The American Beagler Forum

I have 2 five month old females that I have been taking to the wild with an older "puppy trainer" for 2 months now. I found a place that I know for a fact does not get pressured from anyone else. This place is about 5 acres with lots of briar patches and warm season grasses. I have ran the dogs there 1 time. They circled 3 rabbits and I kicked up 3 different rabbits. I was only there for about 2.5 hours. How often could a guy go to this place without putting too much pressure on the rabbits. The habitat surrounding the five acres is hardwood timber on three sides and a lake on the fourth side, so if I did pressure it too much I would not have a clue where the rabbits would go. This is a really unique opportunity to train the dogs and I just don't want to mess it up. Thanks for the help!

if your just runnin the rabbits i dont think you have to worry about them leavin might start to hole up quicker if you run em everyday . we have a much larger area but at times is ran 7 days a week mornins and eves

me and a couple buddies have a place like that when we are working pups we will run there 3-4 times a week and have did this for a few years now I don't think we've messed our spot up at all. If you've got food,cover,and the hunting presure is low they won't go anywhere

I run the same spots during the off season...usually during hunting season too. Some places it's not uncommon to kick a rabbit out the same pile 3 out of 5 trips. Don't have no problem with them holing, they are usually the ones that stretch out. Those ones that sit in the same spot everyday don't get shot

I feel the more you run rabbits in spot, the better it is.
Some of the best spots I know are run literally everyday by quite a few people.
If you start pressuring them too much, they will start holing quickly. The chases will be short, and you will eventually find somewhere else to run because those rabbits aren't running.
I feel running keeps predators out. Beagles don't put that type of pressure on rabbits like a predator.
The more time beagles are there, the less time coyotes, foxes, bobcats, and other predators will spend there.

I'll give you an example.
A lot of people ran at Winfield locks and dam. It was literally 24 hours a day at times. Lots of people, lots of dogs, lots of rabbits. The locals complained because of the night running near a neighbor hood, and somehow got the place designated as a "ground bird nest area" or something like that. So they shut the area down during ground bird nesting season.
When they reopened, there were few rabbits, and many people would see coyotes leaving when they cast their dogs.

So my advice is run all you want, you aren't going to hurt the rabbit population.

I don't know about rabbits, but I trained pups on Hare in a similar 5-10 acre spot and after about 2-4 times a week over 3-4 months the pup I was training there came well too aware of how to find the hare if he lost the scent, and had to make a check. He would simply run to certain spots to find the hare. I stopped doing this immediaty and started running him in different locations as much as possible. I think you can ruin a good pup by doing this. i think too much pen running would do the same, we had a litter we trained in a small pen with cottontails and those pups were harder to learn check work than any we ever trained. Beware of it! They get too "Area" smart fast.

i have a spot that i run 2-3 times a week... i just turn the dogs loose in a different spot each time.. i have never had any problems...

Older dogs are one thing, pups on the other hand can be impossible to try to kick a bad habit they have picked up. GOOD seasoned dogs are not a problem (yours are 5 months old)

Thanks everyone I really appreciate it. What a great weekend. My 5 and 1/2 month old female is now opening. What a great feeling....

My brother and i have a spot where we run every evening in the off season.I think it does make the rabbits hole alittle faster when we run there everyday.
We have been running there for years and the rabbits never seem to leave.It is loaded with rabbits but certain days that we go there it seems like you
can't buy a rabbit,that's what i don't understand.

scootersjill wrote:if your just runnin the rabbits i dont think you have to worry about them leavin might start to hole up quicker if you run em everyday .

I'd echo scooterjill. Also, unless the pups are fast and pushing them outwards of their normal area then the rabbits shouldn't go anywhere.