Rabbit Hunt

[Silver Belly62]

Recently finished up a three day hunt I thought I would share with everyone. Last Sunday myself and some friends left for NC to do a three day rabbit hunt that had been planned for some time. A few of the guy's had not hunted over hounds for a long time and for one younger hunter it was his first time ever. With the storm that came up last Sunday the driving was a little slick going down, and put us behind schedule a little bit. That area of NC was hammered with rain that day, not to mention a lot of rain during most of the regular hunting seasons this past year.  Everyone arrived by early evening to get unpacked and kick back with a few beers and some whiskey.

Monday morning came and was a mess to start things off for the first day with a lot of areas flooded out. Hounds had a rough start, but worked things out the best they could with the conditions they were given. The hound owner brought around 14 hounds and was going to run 7 in the morning and a different 7 in the afternoon. We started at the back side of a field that went into a heavy thicket area with a stream at the bottom. After the hounds worked the lower area by the stream they finally came up middle way to higher ground where the first good race was started. This area had some good small winding woods roads with a lot of bends in different areas which would make things interesting for most of the morning .  Always seemed when the race was going good he would cross on one of those bends where none of the guy's were or they had just left.  Finally one of the guys that had not been rabbit hunting for many years got a shot at him at the end of a dead end road with his 410 pump, but was able to get into the thicket some before being found. Finally one on the board or as some say "the tailgate".  Shortly after another race was going and another hunter was able to get him  using a older Ithaca 16 gauge.  Worked that area the rest of the morning with the hounds struggling some with some short races where they seemed to have holed up or crossed into some flooded areas.

After lunch we went to another spot which had a lot of tall indian grass mixed with some some shorter pines with some of the longest bushy needles I have ever seen. Before long they had one up and running and as much as we tried closing the gap in certain areas he would do something different to mix things up. Finally the hunter with the 410 pump took his second rabbit of the day.  After he had shot his second rabbit we could hear that one of the hounds had broken off from the pack and was running a separate rabbit by himself. Hounds quickly went to him and another race was on !  They ran this one most of the afternoon through some large swampy areas back up to that big pine area. As they were coming back out of the thick swamp where I was I thought I had most of my area covered but he zipped past the small opening  I had into the pines where he made a big left turn to try and double back around where another hunter was with a much older Remington 870 20 gauge that still worked fine. We ended the day with four on the tailgate and headed back to the farm house for some venison steak sandwiches one of the guy's brought to make which were great that night.

Tuesday morning was cold with the first good run in a wide strip thicket area. The hounds took the rabbit to the end of the thicket out into a cut cotton field, then past where the trucks were parked into a bigger piece of woods. Hounds finally worked him out where one guy could get a clean shot at him back in the cotton field. Owner gathered up the hounds to get them back deeper into the main part of the big woods  since that had hardly been touched yet. Wasn't long and the choir was singing again ! They ran this one to the back side of the big woods where they started to have some trouble keeping the track which was before a block pile. Not sure if it was the same one or not but after passing that block pile down a little ways one busted out the right side and was going to cross a cut field to another piece of woods where the hound owner did not want them to get into. The younger hunter who had never rabbit hunted over hounds before ended up taking the shot just as the hounds picked up the scent to get his first rabbit. We finished hunting that area before heading back for lunch.

That afternoon he took us to another spot where a big old raccoon was pushed out into a flooded area, which he didn't care where but he was getting out of town quick ! lol.  Hounds ended up losing that rabbit when they got to some deeper water in one area so we crossed a woods road to try and get them up on some higher ground which was for the better because they were able to get one started and pounded him for a long time. I believe there were three misses going away on a woods road, one in the front end of that piece, and another in a corner section  .  The six to eight hounds that were on the ground gave him some exercise and had some hunters shaking their heads at the end of the day !  Even though we ended the day with only two rabbits we had some good runs and a lot laughs. Dinner that night was sausage, peppers, and onions with a few much needed drinks !  

Wednesday morning was cold with a heavy frost and the owner of the hounds said since it was the last day he was going to bring ten of his best hounds. He wanted to start out in a smaller thicker block of woods he had since there was a heavy frost. After two great runs in this piece  we had two rabbits on the tailgate. Moved to another spot which was deeper through some fields to a over grown area that was more like a jungle than anything else, but had a lot of good sign. After about 15 or 20 minutes they had one started which would end up being the longest run of the three days. The rabbit made some runs through some nasty crap and crossed a couple woods roads where no one could get a quick shot on him. Finally he had enough and made up his mind he was leaving and took the hounds on a straight shot away out of hearing of all of us. He checked his garmin unit and they were about a little over 500 yards from where we first started and still going strong. After trying to get around to where they were, many misses, and  2 1/2 hours of some of the best music you could ever hear echoing in the woods he was finally put on the tailgate !!

We finished out the day with two more for a total of five, and eleven for the three days we hunted.  Should have had a few more but some of us had bent barrels on our guns    along with the weather curve ball we were given for the beginning of the hunt. Ended the day with a bottle of "Crown Reserve" with a toast to the "hunt" with good friends both new and old. I've included some pic's from the hunt and have a short video clip I'm trying to post but having trouble posting it. While growing up I would run hounds with my father and had my own hounds for many years before slowly recently getting out of it, nothing like hearing that music in the woods first thing in the morning. For you guy's with kids on here that hunt, if you ever have the opportunity to take them hunting over a good pack of hounds you need to do it. Hope everyone enjoys the post

 

Edited January 19, 2019 by Silver Belly62

[Bonefreak]

Wow!!

Great trip!!  

How much for a trip like that?  Would be fun for my boy n a few pals. 

Our beagle Roxy turned 1 yr old today and she and the boy got their first rabbit a few wks ago!

[hammer4reel]

best memories of my childhood was hunting rabbits with my dad over our hounds.

we had ALOT of good times .

 

.

[mightyhunter]

Good times hunting bunnies with my dad also!

Great story on your trip

[Stewey]

Used to look forward to going out with my dad and the dog's bunny hunting every weekend 

[Rusty]

Great fun with good friends, it doesn't get much better than that.  

[Gunsmoke]

Used to be a ton of them Upstate New York.  Lots of fun hunting them over a good dog.  Dad used to say it was "music" when the beagle was on a hot track.

[Live to Hunt]

9 hours ago, Rusty said:

Great fun with good friends, it doesn't get much better than that.  

[archer36]

Rabbits are rare these days. We used to stop at a rest area on our way back from Hunterdon County and always killed rabbits there. That was years ago. In all of my hunting spots in the last 25 years, rabbits are almost non-existent. 

[MS22]

There’s certainly not as many rabbits as there used to be around here. I assume that’s due to habitat loss and maturing forests. We run my buddy’s beagles on public land in north NJ and do ok getting a few rabbits each time out. It’s all about the dogs for me. Watching the hounds work and listening to their excitement level gradually ramp up until they hit a crescendo when they jump the rabbit is the best part. Then the chase is on with some of these bunnies being pros in eluding capture. Sometimes we get them, sometimes we don’t. Lots of fun. 

[Jim_]

Fun read. Great time.

"..... Should have had a few more but some of us had bent barrels on our guns ….. "  lolol

[tpr1921]

Congratulations on a great hunt.

[Trykonkid11]

Congratulations, looks like u had a great time. My dad and I had the beagles out in Frankford this morning. We had our limit in four hours. With us only shooting the rabbit after they are ran by the dogs. We of course had a few misses in there, but there were a ton of rabbit to be had. At one point the dogs were running three separate rabbits.


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[Kype]

I always wanted to go on a good rabbit hunt. Not just one and 2 here and there. Looks like you had a great trip. Congratulations

[Buck154]

Nice but im to tired to read it all. Looks like you had a good time.