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)
Dog, the 3hrs I believe was from another post where someone stated they had a 2hr 56min race thar cover 20 som miles and averaged over 6 miles an hour. Thats why buck started this post, to see what the average race around lasted. I'm not saying your not doing that just saying I don't and don't average anything near that. And didn't mean to imply my dogs will catch rabbitts that run 400 yards, heck they loose more than they catch.What I'm talking about is the little rabbit, in our area they can't stand the heat for to long. We have alot of races they go long but they are usually not pushing the way I was talking about.
Rabbit Earl, you answered your own question when you said in NC thick cover, heavy cover equals long races, they can not push a rabbitt hard enoughh to make him hole in heavy cover around here any way. Alot of times around here you can have a good race as long as he stays in the swamp but if they get up on him and push him to high ground where they can pressure him he will head in after a good pounding. I n spring when the bucks are traveling you can get some dandies but I have seen several that seemed like they didn't know where to find a hole and ended up dog food. I think this post was intended to get a feel for the average length of a hard going race, bellied out and that around here is probabaly 20 to 30 mins.
People on here seem to get really upset if someone has a differant veiw point, relax this is supposed to be fun. Stop trying to make people agree with everything that you say. A good dog will show no need to defend your dog or veiw point to the point of saying something out of line. JMO not promoting or degrading any ones dogs or veiw points!
the more dogs the longer the race..thats y when my dogs 2 or 3 come back after they ran for 20 min that the rabbit did not run in a hole he gave the dogs the slip.
augerhead wrote:Dog, the 3hrs I believe was from another post where someone stated they had a 2hr 56min race thar cover 20 som miles and averaged over 6 miles an hour. Thats why buck started this post, to see what the average race around lasted. I'm not saying your not doing that just saying I don't and don't average anything near that. And didn't mean to imply my dogs will catch rabbitts that run 400 yards, heck they loose more than they catch.What I'm talking about is the little rabbit, in our area they can't stand the heat for to long. We have alot of races they go long but they are usually not pushing the way I was talking about.
Rabbit Earl, you answered your own question when you said in NC thick cover, heavy cover equals long races, they can not push a rabbitt hard enoughh to make him hole in heavy cover around here any way. Alot of times around here you can have a good race as long as he stays in the swamp but if they get up on him and push him to high ground where they can pressure him he will head in after a good pounding. I n spring when the bucks are traveling you can get some dandies but I have seen several that seemed like they didn't know where to find a hole and ended up dog food. I think this post was intended to get a feel for the average length of a hard going race, bellied out and that around here is probabaly 20 to 30 mins.
People on here seem to get really upset if someone has a differant veiw point, relax this is supposed to be fun. Stop trying to make people agree with everything that you say. A good dog will show no need to defend your dog or veiw point to the point of saying something out of line. JMO not promoting or degrading any ones dogs or veiw points!
augerhead , didnt see that post sorry , dont know about a rabbit being able to run 3 hours but i know my dogs cant , the one they ran for a little over 2 the other day was all they could take , they were ready to drop , like i said that 2 hour run was a first for me but 45 min to an hour and a half is not uncommon here , people that have these GPS systems on their dogs like to talk about how far their dogs ran a rabbit , they dont take into concideration that probably half of that distance is not gaining any ground , it is side to side movement and back and forth while in checks , those things count every step even the ones that are going nowhere productive , JMO
For those that don't think a rabbit can run for 2hrs plus need to take into consideration the
area being run in. It all comes down to the terrain. Rabbits that are native to different terrains
run differently and will have a different degree of stamina. When I run marsh rabbits on
the Eastern Shore of Maryland the races can be 2 plus hours. The dogs will go just about
out of hearing and back. Of course there are checks; the rabbits on the marshes swim out
to the little islands and squat. When the dogs swim out to the rabbits the chase is on again.
The checks don't last long, but I have had guys come run with me for the long chases and
have their dogs quite. Not every dog is willing to swim across a marsh after a rabbit especially
during winter when the water is cold. It takes a lot of drive and desire, I also think these rabbits
hold a stronger scent allowing the dogs to run like they are running a strong smelling hare.
Not many holes on the marshes and the rabbits usually can get pretty far ahead of the dogs.
I have run rabbits on the marsh that took almost an hour before seeing them. If
you are gun hunting sometimes you have to put on waders and go into the marsh if you
ever want to get a shot at the rabbit. The chases are also longer during low tide.
When I run rabbits on the Western Shore the chases usually average about 30 minutes
unless the rabbits are rutting, or I am in an area without a lot of holes. A lot of factors
go into how long a rabbit will stay up terrain, predators, running pressure etc.....
mdbeagler wrote:For those that don't think a rabbit can run for 2hrs plus need to take into consideration the
area being run in. It all comes down to the terrain. Rabbits that are native to different terrains
run differently and will have a different degree of stamina. When I run marsh rabbits on
the Eastern Shore of Maryland the races can be 2 plus hours. The dogs will go just about
out of hearing and back. Of course there are checks; the rabbits on the marshes swim out
to the little islands and squat. When the dogs swim out to the rabbits the chase is on again.
The checks don't last long, but I have had guys come run with me for the long chases and
have their dogs quite. Not every dog is willing to swim across a marsh after a rabbit especially
during winter when the water is cold. It takes a lot of drive and desire, I also think these rabbits
hold a stronger scent allowing the dogs to run like they are running a strong smelling hare.
Not many holes on the marshes and the rabbits usually can get pretty far ahead of the dogs.
I have run rabbits on the marsh that took almost an hour before seeing them. If
you are gun hunting sometimes you have to put on waders and go into the marsh if you
ever want to get a shot at the rabbit. The chases are also longer during low tide.
When I run rabbits on the Western Shore the chases usually average about 30 minutes
unless the rabbits are rutting, or I am in an area without a lot of holes. A lot of factors
go into how long a rabbit will stay up terrain, predators, running pressure etc.....
Good post. Is the Marsh rabbit the same as the Bluetail rabbits we run in the flat lands in Eastern NC ? They can drive you crazy sometimes. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it , but I saw one get pressured that ran all the way across a 500 yard cotton field down to a drainage ditch. It would have been easy for somebody to assume that they were running off game.
Wow!! I would like to be able see some of these races and dogs. Earlier this year Anthony Kerr and I had rabbit run for over 1 hour and 30 minutes. It was pounding most of the time, but we also had a couple of long checks, some lasting longer than 5 minutes. THe rabbit was jumped from a thick cutover and crossed the lane into tall pines. The race in the cutover was steady but when the rabbit hit the tall pines it was on. So I do believe the terrain has alot to do with how long and how steady the races will. I was hunting on MLK day, and the scenting was not very good. Dogs caught a rabbit within 20 minutes. It seems to me our dogs should have caught the rabbit on the 1 hour 30 minute run and should not have caught a rabbit on a 20 minute run. So I guess I'm saying... I got to see some of this stuff people talk about before I can believe it.
Cedar Row Beagles
LPRCH Mike's Ace in the Hole
LPRCH Cedar Row Harley
mdbeagler wrote:For those that don't think a rabbit can run for 2hrs plus need to take into consideration the
area being run in. It all comes down to the terrain. Rabbits that are native to different terrains
run differently and will have a different degree of stamina. When I run marsh rabbits on
the Eastern Shore of Maryland the races can be 2 plus hours. The dogs will go just about
out of hearing and back. Of course there are checks; the rabbits on the marshes swim out
to the little islands and squat. When the dogs swim out to the rabbits the chase is on again.
The checks don't last long, but I have had guys come run with me for the long chases and
have their dogs quite. Not every dog is willing to swim across a marsh after a rabbit especially
during winter when the water is cold. It takes a lot of drive and desire, I also think these rabbits
hold a stronger scent allowing the dogs to run like they are running a strong smelling hare.
Not many holes on the marshes and the rabbits usually can get pretty far ahead of the dogs.
I have run rabbits on the marsh that took almost an hour before seeing them. If
you are gun hunting sometimes you have to put on waders and go into the marsh if you
ever want to get a shot at the rabbit. The chases are also longer during low tide.
When I run rabbits on the Western Shore the chases usually average about 30 minutes
unless the rabbits are rutting, or I am in an area without a lot of holes. A lot of factors
go into how long a rabbit will stay up terrain, predators, running pressure etc.....
Good post. Is the Marsh rabbit the same as the Bluetail rabbits we run in the flat lands in Eastern NC ? They can drive you crazy sometimes. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it , but I saw one get pressured that ran all the way across a 500 yard cotton field down to a drainage ditch. It would have been easy for somebody to assume that they were running off game.
Anthony I believe they would be one in the same, the ones we run are smaller than a regular cottontail
and have shorter ears. They can really take a dog on a long run and rarely go to ground. On rare occasion they
may go in a muskrat hut or nutria hole but not too often. I have seen them come out of the marsh and run across
a open field to get to the marsh on the opposite side and then not see them again until they come back an hour later.
From what I am reading here, I get the impression that it is the rabbit, not the dog, that dictates how well and how long a race will last.
So does a good rabbit make a good race or can a good dog overcome all obstacles to make a good race? Dog/rabbit? Please don't say "both". Take a position and defend it.
How are you all keeping track of your long races? I put the clock on them with my phone from actual jump to end, be it death, hole, lost. You'd be surprised what length of "actual" run time you have sometimes. I clock checks as well so accuracy is the key, IMO. Just asking.
BBB its the rabbit that dictates the race, if he runs long and straight the hounds have a easy trial to follow but if he doubles back make small loops trying to lose the hounds it can be harder for a hound to keep the race steady. But on the other hand when I drop my potlicking heathens on a rabbit they run to the gun for mercy.
I feel dog pressure dictates the rabbit race possibly as much as cover. If a rabbit is being pushed hard he does not have as much time to zig and zag, he must get that hitch out of his gitty up so to speak, although more obvious with hare.
Put some hard hitters on a hare and he will be out of hearing in a big hurry. A rabbits survival instinct probably dictates what he will do, does anyone really think a rabbit "decides" rather or not he wants to toy with our hounds?
There are just soo many variables, is the smoke coming straight out of the chimney or hovering on the ground ect. ect.............
Is anyone gonna fess up to option #6?
SUCCESS- When preparation and opportunity cross paths!
if we are assuming that the dogs are decent rabbit dogs , where i hunt i would have to say the rabbit dictates the run , after all hes the one out front , if he decides he dont want to play the best dog in the world cant make him , the dogs are following his lead !
BCBeagles wrote:How are you all keeping track of your long races? I put the clock on them with my phone from actual jump to end, be it death, hole, lost. You'd be surprised what length of "actual" run time you have sometimes. I clock checks as well so accuracy is the key, IMO. Just asking.
Jim,
I use my cell phone as well. I used to keep a log so I felt like the time of the races was good data to store as well as which dog started the race, who recovered the lines on losses, and bad things. One of the things that we have tried to do is eliminate the racers from our packs. So the last dog to open up before a hard loss became a good thing to keep up with. If there was a pattern of that statistic you could identify your over runner. The ones that over run by a few feet and shut up to me is acceptable. The ones that tongue for 30 yards beyond the point of loss can't live here Where we run for the most part you cannot see what is going on 90% of the time so you have to use and trust your ears.
, didnt see that post sorry , dont know about a rabbit being able to run 3 hours but i know my dogs cant , the one they ran for a little over 2 the other day was all they could take , they were ready to drop , like i said that 2 hour run was a first for me but 45 min to an hour and a half is not uncommon here , people that have these GPS systems on their dogs like to talk about how far their dogs ran a rabbit , they dont take into concideration that probably half of that distance is not gaining any ground , it is side to side movement and back and forth while in checks , those things count every step even the ones that are going nowhere productive , JMO