A general forum for the discussion of hunting with beagles, guns, clothing and other equipment and just talking dawgs! (Tall tales on hunting allowed, but remember, first liar doesn't stand a chance)
klrconcrete wrote:Oh and I almost forgot- "only four hare in four hunts"- what a tragedy!! Now what you have to say is that "numbers dont really mean anything- its all about good friends and good dogs" or something close to that!! That really sounds nice!
I think I said that, and what I meant was, I was with a group of guys that had what we call in hounds, "levelheadness", they knew the conditions were tough, the hounds tried hard and never quit, basicly, the boys never got upset and showed the determination to make the best of bad conditions. We drove from bare ground into 25deg colder weather with the first snow of the year the hounds had seen being 20" of dry powder.
I've been with fellows that would have ranted and raved over what we were delt to deal with, complaining all the time and swearing never to return to this God forsaken country. That does no good and only serves to make depression turn into dispair. The thing that made this trip a good one was, the glass was half full. "Numbers don't really mean anything and it's all about good friends and good hounds", yup, u got it right...
We actually started out by complaining to ourselves and cursing our bad luck to have gotten there when we did. After watching our hounds give it all they had to run the hare they did, knowing that if it were physically possible given their size disadvantage that they would have ran many more than they did, we found a new respect for our little companions that had never been as evident as it was on the island. I watched my little Ranger Dan bred female run in conditions that I wouldnt have blamed her for going back to the truck and whining until put back in the box. All our hounds were able to contribute once we learned some basic fundamentals about running in deep snow without a crust. Heck, we even had one hound that retrieved a hare after it was shot, and I would have lost money on a bet that she would have simply taken it off and eaten it by herself(she's kinda greedy about her food in the kennel). As for dog power, I dont feel intimidated by anyones hounds, I feel I can put mine down and have them perform under almost any condition.....after last weekends trip to Drummond, my confidence is even greater than before.
Glad you liked the pictures too, just sorry I couldnt get more of the hounds running, getting out to try and get in their paths was nearly impossible.
Another saying I like is "20 degrees on fresh snow- your collie should pound" A good friend of mine keyed that one and in all reality it holds true. I have four hounds- one older female that is my best, she would put hare in front of you in most any condition including all that nasty powder, she cant run every day but a better portion of them, I have a four year old female that has some exceptional tools and can run in a lot of rough conditions, she is not nearly as level headed as the older female so she can create problems for her self when the going is bad, and last but not least I have two female pups that are about a year and a half old I am soloing them both and and this point I like what I am seeing. Sorry to pee in your cornflakes but I to am in the book. Kurt Robinson
Not afraid to think outside the box or walk outside the crowd.
My hounds are not the best in the world,but they did there best and we had a lot of fun up in curtis.I will for sure do it again.I thought we were all supposed to be in this together.great pictures bluegrass.good luck this season!
As for dog power, I dont feel intimidated by anyones hounds, I feel I can put mine down and have them perform under almost any condition.....after last weekends trip to Drummond, my confidence is even greater than before.
Not trying to be critical, but if the running was shitty.........why would you feel this way? Or do you mean your hounds will give 110% regardless of the conditions? Isn't Drummond Island in the U.P. of Michigan? I'm pretty sure they get a ton of snow down that way every winter. Why would you guys plan a trip to there in the middle of December when you're almost guaranteed to be up to the wazoo in snow and then complain about the conditions? I could be way off here but I think that part of Kurt's so called smugness has to do with the fact he is stuck running in conditions, you fellows encountered for the first time, all winter long and is just reactiing to your new found appreciation for hard core winter running of snowshoe hare.
It's not that life is short......it's just that we're dead for such a long, long time...
Thanks for that upperlimits...we had fun too the conditions notwithstanding. We are going to try another UP hunt this winter, somewhere around Escanaba...I have a buddy (one of the guys in the pictures, holding the black beagle) that has a place for us to stay there and knows some decent hunting spots, if we can stay away from the coyotes long enough to run!!! PM me if you want to run sometime, we live close enough...
sounds good bluegrass.We didn`t have any problems with yotes or wolves.we try and make alot of noise to scare them off.There was quite a bit of hare sign in the areas we hunted.You will have fun.
Ok, Norwester...you start off by stating that you arent trying to be critical, but then you go on to be critical...laughable at best.
Here's the answers that you probably already know and one you dont...
My confidence is higher than before absolutely because of the effort they put into running in deeper snow than I have ever ran them before. We did manage to kill three in front of the hounds (one guy jumped his own and shot it without the dogs even being in the woods) so with that, I believe my hounds will perform in almost any condition. Please remember that I have NOT ran them in that type of weather and snow before.
As for why we booked a hunt in the middle of December....?? The middle? Hardly, we went up on the 6th and hunted until the evening of the 8th. We booked this hunt for this week due to the fact that they do NOT usually have this much snow this time of the year. In fact, according to the local sport shop (next to Wazz's party store) they didnt get anywhere near this much snowfall until the middle of January. I know a few guys that go up every year around the time we went up and they are usually running mostly white rabbits with little or no snow at all, bare ground. We were dismayed at the amount of snow much the way vacationers to Florida or some tropical island get dismayed when it rains every day of their vacations. But we already had the house rented, so we went in spite of the conditions.
Finally, how does living and having to hunt in deep snow translate to someone having the right to be an ass online and making fun of those that have trouble in it?? Yeah, it was a very informative and instructional hunt, was Kurt upset that I didnt ask for advice from him before I went up?? Please......
Ok, Norwester...you start off by stating that you arent trying to be critical, but then you go on to be critical...laughable at best.
Just asked a couple of questions, really wasn't trying to come off as critical, however I'm glad you found it entertaining.
We did manage to kill three in front of the hounds (one guy jumped his own and shot it without the dogs even being in the woods) so with that, I believe my hounds will perform in almost any condition.
In an area with a pretty good hare population, I'm not sure the number of hares killed is a direct reflection of the quality of the hounds used. I would think that the quality of the running would be a better indicator. That being said, without being there to witness it, it sounds like your hounds did as well as any would given the circumstances. I'm certainly not gonna argue dates with you, and if the locals and the fellows you know say they usually don't have snow that time of year.......that works for me. I'm not familiar with the area and haven't taken the time to research it at all. I will say that here where I am snowshoe hare start to turn near or about the end of September and some are totally white by the first or second week in October. Now we don't always have snow then and last year it didnt stay till Christmas, but generally speaking theres a good chance of it. The hare turn white when they do for a reason. As to your last comments you'll have to take that up with Kurt.
It's not that life is short......it's just that we're dead for such a long, long time...
I can very well imagine that in your area the hare do turn much earlier than even in the UP of Michigan...you probably get a crust to run on earlier than we do here as well...the quality of running I believe was related to the conditions, not the quality of hounds. I can see where it CAN be a reflection of the hounds but I don't think this was the case...I did notice how much trouble even the hare had in getting around in some areas...there was just a very thin crust which the hare could run on top of most of the time and the hounds could not. But one of the rabbits I shot was pushing snow when he moved as well, not really able to run on top in all areas. I suppose if I lived in an area where I HAD to hunt these conditions I wouldn't have been very shocked at our hunt, but we don't as a rule hunt these types of conditions very often. That much powdery snow usually keeps this translated southern boy in the house!!!
As for Kurt....nah, I'm done with his smugness.
BTW, some of these same hounds were on the island last year in early October when everything was still very green and thick, and the hare were very much brown with just the tops of their back feet starting to turn white, and our dogs were very seldom NOT barking on rabbits...we had them hunt in rain and shine, and they didnt get very many breaks. The running was excellent, although there werent very many killed that time either.
I've seen it - a dog running in 20" of snow & just pounding the hare. The first time I saw it I was pretty amazed, but I saw a dog owned by a friend of Kurts basically swimming thru snow over her head right on the hare. The hare had left the trail it had been running in & took out across country, but it didn't matter. This dog ran it like we watch dogs run on sod. My two males at this time followed behind not opening once & wondering what was going on.
Stan
Last edited by sgc on Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bluegrass Just wanted to start off with nice pics. I have never been to Drummond but have have hunted hare a few times in mich Last year my hunting partner and I and our boys headed up to try to run some hare we knew it was going to be tough our dogs were young and never ran hare. When we got to our cabin it was early evening and around 20 degrees when we got up in the morning it was below 0 . Not a great start and the day never got above 9 degrees. Needless to say the hunting wasn't that great but my boys ask once a week when we are going again so your right the hunt wasn't the best but memories will last forever and thats what it is all about and if think your hound did there best that could have been done then don't worry about what some of the others think.
HUNTING WITH BEAGLES A WAY OF LIFE, MY WAY ANYWAYS
Stan, here is the question I have for you or anyone else...How does a hound, say around 13inches run like they do on sod when they dont have a choice but to hop up out of the snow and fall back into it when they go forward??? I watched my little female running the last hare I shot and she basically would hop and surge, hop and surge...she couldn't stay on top of the snow, so how could she possibly run like she does on bare ground??? Just curious, since I think I have decent hounds...maybe I don't after all....
