PARKER RABBIT HUNT
 

A short morning hunt with Parkers on 2-3-24. Taken at dinner break (lunch for y'all above the Mason-Dixon line).:)

Trojan 12, DHE 16, Trojan 20. All with open chokes in the right barrels.

Wonderful! With beagles, or walked up?

After going with my cousin a couple times and being informed by a member here “it just ain’t right to shoot rabbits that aren’t being run by beagles” . If you kick them up before the beagles hit I was informed do not shoot :whistle:

But ya gotta have beagles.

35 years or so ago i had 4 beagles and 2 high school age sons who needed some thing constructive to do after the bird season ended. we ran the dogs every Sunday year round and hunted them Sat, and school vacations till their ribs were showing, they looked abused except for there muscle structure.
The rule was no shooting on the jump and the dogs had to run 15 minutes before you could load your gun. As they got better they switched to .22 rifles then pistols. The dogs when coming to where a rabbit was killed acted discussded and gave us a very hard look before going off searching again.
Kept two boys busy and out of mischief and got them a lot of time in the woods that taught them how to also hunt deer in that the same discipline applies to both.
I really miss those days, my last beagler friend died 5 years back and now when i hear a hound running i just listen to the chase and remember those days.

I’d sure like to go on a rabbit hunt using beagles again. I got to go several times when I was a kid at the invitation of friends. What a special way to hunt. I’d also like to hunt deer again over hounds…and carry a Parker while doing it.

Wishful thinking.

(Thanks for this post!)

Rutledge writes that rabbits and deer with hounds, if you know one you know the other.
I have a VH 30 inch full and mod. the same as his and would love to get the chance to go on a deer hunt with hounds. Not so much to kill a deer but to listen to the hunt and be part of it.
Where i grouse hunt in Maine the bear season for hounds is open in Oct. and when a hunt is heard we will follow it at a distance to listen to it and we have returned a few lost hounds to the guides. I have no desire to kill a bear but love the hunt.

We’re on the same page concerning Rutledge and using a Parker for deer the way they used to do it . I went so far as to talk to Rick Hemingway about doing just such a hunt at his place since it isn’t to far from Rutledge’s old stomping grounds .

Share your favorite recipe please, I have one in the freezer.

Six beagles. Kept them away to prevent them dragging them off and walking on guns. A couple of videos of shots on Youtube at J. A. Early. Have to scroll down to a blue circle with a J in it.

Par boil until tender. Flour or use your best/favorite chicken batter and brown at high oil heat then simmer with a lid on and onions until done. Add flour to oil to make gravy. As we say in the South, eat with "light bread" (white sandwich bread).

Jerry that sounds just delicious.

I might have a way to make that happen, if we can figure out a couple places to go.....:rolleyes:

Jerry thank you for the videos, brings back a lot of memories.

We never shoot rabbits going from the bed. The greatest fun is hearing the beagles run and trying to find the rabbit sneaking by you in the thicket.

Jerry, I finally located the videos—wonderful stuff! Was that at Amelia WMA? If so, my Pop and I have quail hunted there.

I got to do that again a couple years ago, but carried my big 32" HE grade Super Fox, with 3" chambers. It was great fun. There are still a few people around here that run deer with dogs, but the laws have made it very hard to do legally, as there is now an acreage minimum on the size of the property the dogs are released on.

I even got a shot but the deer was running flat out through brush and trees when it came near me and I just flat out MISSED!

I'm envious, Stan. When I was a kid we belonged to a very modest hunt club (some guys from church who knew a local judge who owned land). It was mostly stand hunting on this small 400 acre tract, but on occasion the hunt masters would bring a small beagle to roust out the bedded deer in a thorn and honeysuckle field. For a kid, it was a grand affair, and I remember the only time a buck was run by us -- I, with my Pop, sitting on a log waiting. Pop let me have his 12 gauge Winchester auto, and he carried a Stevens 20 gauge double (both of which I still have). The small buck bounded up, Pop shot and apparently missed. I, with the heavy hardware, sat on the log with my mouth open. Pop never said a word about my not shooting...and I never told about his inglorious miss.

Oh, for those days again!

Gary,

We were hunting on a farm that had been in a friend's family for a couple of centuries. About ten miles from the WMA, past the courthouse. The son has cleaned some land and it has grown into briars. We found all of the rabbits in one small area. My cousin said that at this time of year that is common as they are getting together as things warm up. This is the first time I have videoed rabbit hunts. Turkey and rabbit hunts are great to video as there is a lot of vocalizations to be heard.

Craig, it's like hunting grouse, the locals say "Shoot 'em where you see 'em!!" I agree with the locals. As long as the dogs are nowhere near the critter, it is fair game. :corn:

My first hunting experience was with my Dad and Mr. Wally, his hunting buddy. They both had beagles and it was what convince me that it wasn't hunting
unless you were using a trained dog. Good memories form days past. I would also like to beagle hunt again for old times sake.

looks like a great day!

When I was a kid, everyone I know who lived out of town had a beagle or three. THey were the most common dog around and everyone hunted rabbits with them. They also stayed in a fitdue to their hard headedness on the hunt. Loveable all the rest of the time. Truth was thought that there were simply so many rabbits that you could limit out on them by walking through the field a couple of hours. The beagle hunting was more about the dogs. Deer hunting wasn't a problem because there hadn't been any deer for all practical purposes since before the turn of the century in Northeast KY. Although they seem to be making a small comeback, I didn't see a rabbit in over 20 years. We conversly had a herd of 50 to 75 deer on our old farm and watch them and the turkeys in our back yard during breakfast. Hard to fathom how things change in both directions in both directions. The rabbit issue is, I believe, due to coyotes illegally imported by fox hunters. As farmers gradually deal forcefully with the coyote issue, I believe the rabbits ar coming back and the deer improving more. The fox are even making a noted rebound.

My cousin Mark and I used to hunt together in my youth, we sure had some good times chasing after those short legged beagle hounds. Mark is pushing 90 these days and his gunning days are behind him sadly. But the rabbits have essentially disappeared down at home too, sad days for sure.

Unless you’re starving for a chunk of flesh, you let the dogs run the rabbit. A pack running down a holler barking and baying is sacred singing.