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. I rolled the first rabbit I shot at, though I had other shots I passed up, mostly on the jump.
Don’t you love the words “passed up“?
They convey the idea that I could have probably killed the rabbit, but I passed up the shot. Actually, the reason I passed them up was the fact I wasn’t fast enough to get the gun up.

After rolling the first bunny I shot at, I couldn’t let well enough alone and end the day at 1 for 1.
No, I had to take a low percentage shot. The rabbit passed behind a palmetto bush and I threw up the Fox and waited for him to reappear on the other side.
And waited
And waited
About the time I decided that he had turned up the hill and relaxed, dropping the gun towards my hips, he broke

Brag had a bad day. Unusual for him which is why I use a play on names to call him Brag though he’s a good shot. No brag, just fact.

Our host, Mikie, the legend of 315 , found that hitting a rabbit running at you can be a problem, no matter how many shots you take.

I passed up a shot at the rabbit when he crossed above me and Mikie.
No, not because I was to slow.
Well, I was to slow, but the real reason was he crossed an opening that my old eyes said was forty yards out, when in reality, it was less than twenty. I just wasn’t ready for the shot.
The dogs lost him right at that spot
I warned “the legend” ( I suppose that I should have asked about the “legend” part but seeing as how I’m also a legend for reasons that I prefer not to discuss most of the time and he had the access to the land, I didn’t) the rabbit would probably run back through there when I tried to panic him out of whatever bush he was crouched next to and be “ready”
The rabbit was and did and Mikie wasn’t, at least as far as the rapid fire shots I heard followed by the fading sound of hounds let me know.
No shame in missing, of course. I do it with regularity though it’s small comfort to better shooters.

Four rabbits.
Three for the other dog man
One for your’s truly though you know I don’t keep up with such.
None for anybody else though shots were fired