silly goose
45 Cal.
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2010
- Messages
- 712
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Deer season ended Tuesday, and my freezer is sitting pretty well. Sadie, my beagle, has been on standby, waiting for today.
We have about 10" of snow on the ground, but it warmed up to about 40 degrees today with a mild South wind. Made sure my .50 rifle was spotless, and oiled up, and put her away for the time being. Now to get the .62 smooth bore off the rack. Wiped her down, ran a couple dry patches down the bore.
Then I proceeded to get my bag ready for bunny season. After preparing the bag, I took my time and loaded up directly from the bag. first 60gr ffg, a hard card, half a lubed fiber wad, lubed with moose snot, then 65gr #6 shot, and finally an over shot card. Almost ready. Pulled on my overalls, and tried to decide how many layers would be enough. Then I went upstairs to fetch Sadie.
She knew what was going on as soon as I touched her collar and she could hear the bell. She about turned herself inside out. Collar finally on a very wiggly beagle. Downstairs we go. Grab the smoothie and head for the door.
Once outside, Sadie ran for the jeep. Nope, not today. I call her and we head to the woods behind the house. Once I hit the woods I pick the vent and prime up. We have about a half mile walk through deer country before we reach rabbit habitat, so I'll keep her close while she works her wiggles off. Pretty uneventful walk, until we reach the overgrown orchard we set out for.
I've mentioned before about how thick the woods were behind my house. They are thick, but nothing compared to this old orchard. I wait on the edge letting Sadie do her thing. This is our first time out, and all is good. She is happy, the weather is right, the sun is warm, we are sheltered from the breeze, just add rabbits.
It doesn't take long, maybe 10 minutes. She is very thorough and doesn't miss much. We have learned together as she is my first beagle, and this is her fourth season. I can tell by how tight she is working this certain patch that something is up. Before she makes a peep, I see a bunny making its way through the brush toward me. I contemplate shooting it, but the dog hasn't even picked up on it yet, and I want to hear her run. The bunny is sitting 15 yards in front of me when she starts to whimper, she does this just before she lets loose. I think its when she has the scent but is still figuring things out. Whammo, she's got it, and here she comes. Bunny decides to put some distance between them and goes by me at the same 15 yards headed SouthEast. Here comes my Sadie, I've waited a long time to hear her wail. A joy to watch her follow a track. There she goes, really winding up now. Its funny how with time, you know exactly what your dog is doing just by sound. She is doing great, I'm sure I was smiling like an idiot on the edge of the br'r patch.
Now she's headed South, and quickly turns in a Westerly direction heading up hill. Probably 100 yards away or so. I listen intently to every howl and yelp, scanning the thick brush before me on the hillside. She's heading North now, still about 100 yards out. I'm loving this. Slowly she turns, finally coming around, I can tell she is headed my way. To my right I catch movement. Yup, Mr. Bunny is trying to sneak by. Bunny is heading South, maybe 20 yards in to the real thick stuff. I watch for a clearing, as small as it may be, big enough to see a rabbit anyway. Chaboom, the bunny lays still. Sadie is still a couple minutes out. I leave my smoothie on the edge and make my way in the prickers. I get to the bunny about the same time as Sadie. She is rather nonchalant about the whole thing and goes back to work. Our first bunny of the season and it couldn't be any better.
Sadie and I spent about 4 hours harassing those bunnies. She ran several good tracks, and I missed one more, well at least knocked a little hair out of him. At sunset, we walked home. I can tell you I was wore out, but that poor beagle, she stayed in my boot prints all the way home and never deviated. She is sleeping by the wood stove now. Job well done.
Momma said we may have to get a pup to help Sadie out, which totally shocked me. As I said, Sadie is my first beagle, and I am quite impressed with the breed. I used to train waterfowl dogs, and they were good dogs. But I have never seen any animal work as hard as this beagle will. She will run herself lame if you let her. I often wonder what it would be like to hear two dogs run, and if there would really be a benefit to the hunt? One day I may find out, but for now, I consider it a blessing to hear Sadie run the br'er patches. Wish I had a picture of the day, it would have been far more impressive than these words. Thanks for listening. I gotta go spoil Sadie a bit.
We have about 10" of snow on the ground, but it warmed up to about 40 degrees today with a mild South wind. Made sure my .50 rifle was spotless, and oiled up, and put her away for the time being. Now to get the .62 smooth bore off the rack. Wiped her down, ran a couple dry patches down the bore.
Then I proceeded to get my bag ready for bunny season. After preparing the bag, I took my time and loaded up directly from the bag. first 60gr ffg, a hard card, half a lubed fiber wad, lubed with moose snot, then 65gr #6 shot, and finally an over shot card. Almost ready. Pulled on my overalls, and tried to decide how many layers would be enough. Then I went upstairs to fetch Sadie.
She knew what was going on as soon as I touched her collar and she could hear the bell. She about turned herself inside out. Collar finally on a very wiggly beagle. Downstairs we go. Grab the smoothie and head for the door.
Once outside, Sadie ran for the jeep. Nope, not today. I call her and we head to the woods behind the house. Once I hit the woods I pick the vent and prime up. We have about a half mile walk through deer country before we reach rabbit habitat, so I'll keep her close while she works her wiggles off. Pretty uneventful walk, until we reach the overgrown orchard we set out for.
I've mentioned before about how thick the woods were behind my house. They are thick, but nothing compared to this old orchard. I wait on the edge letting Sadie do her thing. This is our first time out, and all is good. She is happy, the weather is right, the sun is warm, we are sheltered from the breeze, just add rabbits.
It doesn't take long, maybe 10 minutes. She is very thorough and doesn't miss much. We have learned together as she is my first beagle, and this is her fourth season. I can tell by how tight she is working this certain patch that something is up. Before she makes a peep, I see a bunny making its way through the brush toward me. I contemplate shooting it, but the dog hasn't even picked up on it yet, and I want to hear her run. The bunny is sitting 15 yards in front of me when she starts to whimper, she does this just before she lets loose. I think its when she has the scent but is still figuring things out. Whammo, she's got it, and here she comes. Bunny decides to put some distance between them and goes by me at the same 15 yards headed SouthEast. Here comes my Sadie, I've waited a long time to hear her wail. A joy to watch her follow a track. There she goes, really winding up now. Its funny how with time, you know exactly what your dog is doing just by sound. She is doing great, I'm sure I was smiling like an idiot on the edge of the br'r patch.
Now she's headed South, and quickly turns in a Westerly direction heading up hill. Probably 100 yards away or so. I listen intently to every howl and yelp, scanning the thick brush before me on the hillside. She's heading North now, still about 100 yards out. I'm loving this. Slowly she turns, finally coming around, I can tell she is headed my way. To my right I catch movement. Yup, Mr. Bunny is trying to sneak by. Bunny is heading South, maybe 20 yards in to the real thick stuff. I watch for a clearing, as small as it may be, big enough to see a rabbit anyway. Chaboom, the bunny lays still. Sadie is still a couple minutes out. I leave my smoothie on the edge and make my way in the prickers. I get to the bunny about the same time as Sadie. She is rather nonchalant about the whole thing and goes back to work. Our first bunny of the season and it couldn't be any better.
Sadie and I spent about 4 hours harassing those bunnies. She ran several good tracks, and I missed one more, well at least knocked a little hair out of him. At sunset, we walked home. I can tell you I was wore out, but that poor beagle, she stayed in my boot prints all the way home and never deviated. She is sleeping by the wood stove now. Job well done.
Momma said we may have to get a pup to help Sadie out, which totally shocked me. As I said, Sadie is my first beagle, and I am quite impressed with the breed. I used to train waterfowl dogs, and they were good dogs. But I have never seen any animal work as hard as this beagle will. She will run herself lame if you let her. I often wonder what it would be like to hear two dogs run, and if there would really be a benefit to the hunt? One day I may find out, but for now, I consider it a blessing to hear Sadie run the br'er patches. Wish I had a picture of the day, it would have been far more impressive than these words. Thanks for listening. I gotta go spoil Sadie a bit.
