January, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
27 
A natural camouflage for Br’er Rabbit. 
weapons have a way of refusing to function 
in very cold weather. 
M ANY people wonder how a rabbit can 
ever escape from such a fast and 
clever foe as the fox, but the man 
who has seen one in front of a dog can un¬ 
derstand it perfectly. The hare has a score 
of methods for throwing his pursuer off the 
scent. He will run perfectly straight to a 
certain point, and then execute a series of 
criss cross jumps, finally making off in a 
new direction. He will run into a hollow 
tree and out again, and then up a long slant¬ 
ing log, meanwhile making such intricate 
curves that the hound is constantly forced 
to stop to unravel the trail. The rabbit also 
crawls under every windfall he can find, 
always picking out a hole which is too small 
for the dog. In this way he keeps a com¬ 
fortable lead without exerting himself. I 
have often seen one play around right in 
front of a hound, without seeming in the 
least afraid. I have also heard it said that 
a rabbit will actually stop and feed, with a 
dog in pursuit, but I have never seen this. 
For those who love the music of the 
hounds and enjoy the chase but do not 
care for the rugged work of following 
the fox-hounds, a snowshoe rabbit hunt 
with beagles affords sport which is a good 
substitute. Indeed, a well trained pack of 
rabbit beagles will furnish a good day’s 
sport for any hunter. The work of fol¬ 
lowing the beagles is comparatively easy, 
although the hunter can find plenty of hard 
work in hunting rabbits if he choose to 
exert himself. 
These merry little hounds have good 
tongues, and when they understand how to 
hunt rabbits the music they make is equal 
to that made by a pack of fox-hounds. Of 
these little hounds it may be said that their 
bark is the biggest part of them. 
A well trained pack of six beagles is 
very difficult to find. This may seem some¬ 
what strange in view of the fact that these 
hounds take so readily to rabbit hunting. 
It is a fact nevertheless. There are plenty 
of beagles, plenty of couples and packs of 
beagles that will run rabbits; but that is 
not all there is to rabbit hunting with 
beagles. There is a right and a wrong 
way to hunt with the beagle, and it is safe 
to say that the great majority of beagle 
packs do not hunt as they should. 
In training the beagle to follow the rab¬ 
bit instead of getting the habit of merely 
running trails, it is a good plan to let him 
run the rabbit by sight as a first lesson. 
If the rabbit is put down in the open and 
the beagle allowed to go after him he will 
not bother to nose the trail so long as he 
can keep the rabbit in view. And when he 
first loses sight of him he will be certain 
to run on at top speed until he loses the 
trail and becomes confused. 
What is desired at this time is to get 
the young hound in the way of sticking 
close to the rabbit, and to keep him from 
dwelling on the scent. Short, sharp runs 
while he is fresh are what is calculated to 
get him into the habit of going as he 
should go, and during these short runs he 
will not be likely to fall into the bad habits 
that a tired or discouraged hound picks up. 
When a young hound will follow well 
by sight and then pick up the trail and 
rush on after the rabbit without dwelling 
or pottering on the scent, he may be given 
a few lessons in starting a rabbit. This is 
hard work for the handler, as it will be 
necessary for him to tramp from one likely 
spot to another in an effort to kick out a 
rabbit. The hound should not be directed 
at this time, but permitted to run about 
as he pleases. However, he will be likely 
to follow the trainer and pick up some 
notion of the kind of places likely to hold 
rabbits. Should a rabbit be started the 
hound may be put on the trail and permit¬ 
ted to follow it in his own way so long 
as he keeps going on the trail. When he 
is at a loss he should be taken up and 
worked so as to hit the trail in another 
place and not become discouraged. 
Once the young beagle gets the idea of 
searching for rabbits instead of rabbit 
trails he will not waste time pottering about 
on unlikely ground, but will hunt the likely 
places and enjoy starting the rabbit, pick¬ 
ing up the hot trail and following it. 
Hunting with hounds has a charm which 
is hard to beat, but there are times when it 
is not practicable. At very low temperatures 
some dogs are unable to hold the scent, and 
when the snow is deep and soft, or has a 
thin sharp crust, they cannot run at all. A 
little beagle trying to swim through three 
feet of snow is a comical sight. There are 
times when the snow is so deep or the 
weather so cold that hunting with beagles 
is impractical. At such times a cross-bred 
pack—beagles with fox-hounds—do won¬ 
derfully effective work on a rabbit chase. 
But aside from these considerations still¬ 
hunting is a fascinating sport, and to my 
mind it is the best of all, especially on snow- 
shoes. Of course, the hunter does not get 
as much game—he is lucky to get more than 
one or two rabbits in an afternoon—but he 
gets more exercise, and has a better chance 
to study the wonderful picture-book of the 
winter woods. Moreover, he always has the 
chance of running across a fox, a lynx, or 
some other varmint. Trailing a rabbit 
through a swamp has all the thrills of deer 
hunting on a small scale, and it requires 
just as much skill; for although a rabbit is 
easier to approach than a deer, he is harder 
to see and harder to hit. 
The snowshoe hare makes a distinctive 
triangular track in the snow, the hind feet 
striking at either side, and the front feet 
blending into one track in the centre. When 
the animal is running the front feet strike 
well back of the hind, a fact which some¬ 
times leads the beginner to follow the trail 
in the wrong direction. If there is a fresh 
snow it is an easy matter to follow a track, 
and it never takes long to catch up with the 
rabbit, for during the day he travels slowly 
if at all. But it is another matter to see him 
before he runs. You may go ever so cau¬ 
tiously, scrutinizing every foot of the snow 
ahead, yet without seeing a sign of life. 
Suddenly right in front of you there is a 
flash of white, and a big hare springs up 
like a phantom. A few long graceful bounds 
and he is gone, while your harmless bullets 
kick up the snow around his heels. A 
famous hunter once told me that when still¬ 
hunting a rabbit he did not look for the ani¬ 
mal at all, but kept his eye everlastingly 
peeled for an oxheart cherry suspended 
under the little spruces. And this just about 
expresses it, for as long as a hare remains 
still in the snow, his eye is his only promi¬ 
nent feature which betrays him. 
Just enough for a good dinner 
