rabbit hunting

quail hound

quail hound

Moderator
Ok I know a lot of you pointer guys will scoff at this as undesirable game, but do you other springer guys hunt rabbits with your dogs? Me and mine love getting after bunnies. When looking over hunt test and trial rules I noticed rabbits are still used in Great Britain in their events. Why is there no rabbits used in our events? Where is the fur and feather emphasise here? What are your thoughts on the subject?
 
I'm a pointer guy all the way but I don't scoff at you doing this. I don't like the idea because I want my dog to concentrate on 2 smells, pheasant and quail and that's it. I don't want him smelling a rabbit and going on point like it's a bird. I personally love rabbit meat, we used to raise New Zealand Whites to eat and before we did that dad and I shot a ton of cotton tails together. It's pretty good fare! :thumbsup:
 
With my golden, I only want her focused on feathers. I don't want to be entering a good pheasant field or grouse stand and have her take off after a rabbit, ruining the location, so with her rabbits are entirely off limits.

That said, I love rabbit hunting and have a couple of buddies that I kick brush with each year. It works great and there's no concern about discerning the distance between the rabbit and a dog when taking a shot.

I think that the dual purpose fur and feather really works best for breeds where fur comes first and should they kick up birds, consider it an opportunity to shoot as well.
 
My dogs are taught at a young age that bunnies are not on the bag list.

Sniffing out and chasing after Jack Rabbits while bird hunting would not be fun, in my book.

But rabbit hunting is great sport. Bet with a Beagle or trained rabbit dog you would have a blast. Just don't like the idea of a bird/rabbit dog combination.
 
You guys are missing my point, springers were bred to be a versitile breed hunting fur and feather, land and water. My dog would rather put up birds but if he scents a rabbit they are coming out, and to me a couple rabbits are always a welcome addition to bag. This is a part of our breed even mentioned in the breed desciption. The hunt tests and trials are to further the feild breeding of our breed and part of that to me is hunting rabbits also.
 
I want my dog only after feathers. I find it hard to shoot a rabbit my dog is chasing for fear some of the shot may hit him. 2nd reason is; They expel a lot of energy chasing the rabbit. On a long hard hunt I don't them running out of gas because they chased to many rabbits. 3rd reason after a day like I just described. It takes a long time for the dog to recover from such a hard day of work. I like to hunt several days in a row, I want the dogs just tired enough that can recover by the next morning............Bob
 
quail hound said:
Ok I know a lot of you pointer guys will scoff at this as undesirable game, but do you other springer guys hunt rabbits with your dogs? Me and mine love getting after bunnies. When looking over hunt test and trial rules I noticed rabbits are still used in Great Britain in their events. Why is there no rabbits used in our events? Where is the fur and feather emphasise here? What are your thoughts on the subject?
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It's not that we'd scoff at this type of game. I don't think rabbits are any kind of undesirable. I run pointers like Bob and Lee and I just can't imagine having my dog distracted by rabbits. Upland hunters (running pointing breeds) do everything in their power to keep their dogs from chasing rabbits.....the only thing undesirable about hunting rabbits would be the bad habbits my dogs would pick up from doing so.
 
I knew the pointer runners would feel this way and I didn't mean to imply that you would find rabbits undesirable as a game animal but undesirable for your dogs to hunt. My question was more of historical importance posed mainly to springer owners. Springers were bred to hunt fur and feather, I now see an emphasise on feather only do you think we should leave the original breeding standards to only include hunting birds?

Kansas Brittany my dog is easily called off of a missed rabbit, and can hunt all day long for a solid week. Plus our rabbit season runs July 1st to January 31st giving me and my dogs many more days afield together, which I think everyone will agree is the most rewarding part of hunting with any breed of dog.
 
quail hound said:
I knew the pointer runners would feel this way and I didn't mean to imply that you would find rabbits undesirable as a game animal but undesirable for your dogs to hunt. My question was more of historical importance posed mainly to springer owners. Springers were bred to hunt fur and feather, I now see an emphasise on feather only do you think we should leave the original breeding standards to only include hunting birds?

Kansas Brittany my dog is easily called off of a missed rabbit, and can hunt all day long for a solid week. Plus our rabbit season runs July 1st to January 31st giving me and my dogs many more days afield together, which I think everyone will agree is the most rewarding part of hunting with any breed of dog.
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Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not knocking it. I think it would be fun and I'd participate in just about anything that put me and my hounds in the field more days per year. I would enjoy having a dog that I could run for both fur and feathers. I only have one that is disciplined enough to do so at this point. They all have the "legs" to run both types of game for days on end, so that's not a concern. It just goes against everything grampa taught me when it comes to bird dogs. I've never owned a springer so I'm sure there are things about that breed I don't understand.

Thanks for your post! It is quite interesting to ponder.
 
not trying to ruffle feathers here but if I wanted to chase rabbits I would have a beagle I also like hunting rabits but I dont use dogs
 
I understand that sentiment, I wish I could have a specialized dog for everything I hunt, a beagle for rabbits, English pointer for chuckar, spinger for quail, ATF for squirrel, and so on. I only have time and money for a couple dogs right now so they are jacks of all trades. Plus springers were bred for this. Excellent all around dogs.
 
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qh

i have to agree with the people on this sight and this thread want the dogs to hunt birds. however, rabbits , bobcats, skunks, ..... have yet to find a dog, that doesnt go after other animals from time to time. i hunt rabbits i love it. i still dont want my bird dogs to run after them. still happens from time to time no matter what i like. :eek::)
 
it's a interesting point. I had a GSP and used it for early season duck hunting. She loved to find the birds and shot ducks from ponds while pheasant hunting. (she chased a fox to me once and retrieved it also) I own a EP now and I would not let him chase rabbits Nor would i shoot ducks for him (he hates the water.) But a dog that's Versitle Why not? if the dog runs a close hunting distance whats the difference it he finds Feathers or fur? (one in the bag better then two in the brush idea)
I like the idea of a field trail mix bag.
 
Thank you goldeneye you are one of the only ones who understood my post. If the dog was bred to do it, it should be expected of them in feild trails and hunt tests.
 
Quail hound. I totally understand your post. Hunting is fun, great sport. You want to combine your bird hunts with rabbits with your Springer that does a good job on both. That's a good thing.:thumbsup:

Where I hunt there is plenty of Jack Rabbits and deer, don't want my dogs to get the idea we are hunting them. Soon they would be chasing over the next hill. My Labs have no problem with the mixed bag of duck, grouse and pheasants.:cool:
 
Versatile Breeds

quail hound said:
You guys are missing my point, springers were bred to be a versitile breed hunting fur and feather, land and water. My dog would rather put up birds but if he scents a rabbit they are coming out, and to me a couple rabbits are always a welcome addition to bag. This is a part of our breed even mentioned in the breed desciption. The hunt tests and trials are to further the feild breeding of our breed and part of that to me is hunting rabbits also.
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You make some interesting points. I'm a Brittany guy and they were bred to include rabbits too. I love cottontail but have never hunted them with my dogs nor allowed my dogs to focus their interest on rabbits. I've heard it said, as others are saying here, that a bird dog should be kept exclusively on birds. But in Europe I understand that their Brittanies are used on rabbits as well as upland birds.
 
I used to shoot rabbits while bird hunting with my old GSP because he never paid any attention to them. My new GSP loves to chase everything so there is no more busting bunnies while bird hunting. But I say if you don't mind your dog hunting both then go for it.
 
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