[Jeff Higgins]

I used to know a guy out in the shop whose cousin ran dogs for bear and cougar. He used full sized hounds of various sundry lineage; don't ask me which kinds, because I don't know the breeds at all. I went out after black bear in our North Cascades, up by Ross Lake, several times with them.

That was back in my early 20's, when I was still playing soccer and riding bike. I was in the best shape of my life. I couldn't keep up with these guys; no way, no how. It takes a special kind of fitness, toughness, or what have you to "run with the big dogs". Don't get me wrong; I had a blast, and we were quite successful on the bears. But anyone who claims this is "cheating" or in any way "too easy" has simply never tried it.

So the guys running beagles on the cats must run them on rabbits as well, I assume? I think most guys with dedicated cat/bear dogs use hounds of some kind, don't they? At least in the dense woods around here, a beagle would have a tough time getting over and through the underbrush, accross the rock slides, and stuff like that. I see guys running them east of the Cascades, where we have pretty open sagebrush country, but the deep woods would soon defeat one of the little fellers.