Rabbits Bring in the New Year!

To end 2013 and bring in 2014, Davey, Jeff Garriott and I went out to hunt the ole bunny, rabbit, hare, cottontail.  It was a brisk Dec 31, 2013, and by brisk I mean 12 degrees F with a light wind at 8:00 am.  A light, very light, dusting of snow was on the ground.

We loaded up and headed for Marshall's N farm.  Dave carried his 16 ga.  I took the youth model 20 ga. And Jeff, our dog for the day, carried a 22 long rifle (his daughter's new gun she got for Christmas - Shhh, she does not know).

We tromped the bottoms and Dave picked off two from the brush in the N.  We cut up to the killing finger and Jeff shot two with his .22 - all shots were one-shot-kills and those two are batting 1,000!  The wind started to pick up a bit, so we headed back to the truck.

The "haul" from Marshall's N farm.  Jeff & Dave with 2 apiece.

The "heads up" picture for Re-Phil.  Makes you look taller!

We then headed for Marshall's S farm and drove all the way back to the swamp.  We had previously kicked quail out of the swamp and hoped to get a crack at them.  No luck.  No rabbits, and no quail.  We saw about 5 doves though.  The wind is picking up now and although it's 15 F, the wind is hitting close to 10 mph.

We drove on over to the finger and pushed S to N.  Dave jumped 2 rabbits, but missed both - he's now batting .500.  Jeff pushed one out and unloaded his gun.  He got it, but it took 10 shots, so he's 2/12 or .167.  Mind you, he did hit a running rabbit with a .22 rifle.

We made the turn and headed back S.  I almost stepped on one and it circled me 270 degrees.  I spun and shot where I thought it was going - because it was too thick to actually see the rabbit.  No one saw it come out, so we walked up and there it was - boom baby, one shot, one kill. 

We headed back toward the truck and pushed one more, probably the same one Davey missed earlier, out the end.  This was now a wise rabbit.  It did not slow down until it hit the next county.  Of course that did not stop Davey from firing.  Total and complete miss on a running rabbit at 50 yards.  My gun was up and the safety was off, but I had less than .05 of a second to aim and fire, so I did not.  I was hoping it would turn and circle back to me - no such luck.

So we bagged 2 more rabbits at the S farm for a total of 6.  That's a good day of hunting and a great way to end 2013!

The haul for the day!

We loaded up and headed back into town for lunch.  Jeff had to go home so he could watch Purdue basketball.  Dave and I hit the corner for some grilled loins and more beer.  We guessed we actually hunted for 2.5 hours and got 6 rabbits (Jeff = 3, Dave = 2, and me = 1).  That's better than one rabbit for every half hour of hunting - awesome odds for bunnies!  We've walked 4 hours before and gotten skunked.  Today's hunt was a great day in our estimation.

And to top it all off, we got out hunted by a .22.  I would have bet against that.  But being as cold as it was, most of the rabbits were sitting tight and not running very far - a wise choice to take the .22.  Well played Jeff, well played.  I'm telling your daughter on you though...

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