Bunny Hunting 20 FEB 21

We had a nice warm 18 F (-8 C) on a fine Saturday morning in February.  The bonus?  The wind was only 3 mph.  So me, Alex, and Davey loaded up our shotguns & a cooler of beer and headed for the woods to try and catch us some bunnies.

We started at 0800 and drove toward Marshall's S farm.  We saw four deer on Gas Line Rd en route.  Upon arrival, due to the large amount of snow we had received, there was no place to park.  We drove S, turned around, and there was deer #5 standing in the road we had just traveled.  It ran E into Marshall's.  When we got to the spot where the deer had crossed the road, I spotted half a shed antler sitting along side the road.  Very recent drop or the snow plows would have pushed it off the road.  Of course I got out and picked it up.

I would have lost a major bet that bucks would be dropping their antlers this early.  Sure, they can drop them at any time from Jan - Mar, but the best time to shed hunt around here is March, not mid-February.  There was a small bit of bone still stuck to the bottom of the antler.  My guess is that when the buck jumped from the snowy fence line down to the road, it cracked it off his skull a few weeks earlier than normal.  Anyway - great find!

We drove back to the fertilizer plant and got out.  We were pleased to find bunny tracks in the parking lot - good sign.  We loaded up our shotguns:  Alex with a 12 ga, Davey with a 16, and me with a 20.  And then we walked through 1' (0.3 m) of snow all around the woods.  We made a huge loop of about 500 yards - and we saw not a single bunny nor bunny track.  

We drove to the N farm and parked in the road.  We walked the entire bottoms.  Again we saw deer, but ne'er a bunny nor a track.  We figure they must be tunnel rats.  Digging UNDER the snow and not on top.  All told we saw 6 deer, found a shed antler, and never fired a shot in 1.5 miles of hard, hard walking.  We had fun though!

Our guns, the shed, and our beer sponsors on this hunt:
Warsteiner Dunkel, Sun King WeeMac, and Yuengling lager

Alex walking through the Co-Op woods



And there's Davey on the other side, same woods

Alex and Davey at the end of our hunt - Marshall's N woods in the bottoms


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