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After rabbit season

B

bluedog

Junior Member
210
0
Ashtabula County, Ohio
Who is still out running hounds? I was able to get the dogs out for 2 hours on Sunday and 3 hours on Monday. Sunday was fun, but I was oh so cold and the dogs ended up over on the neighbor's place. Monday was much better. I got the dogs started on a rabbit, watched for about 30 minutes and then went shed hunting for about an hour. I didn't find any, but there was still a good bit of snow in the fields where I was looking (and I forgot my binoculars) so it was tough. Went back to the dogs and they were still on fire. The sunshine was melting the snow and the scenting conditions were great. I sat down on a log and just watched. Had the rabbit come by a couple of times. They ran that rabbit another hour before it finally went in a hole. I just have so much fun with those dogs I could do this all year round. Oh wait. I do. :) :)
 
You mentioned on shooting a specific number of bunnies per season on your land before. (QRM :rolleyes:)
Do you have a # per acre or is it just a number based on what you see. There never seems to be anywhere near the number in the yard by fall as I see in the summer.
 
CJD3 said:
You mentioned on shooting a specific number of bunnies per season on your land before. (QRM :rolleyes:)
Do you have a # per acre or is it just a number based on what you see. There never seems to be anywhere near the number in the yard by fall as I see in the summer.
Click to expand...

Quality Rabbit Management! I love it! I think I am going to start a new organization, whatcha think? ;)

I do limit myself. I read a lot of rabbit hunting stories around the web and I also hear about a lot of people complaining there are hardly any rabbits any more. Whenever I read about a group of 10 or more hunters descending on a farm and shooting 30 rabbits in a day, I often wonder how that is possible to shoot that many and keep up a good population of rabbits? Maybe I am just not familiar with farms that overridden with rabbits. We seem to have quite a few around here, at least they do a lot of damage to the vegetables that's for sure. But the truth is that I love running the dogs so we are willing to tolerate some damage to keep some rabbits around.

I have nothing scientific and it is all by observation. There are 4 core areas on my farm where I hunt rabbits. They are small and do overlap just a bit. But each core area has a least a bit of a terrain feature (such as a creek or an open field) that separates it from the others. In general, I will only shoot 2 rabbits per core area per year. That is enough for me. There are also a couple areas that I have a hard time shooting a rabbit at all due to a multitude of holes to run into. In these areas, I will shoot a rabbit whenever I can which is usually about one a year if I am lucky (no jump shooting rabbits allowed, they have to be run by the dogs first). This year, I think a couple core areas had 3 or 4 shot (some by youth hunters) but last summer was a bumper crop of bunnies. Even with my increased harvest over this season, the population is as high as I have ever seen it for this time of the year. I still have areas where the dogs are going into wood piles and 3 rabbits at a time will come out.

You are so right that there are much fewer rabbits as the season progresses. The population fluctuates with the seasons. Around here winter is a "pinch period" for wildlife, i.e. the time of year when resources are at a minimum. Mother Nature has it built in that rabbits breed during the summer when the most food and cover is available. But since rabbits are a prey species (i.e. they are food for other animals), their population gradually dwindles over the fall and winter once breeding season ends. Right now, their natural population levels should be at the lowest point. In a couple months though, little bunnies will be hopping all over the place once again. There is also a natural overall population cycle that occurs over years. Probably stuff you already know, but I just find this stuff fascinating.
 
Had the dogs out last Saturday and Sunday. Sunday was up in the sixties. Sure took some of the spark out of the dogs after a couple hours. Still, after 3 hours on Sunday we headed home and on the way back to the house 2 of the dogs jumped a rabbit that was resting along a mowed path. An awesome sight chase ensued with the third dog (who was lagging behind) making a mad dash to catch up. They chased that rabbit all over the place for the next 45 minutes or so. I set up at the edge of an old meadow near where the rabbit had crossed on the way out. It took some time and several auxiliary circles up yonder, but if given the chance, the rabbit always seems to make it back around eventually. The sun was getting low so I took the opportunity to stop the dogs when they got to me and we went home. Cherishing these days. Won't be long until turkey season consumes my time and then the heat of summer will shut down any rabbit rabbit running except for a few cooler evenings.
 
Sounds lil a great afternoon bluedog.... Hoping you get a lot more runs in between now and turkey season.... Keep up the posts they're great reads...
 
Got to get the dogs out this afternoon for a couple hours. They had one good run. I didn't have time to take them to the back of the farm where there are more rabbits so we stayed up near the pasture. Took awhile to find one that would run. I think that most of the bunnies were still holed up from the snow earlier today. Thought I'd post a few pictures for those of you from southern Ohio who don't know what snow looks like. LOL. j/k

The girls

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My male

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And this one I took while I was crossing the creek since the rabbit had jumped from one side to the other and were taking the dogs up toward the road. Pretty snow.

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We have now moved into after turkey season. Couldn't run the gang during the week because it was so dang hot. It's not hot anymore. Took full advantage and ran the hounds about 90 minutes yesterday and about the same or a bit longer today.

Today I turned them loose back in the pasture by the vegetable field, but yesterday I let them run in the creek bottom that is behind the yard. Sometimes the rabbit will run the edge of the yard and it looks something like this....
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I did my barn chores quickly and then went back over to where the dogs were and did this :D ......



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That's the one thing I need too remember too bring..... A chair hahaha..... Glad too hear the beagles got some excercise as well.... I'm heading too North Dakota for the next few weeks for work and wanted too get the girls out and with he cooler temps it was pretty nice....

What's your opinion on warm weather runs? I always bring water but there's a creek and a strip cut lake in the back that they hit bit figure it's always better too have it and not need it...
 
Water, absolutely. I won't run mine unless it is 70 degrees or less. Or maybe if it is close and it is in the evening when it is starting to cool down. I've treated too many hunting dogs with hyperthermia and not always a good outcome. Better safe then sorry I think. I know I've pushed the envelope before and a few times I got a little scared of how mine looked when I caught them up. Plenty of time for running in the fall. But I do try to run mine in the evening once or twice a week all summer long, but last week was just too warm in my opinion.
 
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