Photo by Ron Sinfelt

"Whoo-bee, whooo-beee! Hunt him in here. Hunt him up!" My Uncle Earl would urge his beagles on while hunting rabbits. If he jumped a bunny himself, he'd run to the spot and call hurriedly, "Here! Here!"

Earl had a pack of beagles for as long as I could remember, and from the time I was big enough to keep up, I tagged along with him and my dad rabbit hunting. My uncle hunted rabbits every Saturday of the season until he was in his 70s and his knees gave out.

Only then did he give up the sport that he had enjoyed so earnestly for more than half a century after coming home from World War II -- and only then did his backyard kennel grow silent without a half dozen beagles to take care of.

My Uncle Earl is no longer with us, but rabbit hunting with beagles is enjoying a resurgence across much of the South in areas where the cottontail is making a comeback.

However, in the last few decades, rabbit habitat has undergone tremendous change; the weather and climate and land use are different from a half-century or even a quarter century ago, and the dogs themselves are different these days.

Many small fields across the South have given way to pine plantations, and small farms, once havens for small game populations, have been assimilated by larger farming operations that encompass hundreds, sometimes thousands of acres. The role of predators has increased, too. Avian predators, which take a tremendous toll on rabbits, have increased. Once regularly killed by farmers and hunters, federal and state laws now protect hawks and owls. However, perhaps the biggest problem is the coyote, which has spread eastward from the West and now roams across the South. Coyotes have driven remnant rabbit populations into thicker cover, creating access problems for both hunters and their dogs.

And then there are today's dogs. The hallmarks of what the old-time hunters called a "complete" rabbit dog half a century ago were the ability to jump rabbits, a good nose, plenty of tongue and being quick to honor the work of other dogs in the pack.

Most of today's beagles still have all but one of those qualities. Finding a good jump dog is almost impossible and a dog that will hunt a rabbit up and jump it on his own can command a high price in the hunting beagle market. The problem is that most of the jumping ability has been bred out of today's beagles and the reason why is open to argument. Most rabbit hunters blame breeding for field trials, where the hounds are not judged on jumping but on solid trailing abilities. On the other side of the coin is the argument that breeders looking for faster and faster dogs, seeking more action in their rabbit hunts, bred much of the jumping ability out of the hounds.

One attribute that has been maintained and actually improved by modern breeders is the scenting ability of the hounds -- the nose. Most of today's beagles have super noses and can -- under normal circumstances -- work out a track and with relative ease keep the rabbit moving.

Most hunters will agree that a good rabbit dog, by today's standards, is one that will work with the other dogs in the pack, has adequate tongue but doesn't bark off the trail, has the desire to hunt and the stamina to hunt as long as the hunters want him to. A good rabbit dog also will not backtrack or chase off on game other than rabbits.

Each beagle is an individual and the hunter seeking to build a good pack has to pick dogs that will fit each other and their individual style of running. Two elements are critical to a good rabbit dog pack -- whether you are hunting with half a dozen beagles or disrupting the solitude of the woods with the yodeling of three dozen hounds -- speed and honor. A pack is a team effort, so you don't want slow and fast dogs trying to run together -- it just doesn't work. They all have to run at about the same speed, while using their noses to trail and claiming the track with their tongues.