Cottontails

[Ridge Runner]

Same ive hunted small game but never seen 20 rabbits in a field. Always got one or two here or there.
My favorite arrows for rabbits and squirrels is a wood shaft sith a 357 magnum case for a blunt head those are indestructible. And really wollop small critters

That's ashame.

Where we (me, my full brother, and a couple of elementary thru junior high school friends), hunted growing up, we could easily jump 1-4 rabbits within 10 steps of the first rabbit(s) we jumped up. Figure 1 - 30 rabbits, intially, within 200 square feet area. Some were multiple re jumps of rabbits previously jumped. Some were, think of quail, 2 - 5 rabbits jumping/flushing from under your foot at once, and a few fresh rabbits reacting to the jumping of the initial rabbits.

This was a very "unique", by....aaahhhuummm.... multiple definitions, area. Forgo technicalities.... since parents, nor others, didn't complain.

 

[Ridge Runner]

I used to have a pair of beagles that I hunted a lot. When I moved to TN I didn’t have the access to land to hunt like I did, so I don’t have beagles anymore. I have hunted a couple of times with a friend, and still enjoy it.

Blasphemy!!.....

How Dare You!.....

Ignorance Is No Excuse!!......

There are: TVA, TWRA, USNFS, AH Member's, (ie me, and I'm sure some other local AH members) would have assisted in your endeavors, to locate a rabbit hunt......well.....as long as we were "aloud to accompany" aka "actively participate",....in your endeavor to hunt rabbits with "dogs". Preferably beagles.

 

[Daryl S]

Where in SW Ontario Daryl?

Near Dorchester, used to be 10 miles East of London - closer 3 1/2 miles now on Hamilton road. The ferret bunny hunting was in the mid 1960's.

 

[Hunt anything]

@Ontario Hunter , sorry to hear about your dog, it’s tough to see an old friend go downhill!

Only hunted rabbits a few time with beagles in Virginia. I did have a lab that was hell on swamp rabbits, not much on birds but he loved chasing those big old cane cutters!

 

[WAB]

Do it all the time. View attachment 744545View attachment 744546View attachment 744547

Bring em over our way some time!

 

[gbflyer]

Never with hounds. Some of my fondest memories are rabbit hunting with my dad, cousin and a friend or two out on the BLM. In those days you drove around and spotted them under sandstone ledges. Headshots with .22. I've shot hundreds of them. I guess they are all buggy these days and no one messes with them much.

 

[Wyfox]

I started to run beagles with my dad at the age of 5 until I was 20 years old when I lived in Michigan. Lots of fond memories doing that, my gun of choice was a single shot Stevens Crackshot .22

 

[Ridge Runner]

Comparing back then: '60's, '70's 80's, early '90's before the explosion of whitetail deer populations, small game ie squirrels and rabbits were the primary meat game animals.

Since those days small game and with some reservation birds, ie quail, pheasant, etc have but dropped off the list of primary meat game, sadly, simply because there is more meat to effort hunting deer and other recovered big game species than small game.

Sadly, there are no efforts by the various wildlife enforcement agencies AND HUNTERS to control the predatory animals, ie coyotes, bobcats, foxes, etc, that have devastated the small game and wild upland bird populations.

 

[gbflyer]

I believe farming practices have also changed the dynamic along with the predators. We ate a lot pheasants, grouse, and cottontails.

 

[Keelebilly]

In my area of middle Tennessee, the main problem is habitat loss. Old overgrown cattle pastures are either turned into housing developments or row crop fields. All the fence rows are dozed out to make huge fields for the planters and combines. During the growing season, there’s lots of cover, but once they harvest it’s a desert with no place for wildlife to live. The WMA’s only care about deer. There’s no management for small game. You have to get lucky and find small pockets of habitat where there are still some rabbits left.

 

[Whitworth375]

Near Dorchester, used to be 10 miles East of London - closer 3 1/2 miles now on Hamilton road. The ferret bunny hunting was in the mid 1960's.

Right on, i know where you mean. Only about 1hr from me.

 

[Flbt]

Rabbit and quail
Are the 2 main reason I still have a lot of old fince up.
Squirrel was dropped form season there year round now.
I heard stories about dad hunting when he was young. Every day rabbit,squirrel some times quail and a occasionally a coon.
What he shot was supper tonight or tomorrow ( coon)
And that at times it was the only meat available.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

The old hound showing the new hound the perks of chair time after a successful day chasing rabbits.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Suiting up for another day of work, once them bells come out there’s no turning them off without a 5-6 hour run

 

[Rellik]

I've never hunted cottontails with dogs but hope to someday. I do enjoy stalking them in the tall sage and rimrocks with my .32cal BP squirrel rifle. Some years there are rabbits behind every bush and other years I can hardly find a track.

 

[MS 9x56]

Nothing like some hound music.

 

[steve white]

In the late 70s I hunted a 100 acre tract in Mansfield, Tx. Could walk up 6-12 rabbits every time I went, and they were ALWAYS in virtually the same places, like a bass taking over a stump. Now it's large public park.

If anyone REALLY wants rabbits, go to the cornfields near Gardens-City Kansas after harvest. Hunted one huge field with an irrigation canal pock marked with rabbit holes. I swear on a Bible we saw 300 cotton tails and 75 jackrabbits, but we were hunting pheasants. You could have filled a pickup truck, but how could you even carry them? As much as those rabbits had to be eating you would think farmers would welcome rabbit hunters!

BTW, anyone like rabbit stew?

 

[steve white]

One thing I learned that will massively increase your hits on running rabbits--absolutely ignore the brush, just shoot through it without hesitation. There will always be enough pellets get through to kill a rabbit. You don't have to have a rabbit perfectly in the clear, so don't check your swing.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

One thing I learned that will massively increase your hits on running rabbits--absolutely ignore the brush, just shoot through it without hesitation. There will always be enough pellets get through to kill a rabbit. You don't have to have a rabbit perfectly in the clear, so don't check your swing.

In my experience those chances greatly reduce as gauge diminishes 12 sure 20 probably after that not such a sure bet.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

I've never hunted cottontails with dogs but hope to someday. I do enjoy stalking them in the tall sage and rimrocks with my .32cal BP squirrel rifle. Some years there are rabbits behind every bush and other years I can hardly find a track.

With very few exceptions there’s an open invitation for any of the AH brethren to hunt over my hounds