I always enjoyed going out rabbit hunting the morning after a new fallen snow! The woods and fields all had a clean and bright look to them. There was not a sign of another hunter and you could imagine being the first hunter to ever step foot on this new area! Any animal tracks spotted had to be fresh and if the air wasn't too cold and if the wind wasn't blowing, you just new that the game would be setting loose and not holed up! I'd like to think that rabbits have a sense of adventure and enjoy playing in a new snow, just like humans do! I used to watch them from our kitchen window, at night, during a light snow. If there were two or three of them, they would chase each other around, play leap frog over one another and just have a ball! Come morning they would hold close to cover but may not go deep into the brush or holes unless the weather turned nasty. If you found a set of tracks and followed them to cover, as long as no more tracks were seen, the rabbit was still in that cover. If I didn't jump it out I would call my dog to do the honors!
I've admitted to the love of rabbit hunting but at the same time I've never been one to be possessed with the need to get a limit of rabbits when I went hunting! As a matter of fact, I'd hunted rabbits for over 30 years and "Never" limited out! The older I became the more I changed into a rabbit watcher and not a shooter! I was usually with a dog and would just stand back and watch the chase as the rabbit would lead the dog around as if he had control of his chain! I've seen rabbits play havoc on a dog's keen sense of smell by stopping in mid run, backing up, jumping to the side of the trail, then just sit there to see if the dog would over run the scent, only to take off again in another direction! If the rabbit was an older one with more experience, he would do this to the dog until the rabbit got tired of it and would then decide to lose the dog all together! I watched one chase and timed it at 1 hour 15 minutes, saw the rabbit six different times and never took a shot! On another day, my dog and I were in the woods and he found a rabbit near a brush pile. A hot pursuit began. the rabbit got out in front then started playing games by running around another brush pile then backing into it! What happened next I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it happen! Instead of that rabbit jumping out, another rabbit from the brush pile took off. My dog reached the area and instantly became confused. The freshes scent was from the second rabbit but it was not the same one my dog had been following! My dog took off after the second rabbit! When enough time had lapsed, the first rabbit came out, stood up and looked around and when he heard my dog at a safe distance, he ran a circle around the front of the brush pile, over top of the second rabbits tracks and then turned and headed back to where he had come from. It is typical for rabbits to run in a circle and try to return close to the area they were jumped from. Enter rabbits #3,#4 and #5! Yes the same thing happened again and I figured we would spent the rest of the day in these woods chasing these 5 rabbits! If you have never seen the look of confusion on a dog's face, it's pitiful! When the third rabbit came up to yet another brush pile, I saw rabbits #4 and #5 split off in different directions. I new I had to finally jump in or I would be carrying a very tired and frustrated dog out of the woods! I made the decision to take the best shot available and sent rabbit #4 to rabbit heaven. Rabbit #5 escaped to live another day. My dog finally caught up to #4 and when he found it down, he had to sit himself for a break! I know I could have put him back on the trail of rabbit #5 but that wouldn't have been fair to him!
My rabbit hunting days started to end when Dad and I lost our best hunting partner, our beagle Jack! I've told his story before. I finally hung up my shotgun after my best hunting partner pasted, my Dad! I sincerely hope that Jack was waiting for Dad and they are together right now! (I had to stop and clear some tears!)
Rabbit season 2010 opens here in a couple of days. I wish all a safe and enjoyable season! And, just for the heck of it, let one of those "bunnies" go for the next day!
