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Beagles for birds?

BRULEDRIFTER

By BRULEDRIFTER
in Hunting Dogs

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goose52 Contributor

goose52

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Had a beagle back in the seventies. worked great on pheasants, altough she got sidetracked on rabbits ocasionally. great rabbit dog of course. she flushed the pheasants and would find them after you shot them, but would not retrieve them. they are not pointers. i'm sure they would flush grouse, but i did not hunt them at that time, as there weren,t many of them around, as i lived in southern half of state then. my one beagle was the most comical dog i ever owned and i've had some real clowns since.

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Ufatz Grand Master

Ufatz

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No. No. Don't get a Beagle as a working dog except maybe for rabbits. There are too many other breeds that WILL do what you seek and probably do it naturally.

Hunting rabbits with a couple Beagles is a real kick-in-the-butt, but nobody does it much anymore.

They are fun little dogs. Of course there is still nothing like a BLACK Labrador! grin.gif

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walleye101 Mentor

walleye101

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Yes beagles will hunt birds and can do a decent job of it. But if you are looking for a bird dog, then you are right, there are plenty of breeds bred exclusively for bird hunting.

However, let me put in a plug for good beagles. I agree there are not many of us running rabbit beagles in MN but in the south and eastern states it is huge.

I really don't understand why there is so little interest in MN. Rabbits are extremely plentyful and there are thousands of acres of public forest in northern MN to hunt. The season runs for six months, Sept-Feb, and hunting gets better as the season goes on.

Remember all the grouse trails in October with a pickup parked at each trail head and hunters, bird dogs and four wheelers running everywhere. Those same trails are deserted in Dec, Jan and Feb and the few of us running beagles pretty much have the woods to ourselves.

Beagling is a great family activity. Youngsters can trail along and enjoy all the action. No need to be a quick wingshot. Many times if they are not ready when the bunny comes by the first time, stay put and he will be back around.

It is a great sport. If you haven't tried it you don't know what you are missing.

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2thepointsetters Experienced

2thepointsetters

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I might have the pup you are looking for. I hunted pheasants with beagles before I got into pointing dogs (english setters). Anyway to make a long story short my male setter (very good hunting/field trial bloodlines) got my female beagle pregnant and now I have setter/beagle pups that are 6 weeks old. 3 out of 5 in the litter are pointing wings already. I have one left that points. I want them to go to hunting homes. Let me know if you would like to see them. my email is northuplandhunter at yahoo

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2thepointsetters Experienced

2thepointsetters

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I know people call basset/beagle crosses Bagles. Would this be a Seagle? lol
grin.gif

Yeah they will be seagles.

Did you find a home for your red setter? That must be really tough to do. If I didn't have three dogs already I would have loved to take him. I'm not even going to be able to keep on of my seagle pups because it would put me at four dogs under three years old. (But the guy who owns the 1000 acres I hunt is going to take a pup so I will get to hunt with one to see how they turn out wink.gif)

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2thepointsetters Experienced

2thepointsetters

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How big are the beagle setters now? That is a very intriguing mix. Do you have any pics of these pups? My wife just got a kitten last night. Now it's my turn.

All the beagle/setters have homes but they are doing great. They are about 25 lbs and almost knee with the top of their heads. They look really unique. One male went to a farm near Belgrade and he is pointing well for his age. I will have pictures of him in a few weeks.

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2thepointsetters Experienced

2thepointsetters

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Thanks for the pics. I guess I was hoping for mor of a combo of the two.

I am not sure I know what you mean by more of a combo of the two? I think they may be a little more like the setter. But that is a good thing. Hopefully they get the setters brain and pointing ability with the beagles tracking skills.

The breeding was an accident, but the people who have the pups really like them. I would never cross the breeds like that on purpose.

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Mike #1 Enthusiast

Mike #1

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Bruledrifter, Do you have a Beagle now or are you considering one?

I have a Beagle and this dog loves to hunt, I can not find anyone else to run beagles with for bunny’s (hint, hint walleye101) so I took her out for pheasants and she loves it! She is great at flushing and she will take you to a downed bird but, she will not pick it up. Find the little wagging white tail and you will find the bird. Another cool feature is that she will start “beagling” when she is on the sent of a bird that is running ahead of her but will not flush, almost like a pointer. I never intended for her to hunt birds and with little training she took to it right away. Good luck with your dog.

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BRULEDRIFTER Veteran

BRULEDRIFTER

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Quote:

Bruledrifter, Do you have a Beagle now or are you considering one?

I have a Beagle and this dog loves to hunt, I can not find anyone else to run beagles with for bunny’s (hint, hint walleye101) so I took her out for pheasants and she loves it! She is great at flushing and she will take you to a downed bird but, she will not pick it up. Find the little wagging white tail and you will find the bird. Another cool feature is that she will start “beagling” when she is on the sent of a bird that is running ahead of her but will not flush, almost like a pointer. I never intended for her to hunt birds and with little training she took to it right away. Good luck with your dog.

No I do not have a beagle now. I have a lab mix.

My whole reasoning for my intrest in a beagle is that my lab is huge and I want a smaller dog that can hunt birds. Spaniels, and the other popular pointers are nice but are very high strung. Well, my lab is nuts, a "special needs dog" as my vet once said. He's a good dog, but very high strung. However, he is mellowing out in his older age. We taught each other to hunt, and I am by no means a die hard bird hunter that needs a pro dog. Cant justify spending hundreds on a dog, and I like having dogs for more than tools. I thought a beagle may be a good option, being their smaller, able to hunt, not so high strung. I'm not sure I can deal w/ another high strung dog. I've met a few brittany's and other spaniels and all were way too amped for me. An english spaniel may be an option, but again the $$ investment. So I don't know. I was more or less in search for any info on beagles and if they could hunt up some birds. It sounds like they can, so they're definatly an option. However, like I said, I need to get my life rolling a bit and find a place i'm gonna be for a while where I can have 2 dogs. So I'm probably a few more years out from getting a new pooch. But my labs 6 now and I would like a dog sooner then later, so we'll see.

Thanks for all the info everyone! smile.gif

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