Ssshhh! Be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits.

[Guyon]

My uncle has been noticing tons of rabbit where he deer hunts, and he invited me down to go rabbit hunting with him after deer season ends. He doesn't have a dog, but he said we could just walk the brush and scare them up.

I've never been rabbit hunting. Any tips? What size shot? How much do you lead them? Recipes (just in case)?

Of course, I plan to wear an Elmer Fudd style cap.

 

[P95Carry]

Hmmm well .... for shot-gunning which you seem to suggest ... I preferred #4 shot loads ... even BB sometimes. Thing was .. range. All too often i found people crippling them with bird shot at stupid ranges .... so I decided that it was to be ''hit and kill'' or miss cleanly! Thus .. much larger shot. Even 3" shells too with BB will increase range nicely.

But .. my fave always was ... 22lr. Yep .. rifle work!! ... usually 50 yds approx range. OK, not so good for the ''runners'' but if the numbers are high then usually possible to sneak up on browsing animals and pop em that way. HP bullets tho .. a must!

 

[sm]

Shotguns: anything you are comfortable with in 12, 20, 28, .410. Imp/Mod choke ( Exception is the .410, most are full-choked ;effective pattern is inside 25 yds) So pattern for 25 yds and see what does best in the carry more than shoot catagory. Shot size depends on the size, #4 , #5, and #6 work for most. Remember for some reason #6 patterns better out of most bores than it is supposed to, one of those weird dealies. Now some swamp rabbbits are BIG,and hard-headed, they don't know they are to stop...so choose to what the critters run in your area sizewise.

I went to single shot .410's for the fun factor. I tired of 22lr rifles, except the use of a single shot one. Most fun...22lr handgun.

Gotta have beef jerkey...dunno why, except I always have jerkey when I hunt anything, just what I was raised/taught to do.

Rabbits get out early and late, so check reg's on shooting times. I tend to be out before daybreak and when legal time arrives, I'm ready.

Use an old backpack for wabbits, they get heavy quick and the weight on shoulders instead of game bag down low --totes the weight better.

Just have fun , walk...stop...walk, just like deer hunting, do not have a rhythm. set zones of fire ( safety).

DR Rob had a great recipe not long ago, maybe he will chime in and others also.

hop...hop...bang...tumble

 

[P95Carry]

hop...hop...bang...tumble

ROTFLMAO .......

 

[Guyon]

Nice tip on the backpack. I've actually got a camo one somewhere, and I can just poke the rabbits inside a garbage bag to catch any blood. I hadn't thought about having to carry the things around. (Duh.)

Couple of years ago, I bought some "brush buster" pants (nylon fronts on the legs) on super-cheap clearance, thinking I might get to quail hunt a bit. Guess I'll finally give them a try.

I have a double barrel, O/U shotgun I inherited from my dad, and I plan to use it. I've actually never shot the gun that I can remember. My shotgun hunting has been limited to dove (a Rem 1100) and turkey (a Rem 870). Guess I need to get out and pattern the O/U with some different shot sizes. 25 yards, huh?

Yeah, my uncle said we'd need to be out there at daybreak.

My mom always talks about my great-grandfather's rabbit stew. He's long passed, but my mom has that recipe. If I get any rabbits, we might make some.

 

[sm]

I usually find backpacks very useful for weight distribution and use a shell pouch like for skeet for shells. If hunter orange is req'd , just use an old Hunter Safety vest on the pack.

I forgot about briars, glad you brought it up, good idea! I see we are one state away ( TN, AR) so if your weather is a unpredictable as ours, I'd dress in layers...walking keeps you warm, if you stop, put something back on. I've gotten to where smooth sole boots like LL Bean rubber bottom/leather tops are great. My Danners are 25 yearsold and tho nice, those lug soles really get heavy with mud.

I use to hunt swamp rabbits, but dang, them hip boots get tiring fast...and I'm not getting any younger. We let the whippersnappers do all that stuff, we old farts let them flush and we stay dry and shoot. Shush...don't tell the young'uns...they will either wise up, or get older and the "smarts" will kick in.

That 1100 will work fine, but if you have an O/U that would be fun, you didn't mention gauge, fixed or screw in chokes. I'd still go I/C and Mod for chokes on a double.

I use a camo fleece for quiet and all out and about for some stuff, main use is day pack. For rabbits, squirrels...concerned blood, fur, feathers, I wait til after school starts and they mark down the school backpacks. Gray, brown, OD green works well. My last one cost a whole $8, had padded straps, and a nice outside pocket and "beverage holder"...thermos toted right nice in there. That mat hanging device at the car wash is what you use to clean a backpack btw ...I know...some folks think it is actually for vehicle mats, they are really designed for cleaing hunting gear. Little known secret.

Oh...If one is a running -whistle- sometimes they stop and turn ( they can't believe it I guess). since I can't whistle like my buds...I yell...hey whatever works. Sometimes it gets too comical to shoot, I just have watch the critters. I have fun, enjoy being out with good folks.

Post pics and any good recipes if will please. Gotta have homemade scratch biscuits with wabbit...it's a law, I just know it is...somewhere -gotta be.

 

[Iain]

Guyon - what gauge is the O/U? What does 12ga using any of those shot that sm gave, do to a wabbit? Have to pick shot out for a while? Might have an opportunity to go wabbiting over here on my uncle's farm, curious to know what you guys use through choice.

 

[BenW]

Oh...If one is a running -whistle- sometimes they stop and turn ( they can't believe it I guess).

Actually they'll (jackrabbits at least) stop and turn 90% of the time whether you whistle or not. I spent a lot of time in my Uncle's orange orchard hunting jacks when I was a kid. I'd hunt walking across tree rows, looking up and down each row as I entered it. If there was a jack sitting in the row, they'd take off like crazy running down the row for about 50 feet, then stop and turn. If I brought my rifle up after they stopped, they'd take off again before I got it to my shoulder, but if I already had the rifle up and aimed, they presented a pretty darn good shoulder shot.

 

[Lennyjoe]

I've been taking cottontails and jack rabbits with 7 1/2 shot this year without a problem.

Why 7 1/2 shot? Cause I'm usually out hunting dove and quail but when a bunny shows up, down he goes. Havent missed a shot or lost one yet.

The 12 guage is deadly on them buggers this year.


If I was out for rabbits specifically, I would go with 5 or 6 shot.

 

[sm]

St Johns

As Lennyjoe mentioned # 7 1/2 will work many times, often as mentioned it is used because of "opportunity", as LJ does when bird hunting.

There is more downrange energy with larger shot, and some wabbits ( swamp variety for instance gets BIG) . Wabbits "can be" very resilient to shot. The othre advantage in using larger shot is it is easier to pick out the shot. If you ever bite down on small shot you will remember it.

Dunno about anyone else, but I try for head shots, if I can't I "skip" the shot, meaning I shoot just below, I'm trying on purpose to use the fringe of pattern, hence another reason to pattern guns.

Everyone should hunt with Beagles at least one in their life. I don't which is more comical, watching the wabbits "surprised" or the Beagles "surprised".

Most comical, the Beagle pups first time out, all but one kept to momma , in fact she pushed this litter away at one point in teaching. There is always one pup that, well, has to be different. It had snowed 4 inches and well we just had to go Wabbit hunting, the adults used single shot .410s, the kids used whatever, main thing was geting the kids out. We had the BEagles out like I said, well this one little fella wouldn't stay with the momma or the rest of the litter...see he knew all about what to do ( yeah right) wabbit shoots out of brush and went inside the hedgerow covered ditch which has 4 " of snow, most things are frozen.

We can hear the wabbit hopping and hear the Beagle baying and running , back and forth....back and forth...I'm laughing at this point, wabbit pops out and hauls butt across the pasture...the Beagle is still running back and forth, finally quits baying and starts crying. Momma Beagle 'Punches" a hole in the snow, reaches in and pulls him out by the collar. I don't know dog language but she chewed him out but good. He just sat there all cowered and all...he never strayed too far from momma the rest of the morning. Momma kept that "watchful eye" on him.

It was really comical.

 

[Smoke]

We don't hunt rabbits like that here...

Get a 1976 model Chevrolet pickup. 3/4 ton, 4WD. Load 2 coolers full of beer, 6 -8 of your friends, a spot light, and a whole bunch of guns and ammo. Doesn't matter what kind although .22's and SKS's were the most common.

After everybody gets good and "likkered up" you drive 50 mph over rough terrain, at night, shooting at every rabbit you see. You only go back to pick up lost shooters after the rabbit is dead.

They only hard part is explaining to your dad how all the new dents got in the truck. ANd how that small hole got in the hood.....

There are very few rabbits around here anymore. SOme say an increase in the coyote population is the cause. I think God took them away to give ranch raised boys a better chance at makin' it to maturity.

Smoke

 

[one-shot-one]

thanks


thanks, Smoke, for perpetuating(sp?) the sterio-type of texans.
yea we can't spell either.

 

[sm]

LOL

*ahem* not that I would know anything about that * cough* ...but you might have a point...now I wasn't raised on a ranch, instead raised in the city. My parents were country folks, as were relatives and most I was raised with, so...I did spend time "outdoors". I "may" have been exposed to a bunch of stuff many city kids were not.

BTW, If 3 man teams are chosen for "Redneck Club" squads...HSMITH and I believe we want you on our squad. Four man team...if Dave ain't too busy getting into the RC and moonpies, or being "official"...on my ...we gonna do right well.

[ jeeps with windshield down , roll bar full of lights seemed to work best IME....who says a jeep won't go from 1st to 4th gear...I didn't miss a gear...I was speed shifting...shifting took time from shooting...]

 

[standingbear]

cotton- tails round here

scoped marlin golden 39a-22 lr lever gun or ruger slabside 22 pistol with a millet redot.windy days,theyll get underneath stuff and usually run into a hole asap if you scare em up.sunny days,theyll hang out along the edge of a fence row or along brushy areas-almost out in the open..theyll run alil ways then stop.i either wait for them to stop or aim just in front of their head(like you would lead a clay bird)provided they are not zig zagging all over the place.rabbits love hanging out under junk piles or in areas where the weeds are clumped together for shelter.i tried a shotgun but hated digging out the shot,headshots with a 22 seemed easier for me

 

[Dave McCracken]

Eastern Cottontails, a moderate loads of 6s, open choke, works well. Kicking brush piles or following a beagle.

Jacks, 4s or 5s, more choke, more shot.

 

[zahc]

Ohio cottontails, light loads of #6s a few like #4s, 20 guage exclusively, different chokes for different folks. Rabbits seem to be scared to death sometimes. Kick them out of the (thick!) brush or use dogs. Dogs is funnest.

Might have a guy with a rifle (me, who can't shoot a shotgun to save his life) to shoot the ones far ahead of the dogs. Be careful with zones of fire.

 

[Sisco]

I never intentionally hunted rabbit with a shotgun. Always used a .22.

 

[Ol' Badger]

I agree with Sisco,
Always use a .22 for Rabbits. The Shotgun just seems so violent on a rabbit. I just walk around the brush and kick them up and try to peg them or watch where they stop and try for a shot.

 

[Matt G]

'Nother rule on rabbits: Don't hunt 'em in the summer.

I was tired of can food while working on a ranch one summer when I was 17. Yonder hops Peter Cottontail. I decide that I Feel Like Rabbit Tonight, and pop him at what later turns out to be about 40 yards (brushy area; couldn't pace it) with my old Mk IV .45. I take it up to the porch to skin it and clean it. Having skinned it, I find some nasty horrible bloody spots on the backside of the rabbit, no where near where my FMJ bullet had hit it, in the chest. About this time, I realize that the skin, which I had laid in a pile on the porch, is moving! :boggle:

Seems that, 'round those parts, one needs to wait for the first hard freeze before hunting rabbits for the pot, to get rid of the subdermal parasites. Old timers call 'em "wolves". Those that I saw were the size of the end of my thumb.

I hate to admit that I wasted game, but that meat was not, IMHO, fit to eat. I did not consume it.

 

[birddog]

.410

When hunting *strictly* for rabbits, I use a Mossberg 500 in .410 with 2 1/2 inch six shot. Not to cause a range debate, but you can get more than 25 yards out of a .410 in my experience. With the fixed full choke, and a good shot, I've killed them at 40 yards, no problem.

When pheasant hunting, I very often break the "don't let your birddogs run fur" rule -- in fact, my flushing dogs go rabbit hunting with me all the time when the bunny season which is considerably longer than the bird season is open - and then I am generally carrying a Stoeger Uplander side-by 12 gauge loaded with 6's or 7 1/2's. One IC, one Modified barrell. Range? About as far as you can see a rabbit in the nasty thickets we have here in western New York state.

Enjoy! And e-mail me if you're interesting in learning how to "powergut" rabbits, since I don't want to be kicked off the boards for graphic presentation, heh heh.

Joel