Hard to beat a good Dachshund, I've seen them steel the show on large Hunts with twenty dogs or more. They seem to find game even the Hounds miss.
I watched one guy Hare hunting, he carried his dog half the time, the Dog would alert in his arms when he scented a Hare other dogs had bypassed. I was amazed.
The down side is Dachshund can be strong willed and sometimes biters. They can even bite their owners if they have a difference of opinion. Just my opinion, but some (most) seem to have issues accepting humans as alpha.
For what you are doing, most guys around here use a Bracke Hund. A little bigger than what you are looking for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_Dachsbracke
Generally friendly (family and acquaintance friendly), but are also good watch dogs. All I've seen seem to have issues with the Mailman. They can go all day and seem to have better stamina than many Dachshunds do. But in many varieties the legs are still short enough, it makes it more difficult for them to run off and leave you behind if you let them off the leash.
The Bracke is a class of dog and there are many variants, short hair, long hair and many display some Beagle blood.
In the Czech Republic they use them instead of traditional scent hounds or even Blood hounds to track wounded Game, Hogs and Deer. It is their go to dog for blood trails. It shouldn't be hard to train one to find, sheds.