Can't find rabbits? Any advice on helping my dogs?

[makey98]

Okay, a little background here. I am not a rabbit hunter who bought some beagles, I am a pet owner, who happened to get a bluetick and a beagle mix and got into rabbit hunting. They are family pets and we live in the city. I am trying to get them to chase a bit and see what they can do, mostly just for fun for both me and them. Maybe someday when I can buy some land I will get some "real" rabbit dogs and really work with them, but these guys are just some pets and we are trying to have some fun.

They both will track a rabbit smell, but will also track just about everything else. My bluetick opens up constantly on walks around our neighborhood, from smelling dogs, cats, and anything else. We have a rabbit that lives under our deck that they go ballistic for and chase him around the yard every once in a while and they track him back under the deck and try to dig under there.

My uncle owns 30 acres in central indiana and my grandpa owns 30 acres ni northcentral indiana and past two weekends I have taken the dogs out to run with NO luck. The first spot was a beautiful fall day and he has a 2 acre grass field surrounded by a sparse woods with a pond in the middle. We had fun running around, but saw no rabbits and my beagle only opened up once and that was by the pond so it was probably a frog or something.

NExt we went to my grandpa's and he has a little land around the barn with some brush and farm equipment so I kicked around a little bit and a baby rabbit went into the bean field before my dogs even saw him. We went back int he woods a little bit but it is so thick and old it is hard charging if it is not dead for winter. Basically, we saw no rabbits, suprisingly the bluetick didn't smell much, but he did find a dead baby mouse int he woodpile so he kept sticking his nose in there. I thought I saw a rabbit in there, but I couldn't bust him out.

Basically, I am looking for some tips to get my dogs to find some rabbits so they can understand what we are doing there. They just don''t quite get it. Any good days that I should try with good possibilities of rabbit weather? Thanks.

[Newt]

Go out early in the morning just before sunrise. The rabbits have been out in the edge of fields, near cover, feeding. Or go out in the evening about an hour before sunset, the rabbits will be out feeding. You don't need to see the rabbits if your dogs are started and openign on tracks. Their instincts will guide them. They will detect a line of scent where the rabbit has been feeding and should track it. Good luck and good running.

[just for fun beagler]

find a starting pen and take the dog there and let it run. if you dont want to do that take some apples and put them out for the rabbits a couple days before you plan to go out there. the rabbits will start feeding on them

[makey98]

Thanks. I will try early am and the apple bait as well. I tried to find a starting pen, but all the ones i found in Indiana were trainers who would start them for you. You had to board them for a month or so. My wife would never have that! These are more pets than hunters, but I just think it would be fun for me and healthy for them to run some rabbits. I couldn't find a place where I could just let them run for a day for a fee to let them get the hang of it.

[PREACHERS,KENNEL]

i would sugest finding somone with slow beagles to run yours with atleast one they could folloow around and learn what is going on . a dog can teach another dog in a day what we could help them learn in a mon th!