Scenting conditions ?

[Mightymite45]

What are the things that make scenting a rabbit difficult and what type of conditions make it easier? I want to know when it would be more productive to pick up on rabbit tracks in general!!!

[NorWester1]

No idea what it's like in Virginia but here it's all about humidity....... if we got some we can run, if we don't things are gonna be ugly.

[rabbitearl]

I watch Mark thats on here run his dogs and what I see there not a bad scenting conditions for his dogs.That man knows how to put some dogs together.Never meet him but sure do like his dogs running a rabbit.There are some that comes to my pens and they can run him the same way.You have to have dogs with brains that can slow down when the scenting not that good.jmo.

[S.R.Patch]

They got good here today, got 3 of the 4 pups going. A little rain sure made a difference for them scent an track.

[lebro]

wind messes with them more than any thing else i ever saw. when dogs come out of cover to open area it changes and then witch direction it is blowing matters too. match this with low moisture and it gets real bad because the ground does not dry out at the same rate, witch is caused by the wind. it takes a lot of brains and patience to be good in these conditions.

[Owl Creek]

Dont let anyone bullshit you mightymite.
you will have great days and you will have ok days and you will have horrable days.
that is just the way it is. there are. all kinds of theorys why its that way. but it is just a part of rabbit hunting.
damp VS. dry sunny VS. overast . humitity, berometrec pressuer, buck vs doe ,young VS. old, and the conditions can change in a matter of Hours and location.
it will help if you have a hound with Brains ,Nose and hunt. and a little bit of age ( experiance) go's a long way too.
the only Fact about this whole thing that i have found to be true is if someone tells you that there dogs can pound a rabbit 100% of the time
day in and day out , well they are Lieing to ya.

And Earl, i like marks clips as much as the next guy. and he does have some nice hounds , but none of us will take a video of our dogs on a crappy day.
and put it on here. i am sure he has bad days as well.

[rabbitearl]

Owl,I will agree on that.But I would say on Marks bad day is a great day for alot of us.One thing I ve learnd about beagles or pack of beagles running a rabbit is not how good a one dog is its how good the pack can do when running one.Some people like Mark can put a well pack together and can run the rabbit on bad scenting days.Where others don t even try.I just don t have the eye to do it and my hats off to the ones that can.Just came out of the running pens this mor and 4 different packs are running a rabbit and two packs are not doing so well.The other two are running good.The two that are not doing so good has said,Two dry,leaves are sour.Now the other two are doing good.Why.These two old men knows how to put a pack together.For some reason they always run good.Some hunters like Mark just knows how to do it.I ve always said it.Marks culls.I would love to have.Thank You Mark for the video.Alot of packs could not do that on a good scenting day.I ve learnd alot over the last 15 years with these 7 pens.I used to have the same excuse smelling not that good..but over the years looking at some of these guys running him everytime and the next guy its over at the first good cut.Scenting condition is not the reason....I ve got 5 more pack running after 1 pm today.I ve already know the ones that will run the rabbit and the ones that will have bad scenting condition.I would say if somebody would say.Pick somebody on the net to come and run a rabbit two sat from now no matter the scenting condition are, can you bet they can run the rabbit back to were they jump the rabbit..yes come on Mark.

[Owl Creek]

Earl ,i agree with you on assembling a well balanced pack.
and i would like to hunt with a few of these guys on here some time in my life. ( when time and money permit)
a five dog cast of front runners wont make for a smooth race most of the time..
you have a super week my friend.
God Bless ya.
Steve

[east80kennels]

there are many things that can mess with scenting conditions when you are runnin. weather is the most important, if you have dry conditions it makes it hard for a dog to run a line. you need damp, moist conditions frosty conditions that is what most hunters really want but, we all don't get them all the time you have to play the cards you are delt when you go out on a hunt. places where there are not a lot of vegatation, mostly dirt areas scent is not that great. places next to the woods where it has a lot of leaves on the ground, and it may be dry scent will not be that good either. but anyway what you need is to look for days where there will be plenty of moisture on the ground and you will have a productive day in the field. havin a few hounds with a big nose on em wont hurt either. baby rabbits dont put of the secent a full grown rabbit does either, its gone as soon as they leave the area where they where at. havin a hound that knows when to slow it down when conditions are bad dont hurt things either. brains, and good line control goes a long way in the field as well.

[mobeagle]

Something thats always interested me about hound hunting is scenting conditions and what affects it the most. IMO from what I've observed is the barometric pressure matters more than anything. Get a dog with brains and nose and you wont have many bad days....

[Owl Creek]

Something thats always interested me about hound hunting is scenting conditions and what affects it the most. IMO from what I've observed is the barometric pressure matters more than anything. Get a dog with brains and nose and you wont have many bad days....

i have been trying to watch this. but i dont see much of a change in it, never under 29 or up to 31
usely its between 29.50 and 30.50.

so the lower the number the better , right??

i would like to get one of them watchs that have the BP reader. just to check it out.
but most of them are expensive.

[T LEE]

I’m always skeptical of guys that always have great running.

A few years ago several rabbit hunters were talking at a local feed store. The dew point was in the low teens all week and running was poor. Two guys had progressive pack hounds and I had little pack hounds. All had poor running that week. An old man spoke up and said ...“He always had great running and we just needed Tiny Bull bred hounds”. I ask if I could join him when he ran dogs. He agreed (If I took No dogs of my own) and I went with him on the following Saturday. The race sounded great from the truck tailgate. I had to go in and maybe see a crossing. I noticed all the dogs barked their heads off in a check . Some went a short distance barking just to turn around and bark back to the point they came from. Dogs went North, South, East and West and never left a 15 yard radius but continued to bark the entire time. Finally, one dog would “Reach “out enough to claim the line and the race was back on. Someone listening would have never known there was a check if they won't there to see it.

I ask the old man if the extra barks bothered him. He said “What extra barks???”.

[2barrel]

Mightmite, Owl is giving you some good information. Conditions in my opinion play a big role in rabbit running/tracking. Also, it's about your dog. A good dog will run a great track on a good scenting day. A great dog will run a good track on a bad scenting day. On a terrible scenting day neither will circle a rabbit. What's cruitial is when you put these two dogs together or maybe 8 dogs together. That's what in my opinion makes it fun. All the varying tactics you learn each day afield, trail and error. In saying all that the one constant, I have noticed about scenting conditions. Is once I think I have it figured out it hands me a slice of hubble pie....................Happy running

[BCBeagles]

Go and enjoy the good days! ALL hounds can and will have rough days, that is why we call it hunting. I really have just learned to enjoy the good ones and not be overly critical. Makes me crazy thinking of mistakes they make, but the are dogs not machines. Good running to all!

[mobeagle]

[quote="T LEE"
I ask the old man if the extra barks bothered him. He said “What extra barks???”. [/quote]


LOL Really enjoyed that story. Just goes to show you that what you may hear, you may not want to see and what you seen he didnt want to hear......