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.” “And djmed”
Dixie and Lucy chimed in. “Yeah you’d think that someone shooting a 12ga howitzer could hit a rabbit. I got to admit he’s so big that the gun looked like a .410.”
Dixie added. “Even Maizie was making fun of djmed for not getting in that bad patch of cane briars and vines and bulldozing a lane for the others to shoot. Eh? Maizie?”.

“Leave her alone.” Lucy replied from her and Maizie’s side of the box as another one of Maizie’s snores rattled the sides, “You know these fat girls like the big boys“.

“We must have ran over 12 rabbits and they didn’t hit a single one with 7 shots“, was the general consensus from the hounds.

Meanwhile from the hunters a slightly different tale was emerging

“I can’t believe that I missed that rabbit.” mumbled Rimfire also known to the pack in the back as “Boss”. “I must have been slipping off that log that I was standing on when I fired that last barrel.”
Brag said” I didn’t think you slipped on that log till you tried to run down it and reload at the same time.” “Yeah, well, how did you get that rabbit to stop it’s slow hopping down the hill, so you could finally hit one? Rimfire responded.

A giggle from the drivers seat cause both rimfire and Brag to turn on the host of the hunt, djmed. “What’s the matter djmed? Forget your steel shot this hunt? The sound of that cannon of yours had us both ducking for cover.”

The talk then turned to the dogs. Here the conversation was a lot more flattering than the discussion about the hunters that had been going on with the pack. Or the hunters, for that matter.

They ran really good after that first race with the rabbit we jumped only yards from the truck. On that race, they sounded like a lawnmower with bad gas, starting and stopping. Can’t really complain though, Brag and I both got off long shots at the rabbit. And we didn’t move the truck all day. There wasn’t a need to. Except for a can of dog food and a rabbit hunters lunch from the lunch box, the dogs ran and hunters walked all day.

“I suppose when I read the Journal that I’ll see that You’re dogs did well today considering they never seem to be my dogs unless they’re running trash or are noisy in the pen.” Brag mumbled
“That is a nice camp, ya’ll have.” Brag continued to djmed as his eyes closed and head bobbing like a bobble doll.
“Yep.”, I said picking up where Brag had trailed off “You got all the amenities of home. A bathroom, a shower, kitchen/dining room and bedrooms.”

“I told ya’ll I’d put us on some rabbits today.”

“Well, that you did”, replied. I was doing most of the talking since Brag had joined Maizie’s melody of soft snores.


“That race in the briars wasted almost a whole morning. I should have known something was up when I asked your boss if he was coming and he laughed and said he had other matters to attend to. I knew we had broke him off rabbit hunting on that hunt out at mr Murty’s year before last. But that evil chortle of yours when you said that the property had a nice briar patch or two, should have been a tip off. What you doing trying to get even?”


The dogs did well today. Of course, there was that race where I fired those two shots at the “dodge em” rabbit. He sure didn’t want to run, just from one small patch of bushes to the next. He didn’t go ten feet after that last shot. The dogs lost him and didn’t reacquire him until I almost stepped on him and he ran back the way he had came. He passed Julie so close that instead of barking she was snapping at that powder puff tail as he sprinted across the small green patch.

Djmed said “The dogs must have gave out of steam late in the day. They would run a rabbit, but when they lost him, they came on out.”
“Uh-huh” I replied. “I think that by that time of day, they had decided “Why should they run what we couldn’t hit?”

The rest of the two hour ride home was in silence with only djmeds Ipod play list of bluegrass and old country playing softly.