Good day everyone. I've moved my blog over to the new site http://www.rabbithuntingbeagles.net/
This should make it easier on me to do the blog. Please comment and ask questions.
Also, go ahead and bookmark the new blog site as well as subcribe to my feed.

I radn dogs with Doug yesterday. I did get to shoot a few minutes worth of video of some young females in hot pursuit of Mr bunny.

Young female beagles

Why geography matters

Standing in a pine thicket a couple weeks ago I realized something I thought was very profound. The timber industry and more specificly the mass planted pine tree, has saved modern rabbit hunting. Ok yes I agree rabbits are being hunted on old farms. Pastures with overgrown fence rows, old wood lots, and fallow crop land are all good places to find rabbits. What those places don't have however is acres and acres of it available. Pine tree plantations are nearly as common in the south east united states as corn fields are in the mid west. The pine thickets are planted and the land owner expects to reap a healthy profit come harvest time some fifteen to thirty years down the road. In the mean time, he typically leases that same property out to recreational sportsmen (that's us.) Millions of acres are planted this way. This large supply allows the rabbit hunter to take advantage of plenty of places to hunt. It's by this good fortune, we rabbit hunters have a great supply of hunting ground. Why do rabbits like pine trees you may ask? Well, it's not exactly the the pine trees that attract the little bunnies. You see, the primary ingredient you need to keep a healthy supply of rabbits is heavy cover. The thicker and nastier the brush and briar's look, the more likely you"ll find rabbits. I've took the liberty of assuming you have a good hunting beagle along. These pine trees are planted in rows and tiny seedlings. The ground in nearly clean with the life giving rays of the sun shining right on the earth. Weed seeds, black berry's, and even Sumac are resurrected from their hibernation come spring. Quickly the ground cover gets thick and the rabbits move in. Typically by the time the pine trees are 10 foot tall a place will be covered with rabbits. Happy Hunting Everybody. I'm heading over to Foothills beagles club to meet Doug Grant and look at some started pups run.

rabbit dogs and the modern sportsman

I just wrote a whole paragraph about why I havn't been blogging consistently and just deleted it. WHO CARES!
I just wanted to get you updated on what's going on now. February is dead on us and there's just a few more weeks of gun season left. To tell the truth, it's been such a mild winter, it seems like it should already be over. One thing about it, the rabbit races have been really good this year. I'm fortunate enough to have two excellent FC females that jsut make rabbit hunting fun. I almost never use my tri tronics shock collars any more.
The 20 acres of running enclosure right in my back door sure makes training youg dogs easier. I imagine I am putting 5x more tracks on a young dog than I could just a few years back.
If you havn"t already check out my beagle podcast . You can scroll down a bit and see it. Let me know what you'd like to hear me ramble about.
Also Like us on our RHB Face Book page. It's the best way to stay up to date. I like it becuase I can post videos and info right from my mobile device.
Well that does it for today. I need to go to the kennel and and get the Purina Pro Plan dished out for the day.
Also Brandon Trice is out in my enclosure running his dogs. I might better make sure he us OK. Until tomorrow......

Late December beagle running

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

RHB podcast radio show

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.