Indiana Beagler's Alliance

You have reached the official website of the

Indiana Beagler's Alliance

As you can see, we are a work in progress. Go ahead and look around, and, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact us by clicking on the e-mail button to the left of this page. Thank you for visiting and we hope you will come back soon as we will be adding new and interesting content on a regular basis. Click the button, on the top-left, for the Indiana Beagler's Alliance Membership costs and benefits. We encourage you to join our group and have your voice heard when it comes to the future of our heritage.

The idea for the Indiana Beaglers Alliance began in the Fall of 2000, when the property managers and the Fish and Wildlife Specialists for the upper Wabash Valley Reservoirs conspired to both close 840 acres of the Salamonie Reservoir to hunting and dog running in favor of an ill-conceived plan to study the negative effects of dogs, primarily beagles, on the nesting and rearing practices of upland birds and small game, and to close all three reservoirs (Huntington, Mississenawa, and Salamonie) to dog running and training from February 28th to October 1st of each year.

( Click Here to view restrictions already in place on dog running in Indiana.)

At this time, a group of concerned hunters began talking and doing research into the feasibility of filing an appeal action with the Indiana Natural Resource Commission. Our first steps were to contact every department agency we could find in the Department of Natural Resources. Eventually, we were able to force the property managers to remove the February to October dog running/training ban. The "Small Game Management Area", as Salamonie's Tyson Edwards named it, had already been approved by outgoing DNR head Larry Macklin; so we were forced to file an appeal. We have since come to a compromise agreement on that action and it can be found in _________ section of the Indiana Beagler's Alliance website.

During this period of time, most of the action was left to our own Jack Hyden because it was his name on the appeal with the Natural Resource Commission, but the most of the fellows in the group were voicing their thoughts and concerns. We had a mutual cause, the future of beagling and rabbit hunting, and we were determined to prevail, but we did not yet have a name. Our attention was turned away from the group name once again by the news that the Reservoir Property Managers were at it again. This time conspiring with the Division of Fish and Wildlife to place a 100% ban on all dog running for the months of April, May, and June, and possibly March and July. We are now working with the groups we have formed alliances with, to make sure this idea does not pass. You can see more about our views on "sound game management" in that section of this website also.

Finally, several of the hunters from around the state began contacting us about the feasibility of extending rabbit season until the end of February, as it is in most of the 15 states in our geographical area already. We began looking into the idea of an extension for rabbit hunting, and, by this time, it was obvious our movement was here to stay. So, we began serious consideration of a name. We also knew that rabbit hunters and beaglers, as a whole, are not very organized and we are not getting attention in Indianapolis like our more solidified counterparts from the Wild Turkey Federation, Quails Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Deer Hunters Association, etc. We came up with various ideas and then decided to contact Chris Miller from the National Beaglers Alliance and he was optimistic about the potential. Chris was instrumental in putting our cause on www.RabbitHuntingOnline.com, where the petition continues to grow in numbers signed. You can find the link to sign this petition at the 'Petitions and Polls' button to your left. Thus, the name Indiana Beagler's Alliance was chosen in early December of 2002.

Thanks for taking the time to look over our website. Please feel free to submit any comments or suggestions to us at anytime. The more involved you become the stronger we all become.

Ó Indiana Beagler's Alliance