Around here the farmers are not helping, with every farmer pushing out fences and planting right up to the road ditch . money seems to be unlimited. we see them push out a pond to get another 2 acres of planting . tell me how dose that pay , the dozer and fuel for 2 acres . not kidding seen it over and over then figure cost to push fences. when I was young the county afc office , ffa, and the conservation dept visited the farmers promoted no mow areas and now its fricking plant that chit right to the point the county roadgrader has to be careful not to knock the corn down !! then we have all the apex preditors that are protected. the thought process just escapes me .
I agree the song sucks, but the show has some good stuff on it !
Another Michigan beagle/ rabbit guy from his youth, here. I sure miss my beagles and hunting with them.
I dig the show, this and 906 Outdoors or Discover the UP - all on youtube for Yooper hunt/fish stories.
I never knew the Discovering show was even a thing ,till I found it on YT. I try and watch Michigan out of doors still. I always looked forward to it growing up. Ahhh... the good ole days !
When I was young, The Old Man always had a real good Beagle around. Truth be told, he’d have rather hunted rabbits with a real good dog, than deer. Worst hell I ever got from him was when as a kid, I shot a bunny on the jump!😀 “Jesus Christ boy! Don’t shoot them on them on the jump! Let the dog bring them around. That’s what the dog is for🤬” Here I was thinking that shooting them was what the shotgun was for!😀 But after about 1980, rabbits got really hard to find, especially after October. Even now, when I was with Penny, I could set on the back porch and watch at least a 1/2 dozen run around through the summer, but you very seldom saw one after September.😟 The last good dog Dad had died in 1992. He never wanted another one, because a fellow could “tramp around all day, and never find any rabbits anyway”😟. I had a little gyp named Flash. She was out of Nellies (Dads last Beagle) last litter of pups. Nelly died before I was able to start Flash with her. So I shot a rabbit in the evening and drug it around the field to get her to tracking. That dog was a rabbit hunting machine!😀 But like The Old Man said, there wasn’t enough rabbits to be worth keeping a dog. When flash died, I never bothered to try and get another. I love to hunt bunnies, but it just ain’t worth the money and hassle of keeping a good dog!😟 Reon
Last edited by 7mmbuster; 02/07/24.
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
My math is bad but basically his great-grandson is the one that did the logging off our place this year.
Dig this one too - People crack here about "fish camp" and the like but this is a deer camp, in the Yoop and it's been there since 1896. Not many places have that rich of history.
I trained Flash like that, and I shot my .22 revolver when I fed her so she wouldn’t get gun shy. By the end of October she was ready to hunt. I took her out with me, she hit a track, and up the hill she went with it. I was on cloud #9😀😎! This was exactly what I wanted to happen!😀 But after about 5 minutes she lost the track and came back to me. I told Dad what happened. He told me “She’s more afraid of losing you than losing the rabbit. Next time, take her back to where you last heard her barking, and stay there with her until she finds the track again.” The next trip out, I did as Dad told me, and I ended up with the dog of a lifetime!😀 I even was able to talk Dad into going along a few times, in his late 70s and early 80s!😀 He couldn’t hear her, and was a pain in my azz. “Can you hear her? Is she circling it?”😟 “Holy heck Dad, you have a hearing aid. Use it”! “You try walking around in leaves with that damn thing! Drives you freaking crazy!” Buddy of mine from work had 3 dogs, and I took Flash along. Now, I guess she thought, she has competitors for my love.😀 John told me “That dog is a rabbit hunting machine!”😀 I had 3 good offers to buy her by the time we were though!😎 “No freaking dice, man. This one is like my daughter!” I had her for 15 years. I think Carol was always a little jealous of her. She called her “my girlfriend”! I laughed and said “At least when I tell her something, she listens to me! You’re lucky I didn’t have her first, or I have expected girls to actually listen to me!”😀😀😀 She always rode in the cab of the truck. It was hard to drive a stick with her in my lap, but I had to adjust, because that’s where she wanted to sit!😍 Somebody on the ‘campfire said, “It never cost you nothing to own a dog, until it dies!” Whoever said that had a dog like my Flash!😭 Reon
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
Reminiscing like this, makes me want to get another dog, and get back into hunting bunnies again! With Dad and Dave both gone, and Ben living 8 hours away I don’t know. If I could find rabbits though, I would in a heartbeat! There’s some great songs that I’ll treasure till I die. You fellows that know me know this. But if there’s any sweeter music than a couple of good Beagles singing on a hot track, I ain’t never heard it! It’s easy to see why Dad loved it so much, and why he give me hell for shooting a rabbit on the jump!😀 Maybe things will change. Lord knows I’d love to have another friend like I had in the 3 family I mentioned, and Flash! I told you I’m one lucky son of a gun! Reon
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
Nothing like hunting over dogs. Its not about the killing, its about the dogs! ALWAYS
Used to do quite a bit of pheasant hunting. Had a lab named Diggs (after George Digweed) - multiple trips to Iowa, raised our own here in WI etc. LOTS of birds shot over that dog - anyway, on his kennel was the sticker "If not for you - do it for the dog!"
If there’s anything on God’s green Earth, that brings you closer to any person, or dog, than hunting, I honestly can’t imagine what it might be! There’s something about that bond. I can’t put it into words, but if you have experienced it, you know exactly what I’m saying! People who think hunting is a sport, have no idea what we’re talking about… Reon
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
This thread is playing hell with my allergies, but it’s too much fun to quit!😀 The only gun Dad ever used on rabbits was a pre WW2 870 in 16 gauge. He bought it used when he got home from Europe. Over the years, I tried different times to turn him onto something better, but he always went back to that 16! If it ever got cleaned, it was because I took it home and did it, returning it when I got done. To The Old Man, a gun was a tool you used to hunt. I remember him bitching about me and Dave buying different guns. Till he died, that 870 was a helluva looking thing! I took it home, and a couple years ago, I had a friend who’s a gunsmith work I over, stock redsanded, re varnished, barrel and action redone and blued. Some of the deeper scratches in the stock are permanent, but I didn’t mind. Cost me more than a new gun would have. I can bet he had a cow over that!😀 But to me, and someday to Ben or my grandson, it’ll always be worth its weight in gold! Like I said before. If you know, you know why. But the guys who think hunting is a sport, never will! This is why it hurt so much to lose Dad and my brother. It’s also why, every time I think of them, I smile and thank God for both. I love Mom too, but she never went hunting with us!😀 Reon
Last edited by 7mmbuster; 02/07/24.
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
I've been hinting the the GF that I want to get a dog. English setter or Brittney and she's for it - I just don't know that I want to pay the price (again) for having a great dog. Can't stand losing them.
Probably because rabbits are so hard to find now in the northeast. I don’t know. Like I said, I see them all summer, but come September or October, they disappear. Maybe some kind of blight? I’m pretty protective of them in the off season. I usually use the 3 “Ses” on competitive predators because I love to hunt them. Even without a dog, I’ll occasionally “invite” one or two in for supper. They’re good eating done right!😀 Headshot with a .22. But just the same, if they weren’t so hard to come by, or even if I had a pretty good partner, I’d get another Beagle in a heartbeat! I need to smoke one off a dog with that old 870 of Dad’s! Reon
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
