I am looking to get into rabbit hunting with dogs. I have been onseveralhunts with an uncle whenI was younger, but I am not exactly sure where to start.I now have two young sons thatI would like to get into rabbit hunting. I am pretty much looking for some beginners advice for purchasing, upkeep, and training of a small pack of beagles. Any advice what-so-ever would be helpful.

Thanks,
Mitch

I would start out with one dog, preferably a female.

Buy your kids the right hunting gear, brush pants and coats and hats and gloves and boots. A pump action shotgun and a vest that holds a box of shells.

The hard part isn't hunting rabbits, it is finding a place that has rabbits that isnt posted or has a house built there.

Most of the places where I hunted rabbits with my dad and Uncles are all gone now - because of the new housing boom and because of posted signs and because of the deer moving in and eating all the low browse.

The territory changes from year to year until there is no rabbits left.

If you could buy a beagle pup that has already been trained to hunt rabbits and then start hunting, you would be better off than buying a beagle pup and trying to train it yourself - because you could start hunting right away.

Your other option is to join a beagle club and hunt with other hunters that has beagles and a place to hunt already.

I'd recommend buying a couple year old beagle that is broke (won't run deer, fox, house cat, etc.) and that handles and runs well. Then get you a pup and let the pup be a pup for a while. I usually start my pups pretty young, about 3-4 months old, but don't run them w/ my older dogs until they're 7-9 months old.

Thanks. One more question though. I believe the norm is to keep the dogs penned up, but would it be ok to keep them in a fenced backyard?

I am a bird hunter from Tennessee. We do not have many quail or rabbits left here to hunt. I have been to Kansas several times in the past on pheasant and quail hunts. In the central part of Kansas we would jump 50 or so rabbits a day on public walk in lands. I haven't heard of anyone traveling out to the midwest to rabbit hunt, but a couple of guys and a pack of beagles could have a big time.

Someone wrote a post not too long ago about dogs where they said something about the only thing a male dog is interested in is getting his pickle dipped and running around.

My opinion is to keep them in a pen and not let them run around in the back yard.

If they are free all the time, they don't appreciate it when you let them out to go hunting.

If my dog thought that I was going to take him hunting right now, he would run around the yard 100 miles an hour.

They'll be fine in a fenced in backyard, assuming none can climb, jump, or dig underthe fence. I keep mine in kennels, but they get run every other day, I have enough dogs for 2 packs, 1 pack will go all day, the next day I use the other pack. This keeps the dogs fresh since we rabbit hunt a lot.

we had a couple that would climb out at the corners, nothing a little lectricity won't fix

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I have 2 climbers myself, I had to put chain link on top of the kennels as well, but it was easy and now no worries

BEagle hunting is alot of work. Hundreds of hours are spent training them. Some of the best dogs i got were free or very cheap. Expensive dogs tend to be slow and not hunters. My dog line is the bigger beagle, with a big chest and shoulders. My one dog is probably close to 38 pounds. If i run her alot she goes down to about 28. But then she smokes them. THey are hauling the mail.