A general forum for the discussion of hunting with beagles, guns, clothing and other equipment and just talking dawgs! (Tall tales on hunting allowed, but remember, first liar doesn't stand a chance)
I don't know what's going on but it's almost like all the rabbits from every spot we've hit in the last 5 or 6 days are just gone. I thought for sure over the last week or so when the temps climbed up and the snow all finally melted and with spring showing up to jump start the breeding season we'd be knee deep in bunnies by now.............BOY WAS I WRONG!!! Lots of droppings everywhere, mostly older from being in the snow, lots of chewing sign on trees and what not, only seen a few kill sights from predators and we didn't hunt the snot out of any one of those spots this year either. I just don't get it at all.........out of 6 different spots we've hit multiple times since last wednesday or thursday we just can't find a rabbit. Old dogs or young dogs it doesn't matter, they and we just can't seem to find one......I don't get it at all.
Have any of you other Michiganders or anyone else for that matter been having the same problem?? Please say yes............I think that's the only thing that might make me feel better. It's rough when you can't find a rabbit for the pups to run..........it makes it a little tough for them to learn how to run a track.
Bunnyblaster
"You can't change the past but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future."
My best spot is way down on numbers.... Usually have a quite a few hours of running, have only got 2 rabbits up out of 2 visits last week. Kinda feall for the bird dog guys.... We may have to start up some rabbit ranches
It's becoming very frustrating. The only good thing I see is with all the people cutting trees for firewood there should be plenty of brush piles and new growth type habitat coming in the fairly near future...........of course getting permission to run the lands I see is a whole other story.
Bunnyblaster
"You can't change the past but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future."
Not to make you feel any worse, but it has been just the opposite for me since the snow has been gone. Plenty of rabbits and some long / pounding runs.
CEREAL CITY KENNELS FCGD CEREAL CITY WANGO TANGO FCGD CEREAL CITY OOH LALA
The running has been real good for me.the wierd part is I have a public land area that gets hunted almost everyday,and that has been better than my private land spots.have you tried going out either real early in the morning,or the last couple hours before dark? that seems to be the best for me.mid day they do not seem to be out as much.we have been getting some long intense running for the last 2 weeks.
sorry, but i have not been short in finding bunnies. last week we jumped four on my public spot with some good runs. the private spots have been real good too. yesterday we went out south west of lansing and it was not short of bunnies.
I think that first wet snow we got really screwed up the rabbits. I had a hard time all winter and have been running in an enclosure for the last few months. I am planning on trying again tomorrow and into the weekend at my usual spots to see if anything has changed so I will keep my fingers crossed and hope they will be out.
Bunny, I hunt only on state lands and the running is great. Course, the rabbits are pretty well nocturnal so, I don't go out until about 1 hour before dark. The swamps still have ice in them but the ice is pretty well covered by melted snow. This seem to be bringing the rabbits out to the higher ground.
i havent been having any trouble finding rabbits, but it doesnt seem like there are as many as last year at least not in my favorite spots but i cant complain i am still seeing plenty. i went to a 20 acre overgrown pasture field the other day and jumped 6 rabbits, 2 ran straight to holes 2 into a junk pile 1 across the road where i cant hunt and one gave us a nice 20 minute or so run before i got lucky and hit it. i took the dogs into this piece twice over the summer and once last winter and never got one going but they where there the other day. my dad and my uncle went to the UP two weeks ago and they were complaining there was to many snowshoes where they were. the dogs kept switching tracks so it was hard to get on a circle and the dogs would split up and take more than 1 rabbit in different directions.
We had a fair hunt last Sunday killing 5, several got into holes. We had to quit at 2:00pm to drive up to Otisville MI for the Great Lakes Beagle Club Rabbit Hunting Tournment. The first spot we hit had lots of good cover but it had lots of water. The other two spots were pretty good and the dogs ran very good. They had 12 hunting teams bring in quite a few rabbits at the tournment with lots of great door prizes. George
Maybe it's just our spots. I'm gonna hit a different spot tonight with Ron if I can get a hold of him sometime today. We gotta find em somewhere I would think.
Bunnyblaster
"You can't change the past but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future."
I just don't get it at all.........out of 6 different spots we've hit multiple times since last wednesday or thursday we just can't find a rabbit. Old dogs or young dogs it doesn't matter, they and we just can't seem to find one......I don't get it at all.
The only good thing I see is with all the people cutting trees for firewood there should be plenty of brush piles and new growth type habitat coming in the fairly near future...........of course getting permission to run the lands I see is a whole other story.