Hunting and Field Trial Beagles

Late December beagle running

2009-12-30T18:13:00.001-08:00

It's been a bit since I've updated so I thought I'd make a short video of the dogs running today. I hope you enjoy.

The latest podcast

2009-10-15T18:37:00.001-07:00

RHB podcast radio show

2009-10-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

This is our first attempt at a podcast so we'll see if I can get it to work. Just click on the link above to listen. When you get to the page click tghe DOWNLOAD button near the bottom to get the podcast. You can also have your rss reader or pod catcher point at the following link to just have the show downloaded to you phone or ipod.
http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/rabbithuntingbeagles
I botched it up some at the end but I think I know what to do now. Just stay tuned adn I'll try to get you a new podcast avery few days or so. At least each week.

2009-09-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again. Can you believe the middle of September is here. I thought I'd just share a funny story that unfolded in front of my eye's today. My friend Brad Wilson (no relation) came over to help me work on some fence line this morning. Brad arrived about 9:15 this morning and naturally it was one of those days where summer time just asserted it's power over fall. A little hot in good ole south Carolina it was. We packed up the tools on the Kawasaki mule and drove down by the dogs. I turned out four little females to get some exercise and bunny chasing in while we worked. Today I turned out Goldie, Hootie,April, and a young female I call Dinah. I opened the kennel doors and they were instantly out of site. Brad and I drove over to the trailer where I have the fence material stacked up. We loaded three hundred feet of fencing and the necessary supplies on the mule and headed to the area I wanted to get up today. We just got started gooded when the report came in. We heard the four little females singing in harmony, announcing loud and clear that Mr. bunny had been located and all was well. Brad and I worked along..... listening to the girls run the rabbit. We were pulling and hammering....Let me say right here, Brad is a salesman by trade and I'm glad he's good at it. He would have a devil of a time trying to make a living driving fence staples. :) Any way I am thank full Brad came to help and he was a huge help.We had a about half of the second roll all clipped, tied, and stapled when that bunny rabbit came bouncing across the road. We were working along the paved road and the dogs had all ready pushed the rabbit acroos into a patch of woods. Well, Brad spied the rabbit as he crossed back and we paused to watch the dogs work as they came up to the road.That rabbit had crossed over right on to a red clay road bed that I plowed up last week. Now it hasn't rained one drop and that ground was about like powdered sugar.Those girls worked and worked and finally got the rabbit off the plowed ground and in the weeds (mainly due to the determination of Hootie.) By this time the rabbit had had a few minutes to get ahead of them and they were just down grubbing and pecking at the track. I didn't have a lead with me but I was only 150 yard from their kennel and tried to call them to me. I was gonna walk them to the kennels for some water and put them up. It was about 11:00 o'clock by now and it was getting pretty warm. They refused to take a break from their work and just kept toiling on that dusty ole track. I decided to just let them be and we went back to our fence work. We were working down the line one post at a time, tiying and pulling. It wasn't long until the beagles started back down through the weeds towards the road. The weeds are real thick here and they were just pecking.To tell you the truth I thought the race was all but over. Now I was just about half paying attention to those dogs because my main concern was getting this role of wire up tight and then going for lunch. The dogs pecked on getting closer to us when all of a sudden that rabbit shot across the bush hogged path I had cut for the fence. He was heading back across the road to the shade. You should have seen that rabbit when he hit that apron fence. He was completely surprised!!!!! Now this took place less than a hundred feet from where Brad and I were working. He ran down toward us a few feet and then saw us and spun around. About that time Hootie was the first dog to emerge from the tall weeds. She spotted that rabbit and the race was on. Now let me tell you. A rabbit is fast but on open ground is no match for a rabbit dog that has him in her sights.He made it about 40 feet and she caught him..... He was so close to the ditch which would have bought him just a little time. Oh no I thought, there goes another rabbit! I suppose as Hootie collapsed on the rabbit and it stopped running she paused for just a second because the rabbit jumped from under her and hit the ditch. Across the ditch and into the paved road it went. Now at this point the rabbit should have shot straight across as the other dogs were now getting in on the sight chase.Of course rabbits can be dumb and he head back down the road towards the spot he would have went in if the fence hadn't redirected him. He made it to those saw briars and bramble just in time! Those dogs settled right back in and had been running him (hit and miss mind you as it was hot today) about another hour when we finished what we were going to do on the fence. Brad and I headed to the house parked the mule and jumped in the truck for a trip to Dan Scott's big league brbq. After a nice lunch I returned home to find the four little beagles laying inside the garage, no doubt enjoying the cool of the concrete floor.Day's like this makes me thank full for a lifestyle that enables me to enjoy this way of life and a job that allows me just enough spare time to share it with others. I know it's great to read all about beagles on the Internet but if you want to learn about dogs, really learn what qualities make the race better and which ones don't, you got to run dogs. If you could train dogs on the Internet some guys would have some real hum dingers.

2009-09-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

I cant believe it's been almost three weeks since I wrote in my blog! I'm falling behind. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to force your self to do it. My biggest problem is getting in the mood to blog.

Since my last entry the World Beagle Extravaganza has come and gone. I think a lot of people had a good time. I cooked a pig on Friday and everyone enjoyed a free dinner on the the beagle club. Let me thank Mike Newman and Pete Peace for all the help with the pig. I'll try to have a couple pictures form the extravaganz posted.

I spent a some seat time on the the John Deere today. I was working on my fall feed plots. I disk in all the millet getting ready to plant some grazer rye and winter peas. Hopefully I can help the bunnies a little. You have time to let you mind wonder when you just riding around on a tractor. I got to thinking about beagles and improving the breed. I remembered what Bill Watt said to me many years back when the UBGF was really starting to grow. He said " if they really wanted to improve the comformation of the beagle they would have the show then take the top five to the field." While I'm not advocating that it did make me think of all the faults people will knowing breed.

I saw in one of the hound magazine a dog advertised as the "greatest dog alive." Now I happen to know this dog has gotten breed a lot. I also know this dog has a bad bite and is very shy. So shy that he got out of the kennel at his owners house and it took three days to get him caught!

To make it worse, many of his puppies are also shy and some have bad bites. This isn't mentioned in the add anywhere. I wonder why any responsible or ethicle breeder would promote a dog like this? These are the type faults that should have caused the dog to be culled before he ever went in the starting pen. The best I can figure, the only reason a person would breed to this type animal is because they are unethical or irresposnible. If they haven't taken the time to find out about these issues and they breed then they are certainly irresponsible. If they know about it and breed, well....

I just feel sorry for the unsuuspceted new or inexperienced folks who buy puppies with out knowing all the facts. Beagles shouldn't be a way to swindle people out of a few dollars or try to bring fame to yourself.

If you are thinking about breeding dogs, remember those pups will be dogs. Remember we have a responsibility to the sport we enjoy to make it better than the way we found it. We need to work to make it easier for new beagles to enjoy our sport. Anything we can do to help them have a good time early on is important.

2009-08-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

man was it humid today. It's been great that we've got a dab of rain though. At least the smelling is reasonable for the dogs. The only draw back is they get hot quick. Hard for saliva to evaporate from their tongues with the humidity near 100%. I guess I cast them about 1:00 PM today. I had a really good race out of four little females., at least I did for about a half hour. By then they were pretty hot. It kinda reminded me of those August football practices when I was a youngster. I sure have enjoyed running dogs at the new place. I almost don't want to put up the enclosure, the running has been so good with the wire trurning the rabbit. I suppose I need to get it done though. If you have any time and want to come help me one morning give me a call. I could use the help and we can run some dogs too.

The picture today is from my daughter Ashlyn and the baby turtle she saved while we were out goofing around earlier this week. It seems like just yesterday Charlie Fronhieser published that picture of her looking at an SPO magazine when she was about 3 months old!

The local paper ask me to write a piece on rabbit hunting every year for their annual outdoor section. I thought you may enjoy Reading the article. It geared towards guys who haven't been rabbit hunting so it's pretty simple.

Rabbit hunting is a unique experience. It has little to do with shooting rabbits and a lot to do with the chase of the hounds. Men following hounds is an old tradition that has been a source of entertainment and pageantry for centuries. History records the beagle as its own breed at least back to the time of the crusades. In those days most estates had a pack of beagles for following on foot. The quarry was the European hare.
After many decades of decline, today rabbit hunting with beagles has enjoyed a resurgence of interest. No where is this more true than along the east coast of the United States. In today’s hectic world it seems more and more folks are seeking a simpler time. A time where Saturday mornings brought boys, men and beagles together for the dance we call rabbit hunting.
To enjoy a day in the field rabbit hunting the first thing you will need is place that holds rabbits. This may sound simple at first but when you consider the place must be safe from fast moving road traffic as well as secluded enough not to be a nuisance to neighbors, it becomes more difficult to locate rabbit hunting opportunities. Don’t be discouraged, the emergence of the forestry industry has ushered in an era of quality hunting cover and an abundance game.
The number one factor affecting rabbit population is cover. Where thick briars and heavy brush prevail, so too will the eastern cottontail rabbit. As you ride along, look for places with wide fence rows, possibly overgrown with honeysuckle. Those same fields you picked black berries in mid June will likely be scattered with cottontails come Thanksgiving morning.
After you have acquired permission for a suitable place to rabbit hunt, you need to set out to locate the rabbits. Early in the day the rabbits may come easily as the little hounds will pick up on the scent the rabbits left while feeding during the night. As the sun gets up higher in the sky locating game may become more difficult. The thing to remember is to move slowly. I recommend taking a couple slow steps at a time then pausing for several seconds. This also gives the dogs time to work the cover. I can’t count how many times a rabbit has jumped from its bed right at my feet as I started to walk off. It’s the natural defense mechanism of the rabbit to stay still and quite as predators are around. He will lay low in hopes you will simply pass right on by. He can do this for a while but will get nervous if you stay close for too long. This causes him to ‘jump" or bolt from his hiding place in an attempt to escape.
This is a good time to discuss proper etiquette and gun safety. Shooting a rabbit as it jumps is a kin to shooting doves from power lines. It’s just not a sporting thing to do. It’s frowned upon by all sportsmen and something you just shouldn't do. Since you’re not going to be "jump shooting" there is no reason to have a shell in the chamber of your gun. While you’re wading around in the field looking for a rabbit several things can happen if your gun goes off. None of those things are good. Play it safe, leave the shells in your pocket or magazine until the rabbit is up and the hounds are in hot pursuit.
Now that the dogs are after the rabbit you can begin to look for a place to "set up" or get ready for a shot. If a large stump is close by, it could be a very handy spot to get a good view of the bunny as he come back around trying to escape the bay of the little hounds. A vein of briars or a hedge may also me a good spot for the ambush. The thing to look for is how you think the rabbit will move across this terrain. A rabbit will slip through thick cover rather than running across open space if he has his way. This makes for an easier and more predicable shot when used to your advantage.
Last but not least make sure you the leave the field as clean and litter free as you found it. If you walk by a piece of litter, pick it up and put it in your game bag. If you take great care of the property you’ve been allowed to hunt, chances are good you will be able to enjoy it for many years. Stop by the land owner’s home and offer him a cleaned rabbit or two. Thank him again for his generosity and build a long lasting relationship.
If you would like more information about beagles and rabbit hunting visit my web site www.RabbitHuntingBeagles.com
Scott Wilson

2009-08-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Here's what I had my mind on tonight. Have you ever seen two dogs run just a like? I haven't. I got to thinking about that and just realized I never saw it. Sure there's many that are similar but just a like? I don't know how many different beagles I've seen run, I'm not even sure how I could figure it out but it would certainly have to be upwards of 10,000. I can't ever recall two that ran exactly the same. Much like you'll never see two people who are identical (except for the occasional identical twins,) you'll never see two dogs who run exactly the same. Hmmm.

I was running dogs last night and the dang ole rabbit ran right by the house. I was bracing Big Boy and Lady Bird and they both have huge mouths. My wife opened the bedroom window and gave me down the road for running so late. It was about midnight and scenting was just great. She told me the next day she put cotton in here ears. LOL I kept poor Anthony Smith on the phone till almost 1:00 AM forcing him to listen. He kept trying to hang up and go to bed but I forced him to listen to those dogs run.:) Let me see what picture or video I have on my phone. It's my son Mason just checking the oil in the Bush hog. Don't worry the tractor is off and the key is nowhere close.

2009-08-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

Allright, another hot summer day. Actually we havnt had two many of them this year. I've been working on organizing my garage but it's been an uphill battle. The only good thing about it is it's neat to be working in the garage and hear a rabbit race going on.

Sunday evening we were having dinner and my wife and I were sitting on opposite ends of the dinning room table. There's a window in the center of the room (on the front wall that is.) As I was eating the site of a running rabbit caught me eye. It was running straight away from the angle I could see but I couldn't see the way it had come from. I told Amy, "that rabbit was running like something was after it."

"There is," she replied and pointed in the direction I couldn't see from my chair. I stood up and walked over to the window to see two young females coming out of the garden and crossing the driveway with that rabbit track. Apparently they had been on garden patrol and found that waskily wabbit up to no good.

Beagle people are kinda like a huge company. Everyone knows everyone or at least knows of them. The people who enjoy the sport come from all walks of life. I was on the phone with a friend of mine today discussing just that subject. How a person gets started in beagles, really, how should they go about working into a position to be respected by their new peers. It's a bit tricky.

This is one area where having money doesn't seem to help those who posses it. In fact people who have earned lots of money are normally used to running things their way, and doing things the way they wont too. They tend to want to throw a few dollars at the sport, maybe buy a real good dog or two and expect others to give them the respect the man that developed that dog actually has. Very seldom does it work this way. I can think of several wealthy men who have come into the sport over the last 20 years who have been little more than dinner passes for the true beaglers in our sport. In fact, they are often at the sharp point of many jest concerning their involvement in the sport. Don't get me wrong here, we need new money in the sport to insure breeders and trainers have the resources to continually improve the hounds.

I think the guy who gets started with little money and a white fever pitch burning desire to run dogs will (assuming he has the eye for dogs) quickly become recognized by his peers as a dog man. This is something the wealthy man who simply buys extra field champions can never have. The one thing he desires most, respect.

Today's picture is one of my two little girls modeling cowboy hats. The two year old think all the beagles are hers. No that she has discovered puppies, I've caught her slipping down to the kennel getting them out.

2009-08-02T09:46:00.001-07:00

Can you believe August is here? We've had a stray storm or two come through this week so scenting has been excellent. I've took advantage of it by running some young dogs. I'm amost ready to put them away for a while and start working on a couple I want to trial. The AKC national Championship is comig up the first week in October and I need to get a couple ready for that as well.
I'm pasting up a video of 4 pups ( I suppose they are young dogs now insead of pups) I just went out and caught. I turned them loose about 9:30 last night and caught them a little after noon today. As you can see they are about done for but they are still trying. Take a look at the energy the bluetick out of Cocoa Blue and Sadie is showing. She kind puts me of mind of her grandmother, Oopsy Daisy.

2009-07-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

Here's the video of the double mated 15" females I have listed on the for sale page of my site www.rabbithuntingbeagles.com
I know the video is crappy but at least you dont have to wait on it to load and can actually get to see (hear) it. It will give you an idea on the dogs anyway. If you want to run big females these are steals.

2009-07-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

Well a new week has dawned and we have big news at RHB. Before I get to that I want to mention that Turkey Creek beagle club is a fun group of guys to be around. We really enjoyed our day in the mountains with those guys.
I made a video of Doug Grant talking while we were driving. I'll try to get it uploaded.
Oh ya, to clear up any misunderstanding, I was not trying to discourage anyone from getting started in breeding dogs. If you have thought it through and done your due diligence to insure all the puppies you produce will be properly cared for then by all means have at it.
Now for the news; Ken Murray is Engaged to his lovely girlfriend Andrea! I don't have a date for the wedding but will keep you posted. No word on whether Ken will be allowed to stay all day on hunting trips. Seriously, congratulations Ken and Andrea!

2009-07-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hey you want to hear something insane? I am going to judge a trial tomorrow. Yes, I know it's July...I think I may have flipped my lid. The only saving grace is we have had a little break in the summer weather and tomorrow is only supposed to be around 84 degrees. Hopefully I want have a heat stroke.

Also, I've decided to start adding a picture with every post. They have have nothing to do with beagles so just ignore them if you want.

Here's something that just popped into my head while I was look at the pups out of Rocky and Legacy today: Mating a male and female dog and investing a little money in dog pens and then claiming to have a breeding program is like me buying a paint brush and some canvas, renting a studio and calling my self an artist!

I think some people truly believe breeding dogs is like adding numbers. You just add 3 + 4 and it equals 7.

If you want them to look a certain way, run a certain way, bark a certain way, for gods sake wag their tale a certain way......... Ohhhh never mind if you don't get my drift then it is probably pointless to try and explain it.

Another thing while I'm on a rant, what about a dog that couldn't even be taken rabbit hunting that was advertised so much people just started believing in the hype. The promoters just kept telling their spin counting on new people to come to the light...... and they do, at least some do. It blows my mind at how gullible people are.

Does any body run dogs for fun anymore? I know one guy who I think does. I think he runs dogs and truly has a good time doing it. Here is a link to his site...he has some really good videos. http://skyviewsbeagles.com/ I need to talk him into coming down here and videoing for me.

2009-07-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

I dont have much to say tonight. Had a great evening here at the home place. Me and the three children went down to feed dogs this evening and I decided to ride down and see how my millet patch was doing. I had two rabbits in it one on both ends about 150 yards apart. I drove the Kawasaki mule back to the dog pens in high gear and pulled out a next years derby out of Yogi and a pair of Cocoa Star females. I took them back to where I saw the rabbit and turned them loose. I intended to just play withe the kids but I couldnt pass up that rabbit. Any way they had been running about an hour and me and the kids were in the back yard playing on the swing set when a bunny come running hard straight across the back yard. He was as surprised to see us as we were to see him. As the dogs approached I caught one of them leaving the pup and two year old female for about another hour. I made a terrible video with my cell phone. Hope you can see it.

2009-07-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

It's dark thirty and I find my self sitting on the front porch listening to little Daisy solo a rabbit. We finally got a rain shower. In fact one Monday and then again today. The grass has turned delightfully green and the dogs can smell again. I think I may have broken my record for days of running in the month of July. I think now i have only missed Monday and have had several two a day races. I may have run more early in my career but July has always been a slow month for me and dog running. It's mostly one hot dry day after another and and after all, I have to make a living sometime:(
Form the sound of this pup I have out the smelling is real good this evening. I hope she circles it back around by the house as I don't want to have to fight my way into that area she is in.
I lasted blogged on Sunday and little Daisy is and Princess were running. Well I broke a shaft on my bush hog and needed to go to town and see if I could the a replacement. I didn't want to leave them out so I went and caught them. I had my son Mason with me and he and I rode over on the mule to catch them. I got close to them and luckily saw the rabbit. I put Mason down in a grassy spot (he's only16 months old) and got on the line to catch the dogs. Just as I was putting the leash on Princess I got hit my wasp right in the eye brow! I looked up to see a swarm. I hurried for cover grabbing up Mason as I to to him. I hooked those little female sot the back of the mule and took off. THAT WAS CLOSE! I was so thank full I put Mason down before I got to the dogs. Amy may not have let him go run dogs again till he was 10 if he'd gotten stung.
I'm attaching a picture I took an hour ago of Mason and Anna picking blue berries. Check out the rabbit cover in the back ground.
Oh ya, that pup is really giving that rabbit fits right now. I imagine tonight is about the first time she's ever been run when scenting was decent. I think she may be a good one!
Oh ya more news from the front. Legacy had her pups today. Looks like their were 4 of them. They are all looking good and have plenty of strength.

2009-07-05T07:14:00.001-07:00

This morning is a first for my blog. I'm typing this as I sit on my front porch. The Lord has blessed us with an unusual July 5th morning. It's 10 AM and the temp is only 74 degrees. There's plenty of cloud cover and every now and then a few rain drop bounce around. My kids are playing on the steps and sidewalk (who ever thought of sidewalk chalk anyway?) I slept kinda late this morning so I didn't get up until about 8:30. First thing this morning I saw a half grown rabbit in the front yard. I slipped out and released two beagles in the area I saw the rabbit. I've had my breakfast and am just sitting out here listening to Princess and little Daisy hammering a rabbit. It's been over an hour now and they are sure enjoying this break in the weather. After the last week of dry hot weather it's great to hear a solid race. It's been a big commitment to purchase and payfor a piece of property like this but I expect it to really make a difference in bringing young dogs along.
Ladt Birds pups are doing great. Looks like wer gonna end up with nine of them!

2009-07-04T04:49:00.000-07:00

Cheer up folks; we have rounded the corner. Even as I type this note the days are getting shorter and as sure as the dog days of summer still lie ahead, Autumn will be soon following.

It's been busy around Five Forks the last several days. I've ran dogs 5 of the last 7 days, (even had a couple two-a-days mixed in) and the puppies are starting to be born.

Amy and i were driving home last week and as we approached the house we counted five rabbits along the edge of the road from the start of our farm to the house. My place is set up near perfect for rabbits but my neighbors is too. Our place was part of a several hundred acre farm that belonged to one family. We have just 23 acres of it but the rest of the farm is still owned by the family and is in overgrown fields as well. It's just a great place for rabbits.

Lady Bird had her puppies. You can imagine how excited we were to see that she had whelped eleven! two of them didn't survive the night but she has nine the look great. They have made it forty eight hours now and in my experience any that live that long will do just fine. I don't believe in babying bitches in whelp (other than proper nutrition and housing.) If you get a bitch that you have to coddle to take car of puppies you have yourself a problem that Will be with you for a long time. C-sections are another thing. If a bitch requires one, she needs to be culled from breeding. Bitches that require a section produce puppies that have a high probability of requiring C-sections. In fact, it's my opinion, good solid bitches are the most important thing to strive for when endeavoring to improve any breed. Let's face it, you can choose from literally a hundred different males for a nominal cost. The bitch however, is something you must work for years to get! You may be able to save your self some time and trouble by purchasing a high quality bitch from someone, but you will be on your own to develop several like this.

Oh well, i suppose that enough rambling for the morning. I hope everyone has a great Independence Day. Take a minute sometime today 9or any day) to think about what Independence Day is all about. Let's pay attention not to allow our country and in fact our freedom to to be encroached upon so much as to be no better off than when the British ruled these colonies. Our for fathers created a wonderful thing for us, lets keep it.

2009-06-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

My goodness it has been a long time since I update this blog. I had intended to start back next week.....July 1st...... but Ken's been on me to get back started so here i am.

The house is finally finished (at least mostly) and we are all moved in. I cant find anything and thier was a few times the first couple of days Amy panicked when she lost the kids. Sorry I dont have the final pictures on this pc but I'll get them up.

Rabbit season ended on a high note with a great late February hunt in Georgia. I've been trying to work on rabbit farming some. The fields on our farm have been laying fallow for several years and saplings are almost trees. I've got a bush hog that is rated for material up to 4" so It's working out pretty good. I hope in a few years I'll have it all beat back to stuff under waste high. I'd like to biuld a new barn/kennel later in the summer. Money's pretty tight now with work coming slow so I'll have to play it by ear.

I've really been enjoying some of the younger pups. Their young dogs now and I"m real happy with how they do.

Any way, we got lots of squash and tomatos coming in now. I've planted the pumkin patch with hopes of jac-o-lanterns come October. I also sowed a clearing in Brown Top Millet the first of the month. It's really jumped with al lthe water. I'll try to get some pictures of that up too.

Oh ya, I found a little fawn last week bush hogging. Hopefully it reunited with it's mother pretty quick. If I can figure out how to upload the short video I made I'll add it. Until next time.......

2008-12-29T18:49:00.000-08:00

I know it's been over a month since I posted on my blog. For the faith full readers I am sorry I've been slack. My father passed away the evening before Thanksgiving and I've been working hard to get the house ready for inspection. I got my inspection last Monday....!
Ken and I went hunting today with Ronald Phillips and his son Dillon. The scenting was incredibly good as it has been the hall fall. After two full years of drought the rain this fall has reminded me just how well the little beagles can chase a rabbit. We got started about 8:30 this morning and the running was fast and furious. By 10:30 we had run and killed 5 rabbits. The spot we were running on was kinda small and we run the 6Th rabbit over on some deer hunters so we caught the dogs and moved a half mile down the road to another spot we like. Since the first six dogs had 5 rabbits shot in front of them this AM we swapped dogs and got the second pack out about 11.15. In short order the rabbit was up and running. The dogs run about an hour or so and Ken had some work to do on the phone so he and Dillon disappeared to a shady spot up on the hill to take care of Ken's business. Ronald and I tried to cut that tricky rabbit off for a while then we decided to take a rest in a shady spot our selves. The bunny run near us several times but not where either of us could take shot. Finally about 1:00 we decided we needed to eat lunch so we headed up to the truck to join Ken and Dillon for soda and Vienna sausages. We shot the bull and ate lunch until about 2:00 when Ronald said, "listen to those dog, they are stroking that rabbit." With that we decided we need to go shoot that rabbit. When we got back down to where the dogs were running Dillon was able to shoot the rabbit and wound him. Just as the dogs and Ronald were about to catch the bunny he ducked into a hole. Since no one was willing to dig it out, except Lady Bird and Bell, the rabbit was left in the hole. In just a few minutes we had another rabbit going. This rabbit didn't stay up but 5 minutes and rand straight into the creek bank. Ronald said he saw him swim across and go up in the bank. It didn't seem possible so quickly so I talked him into tallyhoing the dogs over the water to the creek bank. Sure enough they smelled the bunny and started digging and fighting their way into the bank. I like to never got Lady Bird out of that hole. The next rabbit came quick and was shot by Ronald in less than a half hour. Ronald told me he was going up by the truck to turn out a brace of dogs he wanted to work for the trial this weekend and left Ken and I to tend to the shooting duties. As the dogs running was sounding good I sat down on log to take a rest. Directly, I spy ed a spot on the ground that looked like a good spot to lay down. It didn't take long and I was taking a good nap in the afternoon sun. As I was about to doze off listening to the two separate races, I remember thinking just how far I had come with these little beagles. The next thing I remember I was jolted from a sound sleep by the sound of barking dogs very near me. I woke up confused and dazed and was able to just see the rabbit hopping off into the broom straw field. I think Ken was the one who finally shot that rabbit and eventually Ronald and Dillon walked back down and joined us. We shot a few more rabbits and finally darkness put an end to a great day of rabbit hunting.
I know most people hunt in a lot different way than we do but I don't know why. The next time you go hunting make sure you plan enough time to enjoy yourself. Sit down, rest, maybe even take a nap and let the dogs run. You'll enjoy it a bunch.

2008-11-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say we are all still alive and doing well in the sunny south. The dogs are getting run and the new Purina Pro Plan is performing great. Just when I decided the new shredded formula was going to work out great, Purina has decided ( by all the customer demand) to start the Pro Plan Chicken and Rice formula back up. It will be in 37.5 lb bags and should be at your local stores before thanksgiving! I know many of you are are concerned with the high price of dog food, so am I. I have plenty of friends who are taking the risky step of using dog food that is not subject to the same test trials as Purina. I urge you, think long and hard about it. What is $2 dollars a bag or even $5 a bag if you kill your dogs. For those 0f you who compete in field trials, my gosh, you spend thousands of dollars traveling to a trial. You run your dogs all hours of the day and night, you try solo, you brace, you pack them, and you are worried over $2 a bag for dog food. That sounds risky to me......... If you have 5 or more dogs and want to be a member of the Purina Pro Club please call me or send me an email. I will get you set up. By having me introduce you to the club, you are assured of continual support and someone you can get a hold of if you need help. I sometimes get coupons and other merchandise I can pass on as well.

2008-10-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a nightmare I had last night. I dreamed it was a cool cloudy day. I was running four of my females over on the back side of my property. They were really making some noise. They were making every turn like they were following a painted yellow line. Just pushing through the briars and weeds with that steady CHOP-CHOP-CHOP, as if to say you can run rabbit but you can't hide. The race had gone on for about an hour and I was starting to get worried for the rabbit. After all, many hours and more dollars go into making sure the rabbits on my place have adequate food and cover. I want the dogs to run them hard and steady but I don't want them to catch them. what I heard next was a terrible commotion. I could tell that something was wrong at the house the Mastiffs were raising all king of sand. That was quickly followed by the sound of a kennel full of beagles doing the same. I hot footed it over to the kennels where I found 2 guys in suits looking at my dogs. I ask them what they were doing and they told me they were from the new government department responsible for the redistribution of wealth. Seems they had learned I owned way too many high quality female beagles. They said President Oboma needed to make sure some other beaglers who didn't have any quality females got one. They were their to seize all but two of mine so they could get them to those who really needed them. I told them I had been working on those dogs since I was a teenager, I told them I had worked really hard to invest in proper kennels and training grounds so I could improve them. Their only reply was to tell me I should feel good that now others less fortunate who didn't know how to get such good females would now be able to own a good one. I awoke in a fit of rage............
I sure hope America sobers up before next Tuesday!

2008-10-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

The southeast is coming off of a huge beagling weekend. Last Wednesday we finally had some rain, in fact we had 3 inches of rain, and scenting was nearly perfect this weekend. Cove Creek Beagle club in Pickens, South Carolina held thier annual AKC license trial and any one who is anyone in the south east beagle world was thier for the big competition. I saw many friends from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. They were all thier for the same reason, to show off thier prize beagles.
What made this weekend different from most is the incredbly good scenting conditions the dogs had to work with. Nearly every pack ran like it could see the rabbit.
On Saturday, I had the pleasure of being accompanied by my oldest daughter Ashlyn. Ashlyn was a real trooper and went out with me every time we went to the field. Ealry in the day Ashlyn told me, " daddy, I hope we win 1st, 2nd, or 3rd." The day went on and the competition got tougher. Ashlyn and I were both pleased when the dust settled to find out our own born and breed Lady Bird got the 3rd place award. It was good judging and and quality dogs that made it a good time. I don't think I heard a single complaint about the field trial. I know I had one happy little handler with me when we got home and Ashlyn showed off the the trophy we recieved. It was sure a good time, leaving both Ashlyn and myself ready to go back for more dog running.

2008-09-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

It's with sadness on my heart I have to report the death of FC Tate's Lady Bear. Brad Carter called us just after daylight this morning to tell me the dreaded news. Lady Bear was such an outstanding hound it seems remiss to just say she was a great one. Lady bear was impressive in competition and deadly to Mr bunny when we were gun huting. I am a better breeder from seeing Lady Bear's offspring, I am a better hunter from shooting rabbits in front of Lady Bear, I am a better judge from following her many hours in the field. I have a bigger heart for making room for this outstanding little beagle in my faithfull breast. Having not even been around her for over a year I can tell you she is still missed as if she were here yesterday. Good bye Lady Bear. http://www.rabbithuntingbeagles.com/Pages/Beagles/Beagles.asp?pid=64&f=B2&fbid1=55&fbid2=56&FilteredFor=Rabbit+Hunting+Beagles

2008-09-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

AS promised I am adding to my blog. September is over half way through and you tell the days are getting shorter. The crisp feel of the morning air makes it clear to all those who love the great outdoors, fall is drawing near. All summer I haven't really trained or conditioned dogs much. The main reason is I have been feverishly busy working on the new Five Forks canine athletics training facility. We purchased 22.5 acres back in May that we can devote to improving the strain of beagles that has been our lifes toil. The first thing that has to be completed is a home for my family. After many nails were driven the house is finally in th dry. I almost have the plumbing complete thanks to Chad Cape and I have been pulling the wire this last week. Robert Oliver is due over next week to get the HVAC roughed in. It won't be long until I can start work on the kennels and running enclosure. I plant o enclose a dab over 20 acres. This shoud work nicely for our program. I'll post a few pics of the house at the bottom ( I tried but couldn't so they are up top) of tonights post so you can see my work.
On the beagle front, the dogs have been getting worked some the last couple weeks. I've been to run dogs several times the last week or so and Ken has taken them 6 or 7
times. Daisy's latest litter is out of the starting pen and I really like one of them. Ken named her Black Eye Susan. We have onother little male out of Star and a Money female that we just got started that looks really good as well. Ken reports that our older group of 09 derbies all look wonderfull. Anthony Smith saw them run and commented that we must have been running them a lot. Little did he know they had been layed up all summer. Luckily the cool air has us as well as the dogs eager to be out in the field. By the time hunting season gets hear we will all be ready. I haven't forgot about the puppy articles I just need some time. In the mean time I hope you will visit some out our sponsors sites. Thier a lot to learn in side thier pages as well.

2008-09-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

It's September and that means fleas are at their peak. If you have not done your due detergents this summer chances are the fleas are starting to show up.Flea & Tick Control is something that doesn't require a lot of effort if you just plan ahead. Both JeffersPet.com and Drs. Foster & Smith - The Trusted Name for Dog Products both are great places to order the supplies you need. While the dips work great for the adult dogs in the kennel, they are not labeled for puppies. You will find several products for puppies just remember not to use too much.
As I mentioned before you will have much more success dealing with fleas before they become a problem. Take a look around at Jeffers or Foster & Smiths. They have been in the dog supply business for many years. They know what products to sale, the ones that work and which ones to leave to the discount stores. I've added links to both sites for your convenience. Just remember to check back soon.
For SUPER low prices on your favorite pet supplies CLICK HERE

2008-09-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

If you have had a beagle that gets out of the kennel, you will appreciate this video. The little dog is probably heck on a rabbit, she sure has brains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-3EyMPzMoo

2008-09-16T05:25:00.000-07:00

I hope to start working on my blog a little more. What I plan to start doing is listing some of the basic necessities every kennel needs. I find it interesting how many questions i get bout treating dogs for various illness's. Simple things we all have to learn. We do things to raise puppies that are second nature. Many people try to raise beagle litters with poor results. They do quiet well until the pups are weaned. After weaning is when the mother dog gets a break and we need to take some basic steps to insure the pups continue to grow and prosper.
Stay tuned and I will start to go over some of these details. Hopefully you want have to learn the hard way, like I did.

2008-09-15T20:26:00.001-07:00

Beagle test

2008-09-15T06:59:00.001-07:00

No matter what type of dog you have, heart worm prevention is critical to his care. They're several drugs available from your vet that will handle heart worms. The problem with these drugs is they tend to be on the expensive side. Ivermectin is something kennel owners and hunters have been using for many years. We used to have to get very precise dosages in order to be sure we didn't over dose. Then we had to give a tape worm expeller to get rid of tape worms. Now Horse Wormers are available from JeffersEquine.com that combine Ivermectin and Praziquantel in one. This makes parasite managment so much simpler. We use the Zyrmectin Gold . I give each adult beagle about a pea size squeeze. Another way to look at it is to use just a little less zyrmectin gold than you would put toothpaste on your toothbrush. We have found a squeeze of zyrmectin gold each month will keep your dogs healthy and in great shape. This is just on thing we have found that makes rasing a kennel of dogs much easier and less expensive. I will try to share other things as I can remember or as I get questions. Sometimes it's easy to forget the simple things that people want to learn about. Let me know if I can help you in any way. I am not a Veterinarian and recommend you talk to your vet before setting on a parasite control program.

2008-09-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share the pictures of a few of our females. Take a look at our web site www.rabbithuntingbeagles.com to see pedigrees and more information.

2008-09-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think I'm the only one who thinks like I do. Maybe I am.
Hurrucane Ike has just entered Texas a couple days ago and all the talk in these parts (and I expect many others) is about the price of automobile fuel. Around here it was about $3.40 before the storm and just ahead of landfall the price rose to the $4.30 range. Everyone is jumping up and down about the evil oil companies and the greedy station owners who have raised thier prices. No one wants to say what the real problem is...we waste enough fuel to run most countries. Beagling is the sport I love. The fact is, however, it is fuel intensive. People from many states come to meet and run beagles together. It's a great time. We love it. The fact remains, it takes a lot of fuel to get all those pick up trucks full of dogs and men from state to state. In the grand scheme of things is it needed? Probably not.
I'm not advocating we should stop running dogs. I'm just pointing out how ridicilous it is for someone who travels around the country running dogs to complain about the price of gas.
We beaglers are not the only culprits who waste fuel. Look at all the people who make 3 and 4 trips to town each week. Can they not combine these trips? How often do kids have to be driven to school when a bus comes right by the house? What about those college football games on Saturday? Most of those stadiums hold 80,000 people and they seem to be full. I still see boats headed to the lakes in droves.
I'm not saying we should stop any of these things. It's our way of life. I'm simply pointing out gas is not too expensive or we would not be buying it for liesure!
Now, we sure have a problem, as all this liesure we are enjoying is runing our country in the ground. As T Boone Pickens explains, it's the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind. I'm sure hoping people more intelligent than I are hard at work developing more fuel efficient trucks. i hope they will soon have batteries capable of getting us where we want to go. Batteries that can be charged with electricity generated in our own communities.
Oh well enough about that. I just want everyon to stop and think. Use the brain God gave us, before jumping on the bandwagon of complaining. Seems most people want less government until it's the part of goverment that help thier pocket book!

2008-09-03T04:55:00.000-07:00

It seems it has gotten to popular to discuss the Hall of Fame lately. I’ve never given it much thought. I expect most beaglers who run their dogs and strive to constantly get better dogs seldom have time to think about it. I see those ballots in my magazine every year. I believe we’ve been getting Hound and Hunting magazine for 18 years and I’ve never even sent a ballot in. All the discussion made me want to see what it was all about.
As it turns out it’s an honorary club sanctioned by the magazine Hounds and Hunting. Simple enough, they can do it anyway they want. They own it; they can do what ever they want. They don’t have to answer to anyone. They are in the business of selling ads in a magazine. Basically they are using corporate philanthropy to sponsor this program for the readers of the magazine.
Since lots of folks have been happy to share how they would run the Hall of Fame if they were to sponsor one (of course most are content to just complain about the one we have) OI thought I would offer some guidelines I think should be used to help select members.
My understanding is the HOF is to recognize those who have been instrumental to the SPO or gundog movement. People are quick to point out those who have had success at the field trials but I think they miss the point. To have a field trial you first have to have a sponsoring club. This is the place to look for the pillars of the sport. If you want to see who is instrumental, if not essential to our sport you only have to visit the local club. It takes many man hours and lots of money to have a successful and sustainable beagle club. Some beagle clubs don’t even own collars to hold an SPO trail much less the precious land it takes to hold one. Any club that has been in existence for very long and does not have permanent running grounds to do the very thing that brings them together is suspect in my opinion. Maybe there is good reason for the situation but more often than not it indicates members are not willing to make the kind of commitment it takes to create a successful and sustainable beagle club.
Any person who is considered for the HOF fame should be one who is instrumental and essential at the club level. Evidence of growth toward making his or her home club successful and sustainable should be easy to se
Next is age and experience. My first thought is for the HOF members to be deceased but that would rob those most deserving from the accolades they’ve earned. If it were up to me I would put two age and experience clauses in the selection process. The person would have needed to be 55 years old and been involved in organized beagling for a minimum of 20 years. I suppose you could start their clock the first time they placed in a licensed trial or judges their first trial. Some verifiable method could be employed.
Third the person should be known for the promotion of beagling at the regional level or national level. This would include service at the association and federation levels.
The person should be active in helping new people enter the sport of beagling. The new inductee would be well known as one who is eager to see the sport grow and demonstrated such for a number of years.
Finally the inductee should be revered as an honest and upright member of the beagling community.
To sum it up Here is a quick list:
1) Instrumental and essential to a successful and sustainable beagle club.
2) 55 years of age
3) 20 years of experience in organized beagling
4) Active at the regional or national level
5) Longevity with respect to bringing in new beaglers and expanding the sport.
6) Revered as honest and upright member of the beagling community

Well thier's my shot at it. You may would do it different. Now get of your computer and go wear a hole in you boots. Beagling is about following dogs not internet sites.

2008-07-31T08:11:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking of all the new folks we have in the beagle world. I for one am very thank full for them. We sure can't have enough new blood in the sport. One of the byproducts of such rapid growth is just the proliferation of inexperience. It's no ones fault. People get involved and they are excited, eager for knowledge and information. The easiest place to get that is the internet. If you look around you will find plenty of folks telling all about how to do this or that. How a dog is supposed to do this or that. You've seen them. The problem is in many instances the person doing the telling don't know any more than those he is trying to tell. This is especially true if you look on the message boards. Sure you can find some nuggets of information but you have to really look.
What do I want to do about it? I want to help educate those who really want to learn. I plan to start holding weekend seminars right here at Five Forks Kennels. These will be at NO COST to the participants. All you'll need to do is find your way here.
I'd like to go over the things you want to talk about. It'll really be up to the folks attending. We can discuss what ever subjects you like, from kennel set-up, medicines, shotgun choices, and of course field performance of hounds. I'd even like to eventually get to the point where we can start training judges. Not the rules seminar type of training but actually following dogs. Maybe watch groups of dogs run, video the action and then come back inside and discuss what we saw and watch the video. I believe something like this will even be help full to many of our current judges as the trend has become to simply count picked checks and determine the winner by adding up which hound picked the most checks. The fact is, there's just more to determining quality than that. That's not to say judging dogs in this manner will not result in a judge getting pretty close to calling it right.
I'm also planning on a new section for the web site. I have one beagling's best studies of the AKC rule book working on a monthly column where he will discuss the particulars of some of the rules and concepts that give people the most trouble. We can also have him answer and discuss questions you send it.
So let me know what you think. I will start a list of those interested in the seminars and will get that in the works. Also, send in your rules questions and we can get the new section going as well.

2008-07-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

You can tell dog running season is just around the corner. I'm thinking more and more about getting out with the dogs. I've been terribly busy this summer working on our new home. We've had the good fortune to be able to buy a piece of land large enough to build a twenty acre running enclosure as well as build a new home large enough for our family and the ocassional beagle guests. I'm becoming quite the carpenter. LOL
I did come in last week early enough to get out to the kennels with my 19 month old daughter Anna. We spent the whole afternoon at the kennel together. We gave shots, wormed dogs, cut toe nails, pretty much all the thing you have to do every so often. Anna of course had to handle every pup in the kennel. She's just drawn to the dogs. I wonder if it's b/c Amy spent so much time at the kennel when she was carrying Anna. Any way, it was fun to watch Anna sitting outside the kennels feeding dogs one morsel at a time. I can tell it's only a matter of time before she will be letting dogs out of their cages. It was great just me and my daughter sharing time with the beagles. How rewarding it is to see her enjoying something that has brought me so much peace and stability in a world that can put so many obstacles in our way.

This reminds me of another great time I had with my oldest daughter, Ashlyn. It was when Ashlyn was only six years old and we were running Daisy in the trials. Daisy had two wins and was good and ready to have win number 3 in the trophy case. I got Ashlyn up at 4:30 AM for the drive down to Poplar Branch Beagle Club. Ashlyn was way to small to keep up in the field so she just rode on my shoulders most of the day. We ran dogs all day. Daisy was really hot at this time and had looked like a million bucks all day. We finally got to the winners pack and Daisy was sure doing her thing. (I was mostly as I knew Ashlyn would get to accept a trophy. You see Ashlyn had never been to a trial before and I wanted her to like it.) The Gallery around me was already congratulating me on her third win when the Marhsal called out "yellow collar" and Daisy was eliminated sixth. To say the least I was disappointed but I never let on with Ashlyn. We got back to the club house and Ashlyn asked, 'Daddy did we win,"
"No, I told her, "we didn't win today, we got sixth." I felt terrible. We drove back home and had a great time together. We explored dirt roads and looked for potential hunting ground, all along I was wondering what went wrong with that winners pack. I know the other dogs were deserving and in no way want to take away from their accomplishments.
Later the next week Ashlyn brought home a paper she had written at school. It was a story about going to the field trial with her daddy! It was all about the fun she had and how she got to see the dogs run and ride on my shoulders. At the end the story read " And we even won sixth place!"
I couldn't help but cry when I read it. It really helped me see what was important. If your not including your children or grandchildren in your beagle life, give it a try. The very next week daisy got her 3rd win and became a champion. Which trial do you think I remember best?

2008-05-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

If I could change one thing about our field trials, what would it be?
Judges would not take the loss of a rabbit so lightly! I believe it should be common practice to not allow the hounds who have taken part in a lost rabbit to place in the field trial.
Do you think that is harsh? If so, you have a lot lower standards than I do. Here's what needs to happen. If a pack of hounds looses a rabbit, and it's not due to outside interference, the judges should order up one or more hounds who in thier opinion is resposible for the loss. The pack would not be handled at a loss. If a rabbit is lost and the judges feel like no hound or hounds have caused the loss due to faultynees, judges should determine the hounds to be of inferior quality and not considered for advancement into second or subsequent series. Packs would be completed or "handled" while the hounds were running.
You wouldn't allow your hound hound to loose rabbits while you were rabbit hunting, don't allow it at field trials. The future of the breed depends on it.

2008-03-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

Beagles are great fun to run. Rabbit hunting is a great sport. It's so much fun there's contstantly people wanting to get in on it. Who could blame them. I always wonder what people with out dog do with thier time. In thier hurry to get started with dogs many newcomers to our sport are taken adavantage of by unsroupulous dealers.
Greed can make people do things they normally wouldn't do. When it comes to beagles, what I've been witnessing is good breeders with popular dogs selling thier culls at the same prices as their top stock. The new beagler will not be able to recognize the difference or will simply take the breeder at his word. This is the type activity that gained used car salesmen such reputations.
It seems it become all too popular for a person to get involved with dogs for a few years and declare thier selves an expert. Just remember, you can go out and buy the nicest baseball glove made, but the odds are your still not going to play major league babesball with out hard work, determination, and lots and lots of practice.

2008-03-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

When a person gets involved in beagles he goes through several stages of growth in the sport. I'm not planning going through them right now but I do want to talk about a couple of them. Early on, once they start attending field trials they want to do well. They want a dog they can go with and compete. They want to win or at least be in the money some where. It doesn't really matter what the dog is. It can be breed this way or that way. It can look like a fiest or it can look like a fox hound/ basset cross. They just need a good dog.
Years later the focus will change from simply doing well in a trial with someone else's dog they bought to being able to compete with a dog they raised or breed. The satisfaction of simply owning top notch dos not enough. The dog needs to be breed a certain way, look a certain way. This is where breeding comes in. It's why every pedigree must be completely accurate. Pedigrees are like road maps for those who can read them. If you try to follow a map and the roads are labeled wrong you have problems. Same thing happens when a pedigree is wrong. With out absolutel certainty in our pedigrees we have nothing.
Almost all the breeds in the AKC are affected by inaccurate pedigrees to some extent. Beagles are no different. Have you ever looked at the pedigrees of some of our most popular stud dogs of today and yesteryear? The fact is, the dog passes on his genes good and bad to his offspring. I can think of one instance of a very popular dog in the earlier years of the SPO movement. He was reported to be top notch in every way. He ran with great gusto and style even though his pedigree suggested he was more of hare breeding. He has several crosses of lemon/white dogs up close yet he didn't produce many if any lemon and white offspring. As luck would have it a little later, a grandson of this dog becomes one of the greatest producers of all time, still no lemon and white pups showing up.
Go back a few years, even before the great producer showed up. I here an interesting story from one of the early SPO enthusiast about the popular dog mentioned. He tells me a gentleman who new the popular dog mentioned earlier also new him to be out of a grade bitch. She was breed to one of the great early dogs of the SPO movement and one of the pups turned out great. Papers were secured for a dog and this good pup gets a career in the field trials and becomes the popular dog mentioned. I never thought about that story much until later when an astute student of pedigrees posted on an internet message board the dog not ever producing lemon and white pups. HMMM make of it what you will.

2008-02-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

My good friend Ronald Phillips calls a few weeks ago wanting to go rabbit huting in Mississippi. He knows my wife is nine months pregnant and there is no chance I can be gone for three days hunting. That doesn't stop him form asking to borrow a few dogs. :) Seriously, Ronald has some really nice young Star dogs and I ask him to write me a story. It sounds great. I can't wait to go next year:

Hunting Trip in Mississippi
By: Ronald Phillips

I got invited on a rabbit hunting trip to Mississippi to provide the beagles. We hunted two miles northeast of Brooksville, Mississippi. We arrived on Thursday afternoon in a rain storm with lightning. After the storm passed, we turned out some beagles for an hour to have some fun. We harvested three rabbits in that short period, but the dogs had a little trouble in the water. Water does not run off on the flat ground of Mississippi like other places. Also, I learned that running rabbits on alkaline Okolona silty clay soil might be a little different. We were hunting a little different terrain from hunting in Georgia. A man could hunt 6 beagles for a week and never get them scratched up. They don’t have the briars that grow in Georgia. Only the thickest briars in Georgia will have a rabbit. The dogs could not account for a couple of rabbits which was not acceptable to me. You have to account for your rabbits in Georgia because you might walk a few hours to find another one. Thankfully, they were more abundant on this day.

On Friday, we had five rabbits at lunch with four hunters. We consumed the normal pork and beans and changed out the dogs (not needed due to lack of briars). At the end of the day, we had accounted for 14 rabbits. I thought that we had an excellent day. The country store was the gathering place for locals and hunters in the morning. I learned from an older gentleman ( in his early 60’s) whom was a beagler that morning: running rabbits had been very difficult for the past few weeks, his male won a trial and then the next time he got a third because field trials are all political, and you need to get rid of all your young dogs because they can’t run a rabbit.

On Saturday morning, the same crowd plus some new beaglers and fox (coyote) hunters were gathering up for the daily events. I learned from the beaglers that the average was 12 rabbits harvested a day. I was a little ashamed of our 14 at this point. We only had three hunters for the day, so we were going to have to do a little better than we did on Friday. We hunted for four and half hours and had 13 rabbits harvested. We decided at this point to clean rabbits and head back to Georgia. We had 30 rabbits in the cooler and that would be enough for fried rabbit.

Would like to say, “Thank you” to Andy Brady for the fine rabbit hunts that he provided us this year. He can find the good places from Georgia to Mississippi. Take your truck because his likes to break down in Birmingham, Alabama and makes for a late night and long wrecker ride.

Observations:
rabbits don’t run as small a circle in the more open cover
rabbits don’t stay in the weeds and fields, they immediately head for cedar trees and big woods up and down drainage ditches
rabbits don’t slow down to slip and slide, they just try to put a large distance between themselves and dogs, they will double occasionally
harvesting 12 rabbits in Mississippi is easier than harvesting 4 in Georgia
Okolona silty clay loam soil makes you taller as you cross the field and don’t wash off your truck
as many dead coyotes on side of road as deer and rabbits in Georgia
the alkaline soil must produce as many rabbits as volunteer cedar trees
you can show your dogs in a show immediately following the rabbit hunt because they want have the cuts from briars
don’t need a “jump dog” or as hard a hunting beagle
go to Mississippi to get a cooler full of rabbits to fry
Cottontails are everywhere
No blue tails
where are the big swamp rabbits????? They got the water for them

This was my first experience trailing rabbits in Mississippi, but I will return again if God willing. I had hunting experiences in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Maryland; but this one will be remembered. Take a hunting trip to Mississippi and enjoy the golf course type hunting for a few days.

2008-02-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

Well, My wife Amy is still tuffing it out. Our son Mason is due to be born any day but.....I hope he gets here soon. I can't get very far away from the house until she's delivered and all is well. I'd love to get one more day of huning in. In the mean time here is a picture sent from my friend Tony Martin of one of his Star pups over a pile of Swamp rabbits they harvested. Don't they look huge...

2008-02-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

A note to judges:
This is not the place or time to try and make you read the rule book. You've read it. You know what it says (although a refresher may help many of us.) I just wanted to talk to you about how to place weight on a hound actions. Good or bad. It's vitally important for you to determine what effect the hounds actions are having on the race.
It would indeed be short sighted to quickly pick up a top performing hound with things that don't detriment your race. Like wise you should never credit a hound with score accomplished with some type of gambling type action. Running hit and miss or bounding off at the checks should never be tolerated. Dogs with these faults should be eliminated as soon as you determine the action is indeed a habit or method the hound uses. A single time of being out of place is not a habit! The other thing I see is the advancement of dogs who do not have quality performances. Simply not being faulty, and picking a check or two should not guarantee advancement into second series. Judges, you should insure every dog you bring back to second series can indeed run a rabbit. Even if that means running the pack down to one dog and watching him run for a few minutes. Most competitors will understand this and look forward to their hound getting a chance to display his qualities. If the dogs is unable to run satisfactorily by himself he should not be advanced. The handler will understand if he is a hounds man.

Here are some example I have seen or heard of dogs being eliminated for that don't seem to hurt the race: In these example Dog B will get picked up.When a dog A strikes the track of jumps the rabbit, dog B tongues with excitement as he harks to dogs A's location. Dog B gets picked up four being mouthy.
At a check in and around a small briar thicket and all the dogs are searching. Dog A picks up the check and drives into the briar thicket, Dog B is already forward and off to the side of the thicket searching and meets dog A as he emerges out the other side of the thicket. Dog B is eliminated for skirting.
The pack is driving and a dog back in the pack pops out off the track. He stays out for a couple seconds and them pops back in the pack in roughly the same relative position. The dog get's eliminated for "getting out."
The dogs are running good with dogs A and B both doing the majority of the scoring. A long check arises and after 2 minutes dog B opens exactly at the point of loss as he hunts back across the check area. Dog B gets picked up for being mouthy.
Now these are things I pulled off the top of my head but I want to point out these things probably were not hindering the race.

Here a some reasons that should get a dog eliminated: In these example dog B will get picked up and assuming first series in a reasonably large trial.The pack is driving hard. Dogs A and B are in the front racing. All of a sudden dogs start pulling up as dog B continues tonguing another 50 feet. The dogs work back where dog A finds the loss and the pack is off. Dog B races to the front in an attempt to run the lead. Again, dogs start pulling up and we find Dog A and dog B 50 feet past where the rabbit turned. Dog B should be eliminated for racing and over running.
The pack is running smoothly with little down time. Naturally there are checks but most are solved in 5 - 10 seconds. A hard check arises and 20 seconds later we here dog B 100 feet out with a rabbit track. The dogs hark to him and the race is on. More good running with several different dogs running the front and solving checks. Another long check and in less than a minute we again here dog B over the hill with a rabbit. Dog B should be eliminated for lack of patience and bounding off.
The pack is running and come to a check. Dog B indicates he solved the check by tonguing and pulling all the dogs to him. After they get to him he stops barking and continues hunting. The check is finally solved and the dogs are off again. Dog B repeats the same process of tonguing where no rabbit can be found. Dog B should be eliminated.
You've been struggling with this pack and have picked up several faulty dogs. You are down to three dogs and are not running very well. Dog C starts giving extra mouth and you pick him up. Now you are down to dogs A and B. Dog A is getting most of the work and dog B is really nor scoring. Dog B should be eliminated.

There are so many variable it is nearly impossible to simply put every scenario on paper. You really need to follow a lot of dogs. Develop an eye for what hurts a race and what has little effect. Let the little thing decide between successful performers. You shouldn't start a race looking for reason to "pick up" dogs. Look for good things the dogs do to contribute to the race. You will have plenty of time to eliminate dogs as your scoring goes along.

2008-02-20T09:59:00.000-08:00

I wonder why so many people have a hard time understanding our sport? They really do. Even folks who have been at it for a long time really don't always get it. They like to spout the reason their dogs don’t do well is because "all the clubs" in that area are too conservative, or any number of excuses. I guess it helps them feel better about what they are doing. The fact is they shouldn't need to justify their dogs or breeding program to anyone but their self. They should enjoy them. They got into beagles to have fun. Wonder why they spend all their time complaining? Still others have their dogs and are completely kennel blind to everything else. They have their dogs and they run just fine for them. That's great and is as it should be. They loose all credibility when they start downplaying others dogs or the dogs that do well in field trials. The fact is this type person is simply kennel blind. They will never move forward with bettering the breed until they pull off their blinders. Of course bettering the breed is not why they stay involved in the sport. They have a few dog they love a lot (and that's great) and they insist they must be field champions. No matter the dogs don't fit the judging standard.
The judging standard is another topic. The reason the founders of this sport way back in the 1890 created a standard was to give breeders and exhibitors something to shoot for. These standards are not mandatory for the hound to suffice rabbit hunting, although a rabbit hunter will definitely appreciate the hound that gets close to this standard. In fact, the closer to the standard the hound, the more enjoyable he will be to hunt with. The truth is, the perfect hound has not been found yet. One that has every aspect. Hunt's hard and finds every rabbit, pours his tongue rapidly with the loudest of sweet notes, keeps the rabbit tracks between his legs at all times, and overtakes the rabbit in short order as his strength and endurance is much greater than the rabbits. Of course these are just four traits I mention and a hound is made up of many more variable than these.
The Bass Masters tournament is in our town this week. I understand they are fishing for over half a million dollars. Have you ever seen this fishing tournament deal? The fishermen all spend the day fishing and see who gets the most fish by total weight. They have to use imitation lures and try to catch the bass.
They all know they could do better with other means of catching fish. Live bait, explosives????? The thing is, they have rules and have to fish using those rules. Just like we compete in a field trial under rules. The hound that leaves the point of loose with out first searching close in hopes of finding the track quicker is simply not following the rules. Just like the fisherman who does not follow the rules, this hound should not be allowed to win (assuming there are other successful performers.) Maybe you can think of some other examples that would apply.

2008-02-18T17:48:00.000-08:00

FOUR ACES
Left to right. Queen of Five Forks, Bell Star of Five Forks, Five Forks Lady Byrd, FC Tate's Yogi. Four outstanding Star pups.

I had a chance to visit my friend Mike Newman of Lincolnton, Georgia today. It was hot but we had a good time. Mike has some really nice Star dogs and knows a little something about rabbit hunting. This was also the first time I got to take FC Tate's Yogi rabbit hunting. Ken has taken him a time or two here close and shot a few each time but this was his first time in a giant pine thicket of pure briars. Needless to say, he is all that I thought he was. You just can't beat superior genetics.

2008-02-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

Field trials Defined

Have you been thinking of taking your beagle to a field trial? You've seen all these ads for trials but are not sure which ones are for you? What do all the different formats mean. I thought I'd make a quick run through of the types of trials that could be available for you to enter. There's a good article on attending your first field trial that you probably need to read before getting ready to go. I'm going to try and do my best to explain the different trials.
Some things are command to all formats and other things are different. Let me first mention some things that are common to all the formats discussed here. Beagles are divided up into four classes. 13" and 15" dogs and 13" and 15" bitches. Each class is assigned two judges. Game for all beagle field trials is rabbit or hare. Game is never released in front of the hounds and is found in it's natural habitat or semi natural habitat of beagles clubs where the ground is "farmed" or specially cared for to enhance the game population. The AKC publishes a booklet detailing all the rules and regulations. I would advise reading through this book as a top priority if you are interested in competing in a field trial
Brace Trials (traditional)
The first types of field trials held in the U.S. were run in the brace format. You may see these simply called brace trials or referred to as traditional brace trials. At a brace trials entry's are split into braces or pairs for head to head competition. The two judges follow each brace and agree on how to score each hound. After all braces are ran, the judges determine which dogs had the highest performance and call those dogs back for a second series. The second series is divided up into braces again. The judges run these dogs in a modified tournament type format until they derive at a winner.
Large pack on Hare
Another type of field trial is called Large pack or Large pack on hare. Almost all of these trials are held in the northern most part of the country. The game is nearly always the Snow Shoe hare. In this format the entire class of hounds is released and ran for several hours. The judges do their best to view the hound work and score dogs according to their ability and contributions to the chase. I have no personal experience with this type of trial so I can offer very little input.
Small Pack
The Small pack format was authored by John Landrum of Skull fork fame and adopted by the AKC in 1957. In this format hounds are divided up into packs of 4 to 7 dogs and judged. After all the pack are evaluated, the judges bring back the ones they scored the highest to compete in a second series. Additional series' are held until the judges have reduced the number of hound to 5 - 7. This final group is called the winners pack. Judges choose the top dog from the winners pack to be the field trial winner. This small pack format was a better test for a hunting dog as most rabbit hunters hunted their dogs in small packs. These small packs naturally trailed a rabbit faster than just two dogs and put more pressure on the hounds. Faults that are not evident in the brace format are more easily seen in this format.
Small Pack Option
In the 70's beaglers and rabbit hunters began a movement to find a method to compete and evaluate their hunting dogs. After several years of working on this it was finally decided to use the same rules as Small Pack (listed above) but with a few exceptions. Hounds would be cast to search for game and would be tested for gun shyness. Today most field trailers' who also rabbit hunt compete in this format. You will hear this format referred to as SPO.
Gun Dog Brace
In the 90's their was a strong up rush of gundog folks wanting to run in the brace format. These trials late became known as Gun dog brace. They run under the same rules as Brace (listed above) but hounds are cast to search for game and tested for gun shyness.
More History
Originally, beagle owners competed with the same hounds they rabbit hunted with. As time progress more and more importance was placed on trailing accuracy until nearly all ability to circle the rabbit for a gun shot was lost. Small Pack trials normally run the same type of hounds as traditional brace trials. The inability to account for game disenfranchised most rabbit hunters and led to a steady decrease in field trial entries. The decline in entries worsened up until the time SPO trials gained popularity.

Scott Wilson

2008-02-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

Rabbit hunt on Feb 2nd. It was a hot day but we had a good time.

2008-01-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

What's the difference between a rabbit hunter and a houndsman.HMMM.. A simple question at first, but is it? I gave this some thought this week. I wasn't able to come up with a whole article on the subject but I did come up with a few key differences.
A rabbit hunter is focused on one thing, shooting rabbits. A houndsman on the other hand is focused on the hounds performance.
A rabbit hunter keeps beagles to increase the number of rabbits he kills. A houndsman shoots rabbits for the sake of the beagles.
A rabbit hunter will normally be found standing in the road, waiting on the rabbit to cross. A houndsman (assuming he is still able bodied) will be in the thickets watching for tell-tell signs of how his dogs are performing.
The rabbit hunter is quite content if his dogs can bring a rabbit back around most of the time. A houndsman is concerned the hounds are working in a manner that is pleasing to him and his senses. For not only must he hear good hound music, he must see hound work that is in his eyes efficient and intensive.
A rabbit hunter will bask in knowing he has one "jump dog." A houndsman will be gratified to see an entire pack of dogs eagerly searching cover.
A rabbit hunter will look at young dogs as a liability. A houndsman will know the young ones are the reason he's hunting.
Let me make this very clear, there is nothing wrong with being a rabbit hunter! If a person loves to shoot rabbits, so be it. In fact, we as sportsmen need to stick together or the anti-hunting groups will be upon us.
Of course there are many folks who may fall somewhere in between. I just want to point out one important reason people will not agree on dogs. The fact is, what is perfectly acceptable to one man, may be terrible to another.
Happy running.

2008-01-16T04:21:00.001-08:00

Time is a little short this AM as I have been off hunting the last several days. I just wanted to pass along a couple pictures from yesterdays hunt.

The two black and tans you see are outstanding prodigy of the late FC Cocoa Star. On the left is Preacher Griffith with FC Slab Town Boogie man and on the right is Ronald Phillips with his female Queen of Five Forks.

The other picture is for those who have never seen Swamp rabbits. You can see the standard cottontail Andy is holding compared to the two swampers. For size reference, Ronald is 6'4" tall and the swamper is as long as his torso.

2008-01-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

FC Covington Cocoa Star Aug,1, 1998 - Jan.6, 2008.
This weekend started out pretty normally as far as beagles go. Tony Martin brought a bitch by to breed to Star on Friday. Star did his job just like he always did. I was up early on Saturday and Ken and I went down to Poplar Branch to run a pair of young females. While I was at the trial my wife called to say Star was in the yard playing. Star was never the kind that got out of his kennel. Mostly staying in his dog house unless it was feeding time or he could here the sound of a dog lead giggling. The point is, I was quite surprised to hear he had escapes his pen. Amy was kind enough to catch Star and place him in one of the whelping pens. When I got home I saw that Star had simply torn through the chainlink wire. I've seen dogs do this but never Star. I fed Star a little extra Saturday night as I thought I could see he had been loosing weight the last week or so. On Sunday morning I went to the kennel to load some started pups to go for a run. I was surprised to see Star laying stretched out in his pen, His body was cool but not stiff. I buried Star on the hillside opposing the kennel.
I've heard it said the most important contribution we make to the world is those we leave behind. Star certainly made a large contribution to the world of beagles. We are blessed to have a number of very high class females sired by star. They will allow us to continue the work we have started. Most of the dogs that carry Sta's genes are owned by rabbit hunters. This very fact may keep him from his just recognition as one of modern beagles great sires.
While discussing sires, I remember reading years ago a beagle writer who wrote "If your hunting buddies aren't breeding to your stud dog something is wrong." I can't remember who the writer was or the exact quote but I can tell you this. Houndsmen who saw Star work, breed to him. Anyone who hunted with him knew, he was a rabbit machine. Many hunters had never seen so much intensity from a dog that straddled the track. A couple years ago I got a call from a rabbit hunter wanting to look at some dogs.It was Jimbo Williams. I didn't know Jimbo and he didn't know me. I told him I was running the next day and he was invited to come watch dogs run. I ran Star for him that day. We talked and watched dogs, pretty much the norm. The next day my phone rang, it was Jimbo. He told me he wanted to get some dogs like he saw and how much he liked Star. I think I caught him by surprise when I ask him, "what did you like about Star." He answered me " I just liked the way he ran, I liked how he just turned right where the rabbit went even when the other dogs missed the turn."
I was fortunate enough to co-own Star with Doug Grant since Star was three years old. Star taught me a lot about rabbit hunting. What traits and actions were important and which ones are not. Thanks to Star I was able to make friends and meet people I would have never met. I am lucky to have known such a fine specimen of the breed. Star lived a long life for a stud dog. He was rabbit hunted right up until his death. Star was in the truest sense of the meaning, A RABBIT DOG.

2007-12-06T06:11:00.000-08:00

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving! The first real day of rabbit season for me. It marks the first day I can really go rabbit hunting as I have a hard time counting anything that ends before 4:00 PM as a day's hunt.
The anticipation was high as the normal hunting trio, Preacher Griffith, Ken Murray and I are joined by my friends from NC, Todd Herndon and Brian Michaels. These two had left the comfy confines of Tobacco Rd for a day in the South Carolina Pine thickets. I always enjoy taking a person hunting for the first time in the pine thickets. If you've only hunted hedge rows and farm land, pine thickets present an entirely new learning opportunity.
The day started off on a bad note as the first thing we noticed as we rolled into Greenwood, SC was that our normal breakfast joint, Gary's, was closed down. We looked around and found the Waffle House (no other café's in town.) Finally a few minutes after 8:00 we cast the hounds. Six dogs hit the ground, Daisy, Wilma, Nita, Blue, FC Cocoa Star and FC Slab Town. As we make our way into the pines I can see right off the dogs are smelling a bunny. They are all excited and the tails are going. As I stand their watching I see Mr. rabbit bust out of his cozy bed and 6 little beagles in hot pursuit. They travel a 100 yard or so and I hear a split. Five dogs still going strong and Star is headed back in our direction in hot pursuit. A minute later preacher shoots. "Thank you Star" is all you hear as Preacher collects his rabbit. We all fan out in the direction of the other race as Star rejoins the other dogs. Back and forth across the hill side the dogs run the rabbit. Shots are fired but Mr. Rabbit continues on. Finally an hour and change later Brian breaks the constant roar of the hounds with a shot that brings the race to an end. A few minutes later one of the hounds speak and another race is on. About a half hour into the race a split occurs. Two rabbits going and I am in prime position. A few minutes later I see the rabbit sneaking by with Star, Wilma, Daisy and Nita in hot pursuit. A quick shotgun blast later I end the race. Meanwhile Slab and Blue are pushing another rabbit towards me. Within a minute I hear Ken's 410 sound off and start to walk out to get a drink as by now the temperature has climbed into the upper 50's and my briar clothes are getting hot. Ken reports he missed the rabbit. Oh no I figure, I've missed my chance. I decide I can wait a little longer on the diet Mt Dew and head deeper into the briars for a shot. Just as I get into position I realize I only have one 28 gauge shell left. I need to make it count. The race continues on another hour of more and I really start to need something to drink. I want to just catch the dogs but I have no lead. I figure I can shoot the rabbit and then tease the dogs up out of the thicket. Since I only have one shell I have to make the shot count (I may have left out that I had shot a few times already and missed.) Finally at 1:00 I just head out toward the truck. I let everyone know I am going to the truck to get something to drink. We all leave the dogs running. We have our ritual Vienna sausages and oatmeal pies and guzzle down some MT Dew. After a quick lunch break Todd and I grab some leads and head back off to collect the dogs. We don't even carry our shotguns as we had no intentions of killing the rabbit. We just wanted to catch the dogs so we could get some more. We get the dogs and switch packs for the afternoon hunt.
The second pack consisted of Boot Scootin Boogie, Pete, Star Rocket, Lady Bird, Cinderella, and Bell Star. The after noon was more of what we had that morning. Several long runs with very poor shooting. I think I killed a couple more and the Preacher did too. Ken missed a few times and Todd never got a shot. We finally just caught the dogs as the last few rays of sun was still keeping the ground visible. We packed up and headed to the Dixie for Cheeseburger plates and making fun of one another's poor shooting. A good time with good friends. I go to sleep that night wishing for more.

2007-12-03T11:15:00.000-08:00

Although our season opened up on Thanksgiving day, most of the rabbit hunting in our part of the world starts January 2nd (when the deer hunters have to go back to their wives.) I will try my best to take some notes of how the season goes this year. I did have a chance to go for a couple hours on Thanksgiving day and then again the following Tuesday.
First the Thanksgiving morning hunt. Ken, Preacher and myself had to meet at the local Hardee's for breakfast. We normally eat at one of several breakfast joints where a fellow can get a good breakfast, but the Holliday had them all closed. Not to be deterred, we came out of Hardee's and it was raining! Can you believe, the upstate of SC has scarcely seen rain for the last year and now it's raining! We made out way over to the little wood patch we were going to hunt. B/C it was Thanksgiving we had only planned to hunt a couple hours. They are both whooped and have to be back for the in-laws or some nonsense. Ken earlier than Preacher so we decide to hunt until 11:00 AM then Preacher and I would head over to the beagle club and run some puppies until he had to go.
The hunt started off fine. We had an instant split. Three dogs Cinderella, Lady Bird, and Call girl go left, while Nita and Slab Town go right. Just what the Dr Ordered, two rabbits. We all took up position and waited for one of the bunnies to be run by us. At one time I was sure I was going to get both rabbits without moving as both sets of dogs were pushing towards me. I did get a glimpse but it was just to quick and too far away for me to shoot. A few minutes later and the report of the Preachers Remington 1100 20ga light lets me know the rabbit had snuck past me and was dead. As the dogs come by I get in behind them as I wanted to see how Call Girl, a pup I raised last year, is looking on her first hunt. As we approach where the preacher I notice he is visibly shaken. He's all red faced and fighting with his gun. He tells me in excitement. I SHOT THAT RABBIT BUT ONLY WOUNDED IT AND AS IT WAS CRAWLING AWAY A FOX CAME AND GRABBED IT!. I've seen a rabbit I was chasing get snatched by a hawk but never a fox. That was amazing. Why didn't you shoot the fox I asked, MY STUPID GUN IS JAMMED, he tells me. Right then Ken starts in about him using that POS Remington shot gun.
In short order the three little Star females hear the race Slab Town and Nita are having and then take off to them. 20 minutes later my 28 gauge ended that race. By now it was time to go.

2007-11-26T11:56:00.000-08:00

I have seen a lot of talk about entry fees as of late. The price you pay to enter your dog in a trial. Today most clubs charge a fee of $20 for entry. This goes to keep up the beagle club, pay the judges, pay fees of 3.50 per hound to the AKC, and probably a few other things I can't think of right now. I have some old hounds and hunting magazines and noticed in the 1940 the entry fee was normally $5. If you adjust for inflation that is about $93 today. $20 sure seems cheap.
Lets just look at the facts. If you were to burn a tank of fuel to go the a trial $75. You have to eat weather you are running dogs near home or at a trial so that is a wash. You enter two dogs at $20 each. You have a total of $115 in the trial. Now lets assume entry fees are at $25. The total cost of the trial is $125.. That is an increas of 8%. That does not seem out of line to me. I've heard the argument from folks who enter three or four dogs in each trial. I wonder if they really have 3 or 4 dogs they think may win the trial? If they do then they could easily sell one of the dog and recoup the cost of the entire trial season. That way they can continue to have fun. If in fact they don't have 3 or 4 that are good enough to win, they should cosider only bringing the best to keep their prices down.

2007-11-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something that has bothered me lately. Let me set the stage for you.
I was at a field trial judging the 15" female class last week. We had 36 hounds entered. Not a huge class but fairly large for 15" females. Six packs of six. It was a terrible scenting day as the south east is still in the grips of a historic drought and high pressure. After running through the first series my judging partner and I decided to bring back 11 hounds for second series. There was one from a pack, three from another, none from a couple packs, you get the idea. We chose the best dogs (that day) from first series to make our 2nd series. A pack of 5 and a pack of 6. Keep in mind I've told you scenting is near nothing. Any one who has followed many dogs can attest that once you get more than 4-5 dogs the race will degrade on a poor scenting day. We ran our second series and then had a pack of 6 for our winners pack. They ran fair. The main thing is they did keep a rabbit going and they never stopped hustling around trying to find the scent at the checks.
Conversely across the hill, 13" judges went about their task in a completely different manner. They had 7 packs in first series. They ran them all and miraculously had a 21 dog second series. Not that big a deal you might think. True but wouldn't you think it even more miraculous once you've learned 3 dogs came from each pack. How about the odds of the best 21 dogs that day being divided evenly 3 to the pack. Even a rookie in the statistics field can tell you this is almost never going to happen. I even know some of the pack didn't really run at all.
To top this, they ran their second series and low and behold they had three dogs from each pack back to make a nine dogs winners pack! I'm not sure if it took 4 or 5 rabbits for them to get this winners pack run off.
Don't misunderstand, I know these guys are new to judging and for that matter fairly new to running dogs. They will get better as they gain experience. In the end, likely they will make good hounds men. This of course assuming they keep their minds and ears open to learning dogs.
The point I am trying to get across is this: judge with an eye at keeping only the top performers in the series. Don't worry about how dumb luck divided the packs. The trial that has more than one worthy dog in every pack is indeed few and far between. If you are not sure run the pack down to one or two dogs to insure they can keep the rabbit moving, if they fail eliminate them. Judge these trials like the fate of beagling itself rests on you decisions. Remember Accomplishment over style? This means the rabbit must be accounted for! So what if this dog is flashy and shoots to the front and looks like a world beater. He had better be able to run the rabbit without those behind him or he is of little use to the beagle breed.

2007-10-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

So many people have wrote in wanting to know about the Preacher and Slab Town Boogie Man. While history had a chance of being written last weekend. It did not happen. On a day when it seemed everything might come together perfectly; things failed to line up. Slab finished fourth proving himself to be part of our elites by placing in every trial every entered. He will not go down in history as the only undefeated dog to make FC in just three trials, but he will surely go down in history.
I thought I might make a few notes on beagles and the production of first rate rabbit dogs. I wonder how many people actually think about their average dog. I was talking to a friend this past weekend on how to improve my dogs. He remarked, "Scott your running three of the best little females I've ever seen. They'll just need more running to get even better."
I knew right off he had missed my point. I didn’t mean how to improve individuals, as I feel quite comfortable knowing how to prepare a dog for competition, I meant how to improve the average. How to make sure the product I produce is very consistent across the board. How will I make the next leap in breeding that most pups from a litter are field trial winners and extreme rabbit dogs?
I know I could pad the numbers by finishing more dogs. For me it is not about that. I'm not going to take a dog to a field trial unless I've spent some time in a pine thicket killing rabbits behind this dog. Two many beaglers never hunt and never find out what their dog is really made of. I could give you a list of FC's advertised in the magazine right now that we have owned and sold because they just did not meet our standards.
There is another group of beaglers out their as well. I call them mug hunters. These are the guys who want to buy a dog ready to win a field trial. They don't want to do the work it takes to breed and develop first rate dogs. These guys will buy a good dog and if they can't get it to win in a few weeks they are ready to sell it and find another. A person like this is not going to find what they are looking for in this sport. They may be better served to look into softball or possibly golf. Don't misunderstand, I know we all have to start somewhere. In fact I think it wise to buy the very best you can when you get started. But at some point you need to know a good thing when you see it and stick with it.
Alas, just like with all things it does take all kinds to make this game work.
Since I'm rambling on, here is another thing that strikes me as odd. Why all the complaining about a single field trial. Have you ever went rabbit hunting with a deer hunter. They always have a great spot for you to bring your dogs to hunt. You set it up, you give up going to your normal good place to go with this guy. You drive up and the trees are so thick you can't walk in them much less any sun light hit the ground for a briar to grow. The days usually turn out bad for rabbit hunting. The same think goes for a field trial. Trials are run by people, judged by people, and the contestants are people and their dogs. All prone to the ebbs and flow of normal emotional stress. To having a good day, to having a bad day. One trial should not be weighted like the world hangs in balance. Sure, I would have liked it better if my dog could have ran a little longer, but the fact remains, I'm not going to get up in the air over it if the judges decide to run him for 30 seconds. Sometimes it just doesn't turn out. It's a sport, enjoy it. The idea of going to the trial is to see what others have. Go to the trials, watch the dogs, learn what others are doing and stay on your course. If you can't handle that then chances are this isn't for you.
The picture is one I took yesterday with my phone of two little Cocoa Star females playing in front of the house.

2007-09-24T08:35:00.001-07:00

If you take the time to read my blog let me say thank you. I understand I am hard to follow most of the time. I'm not versed in forming paragraphs the proper way. Shucks, I feel pretty fortunate when I get a sentence complete. Only to be out done by the fact that I am one of the worst spellers to be allowed a public forum.
It's time I make sure everyone who follows my blog is aware of a an outstanding son FC Covington Cocoa Star. His name is G & S Slab Town Boogie Man. Slab is out of a very good rabbit hunting bitch named Carolina Judy. Judy was a no nonsense female. She was as solid as they come and didn't mind doing her work. She hunted very good, would run up in the engine room and would honor the work of her pack mates. I sold Judy to Rev. Jeff Griffith with an agreement he could breed her to Cocoa Star. The product of this breeding was a great litter. Their were 5 pups. Three male and two females. All 5 pups earned 1st place ribbons at UBGF Derby trials!
Of these 5 really good dogs one was something special. The kind you just don't see every day. Fact is you don't see a dog like this every year. I would venture to say most folks who might be a casual observers of the field trials and keep a good pack of rabbit hunting dogs may never get to see a dog like this in their life. Slab comes out of the box with a certain presence about him.
Any way, I started on this entry to let everyone know about a possible history making event. So far no AKC gundog beagle has earned his Field Champion title in just three trials. That would make him undefeated! Slab town has been entered in two AKC trials. The first was a Gundog Brace format held at Friendship Hill, Md. on Sept. 8th Where he won the first place ribbon out of 62 13" males. Slab was handled by Mr. Todd Herndon of Stokesdale, NC. Next Slab was entered at the SPO trial held at Quail Farm beagle club in Mebane, NC on Sept. 21. This time their were 92 little males in the class. Slab was co handled by Todd Herndon and Jared Griffith( one of Rev. Griffiths boys.) Once again Slab displayed his talents with an outstanding winners pack run to win the class.
The next trial on our fall circuit will be at Mountain Valley in Gretna Va. On Oct, 5th. Slab Town will have a chance to be the first ever undefeated AKC Gundog Field Champion. Wouldn't that be great! The fact is Rev. Griffith (Preacher) has worked very hard with his dog this summer. He allowed him to run nearly every day, including the month of August when it was over 100 degrees nearly every day. It is nice to see hard work pay off.
Whether Slab wins Mountain Valley or not, it should not take away from the fact that this is a very special dog. There are a number of good dogs at the trials. Several of them could win on any given day. They are breed good, they have owners or paid handlers who spend a lot of time running them. Those dogs will have their day as well, but for now, it looks like it's a Slab Town world.

2007-08-27T11:34:00.001-07:00

Thanks to all the people who came and joined us for the 2007 World Beagle Extravaganza. It was great seeing old friends and meeting a few new ones to boot. I met another man named Jeff Griffith. That's something you don't do everyday. I'm not sure the beagling world is ready for two of them :)
After things broke up at the club house; Doug, Bill and Chance Thomas, Jeff and Jacob Griffith, Preacher (Jeff Griffith), Gary Morman and his buddy Brad, Johny Finley, and I went to Doug's place to run dogs. I think we mixed and matched 5 or 6 different packs of dogs. It sure was a good time. It was the kind of day you hate to see end. Good people just enjoying dogs together. I hope we can do it again real soon.
For those of you who missed it, plan on being here next year.
PS. Preacher, please get permission to stay out and run dogs a little longer next year!!!

2007-08-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

Isn't the internet a wonderful tool? There is so much information available for anyone who cares to sit and research it. When it comes to dogs you can get almost any knowledge you need about the health and well being of your dog. If you could get to needed medicines you could almost be your own vet for anything that didn't need surgery.
When it comes to a dogs performance, especially beagles, the internet is not the place to learn proper operating procedure. Have you ever considered how much time it actually takes to get a dog to it's full potential. How many dogs would a man need to follow to truly understand all the things he is looking at. Years ago hounds men used to poke fun at the tailgate hunters who would say "listen to old blue, he got that one." The man would say it so much he had everyone believing Old Blue was a super dog. The modern version of these dog running sessions (cause people don't actually go run their dogs every day anymore) is the internet discussion forums. Seems the person with the biggest mouth (or strongest fingers) is the one that is heard. This tends to mislead the newcomers to our sport. I always wonder how people have time to be on those boards all the time.
When I was coming up we ran dogs nearly every day. I sure used my share of flashlight batteries following my dogs or anyone else's who would allow me to follow. I can remember running my dogs at two in the morning worrying that someone was going to call the police. I guess what I am trying to say is take what you read in these discussion forums for what they are, peanut gallery bull sessions. You can learn a lot. For sure there is some really useful knowledge that can be gained. The drawback is, if you haven't put your time in and wore out a bunch of pairs of boots, you will not likely be able to tell the difference. Hope your running is good.
PRAY FOR RAIN!

2007-06-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

Going to your first field trial.

By Ken Murray
Edited by Scott wilson

Going to your first field trial can be confusing and a little bit scary. Where to go, what to do, what to say, are questions the first timer has to ponder. Scott and I thought a list of do's and dont's might be helpful and entertaining. "How to go to a field trial" will be an A to Z list of the usual things you will encounter at your typical AKC licensed SPO trial. Let's get started:
A. A subscription to Hounds and Hunting Magazine. It is known as the field trialers bible. All SPO trials are advertised in the magazine. You will be able to pick a trial close to your home to attend. The ad will include Entry fee, Dates, closings time (the cut off to have your dog entered) running order, directions, to the beagle club, and the most important information, weather they will be serving breakfast and lunch.
B: Which class will I enter?
Field trials are divided into four classes.
13" dogs
15" dogs
13" bitches
15" bitches
Select what you think is your best hound, either male or female, and show up on the appropriate day. Your dog will need to be AKC registered and it can't be spayed or neutered.
When you arrive at the beagle club, go to the secretaries desk and ask for an entry form. If the form is confusing, sit down next to someone filling out their's and ask for help. Everyone, for the most part, will be happy to help you. All the information you will need is on your dogs registration paper. After you have completed the entry form, go to the secretary and enter your dog. You will best be served at your first trial to have your dog premeasured. You will have to decide between 13" and 15" premeasure. Guess at which one fits your dog best because it really doesn't matter.
Now that you have your dog entered:
C. Eat Breakfast.
Support the beagle club. Eat meals, buy raffle tickets, they need your money and you like competing at trials; you need them to provide you with a place to compete.
D. Mingle, make new friends. There will be lots of folks telling all they know or don't know about beagles running rabbits. Try not to get confused by all the talk about bloodlines.
E. Premeasure.
You will be called for your dog to be measured and placed in either the 13" or 15" class. You will then need to go back to the secretary and get your dogs number.
F. Write your dogs number down!!!
For the remainder of the trial, you will need this number to identify your dog.
G. Roll call.
Announcements are made, various officials are recognized. Every entrant in each class is read from the roll. When your dogs name is called answer "here."
H. The Drawing
Each class will randomly drawn into packs of 4,5,6 or 7 dogs. Pay attention to which pack your dog is drawn.
I. Going to the field.
Most clubs have running grounds near their clubhouse. Some will require you to drive to the running grounds. It will have been announced during the announcements but if you missed it just ask someone in your class for directions or simply follow them. Be sure you don't get mixed up and show up at the wrong running grounds. Often 15" and 13 " will be in two different locations. When you arrive at the running grounds the other handlers will be busy putting the proper color collars on their dogs. The color of collar your dog needs is determined by the order he was drawn in his pack. For example. The first dog drawn in a pack will be Red, 2nd dog white, 3rd dog blue,4th is green, 5th is yellow, 6th is orange, and seventh is black. If your dog is the third dog drawn in the 2nd pack his collar needs to be blue. Once you have your dog collared you are ready to go.
J. Go to the field.You need to gather with the other handlers of you pack in the field. The group of you need to be ready when you are called for by the judges. Keep your dog quiet. Don't let him get his lead tangled with the other dogs Keep your dog in control and not to close to the other dogs. You are now ready to go.
K. Next Pack
You lead your dog to the judges and marshall. The marshall is in charge of you and your dog in the field. The marshall will call out each dogs number in the proper order and you are to answer with the color of your collar.
L. Cast the hounds.
The marshall will announce "cast the hounds" and you simply turn your dog loose. The marshall will indicate the direction you need to hunt your dog. The judges will be watching for dogs that fail to hunt. Even if they appear to not be paying attention, they are watching. Encourage your dog to hunt, just like you do when you are gun hunting. Stay close to the other handlers and dogs. If you dog starts to wonder off in a different direction, work him back towards the others. Handlers and dogs should all be hunting together for a rabbit. Often, dogs or handlers will roust a rabbit and not know it. If you were to see a rabbit watch the direction it goes and yell Tally HO. Yelling Tally Ho may seem strange at first but it announces to everyone that game has been jumped. Using the term Tally Ho any other time is just poor etiquette.
M. Call the dogs.
Once some one has yelled Tally Ho it is treated just as if a dog is barking. The dogs that have been at this a while will come on the run. If your dog does not know what it means don't worry. As soon as the other dogs start barking he will hark right in, if he doesn't then he is probably not ready for a field trial. If a dog jumps the rabbit their will not be a Tally Ho and the dog opening will signal the game has been started.
N. The run begins
Here is the order. Rabbit, dogs, judges, marshall, then handlers. Stay behind the marshall with the other handlers. Do not discuss any dogs performance where the judges can here. Always follow the marshal's instructions. As the run progresses we come to---
O. Picking up dogs.
As the judges evaluate dogs performances, some or all the hounds will be eliminated. This is accomplished by the marshall picking up the hounds the judges indicate. If the marshall calls out your color get your dog and leave the field. Your dog is through for the day. If your dog is not picked up you will soon hear.....
P. Handle the Pack.
When the judges announce "handle the pack" go and catch your dog. This means your dog has "stayed down" and is still in consideration. He may or may not be called back to second series. After your pack has run, you should…
Q. Watch the other packs run. You are free to watch the other packs. As you spectate you should not intervene, physically or verbally with the other packs. By watching with other gallery members you will become more accustomed to the actual happenings in the field at a trial. We are now getting to my favorite part of the trial.
R. Dinner (or lunch if you are up north.)
Same as breakfast, participate. Usually the cost is $5 -$8 and the quality is good. After dinner…..
S. Second series.
Same as first series but with less hounds. The dogs are redrawn into different packs and go back to the field for further evaluation. After second series, we have either third series (which is just like the preceding series) or we have the winners pack.
T. Winners pack.
Every field trialers goal is to get his dog into the winners pack. If your dog is still in the mix - Congratulations! If not, go watch the best of the best compete that day. There are four places given, 1st - 4th and NBQ. NBQ stands for Next Best Qualified. The field trial ends when the judges shout..
U. Field Trial.
The trial is over, awards are presented, and it's time to go home. There are a few more thought and I need to share them with you.
V. Attitude
Field trials are supposed to be fun, so have fun.
W. Judges
Never openly criticize the judges. Thank them for judging the dogs and keep your thought to yourself. Complaining accomplishes nothing good because the judges decisions are final. If you feel the judges have performed poorly, don't enter your dog in any more trials judged by them. Speaking of judging…
X. Honestly judge your hounds.
when evaluating your dogs abilities, do so with open eyes. There are no perfect dogs. Yours is no exception. Don't let kennel blindness cloud your vision when assessing your hounds. Viewing your dogs and those of others with an open mind will help you.
Y. Make friends.
A field trail is a great place to meet other dog men. When you attend future trials, it makes it more enjoyable if you know other beaglers. Besides meeting great people, the best advise I can give you when you attend your first trial is….
Z. TAKE A REAL GOOD RABBIT DOG!

2007-05-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

Do you ever here peopel complain about the cost of fuel, bulding material, or just about anything else? I hear one guy say our government needs to stop sending our money over sees.
All that sound good but who is sending money over sees? The fact is, it ain't the goverment nearly as much as it's the Amercan consumer. Look at the parking lot of Walmart. Who is in their buying all that chineese product? The same people that complain about the price of gas! We buy cheap chinese product so the the Chineese need to buy fuel for thier manufacturing plants and cars. 30 years ago we were the only real market the oil companies had. Today any number of countries will gladly buy it.
Who's to blame? Ask your self, where were your shoes made? We've done this to our sleves. This insationable appetite for cheap goods will not end any time soon.
The next time you buy something, give a little thought as to the country of origian.

2007-04-26T09:53:00.001-07:00

I've had something on my mind for a few weeks now. If this applies to you then maybe it will help. Have you ever ask a beagler about what kind of dog food he feeds. It seems that more often than not they tell you what kind of feed they buy and where at. They almost always tell you the price they pay. Folks we need to wake up our sport. Good dogs are expensive. Shotguns are not cheap. For crying out loud, look at the price of the pick up trucks many are driving. Why do I still hear about beaglers trying to put the cheapest dog food possible into their dogs?
If you had a race car, would you show up at a race with watered down gasoline in the tank? I expect not. Why not feed your dogs properly? Who has to clean your kennels. Around here it's me. I want that job to be quick and easy. I want all of the dog food I buy with my dollars to be put to work, not washed out back of the kennel.
As you may expect, I have many visitors at my kennels. Most people remark about how shiny or good my dogs and puppies look. I wonder if they think that it's by accident. Look in my feed barrels, you won't find any 11.99 a bag dog food in their. If you want your equipment to work properly you have to take care of it. If you want you dogs to look and perform their best, you have to feed them right. For a while now I have been experimenting with different feeds. The one thing I can say for sure, you get what you pay for.
I have worked in the automotive quality feed for the last dozen or so years. I've learned that it's important to check your process at each step. The components or ingredients need to be tested and verified just as the finished product has to be tested. I know there are huge companies that have giant advertising budgets. They do a great job of touting their product. As you know all those ads cost money! That's passed right into each bag of dog food you buy.
I've found that Diamond dog food is a great choice for most kennel owners and hunters. They have the highest quality standards in the industry. They manufacture their feed right here in the Carolina's, and use no imported byproducts from China.
I have been very impressed with the puppy food as well as the new line of Diamond Natural dog food.

2007-03-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

Of course I haven't updated my blog lately. I thought I ought to do a little something.
I do have an announcement. I have several nice Star pups ready to go today. Please call us if you would like one.
Scott

2007-02-23T04:26:00.000-08:00

Well, this pciture doesn't belong in the rabbit hunting blog. This is the first calf we've bottle fed. She's and F1 Angus/Sem cross.

I'll add a good beagle pic to balane things out. :)

Seriously, we have started a new venture to compliment the beagle operatio. Five Forks Cattle Company. Moslty the cattle are hard work but we hope to make a good go at it. I sure have a lot of super nice calves this year. I hope I can get the better ones to small ranches and modern mini farms. The rest will end up at Bloom as certified Angus beef.

The other picture is me and J and J's Smokin Line Blue. Taken in 1991. Boy did I have a lot of hair then.

2007-02-20T05:26:00.000-08:00

It was a big weekend around the RHB camp. On Friday, Wayne Wardlaw finished his and Ken's 15" female Ginger at Robeson County. Ginger has a litter of pups out of Cocoa Star that may turn out to be the kind of litter history that can make history. They were born last summer. Wayne has one male that can already defeat much more experienced dogs and has beat two FC's in a short run. Ken has two females and a male. He told me yesterday he likes those two females so much he would not sell them for $10,000 ( I figure that's bluffing but for a man that doesn't care if Chili goes to forty dollars a bowl, who knows.) There are also two of these pups in the deep south. My understanding is one is owned by Joey Johnson and the other by Hall of Famer Scotty Panel. I hear these two pups have people talking down that way.
Ginger was not the only new FC this weekend. Tate's Yogi Bear won SE Georgia 15" male class to become Star's 3rd FC. As far as I know their have been 4 Star pups actively campaigned in AKC field trials so far. Three of them have finished and the other has two wins. How about that for producing power! I know of at least two more in the hands of rabbit hunters that could finish if campaigned.
Five Forks Cocoa Tom was taken to Abbeville's derby trial on Friday and got 2nd place behind his brother owned by John Price. I'm sorry I don't know the name of John's pup. The very next day Tom is taken to the Gundog Pack Elite National Championships where he gets 2nd place after a 30 minute brace with the current National Champion. I knew Cocoa Tom was a good one when he first started. He started his first time out and was a natural at running a rabbit. He has better than average top gear and just seems to zone in on a rabbit track even when all hell is breaking loose around him. I'll be adding more about Tom in the future. In the mean time, anyone who wants to breed to a good little male that is breed to produce is in for a treat. We will be offering free stud service from Tom until further notice. Our goal is get some early pups out of Tom so we can prove our breeding program works. Tom's mother Dreamer is Star's half sister out of Cocoa Bear and a top producing female named Lad Di.
Another Star female Sly Town's Clipper got 2nd place at the Abbeville Derby as well.
Jimmy Roland has a very nice Star male named Pepper. He was 4th at SE Georgia this weekend.
As if all this trial info was not enough I had a chance to go rabbit hunting with my friends Ken Murray and Randy Keese. Randy lives in Kennesaw Georgia but that Atlanta traffic hasn't taken the good ole boy out of Randy. Randy has some really nice females and he and his dogs are always ready for a hunt.
Darn, I just got a hot issue here at work so I am going to finish this later. But the just of the hunt, I killed my limit with my new 28 gauge shotgun again. Randy and ken each killed on rabbit. Until next time………….

2007-02-12T06:45:00.001-08:00

Sorry, I have let this thing get so far behind. I should really do better. It's been pretty busy at work and even more busy at home. It' s already February and gun season will be coming to an end soon. I sure didn't get to go as much as I had hoped for this year. I didn’t work in December so I just didn't have many days I could take off in January. I've got a new 28 gauge shotgun that I just love hunting with. In fact I took it once already and I got my limit that day. This could be my new good luck gun! I'll get to go a few more times before our season is over at the end of the month. Thank goodness Ken's line of work allows him to go hunting at will. In fact he's been taking some of my dogs hunting with him. That helps a lot.
In other big news, Oopsy Daisy is now an AKC field Champion! She is truly a gritty little female. I went rabbit hunting with Ronald Phillips of Georgia last month and he couldn't believe it. The next day he called and said, "Scott, I know Daisy is a good field trial dog, but she is a whole lot better hunting dog! In fact, she's a borderline jump dog." These were very kind words. I wonder how many people who own beagles truly understand first quality rabbit dogs? Many people attend a field trial and never "get" what it is that separates winners from the also rans. Conversely, many rabbit hunters have never get to see top quality dogs do their work. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with either group. I just know the price of dog food, kennel space, boots, and trucks is the same; no matter how good your dog is.
FC Tate's Lady Bear had her puppies last week. She is now a proud mother of a litter of five. Brad called me Saturday night to let me know her litter mate Tate's Yogi Bear got his second win at SandHilll this weekend. Mr. JW Orvin, Tate's grandfather and Brad's father-in-law told me that Yogi was the best rabbit dog of all the pups he's raised. You better believe I will be breeding one of my better female to Yogi. I'm not sure how many people outside of the South Georgia group know J.W. but he is indeed a man that knows how to breed top notch hunting beagles.

2007-01-12T08:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an odd rabbit hunt. I get to go rabbit hunting a fair amount and most days are typical. Not yesterday! Was it odd because we killed a truck load of rabbits? No. Was it odd because we found a bobcat and treed it? No. What then? It was odd because we killed only three rabbits. We ran them hard and furious! We even ran them all day! In fact, we were running rabbit number four when it got dark and we caught the dogs.
I've never been and had that much trouble cutting the rabbit off and shooting it. Don’t get me wrong, their was shooting. If I remember right their were seven shots fired to get the three we got. LOL
The party was Ken Murray, Larry Penley (Clemson University gold coach) and myself. We cast the first pack of dogs, a group of six year old dogs and Ken's old Controller female that had gotten out of the kennel this week and ran so much she looked like she was going to die. They jumped the first rabbit about 8:15AM. It was a solid race for about an hour or so until the rabbit crossed Ken at short range and ended his merry little pursuers chase. Larry had seen a sneaker come out of one briar patch a little earlier so we called the dogs over to the spot to see if they could do anything with it. Sure enough, the race was on and boy what a race! It ran for a while with me missing at least one shot. After a nearly two hours of this the rabbit had had enough and crossed the road. This was his mistake as the three of us would cover that road like a fat woman on a toilet seat. After a while of running on that side of the road the rabbit made an attempt to come home where Larry proved that a gold ball is not all he could hit. We checked the time and it was 12:15. We decide it was time for lunch. Over to the truck we go where the morning pack was put to rest and we busted into various types of junk food.
By the time we turned the next pack out it was 1:00PM. This pack consisted of two of Ken's 08 derbies, his four year old male Seaborne, three of my 07's and Daisy. By now the sun had made the day almost hot in these briar clothes. To make things worse the dogs were hunting like crazy but had not found a rabbit. After about twenty minutes I decided to take a little rest. After all, I hadn’t heard Ken or Larry in the last five minutes. I found a proper pine tree and took a seat. It was quite nice and shortly I fell asleep. It couldn't have been 10 minutes or so when I was woke from my nap by Starlet, one of my derbies, as she had rousted Mr Bunny from his bed. The other dogs fell in the race was on. This rabbit had apparently read the rule book as he made one big circle and came right to where I was still sitting. The trusty Ithaca did not miss this time.
Since this race was so short (only 20 minutes or so) I felt obligated to get up and encourage the dogs to find another. Within a couple minutes the dogs had another bunny up and there race was hot and heavy. I tried for a while to cut the rabbit off for a shot with no luck. I decided should move in and get a look at my derbies any way. Instantly I noticed one of my future superstars was not performing as she normally does. I knew why too. Her tail has gotten so badly damaged by the briars this year she is in a lot of pain. I slipped into the race and caught her. Figured I should put her up before the damage gets worse. I get back from the truck and the race is still solid. We all three shoot at it and do our best to cut it off but this guy is tricky. As darkness approached the pressure to kill this rabbit mounted. Can you believe it, it got dark on us. We ran that rabbit all the way to dark and never killed it. I caught the dogs with the last couple minutes of visible light.
The thing about this day was, we ran dogs nearly all day. This is not that strange until you consider we only used four rabbits!

2006-12-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say hello. I hope every one is getting a good start on thier rabbit season. I've had the opportunity to go a half dozen or so times this fall. I have indeed heard some great races. All that breeding and raisign of puppies has surely paid off! I was in Middle Ga, earlier this week and I had five Star pups on the ground. Four of them are 07 derbies. I turned thenm out after lunch break and they had been running the rabbit for well over an hour when I decided to start following (since I was way too ansie to stay still enough for a shot.) I could only smile when I started watching. In fact I saw the rabbit twice in 10 minutes by following the dogs. It was obvious he was getting winded and was starting to stay still way too long as the dogs continued to push. He crossed the dirt road and then the dogs split. I pulled them back together but I must have chose the fresher rabbit as they never did catch him. I got to shoot a few in front of these pups and boy did they like it.

My neapolitan mastiffs were born on the 13th. Boy those things are big. They are two weeks old now and they are the size of a six week old beagle. You can see some pictures here. http://www.rabbithuntingbeagles.com/Pages/Mastiffs/Neapolitan-Mastiff.asp

I also have som Star pups ready for thier new homes. If you want one give me a call. They will make you smile come next fall!

2006-12-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

Anna will be three weeks old On Christams day!.
Anna, Ahsly, Amy, and I are all very thankfull for all of the cards and letters we have recieved from you. We wish each of you a very Merry Christmas.

2006-12-09T14:13:00.000-08:00

I spent all this time today at the hospital writting a detail descritpion of the last week. Of Course I lost it some how and I ain't doing it over. The jist of is this......

Anna Elizabeth Wilson was born on Monday, Back in hospital Friday, and now thing are looking good and we expect to go home in the morning.

New pups were born on the coldest day of the year so far.

Thanks to my friends jeff Griffith and Ken Murray for helping take care of my dogs while I have been with my family at the hospital.

I have added a picture of my new daughter Anna as well as on of the new litter from Classy and Star.

2006-11-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally got my first rabbit hunt under my belt this year. It sure has been a long time coming. In SC, our gun season starts thanksgiving day. In fact, as a small children, my father would always take me and my brother Ray hunting every Thanksgiving morning. Any way, rabbit hunters in other states don't have to wait so long. In fact, Indiana hunters get to start enjoying the hunt on October 1st every year.
This crazy beagle hobby has allowed me to make many friends I would other wise never know. Two such men are Mr. Bob Anderson and Colonel Bill Davis of Indiana. Bob and the Colonel had been down to breed some bitches to Star so I really needed to get up their and see how the pups turned out ;)
The first obstacle I had to get over was simply get out of Town. I got off work and started getting my stuff together, loading dogs, etc.. About 3:00PM. If finally got on the road about 5:15 and rolled into Terre Haute, Indiana about 4:00AM. Bob had been very gracious about inviting me to his house but I didn't want to wake him up. I took a short nap in the truck (thanks Cracker Barrel) got me a cup of coffee and was at Bob's by 6:00AM. Soon after the Colonel arrived and were off to breakfast and rabbit hunting (dang it! Work is calling again!) Please let me know if you want to read all the details of the hunt. Just suffice it to say Bob and Colonel Davis are sure fine gentlemen and are very knowledgeable rabbit hunters. We killed 13 rabbits that day. Here is a picture.

2006-11-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

2006-11-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

2006-10-20T04:53:00.000-07:00

I am having trouble all of a sudden getting pictures uploade dto my blog. You can see most of the pics on my web site at www.Rabbithuntingbeagles.com

Well, now that Lady Bear has finished I can devote some attention to few other things in my life. Amy is expecting in December and she already is quite Wadley (if that's a word.) The house we have been remodeling all summer is starting to come together. The cabinets are on order and I finally have the tub/shower in the bathroom (of course I have a giant hole in the side of the house now :)
I plan to start working my derbies more. I do have a few I like a lot. I went out running last night. I really dislike running after dark but between work and the house I just can’t get away any earlier. I took a pair of my brood bitches out last night. One is from Sarge (Cocoa Bear) and the other off Smoke (Cocoa Bear), see a trend here. Classy is the one off Sarge and she is breed to Star now. They looked pretty good for a pair that has not had the proper amount of tracks on them. I have to be up at Friendship Hill next week to judge the big males and I might as well have something to runt he next day. I think these two females will do nicely. I will try to get them a dozen or so hours running this next week.
Let me know what you thing of this picture of Ashlyn and I on our mules? I am on Rudy and Ashlyn is on Small Fry. Small Fry is a pony mule.

I've also got very interested in breeding Neapolitan Mastiffs. What are they you say? The Neo, as they are called for short, is an Italian breed of dog that was discovered by the allies after WWII. The common belief is the Neo is nearly identical to the dogs used in war as late as the time of Alexander the Great. Why would I have a dog like that you wonder. I sure never expected to be interested in a giant dog. Several months ago I had my tools stolen from one of my buildings here at home. When talking this over with friends it was pointed out to me there was a bright side. The tools that were taken are replaceable, at least non of my beagle were taken. This really worried me as I have a few brood bitches that are essential to what I am trying to accomplish. I've never been one much to lock things up as that makes me feel like I'm living in fear. The problem is when we are working the place is quite vulnerable. I remembered as a kid my family always had a large dog around. I started doing my research on property guardian dogs and found the Neapolitan Mastiff. One of the key features to this beastly looking creature is it's desire to protect property and stay home. You see in Italy this was the dogs primary purpose. He has been breed to stay home and protect, just like we have breed the beagle to pursue Mr. bunny. I did a little searching and found a Neapolitan. She was a coming two year old about 25 inches at the withers and weighs in at about 100 lbs. Her name is Josie. Josie took right to us. She especially loves my six year old daughter Ashlyn.
Since I got Josie I have been looking at some of the breeders sites. Their really are some magnificent Neo's out there. My research has shown me that the Neapolitan world goes through fads just like the beagle world! In fact from the photos of the neo's I could find from the 50's -70's in Italy the dog has been changed some by the show fanciers in the US. That's not to say some super looking dogs don't win shows in the US but it appears the "culls" from the top breeders may leave something to be desired in the guard dog end of the business in that they seem to lack a little temperament as well as ferocious looks. Keep in mind I am a complete beginner to the Neapolitan and my experience is limited.
I decided I would try my hand at breeding these beast in an attempt to get a better specimen than Josie. She has some great qualities but I wanted to see if I could do better. I searched all over looking for a stud but could not find what I wanted exactly. Finally I met a lady that had a young male of just 17 months old. His name was Thore and I went to look at him. My first impression of Thore was of wonder. It was obvious this lady was not very experienced with the Neo herself as Thore was some what under weight for his breed but in very good shape as far as most breeds go. He had a huge head that pictures do not do justice. Thor's best asset, his temperament. There is no way I would get out of the car uninvited at that house! I believe Thore would Perform what he Proposes.I took this picture of Thor with Josie (remember Josie is 25" and about 100lbs.) I hope I get good pups. We'll just have to wait and see where this goes. In the mean time I don't have to worry so much about any beagles being stolen.

2006-10-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

It is way more difficult to keep up a blog than I had ever imagined. One would think it not that difficult but I must admit I have had a hard go of it. Maybe it is just something I have to get in the habit of.
I find it easier to write this morning as I have something great to write about. FC Tate's Lady Bear!
Lady Bear was bread by JW Orvin of Baxley Ga. JW and his Grandson Tate Carter are co owners of Lady Bear. The first time I saw Lady run a rabbit I knew she was a special hound. I tried for an entire summer to buy Lady Bear. I don't have access to a lot of money and I offered Mr. JW $1500 for this super little Lady. Mr. JW was appreciative of the offer but told me he and Tate would just keep her. I later learned that JW had turned down nearly three time the amount I had offered. Well, I was persistent and finally Mr. J.W., knowing my only real concern was that Lady Bear be exposed to the beagling public so that everyone could see what this bloodline can produce, made me a wonderful offer. He said he would hand Lady Bear over to me for rabbit hunting and Field Trialing. I was to compete with Lady, raise a litter of pups and then return her to him. Needless to say, this was the perfect solution! I picked up Lady bear in August of 2005. She was a bit too heavy and out of shape as the rattle snakes around Baxley makes for treacherous running in the warm months. I brought Lady home and started working her at once. The trial season was coming on quickly and there was not much time. I slowly started taking the weight off Lady Bear by feeding her a steady diet of rabbit tracks and Purina Pro Plan Performance dog food. Lady was ran in the hear of the day. I constantly pushed her to see just how good this girl was. Finally Thanksgiving came around and rabbit hunting season began. Lady was quick to make her self one of the dominant hound in the rabbit hunting pack. She took quickly to producing rabbits from the South Carolina Pine thickets. By the time December rolled around Lady Bear was ready to win. She was taken to Rocky River Beagle club in NC where she came home with her first win. A few more weeks of rabbit hunting and then we were off to Robeson County Beagle club. Once again Lady was able to win the trial. January and February was filled with 2nd and 3rds for Lady Bear. She was super consistent but for one reason or another just kept coming up a little short. I ended the 05-06 trial season with only two of the three wins needed to male Lady Bear a Field Champion. Summer came and summer left. October was here and the 06-07 season was upon us. I took Lady Bear to Mountain Valley Beagle club where she got her final win and was was named AKC field Champion. Lady Bear has is indeed one of the great ones!

2006-08-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

Here it is. It's already August. Beagles all over the country will soon be getting out of the kennel to be tuned up. Deer season in most of South Carolina starts August 15th. Although you can't tell by the temperature, deer season normally signals to me fall is near and rabbit season will soon follow. For most of us rabbit season will not actually start until November but the dogs will require some tuning up. I'm going to try and get son short videos of my dogs running as well. I just need to figure out how to get them on here.

2006-08-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

Seems I have not been adding to my blog like I had planned. I'll try to do better. I was looking through some old pictures and saw these two you might enjoy. The picture with the two dogs are FC Thomas's tiny Buzz and FC Brown's LA Future of the Past. Buzz was the first FC out of FC Coleman's Controller Kid. Future was one of many out of FC Brown's LA Tiny Bull. This picture was taken right after I had come home from a trip to Pennsylvania and and West Virginia where both dogs got their final wins.

The other picture is FC Flat Creek Joshua. Josha was out of FC Flat Creek Blake. Josh was the sire of a number of FC's. His most well know prodigy was Briskey's Run Em Ove Tank. I was fortunate enough to be able to offer Joshua at stud for several years.

2006-07-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

Starting Puppies

One of the most important things you can remember when starting puppies is to get your mind right. Puppies are puppies. Often times, pups have spent most of the last six months in a small pen. They don't know how grass smells, what concrete or gravel is, even how their own track smells as it lays on the ground. All of this to say, can we really expect a pup that has never been out of his pen to know much his first time out?
How you condition, train and socialize young pups is very important for you and the pup. Since we would rather discuss the nuts and bolts of puppy starting; I'll save the 6 weeks to 6 month old training for another article and jump right to starting the pup. You can talk to half a dozen good dog men and you may get six different answers as how to start a beagle pup. One of the most important factors to consider is the size of your operation. If you only need to start a couple pups or maybe a litter you might want to proceed in the method I'll outline today.
Why do I think 6 months is the right age? The main reason is that younger pups, more often than not, just don't have the physical size to push briars and tall weeds aside. Sure, you can get younger pups to start. Often the pup will learn life long habits trying to overcome his lack of size and strength.
First, find a place that will offer few distractions. Some pups tend to loose their focus if there's lots of interesting things going on around them.
For this method you will only need two things; a wire cage, and rabbit. Place the rabbit in the wire cage. Bring the pup into the area where the rabbit is. He should spot it as it hops around in the cage. He may double take at this new creature a time or two. He may even back off as if he is scared. Don't worry this is normal. If the time is right the pup will soon start to sniff the rabbit through the cage. This will be followed by the young hound scratching and biting at the cage in an attempt to get the bunny. As the rabbit is safely in the cage the pups frustration at not being able to get him will quickly lead him to bay at the rabbit. This will likely be the first time you will hear the actual note he will use while he runs a rabbit. Once the pup starts tonguing at the rabbit you will notice his intensity will increase as he works himself into a tizzy trying to get that rabbit. Now the pup is ready to start running. It is important to note, this author has almost never seen a pup start tonguing on a track if that pup would not first give tongue to a rabbit in a cage when given the opportunity. That's not to say a pup can’t start with out the cage exercise, but I have observed through the starting of many pups, the pup that refuses to bay at a caged rabbit will not take track.
I will typically allow the pup to bay at the rabbit for about one minute before I move on. It is ideal that the place you are working has some tall weeds or brush that will allow a rabbit to get out of site of the pup quickly. Now place the pup on a lead and open the rabbit cage. Hopefully you have a good rabbit and he will quickly run towards weeds. You pup should be pulling on the lead and barking now as much as ever. Just as the rabbit goes out of sight "RELEASE THE HOUNDS" ( I always wanted to say that) and the pup will take off after the rabbit. Now we need to be rooting for the rabbit to get away as it is important for the pup to loose site of the rabbit. As the pup cast about looking for the rabbit he will start to realize he can smell the rabbit. It is at this very moment most pups will put there nose to the ground and start tracking the rabbit tonguing aloud as they make progress. If the pup looses interest or looses the scent don't over react. Just encourage him to look for the rabbit. If needed you can walk him in the direction the rabbit went. Hopefully he will smell it before he sees it. Because tame rabbit from a cage can't run for very long the rabbit will still be in the area. Just look around you will find him. On occasion you and the pup will loose the rabbit. If you were doing this exercise in you own yard you will be in luck. The next day or so you will see the rabbit again eating on the lawn. This time go get the pup and take him over to where the rabbit is (was.) He should pick up on the scent and start to bay as before. Your pup is almost started. All you have to do now is take him for a walk where wild rabbits live. Soon enough he will smell one and start to run.
Now let me caution you before you start. Once your pup can see the rabbit in the cage and will bark at it, only let him see the rabbit sparingly or not at all. You do not want the young fellow to think it is his eyes he should be using to find Mr. Bunny.
Remember I said this is not the only way to start a pup. It takes a little time with you and your pup. Time I will add you should find as rewarding as any you have spent. I would also like to mention that I have used this method on several dozen pups my self and have found it to work 100 percent of the time.
I hope you will consider starting your pup your self, instead of using the starting pen. There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when you hear that pup open on the line for the first time. If you have any question or comments feel free to drop me a line.

2006-07-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

This weekend has finally brought a long anticipated event for our kennel. Daisy has whelped her puppies. She was breed to FC Bullocks Creek Smoke on Mothers day. 62 1/2 days later…… Whalaaa! If you have kept up with the site you already know Daisy is out of Star. Star is out of Cocoa Bear and a female out of Hokie High. Smoke is also out of Cocoa Bear and a female out of Hokie High. That's enough to make your head spin, but the idea is to intensify the genes that make these dogs what they are. Any way, take a look at Daisy and her new babies. I'll be making updates on the progress of these pups as they grow. With any luck we can chronicle their hunting careers down the road.
I also have another nice young male out of Star and Covington's Dreamer. His name is Palmetto State Cocoa Tom. I named him Tom after Tom Covington. He is the breeder of Star and Dreamer. Dreamer is out of Cocoa Bear and a Buzz Line Director female. Since Tom Covington is the breeder on both parents I thought it was fitting for the dog to be named after him. I hope my eye has not failed me and Cocoa Tom is as good as I think he is. I'll be keeping you posted on his progress as well.
One other thing, I am working on an article about starting puppies. I get lots of emails asking about this so I thought I'd write something up. I hope to get it finished later this week.
Until next time…………….

2006-07-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

It's a busy time around the kennel right now. It's dead mid summer and I have the itch to run dogs more right now than ever. I can remember 10 years ago it darn near impossible to have a race when it was 90 degrees out. Today's dogs just seem to be able to put on a race no matter what. I'm not sure if I have learned that much more about what qualities really help a rabbit race and which ones hurt the race or it's just a weather pattern allowing scenting to be better the last few summers.
Lady Bear is ended the season in the spring with 2 wins and over 500 points. She's still one win short of gaining the title of Field Champion. Since most of you have never seen Lady Bear run, let me tell you, she is one that truly deserves the title. She rarely has failed to make the winners pack at the field trails she has been entered in. She is almost always in the thick of things. If a dog has 500 points, that's a lot of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishes. These are classes in the south east where the typical class size consists of over 50 dogs. This is not to mention what she is like rabbit hunting. All of that to say this; I keep her in pretty close to competition form as I never know when the bug to travel up north and compete one weekend will bite.
I'm torn to tell the truth. I feel really strong about her chances to win if I were to go N for one the trials. The down side is this: I am scheduled to judge 4 trials in September and October. I judge 15" hounds as I compete in the 13" class. If I go N and she gets that 3rd win I will not have a dog to run at the trials I am already committed to going to. What to do?
If you know me you'll also know I have another really good bitch, Daisy. Daisy is 8 weeks pregnant with pups from FC Bullocks Creek Smoke. She is due the 16th and don't expect her back in trial form until late October or maybe later. The fact is, it may take part of rabbit season to really get her tuned back into shape. No matter though, Daisy is a super bitch. She hunts for a rabbit like she's a crack addict looking for her pipe. Daisy is out of Star and if you know your pedigrees, you already know Smoke is Stars 3/4 brother. These pups should have all the same great qualities of Smoke, Star and Daisy. I'm sure looking forward to them.

2006-07-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is my first post. I'm really just trying to figure out how this works. I am so computer illiterate! I think you can go straight to my web site by clicking on the "my web page" button on the left. Jus in case you can use this link www.RabbitHuntingBeagles.com There you will find information on my beagles as well as a few articles I've written on the subject. I do have running dogs and pups available from time to time so stop in and take a look. As always, I welcome your comments.

2006-07-10T08:37:00.000-07:00