Hare hunting: A fundamental help to the hunter who wants to undermine the hare with good results, is certainly provided by the following dog, the hound. There are many breeds suitable for this specialty for which targeted and laborious training is required, but certainly not impossible. For a good dog training we must first of all know the game we are going to hunt, in our case the Hare.
It is a cunning and extremely fast wild. The Common hare or European hare is a mammal whose dimensions generally vary from 48 to 70cm in length for a weight that varies between 4 and 6kg. The structure of the body is very slender with long and robust hind limbs, a small head in which large protruding eyes and very developed ears stand out both for shape and for the particular hearing, to all this is added an excellent sense of smell. The coat of the Hare is tawny-greyish, tending to darker shades on the back and to white near the lower parts and the tail. There hare it is a very common wild in our territory, from the plains to the mid-mountain, where there are broad-leaved woods, areas cultivated with cereals or in any case rich in sprouts, herbs, fruit, seeds, berries, acorns and bark. The hare's habits are generally crepuscular and morning; very suspicious animal, at the slightest hint of danger the hare begins to run quickly with jumps, jumps and sudden leaps.
Now let's see how to best train and lead dogs to follow the hare to have satisfactory hunting results. The training phase requires at the same time passion, patience and the availability of pens of various sizes. You can start already when our dog is about three months old by teaching him to follow a rabbit inside an enclosed space. For example, we will place our puppy inside an enclosure in which we will free a rabbit; the frightened wild will begin to run away and the puppy will have to learn to follow him without ever losing sight of him. As the dog grows, the training enclosure will expand; identical exercise can be performed with a different game, for example a small wild boar that cannot harm our dog.
At this stage of training the dog will have to learn the commands that are generally used well: with the "call", the dog is called immediately close to our legs; with the "Earth" you can stop the action at any time, even at a distance, by commanding the dog to crouch on the ground in the point where it is and still facing the direction taken; with the command "Go" instead the dog will have to resume the action in the direction that we will indicate with the hand; finally at the command "Behind", considered among the most important, the dog must abandon all actions and then return to the master positioning himself behind his legs. A dog that responds well to this type of training will already be suitable for the solo follow-up in rabbit, hare or wild boar hunting. Remember that each exercise can be repeated several times as if it were a game but without exaggerating so as not to bore the puppy.
The subsequent training phase concerns the dog's confidence with the actual hunting ground as well as the moult, or teamwork with other dogs; It is always advisable to use dogs of the same breed when composing the pack in order to standardize as much as possible both the working characteristics and the nature of the elements that compose it. An important part of training any hunting dog is overcoming the fear of shooting so that it does not get scared during the hunting action. Therefore, to accustom our dog to the noise of the shots, you can use a blank gun with which you will have to fire a few shots at long intervals of time, first in the distance then closer and closer to the auxiliary, reassuring him so that he can gradually get used to it. . With a little patience, our hunting companion will no longer notice the shots and continue his work without problems.
Let's now look at some of the more popular breeds of dog for the retinue generally used by Italian and French hunters, which in our opinion (purely subjective!) seem to us the most suitable for hare hunting.
First of all the Italian Hound. According to some, the origins of this breed date back to ancient Gaul from a series of crossings of the Egyptian racing hound with the Roman Molosser; sturdy and muscular, this dog has a well balanced structure which makes it tireless in following game. The Italian Hound is lively and daring, it knows how to fight on any type of terrain, it adapts easily to any condition. Excellent on the hare. The Maremma hound it is indeed a native of the Maremma, in Tuscany, smaller than the Italian Segugio; was born towards the end of the 1800s, but only recently has it been recognized by the ENCI. The breed is endowed with a strong temperament and has a remarkable voice that it uses optimally in still barking, an important peculiarity for wild boar hunting. These dogs are successfully used both in single and in pack, strong and tenacious, do not give up in the presence of particularly aggressive wild boars or large groups. The Maremmano Hound is also well suited for hunting hare and other wild animals. L'Harrier it is a small English hound probably descended from the Foxhound, from which it has inherited the morphological structure even if to a reduced extent. The Harrier has a light but very strong structure, specially selected for hare hunting. The Beagle was born in England in the XNUMXth century, presumably from crosses between the Harrier and an old English hound, as a medium-sized follow-up dog for small game. The Beagle barks little but with a thunderous and high-pitched voice when agitated or excited. It is a tireless seeker in constant search of the stalks, the smell of the wild, therefore excellent for hunting hare.
On the French side we have the Blue de Gascogne, a hound of very ancient origins divided into three “sub-breeds” by size: Grand - Petit and Basset Blue de Gascogne. The first was born in the nineteenth century, as a direct descendant of the "bloodhound", capable of chasing a hare or fighting a wolf. Over time, the Petit Blue de Gascogne has been enhanced more, also an excellent hound, very fast and therefore suitable for hare. The Grand Gascogne Saintongeois was born by the will of Baron Latour de Virealde from crossings between Ariegeois, Bleu de Gascogne and Saintongeois; the name comes from the homonymous native region. It is a very resistant dog with an excellent nose, courageous, strong and elegant, very suitable for hunting hare. The Chien d'Artois, better known as: “Briquet”, is originally from the French hilly region of the same name; it is a cross between hounds and hounds to whom it owes its keen nose and sense of orientation. Also used for hunting roe deer but today it is mainly used to track down wild hares and rabbits. Although not officially recognized as a breed. the Anglo Francese Tricolore, being considered a half-breed, enjoys great consideration among hunters as a fast and tireless hound with a very fine smell. Descended from the British Harrier, widely used for hare hunting for which it is particularly predisposed.
From the German side we find the Dachsbracke or Korthals, a breed originating from Westphalia known as early as 1600, used by the high Germanic nobility. The Dachsbrake is especially suitable for small game such as hare and rabbit but also gets along well with wild boar. The Porcelain it descends from the Dog of St. Hubert and from some white-orange Swiss hound from which it has inherited the colors of the coat, white with shades of orange hence the name. The Porcelaine is an excellent hound with an excellent sense of smell, very agile and resistant, ideal for hunting hare. Finally, the Balkan Hound, originally from what was once Yugoslavia, is a hunting dog with an excellent nose, energetic and tenacious, capable of adapting to any climate and type of wild therefore excellent for both hare and hare hunting. foxes and wild boars.
We have therefore seen only some of the most popular breeds of hunting dogs used as hounds for the hare, for each of them we have tried to synthesize the peculiarities aware, however, that a treatise would not be enough to talk exhaustively about each one. Each hunter will choose the breed that suits him best for his hunting companion, also based on the territory in which he will carry out the hunting action, taking care to be patient in training and taking into account the nature of the chosen breed.