# New to Rabbits



## on a call (Jan 16, 2010)

ps/..... I prefer cottontail over hares.


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## sgc (Oct 21, 2007)

on a call said:


> ps/..... I prefer cottontail over hares.


2 x what 'on a call said'! Snowshoe are terrible table fare. I've never had one that tasted any good, but love to run them with dogs. I really dont see a reason to shoot them unless you're feeding them to the dogs.


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## on a call (Jan 16, 2010)

sgc said:


> 2 x what 'on a call said'! Snowshoe are terrible table fare. I've never had one that tasted any good, but love to run them with dogs. I really dont see a reason to shoot them unless you're feeding them to the dogs.


Yes...they are big and fun.
But give me those little bunnies any day.
PS...look for large super thick areas. My best was off an old apple orchard. Can you have almost tooo many rabbits ??? But then the yotes moved in...grrr.


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

It all depends on what those jacks have been eating.


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

If you shoot a hare in September/October, they don't taste too bad but when the snow gets deep and their main diet is cedar, well that's another story. 
Several years ago, a buddy shot at a hare and thought he missed. The dogs came through and about 50 yards out it got quiet and then we heard a squeel. When the dogs were done, my Patch Hounds came out pink and smelling like cedar.


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## miruss (Apr 18, 2003)

on a call said:


> There are many ways to hunt rabbits. I prefer a .22 and scope. However I am not jumping them. If you have a friend who will shake the thickets or a hound the get them moving...just stand in a funnel area or pinch point if you will. You will be amazed at what you will see . Let them work the other areas and you just sit and watch.
> 
> A pair of binocs would be handy too. Squirrel, fox, yotes, rabbit will come past you. Shotgun have their place...but I love a good .22, the reason is some shots might be 50 yards away...others might be 10. With a .22 you can shoot at both.


Only shotgun i own is for goose hunting. Have 4 different .22 for rabbits! I'm going to try and get out more but hate hunting alone ! Have to burn about 3 1/2 weeks of vacation before i lose it!


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## sgc (Oct 21, 2007)

reddog1 said:


> .
> Several years ago, a buddy shot at a hare and thought he missed. The dogs came through and about 50 yards out it got quiet and then we heard a squeel. When the dogs were done, my Patch Hounds came out pink and smelling like cedar.


I saw a big beagle, probably well over 17 inches, an old timer had that caught a cottontail hiding in a puddle of water in the trail. That rabbit was gone in one to two gulps. It amazed me at the time.


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## on a call (Jan 16, 2010)

miruss said:


> Only shotgun i own is for goose hunting. Have 4 different .22 for rabbits! I'm going to try and get out more but hate hunting alone ! Have to burn about 3 1/2 weeks of vacation before i lose it!


Feel free to pm me if you need someone to hunt with...I might be older...but I can walk and shoot too.


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

sgc said:


> I saw a big beagle, probably well over 17 inches, an old timer had that caught a cottontail hiding in a puddle of water in the trail. That rabbit was gone in one to two gulps. It amazed me at the time.


Sgc, when I do actually hunt rabbits, I tell anyone who is with me that if they shoot a rabbit they better get to it before the dogs do because I teach my hounds at a young age that if they can get a hold of a rabbit it's theirs


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## sgc (Oct 21, 2007)

reddog1 said:


> Sgc, when I do actually hunt rabbits, I tell anyone who is with me that if they shoot a rabbit they better get to it before the dogs do because I teach my hounds at a young age that if they can get a hold of a rabbit it's theirs


. I can see that putting drive into them. I quit shooting rabbits quite a while back and wondered if it would effect pups. It never really seemed to. These beagles are bred with so much desire; thats what i love about them.


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

sgc said:


> . I can see that putting drive into them. I quit shooting rabbits quite a while back and wondered if it would effect pups. It never really seemed to. These beagles are bred with so much desire; thats what i love about them.


I for the most part quit shooting rabbits. There are however a couple of occasions where myself and a few friends get together and actually kill rabbits. The first hunt we do in January on a big cattle operation in Carson City. We kill a lot of rabbits that weekend.
In the mid 90's I saw a Patch Hound run a coyote and by 1999 thats all I had in my kennel. I had never owned a beagle with such grit and stamina until that time. I used one for Coyotes and the other 8 were rabbit dogs.


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## sgc (Oct 21, 2007)

reddog1 said:


> In the mid 90's I saw a Patch Hound run a coyote and by 1999 thats all I had in my kennel. I had never owned a beagle with such grit and stamina until that time. I used one for Coyotes and the other 8 were rabbit dogs.


. I remember your posts on running coyotes with Patch hounds. That always amazed me since I was concerned back then about them coming in on my beagles. I never had a thought that someday wolves would be a much bigger problem. My favorite beagle book is Wilderness Patchwork. Its not only about beagling, its a good story.


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## on a call (Jan 16, 2010)

reddog1 said:


> Sgc, when I do actually hunt rabbits, I tell anyone who is with me that if they shoot a rabbit they better get to it before the dogs do because I teach my hounds at a young age that if they can get a hold of a rabbit it's theirs


I found, that is not a learned trait...but instinctive. I can remember shooting rabbits and having to fight the dogs for it.
I had a hunting friend who however would give every liver to his dogs...right there on the site. Those dogs got used to it and would sit down until that bunny was gut.


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## jrose (Aug 17, 2011)

syrio said:


> Finding 6 online appears impossible at the moment. I bought some 4 and 7.5 as that was what’s available. Anyone use either of those?
> 
> I’ve got a modified choke.
> 
> Do they prefer to hang out in thick areas alongside fields? That’s kind of what I envision.


I prefer #6's. That said, you can kill a rabbit with a hard "cough" LOL! 4's or 7.5's will work.


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## jrose (Aug 17, 2011)

When I was younger, I would wear the fronts off of a new pair of insulated bib overalls every rabbit season. That's a lot of brush kicking! killed many rabbits with a single shot 20 gauge. Hunting in a fresh snow is fun, but a couple days old snow really shows you where the greatest concentration of rabbits are. Look for tracks, if there is no cover close to the tracks, follow them, they'll take you where you need to be. 
Another thing, try to figure out escape routes before you kick the cover, and good luck.


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## fisheater (Nov 14, 2010)

To the original poster. I ran rabbits with beagles on State Land for years in Oakland County extensively. Yes, I have run beagles in other counties in the area, but there is quite a bit of public land in Oakland County and I have left foot prints over a good percentage.
These rabbits see pretty good dog pressure. More so, if you go out at night you will find these rabbits see steady coyote pressure. You don’t need to read sign, just pull into a parking pullout, roll down the window and listen. You will hear the coyotes chasing.
In my experience the rabbits are in the thickest tangled cover, or near it. You are looking for cover you can’t walk through. I would still hunt these types of covers. This land is not farm land. This isn’t the old days when you could get permission to hunt by asking easily, so you tons of pressure. There are plenty of rabbits, they manage to survive. It will be much tougher than hunting rabbits on farmland. My advice would be to find the cover and sign. Then move quiet and slow. While there are plenty of state land rabbits, I think it is going to be tough to put them in the bag.
I’m not saying don’t go. I’m saying enjoy being out there. If your success is measured by rabbits in the bag, it will be tough.


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## syrio (Dec 15, 2018)

fisheater said:


> To the original poster. I ran rabbits with beagles on State Land for years in Oakland County extensively. Yes, I have run beagles in other counties in the area, but there is quite a bit of public land in Oakland County and I have left foot prints over a good percentage.
> These rabbits see pretty good dog pressure. More so, if you go out at night you will find these rabbits see steady coyote pressure. You don’t need to read sign, just pull into a parking pullout, roll down the window and listen. You will hear the coyotes chasing.
> In my experience the rabbits are in the thickest tangled cover, or near it. You are looking for cover you can’t walk through. I would still hunt these types of covers. This land is not farm land. This isn’t the old days when you could get permission to hunt by asking easily, so you tons of pressure. There are plenty of rabbits, they manage to survive. It will be much tougher than hunting rabbits on farmland. My advice would be to find the cover and sign. Then move quiet and slow. While there are plenty of state land rabbits, I think it is going to be tough to put them in the bag.
> I’m not saying don’t go. I’m saying enjoy being out there. If your success is measured by rabbits in the bag, it will be tough.


I just started hunting with turkeys last spring and did deer in the fall. So at the moment I’m not measuring any success by what I’ve bagged, which is nothing haha. 

My goal for my first season for each game has just been to consistently see them and be in areas they are. With my second Turkey season coming up goal is to bag one. For rabbits, it’s just to find them for now. 

Appreciate this and all the other tips!


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## dpretired (Dec 15, 2008)

When I started hunting rabbits many years ago, I used a twelve gauge pump and shells with 1 1/4 oz. of #6 shot. Since I didn't have a rabbit dog at the time, the ones I kicked out of brush piles and other hiding places were all close shots and I usually peppered them pretty good, more than I would have liked to. Eventually I dropped down to a 20 gauge with 1 oz. #5 shot loads that I reloaded myself. Same story, not quite as bad tearing them up with pellets because there was less shot in the load. Then, in 1977, a friend at the Truck Plant who worked on the same assembly line I did, gave me first pick out of a litter of beagle pups his female just had. In the next twelve years, me and a couple of other hunting buddies from the plant killed over 200 rabbits running in front of that hound. He was like a rabbit magnet and once on a track, he would not give up the chase until either the fatal shot was fired, or I physically picked him up. I know that I personally killed over a hundred rabbits he would eventually run around to me in those 12 years. 

He lived his whole life out in a kennel in the back yard, never in the house. That's because he loved to roll in anything nasty or decaying and was the foulest smelling beast I ever touched, hated water of any kind, especially a bath. Anytime I tried to clean him up, it would literally wear me right out from wrestling with him, trying to hold him still long enough so I could actually get the job done. And then afterwards he wouldn't look at, or come to me for a week. He'd actually snub me like a cat does just to teach me a lesson! But aside from that little quirk, a friendlier dog and more enthusiastic rabbit chaser I never witnessed in my life.

At some point in his twelfth year while my boy was taking him for his daily walk around the neighborhood, he got into some rat poison that one of the neighbors apparently had set out either by their front porch, or maybe in their open garage. Anyway, by the time I finally noticed that there was something seriously wrong with the dog physically. I rushed him to the Vet. The Vet looked him over, but because of the dog's advanced age and weakened state from the poison, there was no way he was ever going to recover from it. He recommended that I have him put down that day rather than allow the dog's suffering to go on and get worse. So that 's what I did. He's buried in my back yard where I can look out at his grave site and relive all those hunts with him in my mind. I guess the tip I want to give you is this: nothing beats having a good dog along when you're rabbit hunting.


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

I had a little female that we caught running deer. We took her home and tried for a month to find her owner then decided she must be ours. It a bunch of work to teach her that she was not a deer hound. Once she learned to just run rabbits we killed all of them that we wanted to eat. When she was older she wouldn't quit until she couldn't go anymore then I would carry her home and she would stay in the house until she was rested then it was back to her coop. Best darn rabbit dog we ever had but she was hard headed like most beagles.


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## papa4x (Feb 16, 2014)

miruss said:


> Only shotgun i own is for goose hunting. Have 4 different .22 for rabbits! I'm going to try and get out more but hate hunting alone ! Have to burn about 3 1/2 weeks of vacation before i lose it!


I am in South East Livingston County and my Luna (beagle) would love to show you her skills.


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## textox (Jan 30, 2020)

In 1980 company i worked for closed it's doors forever on the 3rd week of October.I owned a Harrier -Beagle cross and between that time and the week of Christmas my self and a
close friend killed a lot of rabbits. 10 kills a day were common and sometimes a "Pat"would fall to the Winchester pump. I had kept the tails from all the rabbits. I was shocked when i counted 103 tails at the beginning of 1981.Same story,you had better kill that bunny the dog was on because he would not give up.He was no speed burner and in his latter years i gave up the 12 ga.and hunted with a 22 cal auto shooting hollow points,nice clean kills unless gut shot. I have had other pure bred Beagles since but none were as bull headed as that cross breed was,and he never ran a deer in spite of seeing many in most places we hunted.BTW it is far easier to get permission to rabbit hunt than it is to deer hunt on private lands.I was fortunate to have many places in SE Mich to hunt gained by neat appearance,politeness and a smile when knocking on doors....


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

Recall after I arrived in N MI talking about rabbit hunting, got some funny looks.

Other times guys would say "Oh yes, back when wed go up town and just pick up a dog and go hunting w/ it." Apparently many (most?) dogs would hunt for a day. End of hunt drop the dog off where they picked it up and go home??


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

I have no idea where you could just grab somebody's dog and go hunting. I've been hunting rabbits for over 65 years and it didn't happen around here. Grab somebody's dog might just get you a butt whoopin


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

Back in the early 2000's I had a buddy who would borrow a couple of my hounds for a week or two to run with his dog. I didn't mind one bit. My dogs were getting ran and I could put more time on my young hounds. 
Ar that time I would solo my pups their first year before introducing them to pack running.


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## Postman Willy (Apr 12, 2015)

Anyone have any luck at Wetzel or Chesterfield Twp game area? I walked around both yesterday and didn’t see to many signs of rabbits


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## Nitro225Optimax (Feb 13, 2011)

Hunting buddy and I just discussed getting into rabbit hunting to scout during winter for deer. This thread is perfect so I don't have to repost. We'll be going without dogs, northern Michigan state land, like 70,000 acres. We saw tons of bunny tracks while scouting this past weekend. We'll be taking our 12ga shotguns and probably 7.5 shot because that is all we have for now. have both IC and modified chokes. Pretty sure we'll just follow the fresh tracks into the thickets, maybe walk about 30-40 yards apart and have at it. 

What about steel or tungsten shot? I can find that in #4 and #5 it seems like. 

And can we use red dot optics?


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## bigcatjake (Mar 25, 2012)

Postman Willy said:


> Anyone have any luck at Wetzel or Chesterfield Twp game area? I walked around both yesterday and didn’t see to many signs of rabbits


I’ve tried chesterfield, lots of tracks from rabbit and deer and also tons more tracks from hunters. When I went I must have missed my opportunity before someone ran there dogs all over becuase the amount of rabbit tracks would tell you there in however I never saw a one that day. Ran into a guy doing some trapping and he said hunters are there with dogs almost daily and as small as the property is every rabbit left must be hiding and never want to come out again.


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