I've been bitten! (part two)
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2003 10:24 am
the woods behind robbies house is a much better running area than the little lot that i had been running my dogs. while there are some areas that are thick and briar choked,,, there are also many nice areas that are easy to walk through and you can watch the dogs and the bunnies. opening day found me on robbie's place with my four hounds, and they opened nearly as soon as i took the leashes off of them. they ran a few races that morning, and as it was still kind of warm we only hunted for a couple of hours. it was a different type of running for the dogs, rather than running a rabbit through the thickest stuff imaginable in a little two acre plot,,, they were running full speed through patches of trees interspersed with briar patches and palmetto bogs. the indiana hounds seemed right at home.
they circled the first rabbit three times before he was taken, and brought more rabbits to the gunners on that morning than i expected in a month. if any of the three old duck hunters could shoot something running on the ground, we would have come home with limits,,, as it was, everyone was happy with the running and the dogs happiest of all.
this was hunting,,, and with the mellowing that comes with the passage of time,,, the number of rabbits brought home mattered less than the experience of being out there and hearing that hound music. on the second hunt of the year, after missing my first four shots, i said to myself, " if they were only flying i could hit them" and realized that i was trying to shoot them on the ground as if they were standing still, e.g., not following through. one quickly learns when duck hunting that following through is a must, and once i realized that it would apply here as well, the rabbits started rolling.
so i started bringing home two or three a hunt and also started bringing a one year old puppy with us,,, she had been given away as a pet, but when that didn't work out she came back. a bit late, i figured, but i brought her out anyway and she started right away, following right along and even leading the race a time or two.
i hadn't realized how much i was enjoying all of this, until yesterday, when one of my duck hunting buddies called to ask about opening day plans. i found myself torn,,, i wouldn't be able to go after bunnies when duck season rolled along. it was an unbelievable feeling. i was counting the days that i could hunt rabbits before the duck opener, and found myself wanting to hunt rabbits more than i wanted to hunt ducks. this was sacrilege. i never expected this to happen. i mean, these dogs were there as a diversion,,, something to fill the time until my time of year arrived,,, duck season. what was this,,, wanting to follow these rabbit dogs more than i wanted to hunt ducks???? i couldn't believe i was thinking this was. had the hound bug really hit me that hard????
it was, actually, a pleasant enough quandary to be in. either way, i would be happier than a clam,,, enjoying myself with either my duck dog or my rabbit dogs. but it was something that came on me quite unexpectedly. and i was shocked, to tell you the truth,, shocked at how much i enjoyed running behind these hounds.
after sitting down and thinking about it,, i am still gonna hunt ducks,, and hunt them hard. i still love duck hunting,,, and a sixty day season is still quite short. duck season is over in mid january,,, it is effectively over when those cold fronts blow through down here,,, pushing all the water out of the marsh. the ducks leave for the most part,,, you wait for the wind to come out of the east to push some water in,, then slog through the muck and mud to get to your blind and maybe get a few shots at the late stragglers. every year i am hanging on to those last few duck hunts,,, trying to wring every ounce of experience out of them. i have had some great final hunts of the year. one year i knocked down a pair of pintail on the last hunt,,, another year is was a pair of green winged teal and a pair of widgeon. but every year the duck season ends and i am depressed for a week, at least.
not this year, though,,, rabbit season lasts until the end of february down here, and i expect to make the most of it. i will be hunting hard until the spring. and even during duck season,,, i will still be forced to make a rabbit hunt of two,,, "to keep the dogs in shape", you know how it is. yes, i have been bitten pretty hard, and i will say that i have the fever pretty bad. it is actually a wonderful bug to have,,, "rabbit fever" a friend called it,,, more like "hound fever".
they circled the first rabbit three times before he was taken, and brought more rabbits to the gunners on that morning than i expected in a month. if any of the three old duck hunters could shoot something running on the ground, we would have come home with limits,,, as it was, everyone was happy with the running and the dogs happiest of all.
this was hunting,,, and with the mellowing that comes with the passage of time,,, the number of rabbits brought home mattered less than the experience of being out there and hearing that hound music. on the second hunt of the year, after missing my first four shots, i said to myself, " if they were only flying i could hit them" and realized that i was trying to shoot them on the ground as if they were standing still, e.g., not following through. one quickly learns when duck hunting that following through is a must, and once i realized that it would apply here as well, the rabbits started rolling.
so i started bringing home two or three a hunt and also started bringing a one year old puppy with us,,, she had been given away as a pet, but when that didn't work out she came back. a bit late, i figured, but i brought her out anyway and she started right away, following right along and even leading the race a time or two.
i hadn't realized how much i was enjoying all of this, until yesterday, when one of my duck hunting buddies called to ask about opening day plans. i found myself torn,,, i wouldn't be able to go after bunnies when duck season rolled along. it was an unbelievable feeling. i was counting the days that i could hunt rabbits before the duck opener, and found myself wanting to hunt rabbits more than i wanted to hunt ducks. this was sacrilege. i never expected this to happen. i mean, these dogs were there as a diversion,,, something to fill the time until my time of year arrived,,, duck season. what was this,,, wanting to follow these rabbit dogs more than i wanted to hunt ducks???? i couldn't believe i was thinking this was. had the hound bug really hit me that hard????
it was, actually, a pleasant enough quandary to be in. either way, i would be happier than a clam,,, enjoying myself with either my duck dog or my rabbit dogs. but it was something that came on me quite unexpectedly. and i was shocked, to tell you the truth,, shocked at how much i enjoyed running behind these hounds.
after sitting down and thinking about it,, i am still gonna hunt ducks,, and hunt them hard. i still love duck hunting,,, and a sixty day season is still quite short. duck season is over in mid january,,, it is effectively over when those cold fronts blow through down here,,, pushing all the water out of the marsh. the ducks leave for the most part,,, you wait for the wind to come out of the east to push some water in,, then slog through the muck and mud to get to your blind and maybe get a few shots at the late stragglers. every year i am hanging on to those last few duck hunts,,, trying to wring every ounce of experience out of them. i have had some great final hunts of the year. one year i knocked down a pair of pintail on the last hunt,,, another year is was a pair of green winged teal and a pair of widgeon. but every year the duck season ends and i am depressed for a week, at least.
not this year, though,,, rabbit season lasts until the end of february down here, and i expect to make the most of it. i will be hunting hard until the spring. and even during duck season,,, i will still be forced to make a rabbit hunt of two,,, "to keep the dogs in shape", you know how it is. yes, i have been bitten pretty hard, and i will say that i have the fever pretty bad. it is actually a wonderful bug to have,,, "rabbit fever" a friend called it,,, more like "hound fever".
