Hunting range?

[outlaw]

Guys just curious and I know there's gonna be multiple answers depending allot where you're from and what terrain you hunt and if you just pleasure hunt or competition but how far out do your dogs hunt out from you? Mine usually range out 50 to 100 yds

[Casey Harner]

I don't usually restrict my dogs from ranging out. I prefer them to get as far as they can away from me. Mine range from 50-100 yards as well. Normally between those distances, they find a rabbit.

[rabbitatfarm]

Probably about the same: 50-100 yards, sometimes closer sometimes farther. With Garmin I always know where they are and if they get too far out can call them in, although they do check in on their own from time to time.

[nhharris78]

I'd say 100yd would be max for me. I'm pretty vocal with my dogs (I know that drives some crazy) but the dogs hunt WITH me I don't follow them where they want to go.

[mdbeagler]

Mine range out as far as it takes to jump a rabbit.
I don't want them going 50 to 100 yards out and start hunting, passing up good cover.
If they don't find a rabbit in close I want them to start ranging out further.

[jerwane]

I just gotta do this...don't mean to be a smarty, but the timing is right....my dogs sit on the tailgate until I tally-ho a rabbit and they come running. Seriously....mine hunt out about 50-100 yds, but if they don't do a good job on a particular spot I call them back.

[Rcoff]

When pleasure running I let my dogs range out further than when hunting; when hunting I keep dogs close; what good is it if my dog jumps a rabbit 100 yards out from me? I want them close. If I shoot and miss I want to be able to put the dogs on it, specially if it is wounded.
Thanks,
Bob

[S.R.Patch]

As long as they stay within ear shot they are free cast to hunt. If you talk up the hounds will listen for your voice and when they start coming round, we know they've searched out and are ready to move on. I'd guess a 20-30 acre range of good cover. When hounds strike, we move to them. When we move locations, they move to us.
I always try to keep hounds on a shorter leash when cottontails hunting but in the northwoods you'd walk yourself to death covering the distance to roust hare in a day. There is where the bird dog hunt comes to play. Hounds have to cut through the feeder tracks and either move a hare from her seat or cut a hot track to run. I've rarely hit a population of hare where you could walk hound along and expect much action, the hound have to get out and hunt, so in the hare woods the range may well double. jmho.

[DIXIEDOG]

Typically 20-300 yards....after they jump the hare 600 yards+ isn't uncommon but for regular searching if they don't come into something by 300 yards out I call the back and move to a different spot.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

I agree with S.R.Patch.Here in Tn. where I hunt cottontails my dogs are usually hunting within a 100 yd.range or less.The cover is thick and the cottontail population fairly dense and the dogs can usually jump, hunting within that distance from me as we hunt through an area.
When I go up north to Maine,Vermont and New Hampshire to hunt hare they hunt much differently.The hare are much more spread out as they travel through their territory and the cover is much different and the dogs usually get gone pretty quickly once cast.The guys I hunt with up north all use Garmin trackers and it is not unusual at all to see the dogs out there 200-400 yds.while they hunt.
Where I hunt cottontail the cover is thick enough that the dogs tend to slow down and work the thick stuff more diligently and cottontails seem to hang pretty close to their feeding and bedding areas in smaller sections of ground and most often are jumped out of their set.
Up north my dogs and the dogs belonging to the guys that I hunt with and live up there tend to hunt on the run,bird dog style.Hare often will get up and be moving out before the dog gets close to them and the dogs will strike on that hot track or the hare have been moving through an area feeding or traveling and the beagles will hit the track.As S.R. mentioned you'd walk yourself out trying to cover all that ground in the hare woods.I want a "go yonder" dog that I don't need to walk with but,still will periodically check in with me.
I know this is a generalization but,I find that most of your true southern bred cottontail dogs tend to hunt close and are more of the type to root under brush piles,get down on their bellys and crawl through briar thickets and really grub around to get a rabbit up,etc.
Even though I hunt cottontails most of the time, my dogs are from lines that are considered northern hare breeding [Ninja,Jiggs,Shaker,Heli-Prop ].These dogs tend to cover a lot more ground as they hunt and hunt on the run.More like a Walker coonhound or a fox hound.This too is somewhat of a generalization but it's what I've seen.
For more than 20 years I hunted coonhounds.When we turned them loose they went hunting immediately.We didn't intend to walk all around in the woods at night with them.I expect my beagles to hunt like that.Sometimes I'll walk hunt them but other times I'll cast them and they go hunting and go where ever they have to to find a rabbit.

[smokedawg]

I run mostly thick cutovers down here and there is a good rabbit population so mine don't usually have to get out too far to find a rabbit. They are usually working within 50 to 100 yds of me and they jump quick. However, when we occasionally hunt in more open swamp or big woods, they will get out farther trying to find a rabbit and check In periodically if they haven't jumped yet. I agree with Shady Grove, the southern cottontail bred hounds hunt the thick stuff methodically and crawl under, over, and in between briars. They are thorough in their search, but it takes them a while to completely comb through a briarpatch. I have a few of my hounds that are about 3/4 deep south spo type breeding and 1/4 branko and they hunt hard, but a little differently. They will hit the briars hard and stay moving, sometime with head in the air scenting the wind. Though their hunting style is a little different from my other hounds, they are about the same speed and work well together. They usually will jump a rabbit quick using this method. It all works out well though cause once the rabbit is up, their foot is basically the same. Just have a different hunting style.

[Moore Beagles]

it Depends for me, Most of our younger competition Trial dogs range wide, because I let em, but then again I dont like them runnin right past brushpiles where I think a rabbit is.
Our older experienced Dogs I trian to stay closer and work the area right around my area, for hunting purposes I want them working with me and I want to know where their at, and if I see an area they missed or I want them in a Brush pile I instruct them into the exact area where I want em, and want them working as a Team..