which line....?

[houndsound]

Who has dogs that they regularly run both snowshoe hare, and cotton tail on ?

[Swampman]

I run cottontails during the week at home and hare on the weekends up at my cabin.
I don't video alot, but you can see some of mine at STIENPATCH on youtube.

[houndsound]

Shoot me a text sometime, would like to visit about your dogs. 307-461-1656

[Shady Grove Beagles]

I live in east Tn. where we only have cottontails.
The background of my hounds are predominantly northern hare breeding.
I previously lived in N.H. and ran hare and still get up there fairly regularly for several weeks of hare hunting in N.H. and Vermont.
I also have had the opportunity to run swamp rabbits in west Tn., Mississippi and Louisiana.
The hounds I keep have never had any problem being successful on any of the three "rabbit" species.
Since 1993 I've been line breeding I.F.C. Maravic's Blue Ninja breeding which more recently has included Maravic's Blue Barry,Beaver Creek Blue Max,Greenwell's Reggie,Staten's Blue Samurai,Threejays Jack's Fly Man and others.

[S.R.Patch]

It takes a good levelheaded hound to run both well. I've seen some that once ran on hare could not settle back down to running cottontail with accuracy and patience as at times is called for to continue a run. Some from cottontail did not have the courage and drive to push forward when the odds became to great but died on the check beautifully. Some hare hounds were not the best at routing a setting cottontail in the midst of a thicket, but were rather inclined to bird dog in hopes of cutting the track of a moving cottontail, which mostly have to be jumped before they can be ran.
I agree hounds must be tested on both to see their weaknesses and strengths as to usefulness, those that have it all in one package are rare. Growing up, I mostly kept a trio of hounds as hunters. Each a good enough hound, but at the same time each selected because they excelled on one essential necessity of success. I had one that was a super jump dawg, one that excelled on a smooth line running drive and another who seldom failed to recover losses. With these three, i could go and kill rabbits most anywhere on any day. How much luckier I would have been had they all been related and family bred because replacing them was not accomplished through breeding them together.
Evaluation and testing is always necessary, even within the family. But recessive faults and conflicts are mostly resolved through culling and selection that is ongoing in a related family breeding program. Family breeding is always a "percentage" game..., gains and consistency is what it's all about. Improvement in numbers gives you stock to carry on with.
The strife to get the proper DNA into the flesh is the conflict. Good luck with your search...

[houndsound]

Thanks for the info S.R. Patch. I sent you a pm.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

S.R. Patch
Good to hear from you and I do agree with some of the points you make.
You're right when you say that it takes a level headed hound to run both well.
I guess the breeding I have been keeping for the past 25 years have that quality. I moved here to Tn. 25 years ago from New Hampshire [hare country] and brought 3 beagles with me.These hounds were all north country breeding and had never seen a cottontail until I moved south.They took a little bit to tighten up on the line and stay closer in their check area.The 2 females adapted with no problems and became excellent cottontail dogs. The male never did slow down and show enough patience to excel on cotton tail and was sent back north where he enjoyed a long career on snowshoes.
Over the past 25 years I make trips north to spend several weeks hunting hare with old friends of mine.Many of these trips I've carried hounds that have never seen a hare before and they have no problems at all running them with hounds that that's all they run.Make no mistake,the dogs are in shape when they go north.Don't expect a hound that's a weekend cotton tail hound to go to hare country and hold up for 12-14 days of running snowshoes all day,day after day. Make no mistake,there's a world of difference between the stamina of a hare hound and a cottontail hound.
On the other hand my friend Bob has been coming down here over that same period of time and brings his 'hare" hounds with him and they don't seem to miss a beat running on these southern cottontails.They all have been bred here.
For me when breeding I'm always looking for consistency within the litters and that's why I prefer to line breed with the line of hounds that I've had good rabbit running/hunting success with.
I agree with you that many hounds from northern hare breeding can tend to "bird dog" in their hunting style as opposed to the true southern cotton tail beagle that will grub and crawl on their belly through briers looking for a rabbit.One type will get you the rabbit that won't move until stepped on but may spend an hour hunting out an acre. the other will cover ten times the ground and often is capable of winding their rabbits as they pass them in hiding.Different strokes - different folks.

[Swampman]

Who has dogs that they regularly run both snowshoe hare, and cotton tail on ?

I want to say I mean no offense towards anyone, but I take this question as stated, "regularly run both snowshoe hare and cottontail".
If you say your hounds run both on a regular basis, that means year-round, not just a week in October. This includes December through March, and in particular, January and February!
Comparing running both hare and cottontail in October on bare ground in mild temps to running both in the dead of winter in feet of snow in sub-zero temps is comparing apples to oranges.

Again, no offense meant and I'm not discounting anyone's hounds, but my northern brethren will attest to my point here.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Hey Rowdy
Don't worry about me taking offense about anything you or others might say concerning this stuff - it's only dogs. It's not like you're attacking my faith in God or dissing my wife.
From my perspective I viewed houndsound's question as one who seemed to be interested in folk's opinions on what line of hounds they kept and possibly seeking in-put on their strengths / weaknesses as they ran both types of "rabbits". I didn't consider that he was asking about running Winter rabbits or Fall rabbits.
I guess I should clarify - I don't "regularly" run both hare and cottontail. I did grow up rabbit hunting in Massachusetts where we regularly could run either hare or cottontail on any given hunt.Ran hare exclusively in New Hampshire for years and now run the cottontail 3-4 days a week here in Tn.
I'm more than aware of the difference in running on snow in single digit or below temps.and running for a" week in October" Harechaser and I were just talking last night about the fact that there are a ton of northern hare hounds that look great on bare ground in October but ain't worth a dang in 18" of dry powder. I get it.Same as to hounds that are run in perpetually damp northern cedar swamps being unable to come south and run when it's been in the 90's and hasn't rained in 6 weeks.
Again,I was looking at his question as to what characteristics or experiences folks had with hounds used on both - not climatic running conditions. My mistake not to consider that part of the equation. Or, maybe he's just a guy looking to acquire some stock from somebody that runs both - doesn't really say....
I now feel I need to edit my previous post talking about how my hounds perform on both hare and cottontail - I have no idea how they would perform in January-February,deep snow and sub zero temps. There's a reason I moved south 25 years ago.
I DON'T GO UP NORTH TO HUNT WHEN IT'S LIKE THAT!
As always,JMHO.
All good.

[RiverBottom]

I am mostly a hare hunter but we have lots of cottontails also. Never used to have many but now they are in all my spots. They live in the slash piles left behind after an area is logged off. I have mostly cottontails by my house and I let dogs out to run almost every day. My puppies are all raised running loose here and I start hunting them on hare after they start running cottontails by the house.

A good dog should run both well. Maybe some day I will get one

[Hare Chaser]

A good dog should run both well. Maybe some day I will get one

Key word here being "Should"! That would be a rare find and I'd be very surprised if you or anyone else could ever reproduce that with any semblance of consistency. I've owned only one that would come close to being able to meet those qualifications. She threw some decent dogs but in my book never any quite as good as she was. I bought her at 5 years old and had nothing to do with her breeding and never got any pups from her. She was hands down the best harehound I ever owned. Never have regretted the money I spent to get her either!

[mn_beagleboy]

One of the best chance to see some great cottontail and hare hounds are at field trial. Takes a good dog to do well on deep snow hare trial and then next weekend on sod spo on rabbit trial. It only work from deep snow to sod and not from sod to deep snow.


Yang beagle