|
|
Post by jbmopar on Dec 17, 2020 21:48:24 GMT -5
I have an almost 2 year old Basset that I’ve been considering training to flush rabbits. I’ve never done it before and am hoping to find some advice. Are there any good training guides or books out there better than others? Any tips or tricks? We have rabbits in the yard all the time and he loves chasing them so I think he may do well with it. Thanks in advance!
|
|
|
|
Post by span870 on Dec 18, 2020 19:12:36 GMT -5
I have an almost 2 year old Basset that I’ve been considering training to flush rabbits. I’ve never done it before and am hoping to find some advice. Are there any good training guides or books out there better than others? Any tips or tricks? We have rabbits in the yard all the time and he loves chasing them so I think he may do well with it. Thanks in advance! I'd assume I answered you on Facebook since I doubt two people have bassets they want to use for rabbits. Is the dog chasing them by sight or does it actually put it's nose down and trail them? Two completely different things. If he's scenting them you're well on your way. Take him out as much as you can and it'll come. If it's just sight chasing, unfortunately that's not a sign one way or another if it'll hunt. All my dogs will sight chase. If it's sight chasing you need to find a way to get it to use it's nose. When the dog loses sight keep him in the area where the rabbit is until he puts his nose down and starts trailing. Eventually one and one will come together. Word of caution. I grew up hunting behind bassets. They are the most hard headed, stubborn, lack of sense dogs ive owned besides a bulldog. It ain't going to come quick if it does. Takes a lot of time with the breed. If you know someone with slower beagles it will help to take him out with the beagles and see if he'll pack up with them and chase. Let him see what he is supposed to do. Either way, have fun. Don't expect much, and please don't expect a whole lot of speed. |
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Dec 20, 2020 1:42:59 GMT -5
Used to work with a guy who had a basset that he hunted rabbits with, and he really liked it. He was another bowhunter and enjoyed the slower working dog. He said the beagles would push the rabbits harder and they would come around moving faster, but with the basset they tended to come around at a slower pace, which gave him much better shot opportunities with the bow.
We had one at the farm for a while and he was a character. Didn't seem at all slow in his thinking. I also had a beagle at the time and the basset was definitely the smarter of that pair. He wasn't with us long enough to try to hunt rabbits. He was welcome enough to come inside for a brief visit, but wasn't supposed to get up on the furniture or sleep in the house. He'd get in when someone wasn't careful coming in the back door, and he'd run through the kitchen and around the corner to into my sister's room and jump up on the bed, and when any of us who quickly followed him to put him out got to her doorway, he'd be lying there like he'd been there all day, eyes closed, with the bed still shaking from his landing. He was a cute one, and was also one dog over the limit for our household and he got adopted by another family member pretty quickly.
|
|
|
|
Post by stevein on Dec 20, 2020 10:44:21 GMT -5
It has been my experience with Beagles that you really do not train them to hunt. They either hunt or don't. You give them opertunity to hunt and if they have it the more you take them the better they get in most cases. Span870 has given you good advice.
If he just likes to bust them out you can change your style some and get around brush and try to shoot the rabbits as they come out. Not classic hound work but it may do. The Basset will really have to work to get through some of the thick stuff that a smaller Beagle can slip through.
Try it you never know.
|
|
