VANISHING RABBITS!!!!!!!

jon cornett · Post by **jon cornett** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 2:42 pm

anyone ever hunt a spot one day and jump several rabbits and go back again a time or two and jump nothing. we have a spot thats beside a river. its a thicket about 50 yards wide and 200 to 300 yards long. its got a mixture of cover in it. the first time we hit it we jumped 4 or 5 bunnys just in one short area. we only klled one of them. have went back twice since and hunted the entire thicket with the same dogs and havnt jumped anything. its very frustrating. i know that coyotes work the area pretty hard but i wouldnt think they would do that much damage in a short time? any thoughts? thanks jon cornett

danny vansickle · Post by **danny vansickle** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:56 pm

sounds like someone else found your honey hole!!!!!!!

jon cornett · Post by **jon cornett** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:15 pm

one would think that but no one else hunts it that we know of. we have permission from the land owner, no other tracks going in and out of the place, no trash, no gun shells and so on.

APFII · Post by **APFII** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:20 pm

Some times the rabbits just sit so tite that a dogs got step on them to get them to move.

Chuck Terry · Post by **Chuck Terry** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:55 pm

I have a 1 3/4 acre starting pen. I think there are atleast 5 rabbits in now and probably a dozen or more at times in the past. I have walked around and around in there with pups for an hour or more without seeing a rabbit. Sometimes they are concentrated in one corner or even right in the middle which is the most open part. Once we get one going, we have little trouble finding them. Never underestimate a rabbit's ability to "hold tight"!

Ronnyg · Post by **Ronnyg** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 8:02 pm

I have been introducing a buddy to rabbit hunting and the other day we were working an old thicket. We walked up to within 3 feet of a rabbit sitting under a small bush. My 3 dogs were within 10 feet of the area and it never moved. I don't have world beaters otherwise they woulda found it sooner. It finally took 1 of my dogs opening and was only about 5 feet away before it bolted. I couldn't believe that thing set so tight. I was actually talking in a normal voice trying to point it out to my buddy and it still sat there.

coolbrze · Post by **coolbrze** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:18 pm

APFII wrote:Some times the rabbits just sit so tite that a dogs got step on them to get them to move.

I'll 2nd this. Been there, done that, I hate it, but aint much you can do. Give it a week or two then hit it again!

Keystone Kid · Post by **Keystone Kid** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 3:39 am

Jon, we missed you at the Indiana Youth Rabbit Hunt.

I have a Moon Chart that I sometimes pick my times to hunt by. It sure makes a difference! If anyone wants more info. contact me. I get it off the internet.

It tells all the exact times when the “moon rises & sets” at any given place in the world. I know the best times to hunt rabbits and deer are an hour & forty-five minutes before, and an hour & forty-five minutes after the moon is directly overhead. I just do the math and save time getting game up. I’ve used this method for the last 10 yrs or so.

In the next day I will post a picture of a “big” 8-point buck I shot yesterday November 20, 2007 by using this method. I was told it has almost a perfect symmetrical rack. So it shouldn’t receive hardly any deductions on the “Boon & Crocket Scale”. It’s expected to score easily 140+. I will have it “Green Scored” in the next few weeks.

I tell you, hunting by the moon is the way to go if you don’t have time to waist in the field.

ThereHeGoes! · Post by **ThereHeGoes!** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:06 am

[Never underestimate a rabbit's ability to "hold tight"!]

I was out saturday with my sister and i came through this thick woods, not super thick, you can definitely see through it, but i get to the end and i stand there talking to her to determine what to do next, have my two dogs working about 10 ft in front of me, talked for about 30 seconds and i turn to go and there was one sitting 3 feet behind me, wide open woods and me and one of the dogs already walked from that direction, and i watch it run the whole way through my uncles yard... talk about sitting tight!

B.Trull · Post by **B.Trull** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 9:04 am

Yea, the rabbits are sitting real tight. I jumped all 3 rabbits myself yesterday, had to step on them .

APFII · Post by **APFII** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 9:31 am

Keystone : I would like to give the moon thing a try. Can you give me a web site to get info ?

Keystone Kid · Post by **Keystone Kid** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:11 am

APFII wrote:Keystone : I would like to give the moon thing a try. Can you give me a web site to get info ?

email me and then call me, and I will explain how its done. http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php

James Heasley
3912 S. Felton
Marion, IN 46953
(765) 674-3791
jheasley@indy.rr.com

Keystone Kid · Post by **Keystone Kid** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:30 pm

Here are some pictures of the deer I mentioned shooting yesterday. I just got my pictures off my cell phone camera saved to my computer and uploaded to “photobucket”.

The fat bald guy in the background is 6' 1" tall & 310 lbs.

I think my size makes the deer look a little smaller than he actually is. His "Green Score" was 144.

wvduece · Post by **wvduece** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:06 am

very nice buck he has some long tines what was the inside spread n why 2 shots they both look like great shots enuf to put him down for good jb

Keystone Kid · Post by **Keystone Kid** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 7:47 am

He was a big deer. He field dressed out at 197 lbs. Both shots entered on his right side. Those are exit holes seen in the photos. The first shot went through at least one possibly both of his lungs. He then went approximately 75 yards north and ran right into a 5’ farm fence. He collapsed, reared up, flipped over the fence (which dislocated his right rear leg because it got tangled in the fence). Then rolled over twice and ran another 75 yards and hit another fence (this is where I caught up to him at and “attempted to finish him off). After the second shot (which was a heart shot) he still continued to breathe for 30 minutes. When I field dressed him, his heart came out in two pieces. “I was literally amazed!”

I've taken approximately 60+ deer with a bow. The last five were with "traditional archery equipment". I've shot about 35 with a gun. I've hunted deer in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Deer hunting has come in second to rabbit hunting & field trialing beagles for the last five years.