs have something else in mind and i'll get aggrevated with them so i thought i would ask you guys. thanks for reading

They follow me or they are GONE, nothing worst then chasing darn hard headed dogs, MAKE THEM STAY WITH YOU!!!!!!!!

well the only reason i asked i know it sounds like a dumb question but i have more than one older fellows say they have the nose not me. but i have always made them follow me . i just got this female and she always wants to go her own way and she produces alot of rabbits that is where the question started

As long as they mind when called, I pretty much let them go and start searching unless I have a place I want to start them. Then it is on the leash until I get to where I am going.

That being said, when I turn them loose and they pretty much hunt a spot over, they need to come to me and then follow to the next spot (which is usually across the path or something close like that.

Emery

I like for my dogs to hunt within two hundred yards of me. If the terrain is rolling hills or if the wind is howling, I like to keep them in a little closer. Some hunters may want a dog to range out farther, but I think they should be in the same general area where I am hunting. I have a loud voice that can normally be heard for 1000 feet or more. If the dogs are not in hot pursuit, they should come when I call. I like to decide the direction of the hunt and would like to be close to the action when it starts. I am all for a rabbit that takes the pack for a quarter mile run. Baring any hard lose they will soon be back with the rabbit a short distance ahead of them. .....Harvey

200 yards!....thats too far for me...i like mine to hunt no more than 50 yards from me. i like the dogs to stay with me and hunt...keith

They follow me and hunt with me. I want them with in a 75 yards or less of me, when we are hunting.

i agree with kieth 50 yards or a little over. that way i can control my dogs. and my dogs hunt with me, not me with them.

The dogs are there to find the rabbits, the less I try to control them the better they will do. The dog must handle when I want them to though. As for how far away from me they get depends on alot of variables such as terrain, wind, snow, the dogs speed.

Sometimes I follow them and sometimes they follow me but it is ALWAYS my choice and NEVER theirs.

i agree 200 yards is way to far for me 75 is more comfortable for me. but ya i would rather them follow me but sometimes it works to my advantage to let them lead.

During the winter months when there is less underbrush - seems like the dogs range out further when hunting and that if fine w/ me. This time of year they typically stay w/ in 50 - 75 yards of me.

I like the dogs to check in often and see which way I am heading. What I have noticed is when I take the hounds to the same place a number of times they learn where the rabbits are likely to be and will go straight there - even if I am trying to head a different direction around the field they will "skip" ahead to the good spot. Can be frustrating, but you can't blame them for using their brains! lol.

-Pete

As you get older your age and health will dictate how much walking you will do while running dogs. Most of us older people will cast our dogs letting them find their own rabbit . Yet we control them its just that we let the beagle do the walking.

amen roy, i used to teach my dogs to hunt with me & search out to about 75 yards. now i mostly just run them for fun & i enjoy standing on a hilltop & watching the action from there. you can see the hunt, jump & run real good & the dogs are within 100 to 125 yards away, close enough to control. so as you get older you tend to change you hunting style some
mike

Briarhoppers wrote:During the winter months when there is less underbrush - seems like the dogs range out further when hunting and that if fine w/ me. This time of year they typically stay w/ in 50 - 75 yards of me.

I like the dogs to check in often and see which way I am heading. What I have noticed is when I take the hounds to the same place a number of times they learn where the rabbits are likely to be and will go straight there - even if I am trying to head a different direction around the field they will "skip" ahead to the good spot. Can be frustrating, but you can't blame them for using their brains! lol.

-Pete

thank you pete that sounds exactly what has beeb happening to me because i run the same place very often. so that's ok

I do not care where they go as long as they are hunting with me. I want them to hunt with me and check in. If I go south they should hunt south and check in from time to time. If they jump one 100 or 200 yds away so be it. If they jump one under my feet so be it. I just want them to get a rabbit up FAST.