The American Beagler Forum

my dogs struck a track near the brush ran for about a hundred yards through some real think stuff. the only thing about it is it went straight. no funny barking or anything. I caught up with them because I was worried, and they was still hunting around they had lost it for a while. I am just wonderind if it was a rabbit or did it have another kind of fuzzy white tale.
I never seen signs of either one.

Smoke, my friend Paul and I were hunting at Minnehaha towards the end
of the season, and the funny thing was almost every rabbit the dogs ran would run in a straight line. If I had not seen a couple of rabbits myself I woulda been wondering the same way you are. Give your dogs the benefit of the doubt. Regardless of what some folks say, RABBITS DO NOT 100 PERCENT OF THE TIME RUN A PRETTY LITTLE CIRCLE. I hope this helps. *Brian*

I have found at the end of hunting season, as it nears the rabbits breeding season, the rabbits will make huge circles, i have had dogs run a good half mile and then make their turn, not sure why but they really make the dogs stretch out.

chris

If it had been a deer you would have never caught up unless the dogs are POOR trialers. Rabbits will run in a straight line for a short distance. I bet he made a 90 degree or sharper turn and that is when they lost it and you were able to catch up. Armadillos run in a straight line to their den but you should have got some "funny" barking from a couple of your older dogs that knew the scent was wrong had it been one of those. Good luck to you!

Hey Smoke. Here is what I heard and it makes alot of sense to me. Rabbits here in WV breed towards the end of Febuary which is the last month of hunting season. A male rabbit is kind of like a buck deer. When the rut is on they will leave their home territory to find females. It is hard to say how far they go to find a doe rabbit. But if the buck rabbit is a mile from his home territory he will run right back to it if a dog or anything else gets after him and keeps him moving. This made alot a sense when I heard it. Hope this helps.

Jeremy

I am not sure where you live, but it could have been a cat, coon, fisher, or something else that went up a tree and would explain the loss.

Smoke I've saw hundreds of rabbits sprint for a hundred yards in a straight line , I usually don't worry, until it gets up toward a 1000 yards and have seen a few run half a mile in a straight line.,and as far as losing it goes in mating season I've seen it when you could repeatedly put dogs (good dogs) on the line and they could not track it. Just keep a close eye on it and run it often, worry about them running off game can sure take the fun out of it. Good Luck