Beagles and Birds

[mrfritz44]

I've seen a lot of discussion on the beagles ability to hunt rabbits well, but do they fair well against pheasants or other winged animals? Are they a good all around hunting dog, or is it mostly dependent upon the training provided to the pups?

[Roost em 1st]

Probably not the choice for birds but I literally just got off the phone with a fella up in PA who loves to hunt bunnies. He's up near DuBois. He said they shot 4 roosters last weekend while beagling for Rabbits. So there is some evidence that it can happen. But its not what they were bred to do.I know some fellas in VA who use em to run fox and deer as well. Never tried to train a beagle so I don't know what to tell you. A lab may be a better all- around dog choice for someone getting started and wanting a meat hunter.

[uplandchessies]

Roost'em is right, get a Lab or other versatile breed. Besides, any birds that a beagle may get up are incidental. And while it probably happens a lot, depending on a beagle to find birds during the late season would be dismal, at best.

In PA where they release their pheasants, beaglers probably fly quite a few pheasants during the early season. I'll bet their success drops dramatically two weeks into it though.

[TreestandEd]

Most are accidental bumps,Most phesants will have run to the next county with all the noise.
Why i like Springers they have been bred to do both.

[Grasshopper13]

You can find beagles that will chase birds. I owned a female that loved to track quail. She would work and work until she finally flushed them. She didn't care a whit about retreiving them though. I also hunted with a male that would do this as well, and he would also flush pheasant when he came across them. Pheasants are rare around here but in the 10 seasons my buddy hunted him, he managed to take 8 roosters in front of him. They were all accidents though. They would always be hunting in the fencrows in crop feilds and run into one. Anyway, the key seems to be this: all the beagles I have known that would bark on birds were chicken-killing fools. My female was given to me because she had killed fourteen chickens in a single night. Just my 2 cents.


GH