The American Beagler Forum

I like to kill a couple of rabbits as much as the next guy. How many base the success of a hunt on the number of rabbits harvested? I love to eat rabbits and kill some to eat, but I don't believe I could eat 25-30 killed in one weekend. Always been taught to use what you harvest. I know we have non hunting friends that like to eat rabbits and I do furnish them some. I know we can freeze some, but how many times do you actually eat out of the freezer. I know one guy that cleaned out his freezer and threw out 30 rabbits, some deer back strap and several packages of fish. All freezer burned. Not saying don't shoot'em just don't over do it. Remember once it's killed it'll never run or reproduce again and rabbits like other game are getting scarce in my neck of the woods. Used to be one of those that had to shoot at everything I saw, but now I'm reformed. Not trying to start an argument, just trying to make sense of it all. Thanks for letting me express my two cents worth.

I definitely don't base my success on rabbits killed,nor do I think any real houndsmen would. I do love to shoot them an love eating them. But I do agree with you that there is people who just try to rape a place an kill them all with out putting much thought in the future. Never did understand why a man with dogs would want to "killem all"

agree.

I think this has alot to do with how many rabbits you have. Where I hunt we don't have many so I won't kill 10 a year off of my spots. But some other places they have plenty of rabbits and can kill as many as they want, just don't work here. I don't really blame someone for killing alot of rabbits if they have them. But I don't so I guess its up to the circumstances.As long as they are eating them or giving them to someone that will I guess its ok. And also some of these hunts may take place in areas that they can't hunt but a few times a year so they kill as many as they can knowing it has a year to replenish. I guess I am hoping we have good sportsman in our sport and may be taking up for them.

If you kill 29 in one 3 day weekend with a large pack of dogs and your not jump shooting its quite obvious the place is overpopulated. Thinning the population down before winter so they don't over graze the food sources will preserve the population for another year.

NOT AN ANTI-SHOOTER, BUT you believe some of these hunts are overkill even though your completely ignorant of the local rabbit population in the area that they were harvested.

I wasn't involved in any of these hunts, but I did make a trip last year to hunt with Joeyman in Missouri and there were rabbits running everywhere. We only harvested rabbits the dogs circled at least once. We harvested 11. We started before the sun was up and hunted until dark. I guess we averaged about 1 per hour of hunting. I personally seen 20+ rabbits.

As long as they are eating them or giving them to someone that will I guess its ok

If they don't exceed their daily bag limit and abide by all state laws why does it matter if anyone on this board thinks its "OK"?

Not sure what this thread is designed to do. Seems like something PETA would post.

Mybeagles

if you do the work to find places and there are plenty of rabbits let em roll. if you hunt all day and could only bag two they probibly should have been left alive. if you think all the rabbits cannot be ate then you dont live like i do. rabbit , deer and fish make up well over half of our meat for a year. if you dont like to clean cook and eat them let them live. if you dont understand something this is a good place to get understanding, if you dont like something post it and let it go , if you want to start bashing somebody go to a bar. jmho

in response to my beagle..this is why I don't post on any board very often...just posting my opinion, not trying to degrade anyone.....around here you're lucky if you jump 5 rabbits a day. this used be an area with huge populations, but with the varmits and overkill they're far and few in between. I got out of beagles for a couple of years but got back in cause I couldn't stand not hearing the dogs run. If you want to kill every rabbit you jump that's okay, I just wouldn't do it. Didn't mean to insult or upset anyone, just wanted some feed back, hoping it would be positive whether you killed all you saw or not. No I don't belong to PETA or any other anti hunting organization.

Everyone always says "Im a trialer,but Im a rabbit hunter first" well as rabbit hunters if you could go to a spot/spots and kill all the rabbits you wanted and have a great day with friends and dogs why wouldnt you? Thats what its all about.If you dont wanna kill that many its easy..dont.What I dont understand is how many of these threads have been made.Seems like everytime Joeyman has a big weekend you can almost bet on the fact 2-3 days after the threads made people start with the "Well I just dont get it...." Who Cares??? Is he on or near your land taking the rabbits you would otherwise be after?Is it taking food off you and your familys plate?I agree w/mybeagles if the rabbits thats bein shot are the ones bein circled then so be it,it must be nice to get that many! Who knows maybe in 5-10 years you guys will get the satisfaction of bein right when theres no more MO rabbits for him to run I just dont see why you care.Keep huntin Joeyman cause Im sure about anyone on this board would join you on a hunt to line the tailgate up if you invited them.

jerwane wrote:in response to my beagle..this is why I don't post on any board very often...just posting my opinion, not trying to degrade anyone.....around here you're lucky if you jump 5 rabbits a day. this used be an area with huge populations, but with the varmits and overkill they're far and few in between. I got out of beagles for a couple of years but got back in cause I couldn't stand not hearing the dogs run. If you want to kill every rabbit you jump that's okay, I just wouldn't do it. Didn't mean to insult or upset anyone, just wanted some feed back, hoping it would be positive whether you killed all you saw or not. No I don't belong to PETA or any other anti hunting organization.

You are right, a lot of us can get overly defensive when someone asks the questions you did and if it was really just an honest question without the intent of pointing a finger at someone else then that is fine. I know I am quick to respond to questions like that because most times it's guys wanting to bash someone else for their way of hunting. I say to each his own and two things.......as long as the land will support it and as long as the meat gets eaten then I have absolutely no issues with it.

Don't stop posting, that's what this board is supposed to be for. Yes we all can get jumped on at times but I think as a whole we all generally just want to chat about our dogs.

As for Joeyman, he has had to defend himself on more than one occasion and near as I can tell from chatting with him on here he is one of the good guys and a true sportsman.

A question I have for those that only harvest 1 is what do you do with 1 rabbit? Its takes 4-5 to feed my family. I feed rabbits to my dogs all the time. If I get 1 or 2 and its not enough for a meal the dogs get them.......Who thinks that's a waste....or is not "OK" with it. Dogs dont waste a bit, they eat the head, feet, fur, guts and all.

Mybeagles

I have the opposite problem to many rabbits and not enough man power to cut the rabbits off, hard to get people to hunt the jungle of briars and tangles around here most want to stand the the road where the rabbits never go. Tally-ho

Mybeagles
you must use a lot of tape meds I feed to the dogs once in a while too
but not the guts part
John O

Mybeagles---

I started feeding my dog only the shot up parts and the chest cavity.. maybe a foot here and there...

I am a teacher and we have LOTS of kids going hungry right now where I live so with one rabbit I can eat a great meal and my fiance and I donate one meal we would have ate instead to our backpack program for every rabbit we kill...

besides one rabbit a trip can add up to three or four real quick....



I feel that giving a dog a rabbit to eat is ok and I used to do it alot but I love eating rabbit to much.. THey get leftovers and dog food

I'm not against giving a rabbit to the dogs I just worry about tape worms
From the guts

My dogs get the heads off every rabbit we kill they love em!!