Rabbit hunters.

[rabbitearl]

If you were rabbit hunting and it was the last day and lots of rabbits.The dogs are burning one up and you are trying to find a place and then jump one, would you shoot that rabbit or let it go?

[Dale Pea]

I don't know how everybody else is. I myself wouldn't shoot. I don't feed these dogs all year to jump shoot. I know of several folks, who shoot whenever they see a rabbit.

[BIG ORDEAL]

I wasnt taught to rabbit hunt like that.I have done it thinking it was a rabbit the dogs were running and turned ou it wasnt but I have to run them and try to circle them to the gun at least once and often times let him go just because the dogs are running him so dang good.I was invited to a new place this year that was suppose to be loaded ,well there were a few rabbits but it wasnt like the man that owned talked it up to be.Some folks see a 3 or 4 rabbits during deer season or driving down paths and claim it is eat up with them,well Im sure you know what I mean but any way we jumped rabbits and the one fellow was kicking them up and shooting them as hard as he could while before we started I explained to them if you jumped one to call the dogs and put them on him but he must have been hungry because I know he shot 3 or 4 rabbits that day jumpshootin.I was mad as I could be but it wasnt my land so I bit my tongue but said to myself this is the last time.

[Househounds]

I would let it go and concentrate on the one they are running. If I jump one or seeing it sitting I call the dogs over and put them on it rather then just shoot it. Early this past season, it was about our second time out, and I must have told my 14 year old son 3 times on our way to a hunting spot not to jump shoot one or shoot one sitting as the dogs were just getting into running them well. I didn't even step in the swale with the dogs and I hear him start blazing away with his .22 semi-auto. I was so mad I could have shot him . He said he was shooting at one sitting so he could hit it in the head and tan the hide. Kids...

[bluecollar beagler]

i never shoot a rabbit on the jump and the guys that hunt with me are asked not to shoot them on the jump either. i mention it as soon as we get out of the truck at any of my spots.. if they do, then i dont hunt with them again. if were at someone elses spot and they do it, thats there buisness but i wont do it .

[Hippy]

If I am hunting with YOUNG dogs that have not had many/any rabbits killed in front of them I WILL Jump shoot the 1st rabbit as I believe it TURNS them on as I feed the dogs the Heart,liver .
I do not think it hurts them and I personally believe it is a vital part of training.

Jim

[beagletrainer]

I would not shoot a jumped rabbit and any one thats with me hunting doesn`t or if they do they don`t hunt any more with me and if im hunting on some one else land and they do i pick my dogs up and leave. We leave the dogs circle it once befor any shooting and if you can`t follow those rules you don`t hunt with my dogs any more.

[BCBeagles]

I would not shoot that one. I mark them and hopefully get a hound on them after the race going on. I have shot rabbits off the jump as the hounds jump them and are running and after a very short chase killed a couple and missed a bunch for young hounds or a hard working pack. I think it is vital for hounds young and old to have exposure to an intense chase and gunfire shortly after. IMO it lets them know what it is ALL about not just running them, converging on the kill. Total gundogs know what the blast of a shotgun means, FUR, or in my case a long check I create with my MISSES!! LOL.

[cspot]

I would not shoot a jumped rabbit and any one thats with me hunting doesn`t or if they do they don`t hunt any more with me and if im hunting on some one else land and they do i pick my dogs up and leave. We leave the dogs circle it once befor any shooting and if you can`t follow those rules you don`t hunt with my dogs any more.

I have hunted with some landowners that have jumpshot at the rabbits. As long as they do it safely, I don't care. It is their land and they are letting me hunt there, so why should I tell them what to do. Other than that, it is no jumpshooting.

I would not shoot that one. I mark them and hopefully get a hound on them after the race going on. I have shot rabbits off the jump as the hounds jump them and are running and after a very short chase killed a couple and missed a bunch for young hounds or a hard working pack. I think it is vital for hounds young and old to have exposure to an intense chase and gunfire shortly after. IMO it lets them know what it is ALL about not just running them, converging on the kill. Total gundogs know what the blast of a shotgun means, FUR, or in my case a long check I create with my MISSES!! LOL.

My dogs think the blast of the shotgun means the rabbit passed reasonably close to me, and that only occasionally it is dead. LOL

[bigjohn]

gotta be circled at least once for me and those I chose to let hunt with me.

[bill huttozac]

beagletrainer - Exactly my thoughts and actions. It is not about the rabbit but about watching and hearing your hounds run a good race. I love to watch Peter Rabbit play his little tricks ahead of the hounds. When houndsmen think or act differently than I do, we do not run together again.

[rabbitearl]

Thanks yall for the reply.When I was young yes sir I would shoot one on the jump.One thing I didnot have anything to run it.Maybe 20 yrds.So if I wanted to eat one.And I do love to eat one.Could not catch one in a trap I had to shoot one on the jump.Didnot have this net or anybody around here to help me out on what to look for in a beagle.Now that I know how to catch one and got better dogs.No I want shoot one on the jump.BUT.It being the last day and rabbits everywere and the dogs already running one,and have seen over the years my rabbit hunting place getting gone to land being clear.That rabbit better not jump out in frount of me on the last day if the dogs are running one.Any other day I want shoot on the jump but on the last day if there lots of rabbits.Bang

I just love getting a mess of rabbit and have a cook out at the club house and invite everybody around and seeing the smile on the old ones saying.Its been along time eating rabbits.You need a place to rabbit hunt.or set some rabbit boxes.Let me know.

[Bunnyblaster]

If I am hunting with YOUNG dogs that have not had many/any rabbits killed in front of them I WILL Jump shoot the 1st rabbit as I believe it TURNS them on as I feed the dogs the Heart,liver .
I do not think it hurts them and I personally believe it is a vital part of training.

Jim

I try to do this once for every young dog I have but it is only ever when just I am there and only under the right circumstances. i.e. it's a safe shot(obviously), there's no chance of making the dog gunshy, the dog has been running rabbits well already, etc. To be honest in most cases this doesn't always present itself but on the rare occasion it does I like to roll one up in front of a young dog but only just that one time and that's it.........otherwise I just let the rabbit go and will get the dogs over to the new line when I can.

The only other time I've jump shot a rabbit while running my dogs was once last year when a landowner really wanted a rabbit for the stew pot so I did pull the trigger on that one but that was kind of a special case............and still was only done because it was a safe scenario.

[Fleetwood]

I had a dog almost ruined one time by a "friend" who was hunting with me and my dad. The rabbit jumped, the dog started the chase and the guy shot, right over the head of my dog. I would have liked to shoot him. She was gunshy for quite a while but eventually came out of it. We were very lucky she didn't get killed. Needless to say, that "friend" was never asked to go hunting with us again. We had laid the ground rules down before the hunt so he knew not to shoot on the jump, but when the bunny jumped, his trigger finger got itchy. Just goes to show you, you can NEVER be too careful about who goes hunting with you.

[Lee Cockman]

NO WAY and if anyone with me was to shoot they would not hunt with me anymore. JMO