Rabbit hunters

DIXIEDOG · Post by **DIXIEDOG** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:45 pm

I consider myself more of a bunny terrorizer. I don't kill many but miss alot of shots and really scare the crap out of em' , course I only miss them so the dogs can run them more.

I look at trials as something fun to fill in the time between hunting seasons. If I had to give up one or the other I would still be hunting.

JUDE · Post by **JUDE** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:30 pm

I guess I could say that first I love to run rabbits year round (with friends) above hunting and trialing . Second I love to hunt and eat the game I take . Third would be trials , it does allow for some extra fun in the off season .

Buddy

DedRabbits · Post by **DedRabbits** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:51 am

Tony are you a hunter or a trialer? I couldn't figure it out from your posts.

huntinfool · Post by **huntinfool** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 7:13 am

I'm a rabbit hunter. The PA season started 2 weeks ago, shot a limit opening day. I've shot 10 all together and had fellas along that got another 4 off my dogs. I run all year round at mostly the same grounds I hunt. Shooting a few rabbits isn't going to destroy your population, at least it hasn't mine. We took 45 out of a spot last year, in just 3 weekends, all of them within a 200 yard radius. The spot is still loaded. Nature will run it's course, when they are overpopulated in an area, the predators will move in and disease will take over. Then you end up with a lack of rabbits. I try to use common sense, if I go to an area and am having difficulty finding rabbits a time or two then I don't gun hunt it anymore.

Buckeye Bob · Post by **Buckeye Bob** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 7:34 am

good reading guys.I was musing about this topic while I was burning leaves last night....burning leaves under a canopy of bright stars promotes deep thoughts.Botttom line is I have never lost when I went rabbit hunting with gun in hand.It is my therapy...all the big talk of limiting out,I passed up more rabbits last year than I shot(killed,harvested,euthenized,bagged) Cant eat ALL of em.I generally have a good time when trialing but have only won once and have felt shafted as a handler or misunderstood as a judge more than once

Today at noon I get to take a pack of 3 dogs that I have owned since pups and go with my brother and his 10 year old son (first time) to our honey hole.I go knowing that it is impossible to lose today!

Emery · Post by **Emery** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 7:45 am

I kill rabbits too, but harvest isn't a bad term...

Harvest
4. a supply of anything gathered at maturity and stored
8. to gain, win, acquire, or use (a prize, product, or result of any past act, process, plan, etc.).
9. to catch, take, or remove for use: Fishermen harvested hundreds of salmon from the river.

Nor' Easter · Post by **Nor' Easter** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:13 am

Hunter 1st, used to trail and probably will again sometime. Up here in Nova Scotia there is no limit on Hare, you can get @ 10 - 20 a day, 40 or more at times. I have 2 friends that hunt without dogs with 22's and got 70 in one day. They seem to re-populate the area within days it seems.

bluegrass · Post by **bluegrass** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:34 am

Agreed Ramey, good luck you you this season as well...I am a hunter first and occasionally trial hounds, but hunting is primary for me...I do eat the rabbits, deer, birds, etc that I kill, but I have been known to let a rabbit run instead of shooting just to listen to my hounds sing. Grouse and pheasant dont get so lucky though

Tony

kgsc68 · Post by **kgsc68** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:56 am

Well Blueass, I thought that the subject of this post was "Rabbit Hunting" and not proper use of words, although I am sorry that I used a word consisting of more than one syllable. LOL.

bluegrass · Post by **bluegrass** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:13 pm

Ouch, Blueass, thats original....is that the best you could come up with?? It seems you assume with a call name like bluegrass that I am incapable of understanding more than single syllable words...keep thinking genius

Tony

DRamey · Post by **DRamey** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:56 pm

Play nice, boys! We are here for what we can learn from each other and what we can pass on to each other, and occasionally for a laugh or two. This board is maintained for us and is a privilege that is given to us, let's keep it positive. When we disagree let's try to understand things from the other's point of view. Sometimes it's a matter of right vs. wrong and sometimes it's just a matter of how I see it compared to how you see it, in which case we can learn from each other. Technology is great, when we use it with respect for the other's opinions.

Ark · Post by **Ark** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 6:22 pm

I might trial someday if I ever get one that I think would compete but right now Im just a rabbit hunter and beagler.

Rabbits are a renewable resource and I want to kill a limit every time I go out but I seldom do.

Sometimes its because there arent enough rabbits there to do it but usually its because when I get out there I realize that its the dogs and being with friends that makes is so much fun, not the shooting.

kgsc68 · Post by **kgsc68** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 7:09 pm

DRamey, that is precisely my point. I am here on this forum and forums like it for the same reasons in which you are and have learned a great deal about hounds and rabbit hunting. I should have just kept it positive.

Buckeye Bob · Post by **Buckeye Bob** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 7:50 pm

Like I said,impossible to lose.There are 3 rabbits cooling in a bucket of saltwater on my back porch and after today a few more stories to tell.Like Wyatt missing a running rabbit and it thoughtfully stopping so he could reload and miss it sitting.Wyatt's Dad said that when the dogs came through on the first circle of the day he thought Wyatt was going to jump out of his skin.Wyatt's uncle Bob almost came out of his skin when he literally stepped on a deer.I shot 4 times with my single shot 20 and missed once when one came from behind and I had just sat down in the leaves.All kills were after at least one circle with no jumpshots.All in all a good day and the smell of frying rabbit backstraps awaits tomorrow morning.

arkyhunter · Post by **arkyhunter** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 3:01 am

I only hunt right now, I plan on attending some trials just to see what it's all about, but my work schedule just won't allow trialing. I took the hounds out the other day and got the gun out of the truck, but the first rabbit was jumped by my 6 month old Black River Jack, he was opening on that bunny like a fool, so i thought to myself that these rabbits need running more than HARVESTING

, LOL, so i put the gun up. I went to three different spots to run that day, had good runs every time. I normally don't KILL

any until after a good frost or two, and we've started getting light frosts. But i will take my limit when i can soon.