of the East Alabama Rabbit Hunters and Souse Eaters Social Club

would like to thank everybody that stopped by to read the 07-08 season. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.

This will wind up the 07-08 Journal. As soon as I decompress, I'll design a new mast head for the 08-09 Journal.
Don't be strangers. I'll continue posting on items of interest, pre-season exercises, and such.

Keep'em running

you've had a good rabbit hunting season when you can walk down to the dogpen, say "rabbits" and you're dogs start whimpering and hiding in their houses.
And your Christmas chaps and boots, look like this

You know, someone really needs to make a line of hunting clothes for real hunters, not the tree stand sitters

I asked the three little girls at my feet.
"I ain’t blind you know and I’ve been standing here for fifteen minutes. That rabbit didn’t come by me."
The girls ignored me and continued smelling along the relatively new logging lane that had been cut through the pines when they had been thinned last year.
Suddenly all three girls opened up at once and dived into a patch of bushes only a few feet from me and the race was back on.
I felt rather foolish and owed the girls an apology. The rabbit had not only crept past while I faced in the wrong direction but had tried to wait out the hunters.

in two races on this, next to the last day, hunt in Seale Alabama.

The one we got was a small sager that ran the dogs out of hearing once, before coming back to cross an old logging road repeatedly till I finally hit him on my third shot.

Whats left of The Rabbit Journal pack is about wore out. We lost four trained dogs this year, leaving us with Lucy, Katie and Penny, the pup. All are a little tenderfooted, but should hold out for our last hunt tomorrow afternoon.
In attendance will be Plunker, Brag and myself. Hopefully, Rye will attend.

even if it is late in the day, just to tie you in numbers.
That’s what I told Brag.

We started out across the road in a water filled bottom. The pack split with Precious (jeeze what a name) and Penny trailing near me, when Kate, Lucy and Lacey opened up on a hot trail further down the long narrow bottom.
A few minutes later, both Precious and Penny gave up and ran to the rest of the pack to join the race. The rabbit moved up on the adjoining hillside dipping repeatedly into the bottom trying to shake the determined dogs in the water.

I had just finished crossing the narrow stream, trying to get to the edge before the rabbit dipped back down, when I heard splashing a few yards up.
Rabbit!
I spun and fired a shot that had the buck, fipping repeatedly in the air before dying. I stood there for a few minutes before realizing that I had shot a stray that was just trying to get out of the way.

The rabbit shifted to the other side of the bottom, where Rye and I took up positions, me on the top line where the pin oaks met the pines, Rye, 20 yards down in the bottom.
I saw the bunny a long way off and tracked him till he made a right angle turn between Rye and myself.
I didn’t realize that Rye had shifted up the hill and the rabbit was racing straight toward him, when I rolled my second buck of the race.
Not that I would intentionally cut off Rye.
Heh

Later in the morning, a third buck froze in place when I lifted my gun. I had all the time in the world to line up on his head before I gently squeezed the trigger.
Snap!
I started cussing the gunsmith for all I was worth as I tried to find the rabbit that had disappeared at the click of the firing pin. The 16ga Stevens had just came back for the gunsmith because the right firing pin was dropping hard enough on the shell to set it off. I opened the gun and sure enough I saw the dimple that the pin had made on the shell.
I removed the shell

of the EARH&SESC went on a rabbit hunt in Rutherford today.
Yep, we're wearing the place out.
"WE" got seven and lost four.
I'll post the details later though, I have to help 2 with his Skeeter down at Florence tomorrow morning. Then meet Brag at 1 for a afternoon hunt on 39.
The post might combine the two hunts

on the last Saturday of the 07-08 season was decent.
Not special, just decent

Hunting property, generally runs in cycles, the same as rabbit populations.
Rabbits are scarce in pine plantations as the trees mature, the same as fish in much of the oceans, and for the same basic reasons--food and cover.

The Capps place has been on a downhill slide

of the 07-08 Rabbit Season in Alabama will be out past Crawford only a couple of miles from my new place, Rabbit Run.
I've mentioned it a time or two

If you fall, I want to go to the hospital with you cause I want to hear you explain to the doctor why you

on today's hunt. It was a rematch in Rutherford.
Cuz 3
Rye 2
Plunker 1 1/2
rimfire 1 1/2
Brag 1
Details later

Saturday's hunt at Stone Wall was set up and controlled by djmed.
Now, all of you know djmed.
He’s a regular with the EARH&SESC. And since he works for Master Graphics in Auburn, Alabama, he is our resident t’shirt and hat man.
Our host at StoneWall was Fred Weygand. You might remember who was our highest percentage shooter on the hunt.

If StoneWall Plantation was ever a “farm” I would sure have hated to plow it.

I’m a little to tired to write it up tonight, so I’ll give you a barebones report

“We” got 8 with 35 shots fired.
Now there was a tie with three of us getting 2 rabbit’s a piece, but should we really keep score that way when the top three also fired the most shots?

Maybe the proper way to score the top man was the one who was

We had a great hunt in Rutherford.
As djmed noted, we had 8 by lunch with the only spoiler being Cuz’s Betsy running a deer. Then when Brag was trying to call Betsy off, Penny, Lucy and Katie thought he was calling them and went to Betsy. Katie, of course, broke off when she realized it was trash. Penny kept going and Brag lit her up with one of eight levels of stimulation. Lucy avoided the electric pine limb by way of a new tactic. She was running silent and Brag didn't know she was on the trash until it was to late to shock her

All of the morning races were short. And Cuz was hot. He was high man for the day with four

The dogs, led by Lucy, jumped the second rabbit only yards from where Rye had stopped the first one that was charging the paved road.
I was watching in Hover’s direction when I saw him tense up, raise his gun to his shoulder and fire a shot.
“Missed” was the call. And his life long record of 1 still stands.
Cuz and I had been standing fairly close together, only a few yards separating us, discussing his newest “free” dog. The rabbit bolted between us. Cuz started up with his gun, then waited till the rabbit cleared the gap between us before mounting his gun to his shoulder and firing a single shot
“Missed” was the call. Heck, I already knew that because I fired almost immediately after.
Missed was the call
The rabbit raced down the lane as I thumbed back the hammer for my second shot. In the excitement, I had forgot that I wasn’t using my double barrel sixteen’s. And, besides, they didn’t have hammers anyway.
One of the teats, Dustin, Cuz’s grandson, made the kill

Now a very cautionary note.

from today’s hunt, but not enough time to write it up tonight.

A few quick thoughts.

It was a interesting day.

Hover got a call that someone that they had caught Coco. She got lost (read “ran a deer”) with Suzie almost two months ago. Suzie’s collars were turned over to us when they were found on the side of the road.

We had three rabbits before nine this morning.

Hover had to leave early so he missed a lot of the fun. Like when Plunker