As my children are starting to get a bit older, they are becoming slightly more independent and in turn easier for me to not feel as much guilt when I leave the house for an all morning or even all day hunting trip. Therefore, I was able to hunt a lot more during this past season. Every morning when I would leave the house I was hoping that this would be the day. This would be the day that the dogs are on fire and I shoot my limit of rabbits (which is only 3 here in VT). Every evening on the drive home in a state of depression, lost in thought trying to analyze the runs, try to find the good and figure out how to fix the bad. I had a good idea what my biggest problem was, but didn’t want to make any drastic decisions and regret them later. At the end of the 2010-2011 season I really felt my problem was my 5 year old female, Bailey. Bailey was a dog that I loved to have when I dropped the tailgate. She had a nose on her that could find a rabbit within minutes of hitting the woods and I never had any doubt that I wouldn't find a rabbit when I went out. She proved to me over and over that there were rabbits in the woods I was hunting, and helped me know that I was in the right set of woods. Once the run started, things began to fall apart. The run would start out hot, with the rabbit and the dogs being a small distance apart. The run would be fast paced and no checks until they made the turn to come back. The turn, sometimes gradual, sometimes tight, would challenge the dogs as the straight run became a corner. At this point the run should become exciting with anticipation of seeing the hare within minutes. This excitement was quickly squashed by the first check. Then the run would start again followed by another check, and another; excited anticipation of seeing the hare and then a letdown. This would continue on historically through every run and the result would usually be the same, no rabbit in my game pouch.
I couldn’t figure out why there were so many checks. Is the rabbit getting such a large lead that the scent is colder and harder to follow? Are the scenting conditions not favorable? Many excuses could have been easily used in discussions with other hunters, but I chose not to use them as I had a good feeling that it was my hounds.
Finally, I had the opportunity to see what was really happening and settle many of my questions. It was on one of my many trips to Lowell, it was March and there were only a few weeks left of Vermont’s hare season. There was about 3 inches of snow on the ground and scenting conditions seemed favorable. Snickers, my 13 year old female, got a sight chase of a start and Bailey quickly joined in on a fast paced run. They took the hare up over the bank and out of hearing. The GPS showed that they made it through the turn without a check and I could just start to hear Bailey’s bawl when they checked. The check was short and the run was on again; then a check and another start. This continued as the hounds started getting closer. I spotted the hare as he came down the bank and he turned just out of shooting distance and ran parallel along the bottom of the bank. It ran a nice straight line for about 60 or 70 yards before going out of sight. As I got up to where it ran through I could see its tracks in the snow and waited for the dogs to come through. I watched the dogs as they came down off the bank and then saw for the first time what was causing all of my frustration for the past few years. Bailey had the lead, as she always did, and was running right towards me on the line. She was barking on the line that the hare came in on for about 20 yards and then she turned. She turned left off the line and continued to bark for 4 or 5 bounds before realizing that she wasn’t on the line anymore. She would check, go back to the line, find it and start barking and running again. After 20 yards or so she turned left again and continued to bark as she bound off from the line, check again. This repeated itself as she ran out of sight in the direction that the hare went. Needless to say I didn’t shoot this hare either. I now realized what was going wrong.
The hare season came to an end in the middle of March. It was concluded with a traditional gathering of guys hunting in the Orleans Hare Derby. The day ended with 3 hare in the game bag, 2 of them were from Bailey getting in the rabbits’ living rooms and kicking them out for a quick shot by awaiting hunters. This seemed to be the only way to successfully shoot a hare in front of her.
Things had to change before the start of the 2012’s season, and I bought a new puppy in October with hope that this would help. By the end of the season there was about 2 feet of snow and my pup was only 6 months old. I opted to not start him until after the off season concluded. The off season, end of hare season in March to June 1st, gave me a chance to make plans and changes. I built new living quarters for the dogs, a new shed with indoor insulated boxes. My plan was to run my new puppy alone and give him as much solo time as possible. I didn’t want him to learn any of my other hounds bad habits. My biggest dilemma was how I was going to manage giving my puppy as much solo time as possible but give the other two hounds ample time in the woods as well. In the beginning of May I had my 13 year old female die of old age. One evening at the end of May I found my 5 year old female Bailey unable to get out of her dog box due to a paralyzed rear end. A slipped disc could only be fixed by an expensive surgery and no guarantee that she would be able to run rabbits again. Ironically on June 1st, the first legal day of dog training in Vermont, I had Bailey put down. I was then left with my puppy that wasn’t started yet. I guess I was forced to start from scratch again.
Ridic was ten months old when I got him started on his first rabbit. Vermont rabbit population contains both Cottontails and Snowshoe Hare. Where I live there are Cottontails, but about an hour to the northeast there are Hare. I was able to find a local piece of property that is abundant with cottontails. His first time out I was able to find two cottontails sitting out in the open. Ridic saw them before he smelled them and had a short sight chase after them into the woods. He quickly figured out how to scent them and worked them a little bit. By his third time out he had run a cottontail in a full circle and I was hopeful of his potential. I have taken him out on cottontails whenever I get a chance in the evenings and then scheduled time after work one night to take the hour trip northeast in search of some hare. The hare search was slow and only resulted in 4 barks, but no starts, before darkness started settling in. I admitted multiple times that I really missed having Bailey there to find the hare, and wondered how many hare Ridic passed over without running them. By 8:30 my brother and I had packed up and were driving up out of where we parked when a hare jumped off from the side of the road. We jumped out, threw the GPS collar back on Ridic and put him on the track. He was off. The thermals were starting to settle and the dew was starting to collect, I was hopeful for some good scenting conditions. He ran the hare for a total of 4 circles with some checks, but short ones. On one of his checks after darkness had fallen I called him in to call it quits. The ride home was full of lively conversation between my brother and I. We were pumped that he ran as well as he did on his first time out on hare and I look forward to seeing him improve over time!
This video is of Ridic on only his second time out in the field at 10 months old.
