Starting a Hound
Hey everyone! I've been lurking here for quite a while. I bought a pup from Jim Rogers last year - my first full Basset. I am in the process of starting him for about the last month and I have many questions, though I will try to keep to just a few. Hopefully you old salts (no offense!) can help me make sure I am on the right track. 1) Basically, I take him out every chance I get (2-4 times a week) busting brush where there are a lot of rabbits. I can tell when he gets into the scent of something because his tail goes up and he gets very stubborn about following the trail, even into heavy brush. But he has not jumped a rabbit yet. Is this normal? 2) He has yet to let loose with his voice when on scent. How do I encourage this? Do I just have to wait for him to figure it out? 3) How long should this really take? Will it be the end of this season before he really "gets it"? Thanks. I am sure your responses will cause me to have more questions!

Hi I was on here last year asking for the same advice. Here's what I was told. The best way to start one is with a tame rabbit and a hampster exercise ball, roll cage, or starting pen. Jim told me he started most of his dogs just running with another hunting hound. Maybe you can hunt with one of Jims dogs, if he's close to you. We may also have other members in your area. Where do you live? Sounds like he has the desire and he is using his nose but your not sure he is smelling a rabbit. Most bassets start between 10 & 18 months. By the way glad to see you have Started TOO :)

I guess I could update my profile - my name is Roy. Bowhunt120 is the first screen name I ever chose on AOL many moons ago! It is easy to remember and use on hunting related sites... I live in Nebraska City, NE (40 minutes south of Omaha) - it was a three hour trip to Jim's for the dog. I have an open invitation from him to come hunting any weekend he will be around. I jst haven't fit it into the schedule yet. We intend to head out there the weekend of 19-21 October for the fun trial and hunt, again at Jim's invitation. Until then, I guess I will just keep doing what I'm doing...the dog is 14 months old now, so I'm in the window. How far will a dog range before he finds a rabbit? He won't get very far away right now unless he is on scent. Thanks, Roy

Find a dead bunny, use training pen, Christmas trees & s
Hi, I don't visit often, but like Eric, I'm new at this also. Last year when searching the internet, in addition to what Eric stated, if you come across a fresh killed rabbit, pick it up and use it to train that dog of yours. You can keep it in the freezer to keep it going for a couple (if ya got wife, she may not allow that) weeks. Attach a line to that dead rabbit and make a scent trail. You leave a dog treat at the end of the trail for a reward. Do the same with rabbit scent (I bought some off ebay for a great price last year). My pup is now 16 months old. I took her to a friend last year and he kept her for a month when she was 6 months old (a little young maybe) and trained her in his rabbit pen a couple times a day. This worked well, she was running rabbits when I got her back. Best money I spent in years! If you can find a local Christmas tree farm out there, try to get permission to at least train your dog there. I have a Christmas tree farm I go to where I live (I asked him last year when I was buying my tree off him) and it's a great place for rabbits. The more experienced people on here will be able to give you better advice on how long it'll take to get your dog going. From what I've been told Bassets "generally" take a little longer to get started than "Beagles" so patience in this game is going to be a requirement! Sounds to me like your dog is doing alright. I don't think you'll have to worry about the dog opening up, once she/he really gets it's first chase going it'll happen naturally! Finally, get that dog hunting with other dogs, but be careful. I have an older Basset who loves to hunt, but he aint no good at it. I don't take him in the field with my young one because he's a bad example and I don't want my pup learning bad habits from him. I know as I took them out together once and all she did was follow that older dog and he was just doesn't know how to hunt (has a very hot nose and uses his eyes more than his nose, bad traits). Hope this helps. Before I forget, thanks for the dog FRANK BLOCKSTON, she's great!!!

Okay - I'll just keep at it. No such thing as a Christmas tree farm in Nebraska! I saw some different behavior when we were out yesterday. He practically pointed - tail up, hackles up, low growl. But he wouldn't go in after whatever it was. We moved on, and had no real success after that.

Still here - still at it a couple of times a week. Took my youngest son with me today. He managed to kick up a bunny. The dogs didn't see it, but we put the pup on the scent. He followed it - tentatively - for about 30-40 yards, then seemed to lose it, and didn't check it well. We never did find the rabbit...

I have had dogs miss chances like that to, it's disappointing. A sight chase would probably have got him going.

Yeah - I now own a rabbit and an exercise ball. I can't take it anymore!!! He did track and flush a pheasant the next day!

Well - one more step down. He flushed a rabbit yesterday, then chased it for about 50 yards before losing it. He never did get back on it. But he was so excited! He ran back and forth checking for the scent - going back to where he last had scent. One downer - he never opened up on it. One thing at a time!

Great news! Keep up the good work.

We had pretty good success yesterday. First, I left my older dog (the Basset-Coon hound mix) at home. I realized he was nothing but a distraction to my Basset. He likes to run big and mark lots of territory. Basically, he is a great pet, but a lousy hunting dog! If he stumbles onto something that smells good he will follow it. But he is then so far away you can't do anything about it! My Basset found and flushed 2 rabbits in heavy grass. Unfortunately, he didn't see either one and didn't give chase - he was looking the wrong direction when they flushed. On the first, I did not get a good mark on the scent line. We hunted the general area of where I last saw it, but no rabbit came out again. On the second, I actually got a shot off, but missed. Again, we tried to put him on the trail, but with no success. I kicked the third one out of heavy grass. Again, Copper didn't see it. However, I got a good mark on the squat and Copper followed the trail very hot. He may have flushed it again, but I am not sure. He still didn't give voice on that one. Overall - more success. Maybe this isn't hopeless!

Sounds like you had a great day. Considering! We are hold a hunt close to Springfield Missouri om the 8-9 of December. Maybe you can come and run him with some experienced hounds. If he keeps flushing rabbits he is bound to see one at some point. Maybe you can shoot one for him.