First Hunt

[MPankratz]

Well, I went out today for my first rabbit hunting of the season. I took both dogs. Blue, not quite 12 weeks kept up real good for the three hours I had him running.

And we didn't see a single thing. Not a squirrel, not a grouse, not a deer. Certainly no rabbits. Just a few bluejays. Seemed like a good day, too.

So I dropped Blue off at home and brought my four year old son with to go take a walk through a new area that I heard had bunnies. In an hour and a half we again saw nothing.

So we went home, I let the dog out of the car and got my son out. The dog was going to the back of our property so I was gonna grab her because she likes to go digging in the marsh grass and doesn't come back very well with a dead collar. For some reason she went straight back, into an area that she doesn't usually go to, and I ran after her hoping to get a leash on her before she got too far away. Not five seconds after she got into that land she was on a rabbit. (I don't own it, but it's just owned by some cranberry company so I don't really worry about her going back there).

I just stood and watched and within a few minutes the bunny came running right in front of me.

I can tell she was rusty. She kept going silent for a few minutes here and there. She lost the trail completely just before the area where it ran in front of me, so I grabbed her collar and pulled her over back near the trail. She got it this time and brought it around one more time before I grabbed her and brought her inside.

Hopefully she gets better as the season progresses. She was better when she was younger, before she got sick, so hopefully she can get back in shape a bit. Not counting on it, though. That's why I bought Blue.