Today's the last day of the Alabama Rabbit season for 06-07. It is also the last day for the Rabbit Journal 06-07. Oh, and don't forget the Ridge Grove Volunteer Fire Departments BBQ and Brunswick Stew Fund Raiser on March the 17th in Chamber's County, Alabama.

Yesterday's hunt was only fair. Four races, three rabbits on Plunker's property in Chambers County. I didn't see a live rabbit while Brag didn't get a shot. Rye and Cuz got one a piece. One thing about Plunkers property, some of it is steep, but you don't have to worry about falling, the briars will hold you up.

It's just getting so warm in the middle of the day for both the dogs and the humans. The briars are also greening up and the new thorns are getting a little tough.
The state had finished with the fire lanes and were preparing to burn the back 46. That's a particulary tough stand of briars, mixed with pines in the area we hunted that morning.

We're not sure where we're hunting this morning. I suppose we'll find out when we get to Cuz's house

“Dang it, Rimfire“, Rye fumed, “you get more like Cuz everyday”
I have to say, Rye was hot under the collar after I missed a rabbit in thick brush just off the logging road that Rye was standing on.
“At least Cuz pretends not to see you when he cuts you off“, Rye continued, “ you just wave as you go by“.

"souse"?

Why, it's the food of champions and rabbit hunter's tailgate lunches.
To put it delicately, it's pork trimmings chopped and pickled and jelled. It's also known as head cheese and in some parts as brawn.

"Head cheese, also called souse and brawn, is a jellied loaf or sausage. Originally it was made entirely from the meaty parts of the head of a pig or calf, but now can include edible parts of the feet, tongue, and heart. The head is cleaned and simmered until the meat falls from the bones, and the liquid is a concentrated gelatinous broth. Strained, the meat is removed from the head, chopped, seasoned and returned to the broth and the whole placed in a mold and chilled until set, so it can be sliced."

Plunker has been feeding us so good, that we haven't eat as much souse meat as we usually do, but souse meat, a pack of crackers, a bottle of hot sauce and a coke make a fine meal after a morning of busting briars

was a success.
"We" killed 8
Brag 3 though that ain't the best news
Cuz 1
Dewayne 1
Plunker 1
Rimfire 1 And it was a running shot with me on both knees shooting from the hip though that ain't the best news
Nate 1 That's the best news. His first

what happens to you when you come in to early from a rabbit hunt and your GF has a project going?
Why, it's even more painful than computer desk shopping
You were right, Brag.
The first thing she did was

Well, lets just say we’ve had better days…a lot better. It started out with a bang and went downhill from there.

We stopped on this foggy morning on the top of a hill just outside of the bird hunters property on a piece of Cuz’s Boy’s lease. The fence that surrounds the bird hunters property looks like hog wire topped with a couple of rows of barbed wire.
The bird hunters property is, of course, managed for birds. Rabbits don’t have a low spot on the priority list. They don’t even rank.

is to hunt from the front gate of the Bird Hunter's property to the back. If we don't have many races, we'll move back to the RR trestle.
If you prefer a written write-up of the last time we hunted the the Bird Hunter's property

the Walmarts lookalike of the Rocky Prowlers that I got at Christmas?

Well, it's about seven weeks of rabbit hunting since I got them and they now look like this

I suppose would be the title to this post from a purely personal point of view though “18 shot rabbit“ would be the name from the more entertaining part of the day's events.

We hunted a piece of our club’s deer lease that is located in Pittsview. It’s a small section that has been mostly clearcut and didn’t draw our attention till this late in the Alabama rabbit season.
That was a mistake.

will start out at a small piece of property we have in Pittsview. The main section next to it has been clearcut. From there it will either be Seale or the bird hunters place.

I understand that they only killed five rabbits on yesterday's hunt in Crawford, but the "girls" ran like champs.The five rabbits was a bit unusual. Cuz and I killed 10 between the two of us one morning a year or so ago. The land is changing some. The pines are bigger and and the underbrush has thinned

for Saturday’s hunt in the wilds of Opelika, Alabama where Brag, Plunker and myself, Rimfire, the current members of the East Alabama Rabbit Hunters and Souse Eaters Social Club met Will and Jordan, our hosts.

Now MarkTippins is a good ol boy who happens to be a lawyer as well as quality of life giver to Ruby, his beagle companion. You needn’t hold the lawyer part against him though if you just wing him you might want to finish him off before the lawsuits start to fly. Anyway, MarkTippins is going through a nickname adjustment. I was telling Cuz we were going on a hunt arranged by MarkTippins, he, Cuz, kept saying “who?”. Finally it dawned on Cuz, who said “Oh you mean One Dog”.
MarkTippins, you may as well get used to your new nickname, “One Dog” even if you get a whole pack.

Our three vehicle caravan pulled up to Will and Jordan’s house with Will outside. Will told us he was a little surprised but Jordan was ready to. Neither had really been on a good rabbit hunt before and Brag and I were ready to show them how much fun they had been missing.
Sigh!
The “girls” turned sorry.

till I write up the Opelika hunt

and myself are hunting near Opelika, Alabama today as guests of Ruby and her quality of life giver Marktippins

I got a box from djmed today.
Guess what he had sent me.
11 of these

KY Ricks chain a little as he battles snow and single digit temps

all around for the girls today

And once again, djmed and Master Graphics in Auburn did their usual great job. You can contact djmed at
djmed over at mgiauburn dot com
about any quality jobs that you need

2 got the best looking ones, in my mind.
I have to say, for casual wear, I like the collared shirts with the front pocket They looked so good that I considered telling him that djmed had screwed up the order and only sent him one.

I haven’t met a friend of djmed’s yet that roughs it in a hunting camp.

We pulled into hunting camp late Friday. Who am I kidding, the family hunting lodge was a remodeled farm house, built late in the nineteenth century. It came complete with a deer stand at the back porch

We were greeted by Steve, the patriarch of the family who had just had his truck pulled out of a slick spot by a neighbor. You’d think that a four-wheel truck that big wouldn’t get stuck, but I suppose it was more the driver than the truck.

Ok, that wasn’t fair.

this video to tide you over till I write up the Hissop hunt.
I will say this
I haven't see any of djmed's friends exactly roughing it at their hunting camps and they feed you really really good

Hissop, Alabama for a rabbit hunt.

Where the heck is Hissop?
I don’t have a clue.
Djmed had set it up and it’s an overnighter though the ride isn’t to bad, so Brad might be back for a Sunday hunt.

we’ll take up a collection and buy you a set of those dollar store reading glasses, so you can hit a rabbit.
I was feeling a little cocky since I had killed with a single shot, the first running rabbit of the morning, only a half hour or so ago.
Funny, how fate likes to hand you your head in situations like that.
We had been standing there, in a relatively clean area chatting for about five minutes when the rabbit broke right next to us.
Bam! Bam!
Rye and I were treated to rapidly receding sound of dogs in hot pursuit.
“What kind of reading glasses did you say We needed?”

You know, nobody like a smart butt.

till I write up today's hunt

is to be at the bird hunters place down in Pittsview

but as usual, we just couldn’t hem them up.
The land was pine hillsides with hardwood bottoms. djmed asked after the looong hike, “Don’t you have any land where we can walk downhill?” I fully concurred since all the hills seem to have only one direction….up.

The girls ran with three 15 “ males on the Ellerslie hunt. And it turns out that the dog man knew of The Rabbit Journal. And The East Alabama Rabbit Hunters and Souse Eaters Social Club.

No, we’re not legends in our own minds. It’s just that rabbit hunting is a small fraternity. Eventually, you meet most everybody.

needs to get him a leash.
No, I don’t mean for the dogs. I mean for him, a cell phone.

I didn’t attend the Bleeker hunt because it was Sunday. Instead Brag took the girls and went himself. When I came home from evening Worship services at 6, the dog box was sitting on it’s usual perch.

A few minutes later, I got a call. One of the dogs had violated rule #2 and missed it’s ride home. The finder wanted to know if I was coming to get it that night or the next day.

Mystery, you see had been “found” between the time they had quit looking for her at the end of the day's hunt and brought the other dogs home and going back out to look some more.
It wasn’t the first time, the dogs had been “found” so quickly. Once we had a couple “found” while we were still hunting.

Lot of rabbits, but only four killed.
The "girls" did well though Julie shut down in the mid afternoon
Details later