Terms of ownership here

We were finished for the day and I decided to check one of my deer stands to see what happened to it during the recent tree thinning on the pine plantation near scenic downtown Seale, Alabama.
I saw the two deer down the unused lane that in a previous planting had been a firebreak and kept walking toward them. The “girls” were completely unaware.

Suddenly, her head snapped around when she winded the deer and took off.
I started yelling.
The other four came back when they realized what the excitment was about, though my little Lucy kept looking in the direction of the fading barks with a wistful look. Between my stern voice and the fact she never got out of “hat” range, she decided to behave.
I know of at least one girl that will

It’s that time of the year…again.
It’s time to see if I can get up enough orders for hats and shirts to justify djmed’s time and effort. Hudson, I have a men’s small short sleeve for you, already. Check with your parents about sending me a mailing address.

Prices and design are the same as last year. I don’t need any hunting shirts, so I think I’ll order myself two of the collared shirts with a front pocket and a camo billed hat for myself.

If anyone else wants to order, drop me a line.


Will this heat ever abate? I’d love to exercise the dogs. The predicted low for Saturday morning is 75* with a high of 96. I might take them out for a short run

Speaking of Hudson, having four dogs already, it looks like you have the beginnings of a fine pack. I think I would work with I had instead of adding a “started” dog to the pack

Dixie didn’t put on any pen weight this year. You know she has an enlarged heart and Doc Caldwell says she might keel over at any time but to run her if she wants. And she still wants to. Last time out she was last back to the box.

Glad you asked. I didn’t have a clue what to post for the next few days.

My everyday, natural colored, straw hat is holding up well aside from showing the summer sweat and some very minor cracking after 2-3 years of wear . It’s not a work hat and I would love to get another, but I don’t know who made it or what it’s called. I bought it from Noggintops previous owner‘s as a closeout. The new owners don’t have my old records and the only thing I know is that it’s stamped on the inside “Hand Wove in Ecuador”. ed note: NogginTops did a search and found that it was called a "panama drifter" but had no source for a new one.

The Riverz Delta is holding up well.

Hey guys,
Natalee and I took Big Ugly to Elk River for a trip Saturday. We put in at HWY 127 underneath Elk River Bridge, that’s very near the Alabama Tennessee State line. We left at 6:40 am to try and make the round trip before it got to 97 degrees with a heat index of 105. The trip was pleasant and cool up the twisted river.



We arrived

KY Rick.

I knew that he was from Kentucky (don't hold it against him, we all can't be from Alabama) when he first started commenting (by the way, where's ThinWater?) and was related in some way to the medical field. When he picked out his nickname (something Jordan and Hudson need to do before I do. a word to the wise?!), it took a while before I realized that KY was short for Kentucky and not lubricant that has some uses in the medical field

Glad to make your acquaintance. It’s always good to hear from an aspiring rabbit hunter, especially one that plans on being the dogman.

Dues?
There aren’t any real dues, cepting maybe these. Everybody contributes what they can, if they can. Some have access to land, some have dogs, some have related skills, and some are just good company.

Teats (with apologies to Hudson’s mother) are generally always welcome. Ya’ll are the future of this sport and it behooves us graybeards to mentor our successors, if possible.

Now that being said, you young’uns have to take care of the home front. That’s teachers and parents to satisfy. We never go against a parent. What they say is gospel.

We’d be honored if you want to start a Dothan branch. And we’d love to get pictures and updates to post of how things are going with your dogs. All that farmland near Dothan should hold a ton of rabbits,…. if new farming practices allow it.

If your parents can get you up this way, we’d enjoy having you on the occasional pre-season exercises or hunts.
If we’re ever hunting close by Dothan, Alabama, we’ll be glad to give you an invite. Hopefully, you’ll fall in with some local rabbit hunters. Try asking around at local sporting goods, dog supply stores, feed and seed…...

Keep’em running
Rimfire

was heartworm pill day for the "girls".

Speaking of mundane things, djmed explains why elk have such long horns

Well, it's 1:30 eastern (we go on eastern time despite being in the central time zone because everybody works and shops in Georgia) and the temp on the side bar says it's 98 and feels like 104.
In a effort to cool the dogs, I dug out something that 2 reminded me that I used to like in my drinking days when I sat on the front porch and watched the world go by during the summer.


There are six misters on the line.

to the email I sent to Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, Wildlife Section in connection with the steady lengthening of deer season at the expense of the small game hunter.

Keith Guyse, who responded last year, gave this answer this year
"I did not expect any break with the traditional date of October 15th for the opening of the archery deer season but obviously I was wrong. I have to remind myself from time to time that anything is possible during the process of setting those season dates."

while, Gary H. Moody, Chief, Wildlife Section, (334) 242-3469, Gary.Moody@dcnr.alabama.gov responded to a rather snide note that I sent saying

"This move effectively takes away two days that I can run rabbits because the deer hunters don't want you to hunt on their property when season has started. Or most any other time, come to think of it. Every thing that you do in this state is for the deer hunters whoare increasingly tieing up available hunting land at the expense of the small game hunter because we don't have the clout or the MONEY to fight you.
I lose more time and I might get rid of my pack and quit hunting.
Then, since theres not enough room in the woods for me, I may as well vote to severely restrict hunting and ultimately ban it."

Sense my frustration?

His reply
"We appreciate your enthusiasm for small game hunting.
We are disappointed that you seem to think we are not fully supportive of encouraging and increasing opportunities for small game hunting. The proposal that we have heard more in the last few years that will affect small game hunting is to increase deer season into Feburary. We have consistantly not supported that recommendation and one of the main reasons is the negative impact such a move would have on small game hunters.
The next meeting of the Conservation Advisory Board will be in February.
The time and place will be posted on the web site. We invite you to attend the board meeting to support hunting opportunities for small game hunters. "

I hated to do it, but (don't you love that word) I've had to cancel Saturday's preseason exercise at the Harris Boy's place in Opelika.
I made my decision this morning when I saw that the temperature was 83 before 7am. It was solidified when a weather report said the heat wave wouldn't mitigate for the next several days.
It's just to brutal to run the dogs.
They work hard and deserve the respect and care that Brag and I give them.
I hope to reschedule when the temperatures go down some, at least for the early morning hours

I complained to Keith Guyse, Assistant Chief, Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, Wildlife Section:
I run The Rabbit Journal, a website about hunting rabbits in Alabama.
I noticed that rabbit season opens a day later this year and deer season which has always opened on 15 Oct is opening a day earlier.
Could you explain why this has happened?
Is it a trend to lengthen the deer season at the expense of small game season?

His reply:
The traditional dates of October 1st and 15th fall on Sunday this year.
The dates were shifted to avoid having those opening days on Sunday. I don't expect any break with tradition so those seasons should revert to the 1st and 15th next year when those dates fall on Monday. There is no underlying effort to lengthen the deer season at the expense of small game seasons.

Interesting thing is that bow season for deer opens on the 13 of October this year. I wrote back this year to ask whats going on. I'll post the reply when/if it comes in. I suppose I should just be happy that it's not a move into February

who those Harris boys are, if your not a regular reader of The Rabbit Journal.

One thing for sure, they got to be fine young men. And I’m not saying that just because they have access to a few hundred acres only a short drive away though that would make up for a lot of character deficiencies.
Any teenager that shows a desire to rabbit hunt, is sure to develop fine moral character.

Will, the older of the two told us when we said something about giving Jordan a ride to a couple of this year’s summer exercises said the scary thing about it was: Jordan gets his drivers license this year.
I don’t care how fine a kid they are, that’s usually nightmare time for the parents…….and other drivers on the roads

I just hope that Jordan’s mother is the understanding type when it comes to her precious baby's desire for the blood sports, especially running rabbits with dogs. A lot of mothers are really biologically incapable of coming to terms with it. A sister and sister in-law are cases in point. They’re just wired to different to understand. Shame is, ones a school teacher and there's no telling how outspoken she is with her opinions in the classroom.

Dusty, Cuz’s grandson, fell in love with rabbit hunting to. There are rumors that the names of Brag, Uncle NoPass and Chuck were being banned by his mother. It was bad enough, according to her, when all Dusty could think about was deer hunting, a fairly solitary sport. But now, not only was it, “All Rabbit, All the time“, he’d started talking with the very strong southern drawl and butchered sentences of Uncle NoPass and myself.
I think the final straw for his mother was when he announced at the dinner table one evening that he wanted a couple of bitches to run like Uncle NoPass

has a running back like the rabbit we ran on our second race of our weekly pre-season exercise.
He held his position in thin cover, letting the dogs run past him. The girls milled all around before the sager broke, running in my direction when Lucy was almost on top of him. Seeing me, he reversed course, back into the converging dogs, weaving his way through before leaving them in the dust.

4:30 a.m., sure, comes early.
Bout 4:30.

Hover and Elmer bowed out of this mornings 07-08 pre-season exercise.

Plunker says that his Honey-Do list is getting pretty long and he has to go shopping for some new furniture since Wiggles moved out and took part of the furniture to his new fraternity home.

Cuz has "out of town" guests coming. Personally, I think it's because Cuz hates getting up so early.

Rye says it's to dang hot.

djmed, the resident Rabbit Journal t'shirt and cap man, is, well, let's be charitable about this and say "smitten" by a young ladies charms.

Tiny is fishing the lakes in Pittsview.

OneDog says he might show

Sigh!
I would bet it will be just, me (rimfire) Brag and "the girls" of the Rabbit Journal's pack. That's if Brag shows. I didn't hear from him Friday evening.

But, I figured I’d better get one up, before everybody drifts off

Boy, is it hot down here.
Our races usually end by 10 though last weeks at Plunker’s in Chamber’s County, they lasted till 11. We had two two hour races. Hover and Elmer seem to be good people. Well, good person and dog, though Elmer needs a LOT of work. Hover asked about buying a trained dog for Elmer to bond to. That’s probably a good idea for training purposes