Uncle NoPass is always excited to go on what has turned into a annual rabbit hunt in Wedowee, Alabama. It’s homecoming, of sorts, for my eighty two year old uncle since he was raised on a dirt farm about 12 miles east of Wedowee. He says that there are more rabbits, bigger rabbits, and the rabbits are easier to shoot. He neglects to mention that there are more hills, steeper hills and taller hills and that there are more briars, sharper briars and taller briars mixed in with the planted pines that are planted thicker than the bars on a jail cell. Not that I have any experience with jail cells. At least here in the States. The Mediterranean is a different story and even that was a bum rap. While I might have been instrumental in starting the bar fight that quickly escalated out of control, I didn’t burn the taxi during the riot.
But I digress.

Sorry for not posting about the Wedowee hunt or yesterday's hunt where we killed the 16 rabbits yesterday. I fell asleep in my chair after supper last night. I'll make up for it this weekend.

Today is the last day of rabbit season 03. Brag, Rye, Uncle NoPass and myself are hunting near the Salem-Shotwell bridge today to wrap up the season. I'll talk to you later.

Yesterday’s rabbit hunt was a great day--- for the hunters. I was hot yesterday, accounting for 6 of the 16 rabbits, we took. My main competition came from 13 year old Dusty, who killed four. I was a little surprised at the results since Dusty is far and away, a better shot than I. Of course his eyes are 37 years younger than mine and he has better vision than I ever had. Brag and I ignored one of his suggestions that we take his gun with us when we hunt the covered bridge this Friday. Since the school is less than two miles from where we will hunt, we could pretty well guess what his plan was. Instead we offered to blow the horn as we went by. As the regular reader knows, The names of NoPass, Chuck and Brag are not popular with his mother, at least till the season is over, and Dusty’s mind turns to other matters like spring turkey season.

We had two other kids with us. Cuz’s six year old grandson, Follow, has taken over the position that the dog, Kate, used to occupy by hanging out under our feet. Kate discovered that her purpose in life is chasing rabbits. Follow still has couple of years before that happens. Still it was nice to hear the young voice yelling at Dusty “ He got another one.”
The other young man is being raised in a “bird dog trial family“. For him hunting is as natural as breathing to this thirteen year old.

Now, if we only had a few more kids…

I'm going with 2 to the BassPro Shop and Boats US stores in Atlanta, this morning.The pucker factor should reach new heights today as 2 does the driving in Atlanta. Talk to ya'll later, I hope.
I'm leaving you with another rabbit hunting update. Try to hold down the excitement

Yesterday’s rabbit hunt near the old wooden Salem-Shotwell covered bridge near Bleeker, Al was a success despite only taking two rabbits.

I pulled into Rye’s front yard at 10:50, ten minutes before the agreed on 11:00 am. Across the highway, I could see Brag and Uncle NoPass near Cuz’s dog pen down by the lake. With the goat supervising Brag as he tended to last minute matters, Uncle NoPass was waiting as patiently as his eighty two years and limited rabbit hunts left would allow.

We loaded Judy into a box with NoPass’s dogs, Kate and Lady. and stopped by Mr. Murty’s place out past the bridge. I had to drop off the hunting lease payment for my son. He has one of the better payment plans that I’ve seen, a fifth of Lord Baltimore Gin , and a pack of USA light shorts. The gin was less than six bucks.

I pulled up to the entrance of the property and Rye got out and undid the chain to allow our two truck convoy to enter the mud yard of the decaying abandoned house. A single set of rabbit tracks crossed into a thicket growing in what was the front porch. A good omen?

The closest thing to “Papers” our dog have is the ones we swatted them with when they were puppies. Beagle mixed might be the most apt description of them. Little short legged Judy was the Grande Dame of what passes for our pack while Uncle NoPass’s dogs, Kate and Lady were just one season into adult hunting and still committed the occasional faux pas of chasing deer, although you’ll never convince NoPass that one of his dogs would do such an unforgivable sin. Uncle NoPass’s Last Chance had his last chance and was given away as a child’s yard dog. A suitable job position for a dog with his disposition and general dislike of anything that appeared to him as work--like chasing rabbits. We were down to a total of four dogs, not counting Fat Maggie who was resting on past laurels.

We put the dogs on the ground and they nosed over the tracks, totally ignoring them. Going around the house, the dogs nosed their way into a thick stand of sweet gum saplings at the back of the “yard”. Lady began to talk and Judy joined in. Soon all three dogs were in full cry . They circled Uncle NoPass, who often said that he couldn’t hear himself fart, three times in a tight circle through some incredibly thick cover.

I’m to pick up Rye + Cuz’s dogs at Cuz’s house and Brag and Uncle NoPass will meet us there.

We are hunting a small hundred acre clear cut that wasn’t replanted near the Salem-Shotwell covered bridge. It’s a beautifully constructed, isolated wooden bridge that was built with wooden pegs instead of nails.

Briar and scrub brush heavy , it looks to be a natural rabbit heaven. It has three, twenty five acres or so, bowl shaped bottoms filled with cane briars and scrub oak decorated with honeysuckle. The balance is on a long slope ending in a hardwood bottom, that in a rainy year, would be ankle deep in water. But since the last few years have been so dry the rain that we do get seems to soak into the ground fairly fast.

But first, I have to pick up a $99 swivel rocker recliner with a swivel ottoman from Kmarts for 2. I dropped one off last night. Why 2 wants two of them I don’t know.

Talk to ya’ll later

It's rabbit hunt update time. All right, knock it off and read. There's only 15 days left.

Sunday’s rabbit hunt, while not spectacular, was really enjoyable for reasons other than the number of rabbits.

In addition to the usual Sunday crew of Cuz, Rubin, Brag, Dusty, Cuz’s grandson and myself was one of Dusty’s friends, Reed. While Dusty is getting to be an old hand at chasing bunnies, this was Reed’s first rabbit hunt.

Uncle NoPass told me a week or so ago that my Aunt had suggested that he quit rabbit hunting. His reply to me was “I’m not ready to die yet.”

Uncle NoPass has been a dog man his whole life.

Thursday, February 06, 2003


Brag and I had looked forward to Sunday’s rabbit hunt since the last one on that property. It was on the last day of last year’s rabbit season that we bagged 18 rabbits being run by only 2 dogs, Judy and Fat Maggie.

Judy, belonging to Cuz, by way of Uncle NoPass, is one of the best rabbit dogs around. Short legged with a kind of terrier head setting on a low slung body, she had the sweetest disposition except when it came to rabbits.

Then the Attitude presented itself.

decided that we had to hunt Tuskegee National Forest last Saturday. No amount of arguing about distance and convenience could change his mind.
He thought he held the aces. They were His rabbit dogs. But Brag and I put our foot down. We knew who would have to return to Tuskegee to pick up his dogs in the event they got “lost” . Getting lost is the way Uncle NoPass phrased it when his dogs “which ain’t never run no deer” run a deer.

has just about killed me. Man am I out of shape.
Deer hunting, unless you use dogs in a small club, doesn’t even begin to prepare you for a day of chasing bunnies where you need snake chaps. Much less two days in a row. Even the dogs were dragging butt by late afternoon.

Oh and speaking of snake, I saw one today. Just as I was stepping over some brush. My feet stopped before the rest of me did and I though I was going to pitch face forward on top of him. So I put my gun barrel out to stop me. Then, of course, I had to worry about a plugged barrel while facing a deadly Copper-headed Water Rattler. Alabama only has one type of snake and this is it. I beat a strategic retreat.
SO WATCH WHERE YOU SIT

Yesterday’s hunt was a bust except for a small buck rabbit that Rye shot when it tried to sneak past him in a briar patch. Not a wise move for the rabbit, Rye has excellent eyes for someone in his sixties.
That was it. One little short race in a full day of hunting.

Uncle No Pass and his grandson, Brag, were to meet me in Seale at 8:30 this morning after I picked up Judy and Maggie (dogs) from Cuz. I also picked up Cuz’s grandson, Dusty, who was out of school for some holiday. At thirteen, Dusty is a safe hunter and a cracker jack shot. He killed a buck this year that had a 22 inch spread on his rack. I wish more kids were trained on gun safety even if they don’t hunt. Be a heck of a lot less accidents.

We had several good races but only killed two and Dusty got both of them. As he came toward me carrying the big buck rabbit, he said “How come you miss…..twice?”
“I didn’t miss. I shot the first time to let you know he was coming and the second time to speed him up. To make it more sporting when he came by you.”
Didn’t work” he said swinging the bunny in front of me.

GF took the day off, so I'm earning some points by taking her to see "Lord of the Rings". That way she want complain to much when I tell her I plan to spend New Years Day rabbit hunting.

Monday, December 23, 2002

Obsession?
Obsession?
You ain’t seen no stinking obsession till rabbit season.

Sunday, December 29, 2002

Just back from rabbit hunting with Cuz, Reubin and a few others. It's going to be pretty intense around here till the end of rabbit season. Reubin got two and I got one. There were some good races. Both the dogs and the hunters are a little out of shape as the season is just getting started for us. By the end of the season, all of the fat and most of our hide will be worn off.
Today was a day that I was thankful for GF’s last years Christmas present - a set of snake chaps. Now only half of me looks like I took a bath with the cats.

Back late this afternoon.

The air was cool and a very light patchy fog drifted around us as we loaded the dogs in the boxes. Uncle "NoPass" Ted decided he would ride with me in my old CJ-5. He clamored up into it despite his 82 years and immediately launched into a story about how he wanted to be a driver in the army, but they decided he made a better point man in a rifle unit in the pacific. Three years, nine months and twenty two days. Thank him and the ones like him on Monday. He spun a few more tales that I really didn’t hear above the hum of the mudders as we rolled down the highway, but that was okay, I had heard them enough to be able to repeat them with him.