Plan B: Bunnies?

CloseRange

CloseRange

New member
The number of comments being posted in this site this year certainly confirm that the 2012/13 upland bird season is not very good at all.

This makes me wonder if the cottontail rabbit population is hurting statewide to the same extent as the pheasant population. Or maybe it's the opposite; maybe the bunny population is good.

I haven't hunted either pheasants or quail yet this year, and I may not try for them at all this season just to do my small part to help leave maximum breeding stock afield for next year's hatch. Seems many hunters on this site are of the same mind.

So I'm curious whether you hunters who've been afield have spotted many cottontails, spotted enough of them to develop an impression as to their numbers this year.

Mixed bag hunting (to include rabbits) might be a way to salvage our spirits. This year just reverse the concept: Go rabbit hunting and if a rooster or quail flushes in range consider it a bonus shot you can take...or not take, your option.
 
The bunnies are doing great. I've already added them to my intended quarry for the season. I've been warned against shooting them with bird dogs in the field, but I like to bring something home to eat when possible. So, I'll take all the crap you dog-pro's wanna throw at me, but there are a lot of rabbits out there this year and me and my boys are gonna harvest a few. I know the dogs will start chasing the damn things knowing that we're interested in shooting them.....yes, I know; careful not to shoot the dogs. With gas prices the way they are and 2 young boys just starting out, we need the meat and the action/excitement. So far the dogs have pointed a few rabbits. We flush the rabbits and the dogs stay put, giving us a safe, clear shot at the rabbits. Momma expects us to bring at least something home that we can cook after spending so many hours away and spending the $. Shooting 4 or 5 rabbits on a trip that's close to home DOES help balance some of the expense of those trips.

BTW, there are enough birds that we can still hunt 'em w/o hurting the long-term prospects. For those that want to sit the season out, more power to them. Maybe there are some parts of the state that would be better off if everyone left the birds alone, but I'm confident that rooster harvest isn't going to change next year's reproduction success much.
 
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Rooster harvest is not going to hurt anything. One rooster can breed a bunch of hens! As long as we have one rooster a 20 hens we will have pheasants and I am sure we have way more than that around.

Bunnis are doing great! I have seen a ton of them. Squirrels same, lots of them around and there is nothing like fried squirrel!
 
Plan B for me is deer and possibly ducks.

I haven't, yet, given up on plan A.

It's good to hear that some of you are seeing more bunnies. Over the last several years I have been noticing less and less of them. When I first started hunting, it seemed like they were everywhere. How many times have our hearts skipped a beat when that bunny flushes at your feet? I was beginning to wonder if the gradual habitat changes that supress the quail populations were similarly impacting bunny populations. It had become so pronounced in my mind that I was beginning to view bunnies as an indicator species of good quail habitat.
 
Thanks for the replies, fellas; you've given me a lot to think about.

Climate change-wise, I picked a bad time to buy a bird dog puppy. Last season was my dog's first-ever hunting experience and birds were extremely scarce (at least in the areas where my buddies and I hunted). This year's bird numbers are lower yet according to all reports, lower due to the drought?

Which got me thinking: If the cottontail population is strong then rabbits are what I'd most often encounter afield this year. More to the point, rabbits are what my dog will scent most often this year, and as a consequence she'll begin focusing on rabbits simply because they're around in numbers and pheasants aren't.

My dog is a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, a breed developed in Western Europe for all-round field service -- pointing, retrieving, trailing. Hunters in Europe use WPGs to hunt everything; there is no task specialization like in the United States. And it wouldn't surprise me if European hunters use all hunting dog breeds the same way -- whichever game animal is being pursued they'll use whichever dog breed they happen to own.

I've observed no difference in the eagerness and determination exhibited by my 2-year old Grif when she encounters upland birds vs. encountering rabbits. She's ready 24/7 to hunt anything, so using her to hunt bunnies would cause her no problems. The problem is mine, not hers. From childhood I was indoctrinated in the belief that bird dogs are for hunting birds, beagles are for hunting rabbits.

So I can't help worrying that gunning a cottontail flushed by my Grif, and then praising her for retrieving it amounts to crossing the Rubicon. Once encouraged to hunt rabbits she'll never stop. It's not the career path I had in mind for her when I bought her; still, with this drought suppressing upland bird numbers maybe the best thing I can do for my dog is trust her breeding, let her use all of her game-getting skills to the full. Trust her intelligence, let her work out the different responses to rabbit scent vs. bird scent.

Like kansasbrittany says, it puts meat on the table.
 
Plan B...Deer, Turkey, Bunnies, Yote's and Ferral Cats! I usually start my serious Cat hunting till feb.:D

I am going to put a hurt on Yote's this year. Had them ruin deer hunt 2x now. Enlisted the help of my co workers to thin them out. We figured it is no better testing for our Varmint line of guns.
 
CloseRange said:
Thanks for the replies, fellas; you've given me a lot to think about.

Climate change-wise, I picked a bad time to buy a bird dog puppy. Last season was my dog's first-ever hunting experience and birds were extremely scarce (at least in the areas where my buddies and I hunted). This year's bird numbers are lower yet according to all reports, lower due to the drought?

Which got me thinking: If the cottontail population is strong then rabbits are what I'd most often encounter afield this year. More to the point, rabbits are what my dog will scent most often this year, and as a consequence she'll begin focusing on rabbits simply because they're around in numbers and pheasants aren't.

My dog is a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, a breed developed in Western Europe for all-round field service -- pointing, retrieving, trailing. Hunters in Europe use WPGs to hunt everything; there is no task specialization like in the United States. And it wouldn't surprise me if European hunters use all hunting dog breeds the same way -- whichever game animal is being pursued they'll use whichever dog breed they happen to own.

I've observed no difference in the eagerness and determination exhibited by my 2-year old Grif when she encounters upland birds vs. encountering rabbits. She's ready 24/7 to hunt anything, so using her to hunt bunnies would cause her no problems. The problem is mine, not hers. From childhood I was indoctrinated in the belief that bird dogs are for hunting birds, beagles are for hunting rabbits.

So I can't help worrying that gunning a cottontail flushed by my Grif, and then praising her for retrieving it amounts to crossing the Rubicon. Once encouraged to hunt rabbits she'll never stop. It's not the career path I had in mind for her when I bought her; still, with this drought suppressing upland bird numbers maybe the best thing I can do for my dog is trust her breeding, let her use all of her game-getting skills to the full. Trust her intelligence, let her work out the different responses to rabbit scent vs. bird scent.

Like kansasbrittany says, it puts meat on the table.
Click to expand...

HA! I have a GWP as well. He really digs the rabbit/upland combo hunting. Of course, he likes to think he's there to hunt coyotes, coons, or whatever he comes across. My GSP is the same way when it comes to the desire to run down varmits. The GWP is all about finding game and putting it in the bag. The other day I took a rabbit over his point, then he went about 150 yards and pointed a covey of quail. My boys and I took 2 and moved on to find more rabbits.

Yes, this goes against everything I was taught growing up. I don't care much though b/c I don't mind bucking trend's or breaking the tradition or whatever someone may want to call it. Maybe it ain't the way Grampa would've done it, but there's a lot of things I do differently than Grampa. He was also the one who told me my "inside dogs would NEVER make bird dogs". Well, he couldn't have been more wrong. My all-time favorite bird dog to date lived in the house with me. Until my own experience convinces me that this is a practice I should avoid, I'll continue doing it. I've done a few dumb things in life, perhaps this is one of them. I just decided I was going to try this, so we've actually only done it once. I'll let everyone know how it pans out in the end I suppose.

I like your statement about "go rabbit hunting, then consider upland encounters a bonus". Gosh, I can remember multiple places where I've found 10 or more rabbits last year, but didn't do well on the birds. Guess I better plan to head back to some of those places this season:thumbsup:
 
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I dont see as many rabbits as I used too. Jack Rabbits I see far far less of than just 4-5 years ago.


Anyways I dont like eating them (probably never had them cooked right) and cant stand cleaning them especially if they've been shot with a shotgun. I cant stand the smell and you throw half of it away anyways due to the guts spoiling the meat. (Shooting them with a rifle would solve that however I dont ever bother)

If I shoot one its normally in my mind as varmint control and I leave them for the hawks or Coyotes etc to eat. I havent shot one in a couple years due to the fact I dont see many anymore.

Who knows whats going on with the climate/habitat changes. A few places I used to see dozens and dozens of them if not into the hundreds (@ old farmsteads....now you're lucky to see one or two)
 
Ha, house dogs can't hunt:rolleyes: I know that KansasBritt knows that isn't true; he got to wittness our "house dog" at work this past weekend:cheers:
Still waiting for him to post some pictures of the hunt.
 
My home computer is down:mad: I'm not sure when it will be back up and running again. I'll try to get it working long enough to get some pictures posted tonight, but I'm no computer pro so all I can promise is that I will try;)

Yes, your house-dog is a damn good bird-dog:thumbsup:
 
I broke down and took Bilbo Baggins II (eight years old) duck hunting this morning. Best mallard hunting in the past three or four years! Happy Thanksgiving to all.
 
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What's a good rabbit recipe?

I used to enjoy shooting cottontails in the snow. Never used a dog before though... The friend I used to rabbit hunt with would always take them. He had my wife and I over for dinner one time when he tried a new rabbit recipe. It was so-so, some kind of rabbit stew. Not bad if you were cold and hungry...:D Kind of bland on its own though, like the flavor of chicken and the texture of... neoprene.:laugh:

Headed West again in 2 weeks. Hopefully we will find a bird or 2, but I KNOW we will find rabbits. We always do, and plenty of them. I guess if I had a good rabbit recipe I might blast a couple for dinner, AFTER I was done chasing the birds.

No disrespect to the guys who are mixed-bag hunting with their dogs, but I don't NEED to pull the trigger to have a good time. It would be different if I had my daughter or a new hunter out, I would want them to get some shooting. In the past I have just jumped ponds if the bird hunting was slow and I wanted a newbie to get some shooting. Plus Daisy loves to fetch puddle ducks and geese.
 
We were out twice this w/e and saw some rabbits, but no shots were taken. Still, the boys were excited every time we flushed one. They consider it "marking" game for another day. While getting the dogs to point rabbits would be great for a year like this one, after spending a couple more days afield with them, I don't think I'm interested in having them help with our rabbit efforts. I'll either need to find a rabbit dog or the boys and I will have to get 'em on our own. When there are birds in an area, I don't want the dogs thinking about rabbits. That being said, it's been pretty easy to call 'em off the rabbits.

There are a lot of ducks, geese, and yotes out there this season!!
 
kansasbrittany said:
HA! I have a GWP as well. He really digs the rabbit/upland combo hunting. Of course, he likes to think he's there to hunt coyotes, coons, or whatever he comes across. My GSP is the same way when it comes to the desire to run down varmits. The GWP is all about finding game and putting it in the bag. The other day I took a rabbit over his point, then he went about 150 yards and pointed a covey of quail. My boys and I took 2 and moved on to find more rabbits.

Yes, this goes against everything I was taught growing up. I don't care much though b/c I don't mind bucking trend's or breaking the tradition or whatever someone may want to call it. Maybe it ain't the way Grampa would've done it, but there's a lot of things I do differently than Grampa. He was also the one who told me my "inside dogs would NEVER make bird dogs". Well, he couldn't have been more wrong. My all-time favorite bird dog to date lived in the house with me. Until my own experience convinces me that this is a practice I should avoid, I'll continue doing it. I've done a few dumb things in life, perhaps this is one of them. I just decided I was going to try this, so we've actually only done it once. I'll let everyone know how it pans out in the end I suppose.

I like your statement about "go rabbit hunting, then consider upland encounters a bonus". Gosh, I can remember multiple places where I've found 10 or more rabbits last year, but didn't do well on the birds. Guess I better plan to head back to some of those places this season:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I love this. GSP, GWP, and all the other versatile breeds were developed to hunt fur and feather. No dog is going to ignore a bunny, the key is to be able to call the dog off the bunny. If you want to shoot bunnies go ahead. House dogs hunt as well or better than a kennel dog and are more obebient.

To answer the original question there are good numbers of bunnies around.
 
Calling the dogs off the bunnies has been easy, even after shooting that first one. The dogs don't care what we're hunting, they just want a job to do. My GWP did his best to get involved or help when we were hunting bull frogs over the summer. He started trying to herd them toward our gigs.

Anyway, rabbits gives the dogs something to get excited about (bunny flushes serve my kids in the same capacity). The thing that bothered me this w/e was that there was plenty of bunny action, but we didn't find a single bird. I woke up this morning wondering if the dogs were missing birds b/c of their new "focus" on bunnies. In retrospect, I believe there just weren't any birds in the places we walked. All in all, the verdict is still out as to whether we'll be shooting rabbits with the dogs in the field. I don't plan to shoot any until after the first frost/snow.
 
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