I only had one serious chance to end my personal drought today and I didn’t take it. It wasn’t because the rabbit was to close and I wanted the shot to be "more sporting" though I will tell you that. And it wasn’t because the rabbit was to close and I didn’t want to ruin the meat. And I will tell you that. But the real reason was that I wasn’t sure how big the shot pattern would be at four to six inches and I couldn’t figure out how I would explain to you people how I managed to shoot myself in the foot. Not that it would surprise most.

The doubts I had about "the other side of the road" hunt on Brown Road were quickly erased as I stood in the calf high briars watching a trail where I suspected the rabbit being run would come. At least, one of the rabbits. Five minutes into the hunt and we had multiple rabbits going.

But first, any sympathy for Rye and his short lived "dry spell" is long gone. About all I’m concerned with now is the fact that I can’t hit my butt with both hands.

The first hunt on Thursday was at Charlie the Bugman’s. We finally jumped on the edge of a relatively thin hillside that was heavily populated with longleaf pine saplings still in their distinctive bush-like stage. I’m usually around pine plantations, so I’m used to seeing loblollies and longleaf’s are rare enough to get me to remark on it.

It sure has come in handy for your host, Rimfire.

“We” got 5
Rye (1 rabbit),
Brag (1 rabbit),
Brag's cousin, "Earwig" (2 rabbits, one pre-cleaned),
The Hounds (1 rabbit)
Rimfire (you know I don’t keep up with such)
Cuz's back kept him out again today.

Yeah, even the dogs scored higher than me today.

Like most hunts, the refrain when Cuz ands Rye met me at Cuz’s house to lead me to the afternoon hunt was “you should have been where we were this morning. We left a lot of rabbits. Why, even Rye already has two.

The rabbbit ran a tight circle and came back to the hilltop where he had so rudely been jumped. I flicked the safety off and started to raise the 1929, 16 gauge, Fox to my shoulder. At the bang of the 16 gauge, the rabbit flipped in the air. I paused, with the Fox only halfway to my shoulder, to yell out ”You got him, Rye. I suppose that extra sleep sharpened your eyesight.”

djmed 3
rimfire 2
Brag 1
Cuz and Rye.....well, you know I don't keep up with such.

djmed can't make it Thursday, so it will probably be just Cuz (bad back), Rye (sinus infection), Brag, myself and Tiny if he can get off.

Maizie is a little beat up and I mean more than her tail.

We were hunting property that was on the other side of the site for the former Salem-Shotwell bridge from Mr. Murty’s. Scott, our host told us it had some mean briars. Brag and I were ready for something like Mr. Murty’s briar patches which can make a grown man cry in pain and frustration. These briars were a walk on a golf course greens in comparison.
And rabbits?

near Crawford was a bit slower than I expected. There were a total of eleven hunters and nine dogs. Eleven hunters and eight dogs went home. I suppose it’s better than the other way around. But, if you're the dog man, it's like leaving one of your kids.
Two of the teats showed up and one pre-teat. I’m always glad to see the kids on a rabbit hunt. I just wish more of them went.

Brag says that 18 shots were fired and I shot ten of them. That’s ok. There were 7 rabbits killed and I got 4 of them. I finally missed twice at the same rabbit. That's worse than the other rabbits that I only missed once. Yep, I shot twice at every rabbit but one, whether I needed to or not. And I let a rabbit crawling through the briars get away for Tiny to shoot. Ok, I couldn't tell from the patch of brown whether it was a rabbit, a rat or one of the dogs that were in the same briar patch. In cases like that you don't shoot

I don’t know about Brag and djmed, but my ears burned on the trip back from our Saturday rabbit hunt on djmed’s lease. That is, at least as far as Jeffersonville, Georgia before the sound of snores caused the burning to go away.

The subject of the conversation in the dog box was the un-stunning showing of marksmanship by the hunters.
Julie was saying to the other four rabbit dogs that make up The Rabbit Journal pack “ Did you see “boss” miss those two shots at a rabbit in the wide open? After he fire that second barrel, I thought he was going to fall off that log.
Since she didn’t “travel” well, Kate responded from her individual box . “And how about Brag? Finest shot in these parts, No Brag, Just fact.?”
“Pleaaase! One for four and that one was a stray that we weren’t even running.”

Today is the annual Robert E. Lee, Martin Luther King Diversity Day Rabbit Hunt.
Back later

Update

“Only Boy, were at the cable blocking the yard of the abandoned farm house waiting on us. Now “Only Boy” is 5 years old and kind of scrawny. Right now about the best I could expect would be for him to carry one smallish buck rabbit or maybe two small sage’ers. You understand, there are dues to be paid in return for me imparting my vast store of woodlore.

Well, Middle Boy didn’t lie, djmed.
If anything the briars were tougher and meaner and taller and sharper and thornier and thicker than your hunt there a couple of years ago

Lucy, the “Beaner”, part beagle and part wiener dog, violated a cardinal rule of rabbit dogs…..don’t miss your ride home.

Now why Brag’s puppy would want to misbehave like that I don’t have a clue. I know that my dogs never run nothing but a rabbit. They’re the best rabbit dogs in these parts. Why everybody says so.
But Brag’s……
For further details concerning ownership.

But the last we heard was her burning up a deer’s trail with Lady in tow. Lady came back a hour or so later. Lucy, as I write this, is still missing.

Lucy has not yet had the collar used on her and today was merely a continuation of not using it on her. Brag seems to be of the opinion that I somehow bear partial responsibility for his puppy running a deer and getting lost. While it is true that I left the “clicker” for the electric pine limb with it's eight levels of "stimulation" on the flower box, it is sort of his fault because he required help loading the dogs requiring me to set it down in the first place.

Repeat
Repeat
Repeat and didn’t need to

Friday, the four main members of the East Alabama Rabbit Hunters & Souse Eaters Social Club, ended up

spread in a picket line across the hardwood/pine hillside with the nine short legged beagles checking out each potential rabbit hiding spot when the shot rang out.
The dogs hurried over to help, only to find their services weren’t needed. Cuz had snapshot on the jump, tumbling the bunny onto the forest floor. He looked a little sheepish as he explained that instincts had taken over as the reason for depriving the dogs of their first chase in a month.

No harm done. Oh and The Rabbit Journal Picture Show 05-06 is up and running

That’s what I’m doing right now, as a matter of fact, procrastinating .

I have a project going that I really need to finish this week. Or by Monday, at worst. I started it a year ago and it’s in the state it was last May, ¾ finished.

And to make matters worse, I’ve scheduled in two more rabbit hunts and at least one bow/deer hunt this week

I’ve been a procrastinator pretty much my whole life. From picking up my toys to doing school work to whatever’s, I put it off till the last possible moment.

The rabbit hunt went well today. I met Cuz and Rye at the gate of the Gray’s place. It’s a beautiful piece of property. The front yard is managed for birds, specifically quail, but he lets us chase his rabbits in the back.