Want your guys opinion on a location for hunting trip

[wildcatfan0309]

We r looking to take a hunting trip this month sometime.
We are willing to travel great distance for the best hunt.
We are in north eastern part of ky.
Will be two of us hunters and a 6 dog pack
Weve heard that kansas and iowa are polluted with bunnys, but then ive seen post that say that is a incorrect statement.
I figure no better people to ask and gather info from than the brother and sister beaglers on this board!!
We are going for the fellowship,the hounds,and the most appealing reason is that its far away from our place of employment!!!!! lol
But since we are going we would love to set up camp on the cottontail hunters dream land and make it a trip of a lifetime.
We r planning on knocking a few down for the freezer, but will spend most of our time enjoying the races!!
love to hear everyones opinions and exact suggested locations.
Thank you all very much

[rabbitatfarm]

Kansas has rabbit season year around, if that tells you anything. Bag limit is 10, I think. They also have millions of acres of Walk-in Hunting Areas. However, agriculture is also intense where I have been and cover may be an issue. Still, most farms have an odd corner or a draw or slew. Iowa is similar, but I've seen more brushy areas. Access to hunt rabbits should be fairly easy on private land. Missouri might be another option. Check their DNR websites for more information.

Larry

[rabbit chaser]

We are on the uptick here in iowa for bunnies. I can only speak for the eastern part of Iowa but the public hunting areas are plentiful. The only problem is that the IDNR probably don't even know what a rabbit is . They are a "forgotten" species here. Most of the public areas are hardwood timbers and managed for deer and turkey almost exclusively. I do have a couple of public areas I have found that I can gun in but when you compare that to the amount of public hunting areas its kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack. Lastly I would warn any dog hunter about the month of November in our public hunting areas here. They get hammered with bow hunters that seem to think they "own" the areas and our trapping season opened yesterday. The next few weeks the public areas will be trapped by some pretty hard as well. This is one month that my dogs don't get cut loose in ANY public area for those two reasons and I run strictly at our beagle club. On the plus side all our hunting seasons mostly close on January 10th EXCEPT for our rabbit season which runs till Feb. 28th. That gives me almost two months to have all the ground pretty much to myself. I have thought about heading to south central iowa and look there as well to see if the rabbits are more plentiful but I have not made it as of yet to know for sure. Good luck in your search.

[wildcatfan0309]

Thanks guys
Keep the info coming!!

[rabbitatfarm]

Google "Rabbit Hunting in Missouri." Several public areas listed by county or location, i.e. Northwest, Central, etc. Look for areas managed for quail; rabbits and quail require similar habitats: thickets, brushy areas, food sources close to escape cover, etc.

Larry

[wildcatfan0309]

Thanks
Ive done alot of research and have read alot of storys about iowa kansa and missouri.
Im looking for info from guys thats actually been to these places and can point me in a direction

[golden acres]

Michigan upper peninsula

[Big River Beagles S]

I live in the se corner of iowa so I hunt iowa and Missouri both, rabbit chaser is right the population is coming back but not great, u will be hard pressed to find private ground to hunt till after deer season in either iowa or Missouri, so that leaves public ground to hunt, like said early deer is king in iowa so most public land is managed for that not small game there are some places managed for small game in iowa like around lake rathbun , redrock lake and lake seguema but I don't think population of rabbits is near enough to warrant a trip of that many miles to go, weird im from iowa and have gone on trips to western Kentucky and southern Indiana in the strip mines and have had way better hunts than at home, I have hunted Kansas a few times in the past and have family that lives out there, have had good success and WMA around Topeka also a lot of walk in areas just south of there

[wildcatfan0309]

Thanks so much for the help
I think ive bout ruled put iowa after reading the replys that u guys have left
So would kanas be the way to go??

[big w beagles]

I was really interested in this topic. I've been going to Maine to hunt hare for the last four years, but I think I would like a cottontail trip somewhere next fall. Any ideas?

[wildcatfan0309]

We r on our trip right now
Actually wait for day light as i type this.
We are in kansas
Rabbit numbers are slim,but we r having a good time