Rabbit Hunting - Saturday, FEB 07, 2015

Last week brought us somewhere around 6" of snow.  Saturday temps reached 46F.  Great day to try and push some bunnies.

Michael, RePhil, Davey, and I took Alex on his first rabbit hunt ever.  We drove out to Tippecanoe county right across from Michael's.  We checked in with the land owner and loaded up.

We pushed E through a pasture to the property line, then N, then back W to the property line.  We pushed out one coyote and one rabbit, that only I saw.  We pushed N to the pond, then E, then back to the truck with no shots fired.

We did run into a load of turkey tracks.  They are impressively large.

Turkey track in the snow.  Sorry, no perspective, but it is HUGE.


Alex, RePhil (Elmer Fudd), Davey, and Michael.
Note the sun shining down on us.

We dropped Michael off and then headed to Marshall's S farm.  As we were loading up to push the creek to the S, RePhil got a call from mamasan, who is out of the country on business - a call he had to take.  The other 3 of us, knowing that this was not a 2 minute call, headed S to hunt.

As Alex, Davey, and I pushed S, at about the middle of the property, Alex jumped a bunny at the edge of the field.  He was sitting tight, as Alex was within about 10 feet of it before it bolted.  It ran directly away from Alex in the field.  Alex fired - miss - he shot behind it.  I told him to shoot where the bunny was going to be and not where it was at the moment.  Got to lead them a bit.  Alex said, "I had no idea they were that fast!"  I asked why Alex did not shoot again.  He said he tried, but the reloaded shell did not fire.  Mr. Bunny circled and ran right back to Davey - who proceeded to take 2 shots before dispatching it.

We pushed on and jumped one more bunny.  It ran away from me at 90 degrees, spotted Davey and ran due S away from him in the field.  Davey too shot behind it and the bunny escaped, never to be seen again.

Several weeks back, RePhil and I had pushed this same territory.  RePhil dropped his hat.  Davey found it on this journey - frozen solid.  He tossed it into the air like a flat Frisbee and yelled, "Pull!"  I shot it.  Hey, he woulda done the same for me.

We reached the end of the draw and walked back to the truck for some liquid refreshment.  Total count:  3 bunnies seen; 1 bunny shot; 1 coyote seen; and one frozen dead hat.

The payoff for walking 3 miles was not huge as far as rabbits go, but we had a good time anyway.  Just too bad we could not get Alex a bunny on his first trip.  Oh well, there shall be more....

Alex and Davey with our sole rabbit for the day.


RePhil and Davey with RePhil's frozen, shot hat.


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