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Member Joined: 06 Nov 2005 Posts: 328

I don't hunt rabbits until we have a week or so of hard freezes.
Don't know why, it was just what I was taught. We hunt squirrels before cold weather sets in. Should have the same problem with them.

Funny thing about rabbit hunting. If I have a shotgun in my hands I get a lot of shots at sitting rabbits about 100 yards out. If I have a .22, I get a lot of rabbits take off from under my feet!

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1973 Location: Maine

Gawd, do I miss cottontails and hunting them.

When I was a kid in Pennsylvania, they were everywhere and I could count on at least bouncing one during the day, not counting the ones that ducked down groundhog holes at the first sight of me. Then the hawks came back and the coyotes moved in.

When I moved to Maine, I found out that the very, very few cottontails we have here are both a different subspecies (New England cottontail), concentrated in a very few locations (like, the Portland Jetport, of all places) and on the state endangered list. Habitat loss - not nearly as many small farms and fencerows as in the past and the woods have grown up.

We do have snowshoe hares and a long season - all the way to the end of March. But that means busting through Christmas-tree-sized pines and hoping they don't just move around to the other side of the next tree. Not having a beagle, that's the way it goes. They hold really tight.

Looks like a lot of fun.

Member Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 1863 Location: Wisconsin

I've heard the white spotted liver theory before, though have no idea how factual it is. I will say that I think a 28 gauge is just about perfect for cottontails. I use sixes in my bottom barrel/cylinder choked pipe and fives in my top pipe/modified and rear trigger barrel. I've always been too wary to use a rifle around dogs and other hunters because of safety concerns, and love the song of the hounds rising from the thickets and hollows. As a child I spent several seasons with a shotgun perched on a stump or log pile looking for rabbits ahead of the beagles before I was allowed to do the same with buckshot for deer down south. I got back into rabbit hunting when I relocated to the Midwest and started hunting charity tournaments on the pennisula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. I am looking forward to hunting them again, especially in the snow.

Reno

From the Wikipedia, Tularemia (rabbit fever) is caused by "Francisella tularensis an intracellular bacterium, meaning it is able to live as a parasite within host cells. It primarily infects macrophages, a type of white blood cell, thus is able to evade the immune system. The course of disease involves the spread of the organism to multiple organ systems, including the lungs, liver, spleen, and lymphatic system."

So, maybe it does cause white spots to form on the liver.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2347 Location: West MI

Awesome!! Gotta love whaaabbit hunting (and eating), thanks for sharing. I too wait for the cold and hard freezes, it seems there is less of the bugs on them that end up crawling all over my hunting vest. Unfortunately less targets of opportunity these days due to more predators but it's well worth the walk. unusually warm and snowless up here and duck closed, so, I know what I'm doing this weekend...shhh, be vehwy vehwy quiet.... Very Happy

Member Joined: 09 Jun 2005 Posts: 885 Location: Wisconsin

Great Story and photo. My Dad's theory was use rifles for things with hair and shotguns for things that flew. So I grew up somewhat handicapped but loved rabbit hunting. Now limited due to some physical setbacks. In later years my favorite rabbit gun is, was a 24ga. SxS. Lucky I managed to corral a good collection of ammo for it. Great little rabbit gun even better than my 28s. Use 11/16 oz. of 6s in right barrel and 5s in left barrel works great.

Joined: 25 Jan 2011 Posts: 70 Location: Virginia

Great picture. I spent time as a lad in the wild blueberry fields of new England. My cousins beagles would jump a cottontail and they would run all over and almost always circle back to where they were jumped . Great fun. I have been chasing wild quail for more than a few years. This year the few coveys I have found are smart and I have not had a clear shot at one. still the dog and I are covered with scabs from the canes but are still having fun. I am going to try up at fort AP hill tomorrow if I can get this old bag of bones up early enough to make the drive. Best
Al

Rabbits carry a disease called Tularemia cause by the bacteria Francisella tularensis. It is a very nasty disease that is potentially life threatening. It is primarily spread by ticks and some biting insects and can even be aerosolized. Hunters and rabbit breeders get the disease through direct contact. If you do shoot a rabbit with white spots on the liver contact your pulic health department and clean, clean, clean. There are multiple well documented cases where the bacteria was aerosolized by running over rabbit carcases with a lawn mower. It was weaponized by the soviets and the US in the past. Nasty stuff. It is now a very rare disease in the US but is still present. In a past life I did a fair amount of research on this disease.

On the bright side the non weaponized forms usually respond well to antibiotics if diagnosed properly. Have fun rabbit hunting!

James

It is also a good idea to wear disposable rubber gloves when cleaning rabbits.

Member Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 1863 Location: Wisconsin

I may have just lost my appetite. Reno

How in the hell did we all survive without all these precautions?

You gotta be kidding me!

Damn, I'm glad I lived most of my life before the sterile society! Wink

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1973 Location: Maine

Joined: 10 Jan 2014 Posts: 13

Fourtown,