we will monitor responses for several months before we decide if we will pursue this one or not. one response pre-person is really good enough because at this point its not a debate merely a chance to put in your two cents worth. its strange one board is almost 100% for it, the next is about 75% for it and here the results are less than fifty percent for. id have to go back and add up the responses for and against and subtract out the double responses to get a good idea.... i will do that. and of the fellows that are in the wabash county area ive yet to get a negative response, but then most of them do hunt together and they are the ones that first ask.
if you havent chimed in yet please do......lol.
im not sure where you are hunting and not finding bunnies.... every where ive been this year we have almost been non stop bunny running from start to finish. and that includes the state ground. but then ive found that if i wanted to kill bunnies on the last day of season i could get a limit on any of the big three reservoir areas. glad im hunting here and not there....lol.
extending rabbit season thru feb. in indiana
Moderators: Pike Ridge Beagles, Aaron Bartlett
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jon cornett
EXTENDING RABBIT SEASON
JACKRABBIT, I, LIKE YOU, HAVE HAD NO PROBLEM FINDING BUNNYS OR SHOULD I SAY MY DOGS HAVE HAD NO PROBLEMS FINDING THEM. EITHER ON STATE LAND OR PRIVATE. HECK IVE BEEN DOING ALOT OF HUNTING WITH MY BOYS AND THERE FRIENDS, (BOYS AGES 10 TO 14) AND YOU KNOW HOW THAT CAN BE, AND STILL FINDING BUNNYS AND ONES THAT WILL RUN. DONT KNOW WHERE SOME OF THESE FOLKS ARE HUNTING OR RUNNING BUT EVERYWHERE IVE BEEN ITS BEEN GOOD. GUYS WHO SEEM TO HAVE A HARD TIME FINDING RABBITS WANT TO BLAME IT ON OVERHARVEST SOMETIMES, WHEN MOST LIKELY IT IS PREDATORS, LACK OF COVER, WEATHER, AND MAYBE IN SOME AREAS IT IS OVERABUNDANCE OF HUNTERS. SOMETIMES I THINK IT CAN EVEN BE POOR DOGS AS I KNOW HOW THIS IS. I ALMOST GIVE RABBIT HUNTING UP TOTALLY TILL I GOT THE DOGS I HAVE NOW. ANYWAY DONT BLAME SOME OF US, WHO WOULDNT MIND THE STATE EXTENDING THE SEASON, FOR WANTING TO HUNT A LITTLE LONGER. IM EVEN FOR THEM MAYBE CANCELLING THE EARLY SEASON (OCT) ON STATE LANDS TO EXTEND IT INTO FEBUARY. AND IM A EARLY SEASON FAN FOR SURE. JUST MY TWO CENTS WORTH, DIDNT MEAN TO OFFEND ANYONE.
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Guest
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jackrabbit
shootem up bunnie hunter
well you know what they say about opinons...... they are like a certain part of the human anatomy...... everyone has one....lol.
as a general rule i rack up a staggering 6 to 10 rabbits a year. the dogs sorta like to see one every once in awhile. and a stew once in a while is good. but this year im slipping a bit ive only shot about three myself. ive been to busy doing youth hunts with about a dozen of the young guys in the area to shoot em myself. one of the things i talk to the young hunters about before we go out is the need to not over harvest the rabbits in one location (and you will find later in this post i may not be right on that one really). i am the one getting all the benifit. i go with the boys to their parents or grandparents land, run rabbits with my dogs, have fantastic bunny chases, watch the young hunters shoot a couple of bunnies, get a chance to fill their young minds with safe pro-hunter propaganda, and all it costs me is a few hours each time in the field, a bloody paw or two helping them dress their first rabbits and some film to take a picture for them..... i know that all they get is a memory that will last a life time..... i still remember the first rabbit i shot, and the first rabbit both my boys shot. and even though what im doing is a thankless dirty job....... you know someones got to do it.... roflmao...
as for myself i could easily just run my dogs in feb and leave the gun alone as i do now. i only average taking the gun maybe one out of every eight time i go out and then dont shoot a rabbit unless it does something real stupid just at the time i think the dogs need to catch one.
if you are the same guest that sarcastically suggested we get all the laws abolished and just shot everything in sight then your new comment would be understandable and that would be my opinion....lol.
the reason im getting the info is to help our group decide if we should pursue the extended season idea or not..... now if your opinion leads you to believe that i am pro-opportunity, and would go the extra mile to support or advance the cause of the rabbit hunter then your opinion would be correct. we have had hunters contact us and ask us to look into the possiblity and we (and i) are doing just that. NO ONE IN OUR ORGANIZATION PROPOSES TO WIPE OUT THE RABBIT POPULATION.
should our search lead us to the conclusion that an extended season is a good idea and is both scientifically feasable along with being a popular move among rabbit hunters then we will pursue it. should we find it to be the opposite we want to be able to explain in detail what our finding are and why we are not going to pursue it to the fellows that ask for help. it all just seems fair to us.
so far our scientific research has the following indications and i quote just one source.
it is difficult,in fact almost impossible to harvest enough cottontail rabbits by sport hunting during the legal hunting season to reduce the next years population. at least 80% of a fall population dies before the next fall. whether the rabbits are hunted or not. it is much better to use the resouce for recreation and food than to allow the annual mortality of 80% or more to take a heavy toll. i wont even attempt to get you to think i believe this 100% i have my thoughts that i wont go into unless asked, so ill just say.
sometimes we look at something and say hey its just common sense, but it turns out not to be really so common or make so much sense after all.
jackrabbit.
as a general rule i rack up a staggering 6 to 10 rabbits a year. the dogs sorta like to see one every once in awhile. and a stew once in a while is good. but this year im slipping a bit ive only shot about three myself. ive been to busy doing youth hunts with about a dozen of the young guys in the area to shoot em myself. one of the things i talk to the young hunters about before we go out is the need to not over harvest the rabbits in one location (and you will find later in this post i may not be right on that one really). i am the one getting all the benifit. i go with the boys to their parents or grandparents land, run rabbits with my dogs, have fantastic bunny chases, watch the young hunters shoot a couple of bunnies, get a chance to fill their young minds with safe pro-hunter propaganda, and all it costs me is a few hours each time in the field, a bloody paw or two helping them dress their first rabbits and some film to take a picture for them..... i know that all they get is a memory that will last a life time..... i still remember the first rabbit i shot, and the first rabbit both my boys shot. and even though what im doing is a thankless dirty job....... you know someones got to do it.... roflmao...
as for myself i could easily just run my dogs in feb and leave the gun alone as i do now. i only average taking the gun maybe one out of every eight time i go out and then dont shoot a rabbit unless it does something real stupid just at the time i think the dogs need to catch one.
if you are the same guest that sarcastically suggested we get all the laws abolished and just shot everything in sight then your new comment would be understandable and that would be my opinion....lol.
the reason im getting the info is to help our group decide if we should pursue the extended season idea or not..... now if your opinion leads you to believe that i am pro-opportunity, and would go the extra mile to support or advance the cause of the rabbit hunter then your opinion would be correct. we have had hunters contact us and ask us to look into the possiblity and we (and i) are doing just that. NO ONE IN OUR ORGANIZATION PROPOSES TO WIPE OUT THE RABBIT POPULATION.
should our search lead us to the conclusion that an extended season is a good idea and is both scientifically feasable along with being a popular move among rabbit hunters then we will pursue it. should we find it to be the opposite we want to be able to explain in detail what our finding are and why we are not going to pursue it to the fellows that ask for help. it all just seems fair to us.
so far our scientific research has the following indications and i quote just one source.
it is difficult,in fact almost impossible to harvest enough cottontail rabbits by sport hunting during the legal hunting season to reduce the next years population. at least 80% of a fall population dies before the next fall. whether the rabbits are hunted or not. it is much better to use the resouce for recreation and food than to allow the annual mortality of 80% or more to take a heavy toll. i wont even attempt to get you to think i believe this 100% i have my thoughts that i wont go into unless asked, so ill just say.
sometimes we look at something and say hey its just common sense, but it turns out not to be really so common or make so much sense after all.
jackrabbit.
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Little Dog
I have no problem with running the season later -- no lack of rabbits here and I surely would not mind them opening up later cause I avoid the orange army as best I can. Each year it seems like deer seasons in every state get longer and longer and I go farther out of my way to avoid them. I may not shoot many rabbits, but I like to know I can when I want to or to do so after a special race.
Georgetown, IN,
Little Dog
Georgetown, IN,
Little Dog
Well stated Jackrabbit. I never once saw anything in your posts about a person having to KILL every rabbit they ran. I hunt numerous species rabbits, squirrel and deer and almost NEVER take the limit of anyone of them. I have deer hunted for the past 4 years and not taken a deer as I am pretty selective ( wall mounter or nothing). The only thing I harvest my limit of is mushrooms and there is no limit on them, except how many I can eat. I hunt for sport or the excitement of the dogs running/ learning. I don't hunt for food any more but can remember as a kid we were very pleased to have it. If I want meat I can go to the grocery store and buy it but if I'm running my dogs and they need a treat I would like to be able to provide it for them.
I would be in favor of extending the season just so I could legally carry a gun in the field in case I was working a young dog that needed to be shot around.
I would be in favor of extending the season just so I could legally carry a gun in the field in case I was working a young dog that needed to be shot around.
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jackrabbit
mushrooms.... did you say mushrooms...
it just so happens im an undercover FMI ( federal mushroom inspector). and being as i know where you live i will stop by several times early april thru the first week in may to inspect your find.... any that do not fit inside the slot limit... either to small or to big i will have to confinscate and do some field testing on them to see if they are moreish....( the more i eat the more i want).
and i will let everyone know the direction we take on the extended season when the study period is over.
and i will let everyone know the direction we take on the extended season when the study period is over.
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beaglebill
- Posts: 184
- Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2002 8:58 am
- Location: IND