The American Beagler Forum

My dogs are run on cottontails 99% of the time. Over the past few years I've gone on a hare hunt up north with the same hounds. I am pleased with these hounds on cottontails but not quite feelin the same on hare. I know you need a brush dog to jump cottontails. Will this same dog be effective on jumping hare?

2barrel, Yes, and I have owned more than one trash proof rabbit dog that would not run a hare. It wasn't what they were bred for or used to running and therefore considered them to be " trash". There is obviously that much difference in scent.

I too run cottontails around 90 percent of the time and when I run hare I use the same hounds...they make the transition from COTTONTAILS to HARE without skipping much of a beat, if I have them in proper shape before going...however the transition BACK to cottontails FROM hare is a bit rough and it sometimes takes a week or more before they gear it back down and run the way they should...


Hope this helps.

Thanks for the comments. I guess the real question I have for you hare hunters. What's some good advice for someone going to UP Michigan hare hunting with plain old cottontail dogs?

2barrel wrote:Thanks for the comments. I guess the real question I have for you hare hunters. What's some good advice for someone going to UP Michigan hare hunting with plain old cottontail dogs?

dump them on a track and let em figure it out.

2barrel wrote:Thanks for the comments. I guess the real question I have for you hare hunters. What's some good advice for someone going to UP Michigan hare hunting with plain old cottontail dogs?

Make sure you have a Garmin GPS tracking system...LOL. Watch out for the yotes and WOLVES.

GPS is MUST!!!
Also will take some time for the dogs to adapt, so be patient, I would say at least a day for them to figure things out. Keep in mind though that hare will run long distances and if they loose the hare far from you, make sure your dogs are easy to recall. If not and they jump another hare, you will be hunting dogs all day and not rabbits, been there, done that. Good Luck

www.bellmorekennels.com

What's some good advice for someone going to UP Michigan hare hunting with plain old cottontail dogs?

Go early...
Young hare run alot like cottontail. the later you go in the season, the fewer hare and the more chance you'll get on a big hare that will take you out of the county... If you happen to hit a big hare early in the season, he'll drag the hounds through young hare hoping to throw them off on the youngsters.
A compass is a must!
Each morning, pray a blessing over the hounds that they return safely each evening. Allow them to mark and empty out on the spot where you cast for their homing instincts, Then, "release the hounds!" ...

Not trying to highjack the post but other then running bigger do hare do anything different then cottentails to throw the dogs off the track?

It's more what they won't do, we've never had one go to ground/hole, they'll plum wear your hounds out.
If your not out for numbers or comfort, go in Dec. or March, beautiful but cold, lots of snow most times, but your hounds will be put to the test for courage and desire. We've had fellows call looking to buy hounds that would go out and hunt in 2' of snow. They had hounds that would run but lacked the desire to hunt to make a start.
It can be discouraging but you see what you got...

wvrh31 wrote:Not trying to highjack the post but other then running bigger do hare do anything different then cottentails to throw the dogs off the track?

Yeah, they run hour after hour. They are relentless and will wear down a cottontail hound if they are not in peak condition. The easiest way to get a cottontail hound in shape is to take it to a fox enclosure and run it several hours a day for a couple weeks prior to running hare.

You should go with someone that runs up there a lot.

Call your dogs in boys shock im off they tell me them hares aint rabbits

Going up north 1st week of October. Hope to run and jump some hare with these cottontail dogs. I appreciate everyone's input.

One other thing I notice running hare is that the first couple of circles will be relatively close, sort of like a cottontail. However, after the first two, if the hare hasn't been able to shake them the THIRD circle could be half a mile out or more...when we are shooting we always try to get them on the second circle if possible...when (I mean IF, lol) we miss we either sit back and enjoy the running or we get moving...no sitting and waiting for ANOTHER shot.


This isn't ALWAYS the way it happens, its just something I have noticed over the years...good luck though. Once you get to running hare its very addictive.