They do retract the tailwheels before taxying.
The Il-62 is quite tail-heavy. On Takeoff the pilots push the control column (elevator) most forward and rotate by just releasing it to the neutral position. We had a crash in Berlin some years ago (Interflug,SXF around 1989) when the elevator-parking lock engaged by accident close to Vr. The a/c unable to rotate overran the rwy and as the FE had killed all engs it was again limited in braking power. (No reverse anymore).