COTTONTAILS

[J. A. EARLY]

Over the last year, having lost all of his older dogs, my cousin has put together the most motley looking pack of five beagles one could ever see. No uniformity of size or color; voices that go from a hound to a squeal. There is Tiny with her high pitch, and Ruby and G.P. named after his parents. But we have been into lots of rabbits lately, jumping twelve in one day and this had made them into a great pack.

On the other hand my wife worked for a "Beagler." With a pack of thirty dogs all the same size, the same speed, the same coloring, and the same voices. No rabbits are killed as a group of like minded folks follow the hunt master. Dogs that don't fit in are culled. I've got one given to me when I wanted a lone rabbit dog to hunt with. I could never catch the fool and he barks at me constantly to this day. He now sleeps all day in our bed and my wife won't let him out of the house for fear he will run off. Worthless to me but she loves him (it now).

On shooting rabbits in front of bird (quail) dogs, we all did it. It probably goes back to the depression and trying to survive. It never seemed to affect the dogs, and often they would track down a wounded rabbit you hit and bring him back to hand. They stood rabbits in the bed just like it was a bob white.