into his alleged couple of hundred acres in Chambers county. Most of it is folded like an accordion. After walking it, most people tend to think that there probably is a bunch more.

Brag once asked me if I was out of breath after hiking to the top of one of the trails.
“yep”
“Good, I thought it was just me”
I got a good twenty years on Brag, so I was happy to.

in Chambers county for a hunt today.
All three of my rabbit guns are now in the shop.
"We" got 9
I missed 2
I got 4 including one double on 2 rabbits running together
Middle Boy got 2
Cuz got 1
Brag got 1
Plunker and djmed double teamed on 1.

The "Girls" (and Sammie) ran really well today.

More about the hunt later

Saturday morning found me standing in a beautiful hardwood creek bottom, propped against a tree listening the music that ten little beagles were making as they pushed a big buck rabbit around a thicket on the far side. I had just crossed the all weather creek running in a ditch that it has cut, ten foot deep by ten foot wide.

I could have waited on the other side, but I was trying to get away from Minnie, Cuz’s newest “free” dog

I knew what the rabbit was doing and where the rabbit was going. Unlike last week, this time I was prepared. And here he came

today, in a rematch at Tiny's deer stand in Seale, Alabama

Brag 1 for 1
me (rimfire) 1 for 2. Yes a miss, sort of.
Details later

Tuesday’s hunt was another good one. We started out near the scenic business district of Pittsview.


We walked a long way before Brag jumped a small cottontail in some thick pines on the edge of a huge clearcut. And I do mean “clearcut”.

on the Tuesday hunt with the exception of dogs that would yip that “he went this way“, “no, that way“, “No, it’s over here“. The pines off of 39 in Seale were thick, with humps of honeysuckle and thick patches of mostly bare beautyberry. Brag had shot at the rabbit twice at distinctively different times. The last had been a good twenty minutes before with the race lasting for another fifteen before the girls had lost him.
Crunch. The rabbit? No it sounded more like a bone crunch and it was pretty close. I eased forward and saw Sister Sissy chomping down on the rear legs of the big buck rabbit.

Well, that was a good start to Tuesday’s post, but where do I take it from here?
I suppose back to the previous Saturday’s hunt at Seale off of Howard Road. The one where PFC Wiggles USMC made the hunt with Plunker, Cuz, Brag and myself, Rimfire would be the most logical place time-wise.

And I suppose the most pressing question that many of you have is “how’s that 100% shooting rate going”

Sadly the first hunt since early October when we camped, though it was a success. Kyacker and I went to our Grandmother’s place and hunted the old barn lot, field, and swamp across the back of her place. The barn lot produced nothing but we didn’t hunt it hard, mainly because of a new with old wire fence that Kyacker said would just let rabbits through and hinder dogs. As we approached the edge of the woods with the dogs ahead one marks in an old clearing pile that remains from who knows when. I post up quickly and Kyacker runs around to cut the rabbit off when he makes a dash to the deep swamp. All the dogs, even Lady and Sam the pups, were in now and the race was HOT. The rabbit shoots out right towards me and banks to my left about 10yards ahead. I draw the Winchester 9410 packer and give him a dose of 2 ½” 6 shot, with a hit he turns back to the thick briars and old ground hog holes and I did give him another clearer shot to end it before he crawled in the hole infested briars.

We set for the deep swamp where we’ve always had at least three swamp rabbits to run at the first of the season. The rains from the past few days have swept the swamp of many dry seasons of leaves and even broke a few staple beaver dams. With the water level receding but still up, the rabbits hadn’t yet returned from being flooded out it seemed. Molly our long toothed dog hunted hard as we led the dogs out to some higher ground.


Once to the high ground we had another rabbit in a fencerow. Shortly after the dogs jumped a small cottontail trots out right towards my feet. I was debating being still and trying to catch him but decided to wait until he was committed to passing before moving to keep him out for a shot. He did pass and when I shouldered the Packer he was in a full run in the woods. I picked a shot path ahead of him and waited for him to cross. Amazingly he went right to the tru-glow front sight and my Winchester barks again. He keeps right on going and the dogs are in a full race in the opposite direction. I was proud to see him as its not often that we get to run one rabbit and see a “sneaker” up here at the North Alabama chapter of the RHSESC. The dogs ran the rabbit up the fencerow to a tee where the rabbit set on them and they ran him back. As I’m ready to fire again Molly breaks out right where the “sneaker” went and has switched rabbits. When she gets to my gun powdered ground she looses the scent and as the pack tries to figure out where the rabbit went Kyacker trudges ahead and finds my DEAD rabbit!

One more trip up the fence and we put enough search party heat on the original rabbit that he darts to the swamp without a chance for a shot. All in all it was a good day and we’re definitely going to try and do it again before so much time passes.


In response to the bunny guns here are some of our selection with some purpose description. Kyackers Western Auto (Mossberg 410 bolt action) is a orangy stock and a true shooter when he lets it bark, it is his lightweight gun for the much walking rabbit hunts.

was pretty good.
Bare bones with a follow up post to come later
"We" got 4 at Seale.
The "Aunties" did really good
The pups did pretty good....for pups

was top man today
Three shots. Three rabbits



While there was a three way tie for second

or
Water World 2



“missed was the call.” “Watch out Rimfire, headed your way” I had seen Brag tense up and throw his shotgun to his shoulder. Watching the thick mid knee high swamp grass that grew in clumps for some movement, I heard some light splashing in the ankle deep water.

But first I would be remiss to not add a “Happy __th Birthday to GF” I would have posted it Friday, on her birthday, but I was busy getting her a set of “do it yourself” rabbit fur gloves. I suggested that she just put the meat in the freezer when she finished.

But back to GF’s Birthday hunt.

at Plunkers place in Chambers county in connection with the semi annual Ridge Grove Volunteer Fire Department BBQ Fund Raiser (ain’t that a mouth full?) was a success.

without missing was continued on Saturday’s hunt.

Put together at the last minute, only Brag, Plunker and myself attended. I called Hover late Friday, but hung up when I got the voice mail. Dustin, Cuz’s grandson told me he would be there, but he is 19 and it was a Friday night.

We ran three dogs, Sammie, Lucy and Katie. And had some great races at the front of our hunting lease on a pine plantation near Seale, Alabama.



Plunker was 1 for 2 as was Brag.
Me, Rimfire,

Hunters 0

Two hunts into the season and nary a cap busted.
On the positive side, it means that I haven’t missed… yet.
And despite Brag’s assertions that I didn’t shoot today because I couldn’t get the rabbit to sit still, I can assure you that I’m never shy about speeding up a running bunny. Makes it more sporting for the other hunters, you know?

on The Rabbit Journal Pack only four days before opening. It's not pretty

Penny is on the disabled list with a torn toenail. Probably from her remodeling of one of the doghouses. It now has 2 skylights, a side entrance and a bolt hole in the back, Her return by opening day is in doubt.

Lucy, the beaner, has put on a great deal of weight this inactive summer. She wheezes like a two pack a day smoker after a short race.

Katie is looking good as usual, though I still wonder if she was running that deer silent or just tagging along, following the pack.

Sammy is looking good. He just needs more training.

Sallie Mae has ran a deer twice. She needs the collar

Sissy, is a big ? She has shown very little interest in a race after ten to fifteen minutes.

The price of gasoline and the chores at Rabbit Run put a serious damper on my summer training

Thinwater here, what a honor to be able to post something on The Rabbit Journal. I've been working on a 22 rifle since June to enhance the sights on it to be able to shoot long distances without a scope. I already had a Henry Goldenboy 22lr and decided that I would put a globe and tang sight on this gun because it was already an accurate gun, and I could affort to shoot it when finished. This project took way longer than expected due to lack of information on the parts selected, then lack of correct information when technical information was called at the company. The project finally turned around and I thought I'd post this in a kind of response to our host Rimfire's comment of what we'd been doing this summer.