Passing the Torch: The Tradition of Rabbit Hunting with Beagles

By: Steph Lane, Iowa Program Coordinator

Passing the Torch: The Tradition of Rabbit Hunting with Beagles

There’s a rhythm to rabbit hunting with beagles that runs deeper than sport—it’s legacy. It’s early mornings, frosted-over fields, and the echo of beagle music rolling through the briars. But more than anything, it’s about passing it on—sharing the craft, the dogs, and the stories with the next generation.

A Hunt Rooted in Tradition

Rabbit hunting with beagles is one of the most time-honored forms of small game hunting in North America. It’s a style built on teamwork—not just between hunters, but between hunter and hound. The dogs do the heavy lifting: noses down, trailing cottontails through thickets and brush piles, their baying cries rising in pitch when the chase is hot.

For many, this isn't just hunting—it's family history. Grandfathers passed it to fathers, fathers to sons and daughters. It's a living legacy, shaped in muddy boots and worn leashes, remembered through stories told around tailgates and campfires.

Teaching the Dance

Passing on the knowledge starts with patience. You can’t rush someone into rabbit hunting—they need to feel it. Let them walk behind the dogs. Teach them the difference between a cold trail and a hot one. Explain how rabbits run in wide, looping circles—and that the shot doesn’t come from chasing, but from waiting. Watching. Listening.

Let them help train the dogs, feed them, name them. Let them witness the moment when a young pup figures it out and finds its first rabbit. That’s where the hook is set.

The Beagle Connection

The bond with the beagles is as important as the hunt itself. These dogs aren’t tools; they’re teammates. Each one has its own voice, its own style—some fast and fiery, others slow and methodical. Teaching young hunters to read the dogs, to understand their language, is like giving them the code to the woods.

And when they begin to recognize which dog is speaking, which one's getting close, and when to shoulder the shotgun—you know the tradition is taking root.

More Than the Harvest

Some days you’ll get a few rabbits. Some days none at all. But those aren’t the days you remember. What sticks are the moments—when the frost breaks under your boots, when the dogs open up in unison, when a young hunter makes their first clean shot and turns to you with wide eyes.

Passing down rabbit hunting with beagles is about stewardship—not just of the game, but of the culture, the dogs, and the values. Respect for the land. Gratitude for the animal. Pride in the chase.

The Next Chapter

In a world moving fast, rabbit hunting slows things down. It teaches presence, patience, and partnership. And when you take a young hunter out for their first chase and see them listening for the dogs, waiting at the edge of a thicket with eyes full of hope—you’ll know: the tradition lives on. And that’s what it’s all about.

Thank you to all of our mentors who make spreading this tradition possible!