Friday Brian and I hit up a lease of mine in Pike County Mo. I am only allowed to hunt it twice a season and this was our second hunt at this property. This time we didn't even make it half way thru the first part of the property. Heck there is still the entire back side of this place that we didn't hunt this season. Their was about 4 inches of snow on the ground it was cloudy and felt about 35 degrees out which made the snow nice and wet. I can judge if its going to be good running or not if I can make a snow ball out of the snow and I was able to make a snow ball. Rabbit after Rabbit they ran we were in rabbits entire time. Both us got our limits and the dogs kept going so we let them run a few more circles till we cut them off. Plenty rabbits left as breeder rabbits. Looking forward to hunting this property next season. We always have good luck at this farm. Dogs did a great job and Leah retrieved several rabbits for me on this hunt. If we'd had another two guns on the ground I'm pretty sure they would of filled there limits aswell.
This is a 3 minute long video I put together that shows various clips thru out the days hunt including the dogs running and a few retrieves. Watch till the very end you will see a rabbit jump out from a clump of grass my lightning dog and another pup was sniffing him out. Just goes to show how many rabbits are on this property we saw him coming out of nowhere and he sat up top the hill side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VBiEfgmDdY
Here is what we were hunting in. It is a wood draw with corn on each side and a creek running thru it. Also a small pond is on the back side of the property.
Rabbit in the hole. Wounded rabbit Climbed up into this tree. I couldn't get him out I tried. I hate leaving wounded rabbits in the hole but it happens and we always try and get him out. That is my Daisy Female she is the only one that will stay at the hole till I get there.
Two Missouri Limits = 12 Cottontails on the tailgate.
Saturday 3 of us headed out to a new farm that we've never hunted before. didn't really know what to expect other than the landowner said he saw a few rabbits around the area. So what the heck what did we have to lose. Turned the hounds loose and worked some wood draws and see what we could scare up. We started off pretty good jumping several rabbits in one particular area of the farm. We also saw tons of deer sign on this farm along with several deer beds in the snow. We also kicked up a covey of quail, 3 turkey, and a herd of about 10 deer. After getting lost on the farm and having no clue where we were we stumbled onto a gravel road which led up to the truck.....lol I was lugging 6 rabbits on my back and walking thru about 7 inches of snow and my back was killing me but I'd do it again in a hearbeat.
Here is a video clip of the days hunt that i put together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAUSvYlowrA
this is always a good sign
Retrieve by Leah
Couple of rabbits were hiding in here.
another retrieve
Believe it or not their was a rabbit hiding in that creek
another retrieve
and another
Here we are after the days hunt. We also found a 17in spread buck that was half rotten. It's an 8ptr
So sunday rolls around and I had not planned on rabbit hunting. I was going to call it a season on saturday. I even slept in sunday morning till the phone rang...lol I got permission from a farm that I know in Lincoln county Mo landowner calls up and gave me the go ahead. I call up brian he couldn't make it but said his brother would like to go with me on this hunt. I told him gear up I'm about to load the hounds I'll be over in a few to pick ya up. The weather wasn't looking so good for us we were in for a good sized snow storm....lol We started hunting around 1pm and finished up around dark. Wished we could of gotten a head start before the blizzard hit. I think it snowed over 3 inches from the time we started till we were back in the truck and it was still coming down and I had to drive 40mph the whole way home took us 2hrs to get home.
I don't know what it was but with the big snow storm all the rabbits were out and about we saw roughly 15+ rabbits. I got my limit but brad just couldn't get it done he was only able to bag 3 rabbits on this hunt. Thats ok he got some good shooting practice in.......lmao I believe this was his 3rd bunny hunt of the season for him. If his barrel wasn't bent I believe we'd both had our limits on this hunt. It was a blast hunting while the snow was coming down so hard that you couldn't see anymore. It was even snowing sideways at times. The dogs didn't skip a beat they hammered the entire time. They ran from 1pm till dark. Very little down time for them. I told them before we left the house that this was the last gun-hunt till next season and they had better go all out and sure enough they did.
This is a cedar thicket we concentrated on. Lots of rabbits come out of here. You'd walk around and see random rabbit tracks. You'd see where the rabbit had been sitting up against a cedar tree almost like a snowshoehare would.
Here is a retrieve from Leah in the cedar thicket. The key was to kneel down so you could see the rabbit coming thru.
Thats my leah
That a girl Leah
I had shot at a rabbit that was bouncing thru here with my lil Daisy choppin in hot persuit while my other 3 dogs had their own rabbit going. He got away I missed the rabbit he went thru a fence onto the next property over. I was kneeling under the cedars as the snow was coming down very hard. I almost made a little bed and called it a night. It was nice under there....lol
Big running in this picture. The buck rabbits was running up and down this hill area thru the woods. They'd make a big lap down and around. Snowing hard the entire time. We'd see the rabbit go up and around but always to far away for a shot.
And here we are last hunt of the season. Tired hunter thats been all over the state of Missouri chasing rabbits. And One mighty fine pack of females that don't dissappoint this guy. No amount of money can buy them. No amount, they to me are priceless. They have out done themselves this season. I have also lost one of my best dogs early on this season and had he not passed away he'd been right there with me in that picture. I still miss that dog and I'd pay big bucks to have him back. I have a new up and comer added to the pack he is now 4 months old and about to under go rabbit boot camp. Also My leah dog is bred and we are expecting a litter out of her first week of April.
We've ran so many rabbits this season it isn't even funny. I'd have to say leah retrieved over half of them. She caught I think 5 rabbits. I keep a book on how many we get. I count everyone's... if I was there and my dogs were used it was counted. I'll have to recount but I belive the season total is 383 plus alot more that we've lost wounded in holes I do not count them in my hunting log if we'd have them we'd be over 400 on the season.
I'd like to thank everyone that reads my threads and hope you guys enjoyed reading them. I would also like to thank everyone that has been on hunts with me this season and everyone that had me out on their property for a hunt - Thanks Joey
