Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

    
      I had a beagle once too. Same story. The lovely howling of a beagle
    is music in the woods but sure isn't appreciated in a neighborhood.
    Since then I've moved but haven't yet gotten another beagle( I picked
    up a house dog after the beagle and am awaiting his demise so I
    can justify to the wife getting a pair of beagles to breed. Then
    I'll have 8 or 10.... Well if I do get some more hunters I'll get
    a hold of you and invite you out to listen to the music.
    
                                                        happy hunting

    Time to raise an old note...
    
    Has anybody done any rabbit hunting without dogs?
    
    Can it be sucessful....  I guess that is the big question.
    
    I live in southern NH and have seen a few here and there
    and was wondering if it would be worth my while sitting on
    a stump waiting to catch the makings of bunnie stew.
    
    Also, if anybody in the area is going bunnie hunting would they
    mind a tag-a-long.
    
    Greg

    
    Greg,
    	Are you hunting cottontails or Snowshoe?  I used to stillhunt
    for both types a while back with a .22 and was fairly successful.
    Cottontails prefer thick edges of fields and old stonewalls, rail-
    road track banks, and basically anyplace there's lots of thick 
    brush.  Snowshoe's like thick conifer forests and are usually found
    in more deeper woods.
    	Still hunt for them early in the morning and just before dark,
    both are nocturnal and can be found feeding at these times.  Snowshoes
    are tough to pick out but that makes them extra challenging.  A .22
    also helps keep you in practice for when you'll be deer hunting.  Also,
    forgot to mention, just prior to and following a snowfall are really
    good times to be out.  If there's a fresh snow, you can track snowshoes
    because they don't hole up like cottontails.   Have Fun!
    
    - Rob
    

Greg,

An old issue of Georgia Sportsman had an article on this.  They 
talked about how the hunter needed to literally kick the 
brushpiles to jump the rabbits, but we're talking exclusively 
cottontails (there aren't a lot of snoeshoes in Georgia ;^)).  
Some of the other facts I remember were that the writer assumed 
you would be hunting with a shotgun, how to pick likely 
brushpiles - one with good exposure to sun since the rabbit's fur 
isn't really a good insulator, hunt "edge" cover where a field 
butts up against a wooded lot or where a ditch runs thru a field, 
when you jump one it usually runs off only a short distance and 
will circle back to you, etc.

I'll look for the copy if I still have it and get you a copy of 
it. You might try looking in the microfiche of your local public 
library.  A lot of the hunting articles are pretty generic 
because I've seen the same articles that are in G.S. in Tennessee 
Sportsman, etc.  

Scott

    Rob, Scott
    
    Thanks for the replys,  mostly will be looking for cottontails
    but if a snowshoe is where it's not suppose to be,  Oh well....
    
    I know a few places that would fit the bill.  There are several
    miles of railroad bed that have been converted to snowmobile
    trails, and at several places they run along fields and stone
    walls.
    
    -Rob
    
    I planned on using a .22  If they are too quick for me I just
    have to use the 12Ga with light loads.
    
    -Scott
    
    I'll take a look into some back issues of sporting magazines as 
    I come across them.  In the meanwhile if you come up with anything
    interesting send them along to Greg Ferraro   APO-1/C3 
    
    
    Many thanks,
    Greg 

    I have a question for the shotgunners.  What load/choke combinations
    seem most effective on cottontails?
    
    Jerry

    Improver Cylinder and Field "Express" Loads of #6 shot is usually
    recommended for bunnies, but I speak not from experience.

    
    	It depends on the cover, actually.  If it's mixed field edges you
    might want a modified for some 30-35 yarders.  I agree, #6 is best.
    
    - Rob
    

    I've had some success with snow-shoe hares in the Seacoast area
    of NH.  BTW, they are GREAT eatin'!
    
    Mark.

Until a few years ago I used to regularly shoot rabbits (I had a share in a 
holiday cottage - a condition in the ground lease from the farmer whose land 
the cottage was on required us to predate 250 brace (ie 500 bunnies) a year
for him, since they competed with his sheep).

All was done with shotguns (for safety, and 'cause we couldn't get licences 
for rifles on this land - this is England you know, not the land of Daniel 
Boone), and no dogs (dogs and sheep don't mix).

Usually we either "rough shot" the field (walked over the land taking targets
of opportunity) or worked from a blind (usually a pile of straw bales) in the
early morning.

Personally I liked to use a 16 gauge with #6 shot (its an old hand made shotgun 
of World War I vintage - they didn't have things like chokes back then)

/. Ian .\

    
    
    
    	Does anyone have a general area in Central/western Mass. that
    	was lucky for them as far as rabbit populations and landowner 
    	co-operation?
    			CP
    

    Over the holidays I got a chance to get out looking for the little
    creatures without any sucess.  Don't worry, I'm going out again this
    weekend....
    
    I do have one question though...  I came upon some cottontail tracks
    and followed them for 30 or so yards and they just plain disappeared.
    Any ideas where this creature may have gone...?
    
    The area being hunted is a cut for powerlines so the ground cover was
    minimal, just some scraggly bushes and a sapling here and there.   Also, 
    it was snowing lightly so I'm sure the tracks were less than � hour old.
    
    Greg

    Sounds like a good time to start kicking bushes, brush piles or
    just the snow, etc. right around where the tracks disappeared.
    I hunt rabbits without a dog myself and haven't been anymore successful
    than you. I used my son as a beagle last year and he did kick one
    out one day but the rabbit ran off so that my son was between us.
    I wonder if I could get my son to do this on his hands and 
    knees. :^) I'll be going out a few times myself this year. Does
    anyone know where there might be a reasonable snowshoe rabbit
    population in western (west of Quabbin reservior) Mass.? 
    
    Good luck on the rabbit hunting,
    John

    John I see by your nodename that you're in Westfield,Mass.
    Have you tried the Knightville reservoir in Huntington ?
    Follow rte 112 north from 20, about three miles. 

    Dana
    
    PS Try around your local golf courses - rabbit havens :-)

    
    
    	I was following some tracks over the weekend that looked like bunny
    tracks-until they disappeared at teh foot of a tree.  After scouting
    around for a while I picked up the trail again-and it looked like
    squirrel tracks.  When they run can their tracks resemble bunnies?
    (These ones did!)
    
    	Chuck
    

    Thanks Dana, good suggestions. I've got a few hedge rows and a 
    couple power lines to check out also. I've seen snow shoes in 
    upstate New York while deer hunting in an area that was so thick 
    with waist-high evergreens that you could hardly walk through it 
    in places. Also, a dangerous place to be if hunting alone. There
    were little dips and fallen logs that you coudn't see. It'd be a
    good place to break a leg. I haven't run across anything quite 
    like that here yet.
    
    I'll let you know how I make out.
    John
    

I have never hunted rabbits before.  I've eaten then and they are good not to
mention low in fat for those nutrition conscious folks.  My question is this
when I mentioned I was planning to go out on to the club grounds in search of
bunnies one of the other members told me he would not eat rabbit before the 
weather was cold.  He said they tended to have parasites.   Has anybody know
what parasites they tend to be infested with and if there is indead a better
season in which to hunt ?  

Thanks 
Carl

    
    I was taught that rabbits can have some type of worm that gives them
    Tulermia (sp?), and if you wait until it is cold out it kills this
    off. 
    
    I was also told by another person not to worry about it, just check
    the liver when you dress them out, if it has spots on it then they
    have tulermia, if no spots, eat away (ok, cook it first).
    
    --Bob
    

    My understanding is you can catch that by handling the rabbit, not just
    eating it.
    
    Mark,
    

	Anyone around the Lunenburg/Townsend area hunt for rabbits ?

	-Steve-