Wanted to post a story of my uncles great beagle, Barney. I have hunted with barney the stud beagle for many many years. He was given to the my uncle by some Amish farmers that lost his dog while taking care of it. Barney has been hands down the best snowshoe and jack beagle I have ever hunted with. He is now at least 15 years old, missing half his teeth and often limps, but he still lives to chase rabbits and can still go like stink. Before barney entered the picture, I was always hesitant to go rabbit hunting because most of the day was spent trying to find the dogs after they go onto deer, but not barney. It's rabbits or bust for him and he actually comes back when called...bonus.
I was out yesterday with my uncle, a friend, and trusty old barney after the jacks. Unfortunately, my cousin and primary hunting partner couldn't make it and this is the only thing that keeps this hunt from being at the top of the list of all rabbit hunts.
We headed out early yesterday morning to our usual haunts around the Mount Forest Area. Nice bright day, with very compact snow which made for easy walking without the snow shoes.
After an unsuccessful half hour chase by barney and his 2 year old son, mac (who is starting to show interest but is still not tonguing), we move on to the next spot.
Barney quickly jumps a jack in front of me and the chase is on. As it turned out this turned into one of those epic chases that has happened once every couple of years. My cousin and I have surmised that in the jackrabbit world there exist the equivalent of the mature trophy whitetail and all the honed survival skills that these majestic creatures possess
.
Anyway, he was on this trophy jack from 8:30 am to the eventual end at 2pm. In the past the trophy jacks have won the battle by wiggling there way out of every potential trap we set and eventually barney too would give up the chase and come back to us with this look that said 'you bunch of dumb-arses, I chased that thing all day for you and you let a jack out smart you?'.
But not yesterday, after over 5 hours of consistent tonguing and chasing and a playing field that included a couple of concessions, 4 different bushes, and countless fence-lines, barney had his revenge. I saw this jack over a dozen times and managed a couple of long range misses with the benelli. Well 11 shots later between the group, and we finally had the wiley old jack. These trophy jacks just seem to cut fields and avoid shooters time and time again. We make the comparison to mature whitetails in that they have a sixth sense to avoid the easy take-down or most of the time any take-down at all. With the dogs behind them these mature jacks still seem to plot out a route that avoids the guns awaiting them
What was really neat about the end of this marathon chase is that my uncle finally finished the jack when it was on the unstable ice of a swollen river. Wouldn't you know it when barney finally caught him, he still had to put it out of it's misery with a few head shakes. After a few seconds of squealing we thought oh well barney is going to have a feed on that jack, as he was been known to do in the past, if he caught a wounded jack. And to tell you the truth I wouldn't have minded one bit if he ate his trophy jack, he sure deserved it Instead, old barney impressed yet again and this time he walked off that river, strutting head high with the jack in his mouth and brought it right to the hand.
The old dog has learned a new trick and has added 'retriever' to his repertoire. I wish I had a camera as that image will be engraved in my mind with pride forever.
Thanks for reading my long winded story and thanks again barney for another great hunting experience.
As mentioned we had no camera on the hunt, but I have attached a few pictures of the barney, king of the beagles, from past hunts.
Barney with a snowshoe
A couple of barney on the jack trail
Barney with his jack
My uncle and barney
Barney with another jack
Barney at work
I was out yesterday with my uncle, a friend, and trusty old barney after the jacks. Unfortunately, my cousin and primary hunting partner couldn't make it and this is the only thing that keeps this hunt from being at the top of the list of all rabbit hunts.
We headed out early yesterday morning to our usual haunts around the Mount Forest Area. Nice bright day, with very compact snow which made for easy walking without the snow shoes.
After an unsuccessful half hour chase by barney and his 2 year old son, mac (who is starting to show interest but is still not tonguing), we move on to the next spot.
Barney quickly jumps a jack in front of me and the chase is on. As it turned out this turned into one of those epic chases that has happened once every couple of years. My cousin and I have surmised that in the jackrabbit world there exist the equivalent of the mature trophy whitetail and all the honed survival skills that these majestic creatures possess
.
Anyway, he was on this trophy jack from 8:30 am to the eventual end at 2pm. In the past the trophy jacks have won the battle by wiggling there way out of every potential trap we set and eventually barney too would give up the chase and come back to us with this look that said 'you bunch of dumb-arses, I chased that thing all day for you and you let a jack out smart you?'.
But not yesterday, after over 5 hours of consistent tonguing and chasing and a playing field that included a couple of concessions, 4 different bushes, and countless fence-lines, barney had his revenge. I saw this jack over a dozen times and managed a couple of long range misses with the benelli. Well 11 shots later between the group, and we finally had the wiley old jack. These trophy jacks just seem to cut fields and avoid shooters time and time again. We make the comparison to mature whitetails in that they have a sixth sense to avoid the easy take-down or most of the time any take-down at all. With the dogs behind them these mature jacks still seem to plot out a route that avoids the guns awaiting them
What was really neat about the end of this marathon chase is that my uncle finally finished the jack when it was on the unstable ice of a swollen river. Wouldn't you know it when barney finally caught him, he still had to put it out of it's misery with a few head shakes. After a few seconds of squealing we thought oh well barney is going to have a feed on that jack, as he was been known to do in the past, if he caught a wounded jack. And to tell you the truth I wouldn't have minded one bit if he ate his trophy jack, he sure deserved it Instead, old barney impressed yet again and this time he walked off that river, strutting head high with the jack in his mouth and brought it right to the hand.
The old dog has learned a new trick and has added 'retriever' to his repertoire. I wish I had a camera as that image will be engraved in my mind with pride forever.
Thanks for reading my long winded story and thanks again barney for another great hunting experience.
As mentioned we had no camera on the hunt, but I have attached a few pictures of the barney, king of the beagles, from past hunts.
Barney with a snowshoe
A couple of barney on the jack trail
Barney with his jack
My uncle and barney
Barney with another jack
Barney at work
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