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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Lee Lobbestael on January 01, 2014, 10:25:00 PM
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Well deer season is over so that means its time for bunnies! How do you guys hunt them? I have not had much success. I can never find them by sneaking around the brush trying to spot them before they bolt and I am not a good enough shot to hit one on the run if I'm kicking brush. Do any of you have a secret trick you want to share?
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beagles...
Never had any luck any other way.
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Walk slow through thick cover and look for their little, black eyes.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Stumpkiller/Bowhunting/HPIM1932.jpg)
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Find a farmer's junk pile. Old vehicles, equipment trash. On cold mornings they will sit on the sunny side in the sun. Use binos and stalk them.
We use hay stacks as bait stations as they assemble there to eat
Last year was a banner year, this year we have noticably fewer small game animals
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Stack branches from storms into brush piles.
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My former canoe buddy, my cocker spaniel, would snuffle around and get them moving. When the rabbits move out of the way of the dog, I could get rather easy shots. The problem I had with him was that the first thing he would do is rip all of the feathers off my arrows after I shot a rabbit or a pheasant. My new cocker is very shy, she is not as aggressive as my first one and does not go digging into cover as much, but at least she does not try to kill every passing stranger we meet.
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Beagles. Daisy and I have killed 5 since Christmas Eve.
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Sit by brush piles the last hour of light.
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there's two basic ways: hunt them with beagles-wait for the dogs to pick up the scent, and just stay in that spot quietly- rabbits will circle. Or find the thickest nastiest stuff you can, and get right in there and stomp everything, they'll bust out of there, this method is good when you have two or more guys and no dog. If you are all by yourself, follow advise above.
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Grandkids, have them go stompin thru the thick stuff lookin for rabbits. You stand by the runways and wait for the ones the kids don't see or kill. It works for me.
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and when you jump one just draw and wait for him to stop running to look back and then shoot!
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Enlist a few friends and put 2 down the end of the cover as posters and the other two in the cover to slowly criss cross it as they work their way towards the standers. The rabbits will try to sneak through the cover and will slow down if jumped by the time they get to the standers. Usually both flushers and standers get plenty of shots.
Safety first and make sure everyone has on flourescent orange vests and hats.
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I haven't had a Beagle in years, but if you know were there are rabbits of any number, and their not to pressured by predators,you can find them on a sunny winters day. Iv' shot numerous rabbits by knowing where their holes and lairs are, and then look for them on or near these lairs on a warming winter day. Especially after a severe cold snap. As others have stated, kicking brush piles can work, but allow them to stop before dropping the string unless you shoot like Charlie Lamb. Personally, I like the challenge of a running Rabbit. I can honestly say I don't fair exceptionally well at it........but it sure is fun.
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By the way Lee, GOOD THREAD!
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A client of mine (very new to hunting) said to me one morning. "Man I sat near a hole all day on Saturday and not 1 rabbit came out!" I about split my gut ... :laughing:
And albeit. They do have holes. Out here they are mostly in brush piles and as road kill mentioned farmers junk piles. Dogs do help immensely though.
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May sound silly, but when alone I've had luck tossin a rock or small log into spots I think they're hiding. Gives a little better a view if they jump out. Twice I've done this and they stepped out and just sat tight for the shot.
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Thanks guys. Yeah me and my buddies do a lot of rabbit hunting but i'm the only one who packs a bow. We stomp brush piles and shoot em on the jump but its hard to compete with guys with shotguns. So this weekend I'm going out by myself. I would love to hunt over a beagle but I don't want one at my house because it will chase deer and turkeys out of my yard.
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I too would like to get into rabbit hunting and I am intrigued with the idea of using one or more beagles. I'm not trying to high jack the thread but can rabbit be effectively hunted using one beagle? And if so, what information can you provide to a neophyte such as I?
I have owned Labs for 15 years but I don't want them to start tracking rabbits. A beagle sounds like a lot of fun.
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Yes, one beagle will do the trick nicely if it is a nice slow beagle. Rabbit hunting I found is more fun and effective with two or more humans though.
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Gotta agree with Nattybumpo. Beagles make the hunt for me. I love to watch my dog work, especially a pup!
Mike
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My oldest Basset ...slow but thorough..... great fun
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I just don't trust my beagle to come back. He gets on a scent and he does not even know his name. So I always leave him on a lead which I know is defeating the purpose. He does get me on rabbits but I know it would be more effective if I could let him go.
How do I get over this. The main reason we got a beagle was for bunny hunting with our bows . But I have heard so many sad stories where beagle are gone overnight or days and return frost bit or extremely exhausted or sometimes not at all.
No bunny is worth losing my best friend.
What to do?
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It takes a awfully well trained beagle to be able to call them off a trail.
Just have to stick with them and when your ready to head home catch them as they trail or hunt all day till the dog is worn out.
When I was young had to run many down and,carry them out.
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Corn Feeders,lol! We have several cottontails that visit our East Grove feeder morning and evening. I've killed two from the stand there.
They hang out until the hogs show up.
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We usually have a half dozen or more people with some pushing and others blocking brushy or grassy draws.
One person in the club usually shoots his limit with his bow. He tried showing me how to look for the shiny black eye to catch them while they are setting. Had one he tried to point out 8yds away and I never did see it until he finally shot it.
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Originally posted by Mr. fingers:
I just don't trust my beagle to come back. He gets on a scent and he does not even know his name. So I always leave him on a lead which I know is defeating the purpose. He does get me on rabbits but I know it would be more effective if I could let him go.
How do I get over this. The main reason we got a beagle was for bunny hunting with our bows . But I have heard so many sad stories where beagle are gone overnight or days and return frost bit or extremely exhausted or sometimes not at all.
No bunny is worth losing my best friend.
What to do?
You are really missing out. I "love" running my Beagles. Invest in a good shock collar, learn how to use it, train the dog basic obedience and go run. I very seldom try to kill a rabbit, just like to enjoy hound music. Be smart about where you run, avoid any area with busy roads.Please let me know how you do, any pointers, I would be glad to help. Have fun, Scott.
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All I need is Mickey.
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee178/sunstone/P1040944_zpsa846895a.jpg) (http://s234.photobucket.com/user/sunstone/media/P1040944_zpsa846895a.jpg.html)
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When I was a kid we used to hunt brushy areas and stop around the brush piles. Sometimes you'd get them to run out and one of the hunters would get a shot. Never hunted them with a dog, but that sounds fun too.
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A good slow working beagle is too much fun to miss!
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I have found that if you jump a cottontail and don't get a shot at it, come back the next morning to the same exact spot. Only this time, watch for him to be very near or in the same spot he was in yesterday. Now you can walk slowly and look for his eye(s) in the weeds/brush and there's a very good chance you can see him and shoot him before he jumps.
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They do have really good GPS systems for dogs now. They are a little pricey ($500) but what's a good hunting dog worth? Besides you get a nice Garmin handheld GPS with the collar.
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I do a lot of bunny hunting here in ak, some times we do drives with 3-5 guys and push to creeks or large openings, it works well as one guy pushes a bunny and it usualy doubles back into some one else.
I have learned a lot about doing it by my self, and found it to work well. I have a bit of a routine where I walk in large 20 yard zig zag patterns randomly switching directions. I know they hear me and see me but they seem to hold tight when im not moving in a direct path. Ill take three or four steps and look around real hard. when I see one I try not to look at it and slowly meander my way to and then away until I see a lane to shoot. When I do jump one ill just watch it run and slowly work my way in random zig zags in to the area. 90% of the time I will find it again. I think that I sound like a moose to them and when they see me I think that they feel like there camo is working. they know when a predator sees them and if they think you don't know they are there they tend to just sit tight.
im sure it is different every were but here in the snow it works well. when the pop was up I could get 4-10 in a couple hours and in maybe a three acre area.
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Mr. Fingers, get a shock collar for your beagle, mine has just a tone warning and 5 different levels. Beagles aren't able to have their nose and ears work at the same time. :)
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I think a single or maybe as many as two slow working beagle(s) is perfect for bowhunters. It will push the rabbit, but not run it (unless it gets very close). This gives you a better chance at shots.
ChuckC
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About 25 years back I had a basset hound. Not a nice dog at all. It would try to kill you if you sat on the couch with her. It would growl at anyone that looked at her food. I am surprized she never bit the kids. She loved retrieving out of water. But man that dog could hunt. One day I was going to take her out I grabbed my heavy Hill bunny bow, opened the back door of my car, she jumped in. Before I could get in the car she pooped in the back seat. On that day she ran over 20 rabbits, I got 5 of them. On that same day, the day after pheasant season closed, she locked up and pointed two cock pheasants, they were 12 feet from me and two feet from her. On the way back to the car she sniffed the wind and took off. A quarter mile across a field, she jumped a jack rabbit and ran it past me twice. On the second pass, she looked at me not shooting and gave a "what the hell?" look. Jack rabbit season was not open. When I finally got back to the car she would not go in. There were hen pheasants nearby. Finally, I got her to go in the car. Before I could even sit down, once again, she pooped in the back seat. She got run over one day running a rabbit that took off in a straight away run. She was not even a year old when she died.