[atek3]

I went out scouting today in a new hampshire forest and I'd sneak for a while, then stand still for 5 minutes looking and listening for rabbits. I saw a squirrel or two but no rabbits, what gives...

any recommendations?

atek3

[Ohen Cepel]

Stomp into any brush piles that are around. Disturb thickets the best you can.
Take a dog with you. They won't move if you're in the area unless you get close up on them or force them to move.

Best to hunt with a couple of buddies since it'll scare more up. Also, make all the noise you want, it's one time that it's better than way.

[gezzer]

My dad taught me to look for their eyes. They show as a glistening black dot. Nothing in the woods looks likethis except for their eyes. When you see this, the rabbit will come into vision right after almost as a surprise!

In another month if we don't have snow they will show up easy because what we call rabbits in NH are really Snowshoe Hares. They will be a white spot in the brown undergrowth

[22-rimfire]

First of all, rabbits generally don't just hop around, so walking and watching such as you might do for deer does not work. It happens, but not the normal way to hunt them. Don't hunt in the open woods. Hunt old grown up fields, along the edge of fields. Cut timber areas; walk the old logging roads. Hunt orchards. Bottom land around streams that is grown up. Best way is to do a lot of walking and head for the thickest most miserable places to walk. You will find rabbits there if they are around. Keep your eyes open and be alert. It is hard to hunt rabbits without a good dog. It will mostly be luck if you are successful, or there must be a lot of rabbits around to be sucessful the way you are doing it.

Find someone who has rabbit dogs and hunt with them. Your education begins there. Please be careful about shooting around dogs. There are not many things that will piss off a rabbit hunter more than shooting his dog or shooting close to the dog.

Rabbit hunting with dogs (hounds) is truly an education. Love it. You learn just where they are and it will vary day by day, weather conditon by weather condition. There is no one way to do it. Dogs allow you to cover a lot of ground more thoroughly. Hunting rabbits without dogs is tough. Eventually you will give up.

[dfaugh]

Dogs work best (especially little bitty beagles that can get into REALLY small spaces---MOST beagles have 3 brain cells---all dedicated to chasing rabbits).
If the dog(s) starts chasing a rabbit, stand still, the rabbit will usually circle around back in your direction. Don't go off chasing, trying to get a shot, let the dog do the work.

However, I shot many a rabbit without dogs. Just realize than the rabbits WILL NOT be out in the open (at least not much), they'll be in the thickest, most nasty cover they can get. And if they feel threatened, they'll just stay put. So, in and area were I know there's rabbits, I'll walk the open areas, and chuck rocks into the thickets, to get them to move.

Now I have sat in a tree stand (while deer hunting) and seen rabbit come out of the brush to forage, but not often, and they rarely get too far from cover. You don't say if you're trying to shoot witha shotgun or .22. .22 is OK, if they stand still, but they don't very much. 20 gauge with #6s is about ideal for rabbits. (and as mentioned, try not to shoot the dog. My FIL had a great beagle, but she was so fast she was often right on top of the rabbit, we spent alot of time pickin' pellets outa her hide.)

[Oldnamvet]

Go out after you had a fresh snow the day before. Tracks will tell you the areas the rabbits frequent. Most times the open forest will have no rabbit tracks. Come on a brushy tangle and you'll see them all over. Lots of predators from the ground and air prey on rabbits so they never get far from cover.

[atek3]

thanks for all the tips y'all.

atek3

[Abby]

According to my Dad, children also work well in the absence of a beagle.

"Go jump on that brushpile."
"Ok, Dad!" :D

[islandphish]

I just walk along the edge of windrow treelines. Abandoned farm yards are awesome, country junk yards and any piles of logs, trash etc. I seem to have the best luck in broken shade.

I do not use dogs for rabbit hunting and don't plan too. I will generally go out for an hour and get 1-2. I use my shotgun and 6 shot. Depending on the country where you live you can get above a big brushy area and look down, within about 10 minutes of you getting quiet you will start to see them moving around. Then you can pick them off with your .22

Just get out and bust country and you will find them, try those areas I outlined above.

[rhubarb]

Like has been said, stomp through the grass and brush. I like to hunt them with a .22 since 80 percent of rabbits I've jumped run from 3 to 30 yards and stop with their antenna up. When they stop *pow*. Rabbits ain't squirrels. You don't have to have your eyes peeled from 100 yards away. I've almost literally stepped on them before they jumped and ran.

Just yesterday I was picking off the fruits on a prickly pear with a Marlin 60 when my buddy asked why I didn't shoot the baby cottontail on the other side. I didn't see him and it was only by blind luck that I didn't shoot him. And there he sat. Don't be afraid of making noise when hunting bunnies. I reckon that like most critters they hear and see you long before you approach them, but they got to have a reason to jump. A dog is good to sniff out the sneaky rabbits, but you don't have to have a dog.

By the way, there ain't much better than fried rabbit and rabbit gravy. Mmm mmm.

[S&W620]

Carrots??;)

[IV Troop]

oops

[IV Troop]

you must be vewy vewy quiet according to Mr E Fudd.:D

[crunker]

Infrared vision, if you can afford it, is an invaluable weapon in your hunting arsenal.
A dog will be a big help to as it will be able to smell the rabbit, but I have no clue on how to train a dog to do this.

[IV Troop]

Crunker,

Are you serious?

[The_Antibubba]

Plant a vegetable garden.:cuss: