Year of the Rabbit

According to the Chinese calendar this is the year of the rabbit. Love getting out and chasing those white bunnies.

Would post a better shot but the website won’t let me

I loved hunting rabbits too. My Dad and I bred and trained beagles for many years. Nothing better than sitting on a hill watching the dogs bring the rabbit around so we could take a shot. We were a poor family and many a rabbit gave us a meal .

I agree. Some of my fondest memories were when i was a kid and we used to run a tiny 10 inch beagle on cottontail. Those were the glory days before coyotes and sometimes the one dog would have two or three rabbits going at the same time. Some of my worst memories also pertain to damn beagles and rabbits, when you’d get a poor hound that ran silent and wouldn't tongue, or one that kept running cold trails. Then the cursing would start when you've spent five hours trying to catch a dog that won’t come. We gave it up when i was in my twenties after my friend lost four of his six beagles to coyotes during a hunt. We couldn’t get over how bold the buggers were. There would be four of us in the swamp and these were good hounds that never went much further than 200yds from us when we were hunting snowshoe hare. Sometimes you’d hear the dog yelp, othertimes you didn’t. They’d never drag the dog off, just kill it, sometimes within forty yards of where one of us was standing.

Nice going. I saw track’s yesterday.
Last time I was out the beagles got hurt by coyotes.

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Originally Posted by Fenelon

I agree. Some of my fondest memories were when i was a kid and we used to run a tiny 10 inch beagle on cottontail. Those were the glory days before coyotes and sometimes the one dog would have two or three rabbits going at the same time. Some of my worst memories also pertain to damn beagles and rabbits, when you’d get a poor hound that ran silent and wouldn't tongue, or one that kept running cold trails. Then the cursing would start when you've spent five hours trying to catch a dog that won’t come. We gave it up when i was in my twenties after my friend lost four of his six beagles to coyotes during a hunt. We couldn’t get over how bold the buggers were. There would be four of us in the swamp and these were good hounds that never went much further than 200yds from us when we were hunting snowshoe hare. Sometimes you’d hear the dog yelp, othertimes you didn’t. They’d never drag the dog off, just kill it, sometimes within forty yards of where one of us was standing.

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Wow. That's terrible. Have to say I never saw a coyote when hunting in the 50's /60s, although what I read says they arrived in Ontario in the 1920's.

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Originally Posted by hunter06

According to the Chinese calendar this is the year of the rabbit. Love getting out and chasing those white bunnies.

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I seen a rabbit today in Loblaws frozen section, $27.00 and not a particularly big wabbit. Makes you think these guys are high value targets. LOL.

Love hunting rabbits, it’s such an enjoyable hunt. I never tried it with hounds so if there’s someone that has one and wants company send me a pm. It would be nice to see the dogs work.

Its been tough going for a couple of weeks the snow is stuck to the trees. This makes it hard to see in the bush, hard to hear the beagles, and tough scenting when the snow falls in on the hare's track as it moves thru thickets, and I hate when it falls in on me as I move around.

I've have had very little trouble with coyotes. When I did have trouble it was when the hare ran up close to a den site. I found the coyotes can be extra aggressive defending a den.