What The.................!!!!!?????

[TallDog]

Two friends, I and my 2 hounds went to Shawnee Trail CA in western Missouri today anticipating a good day of runnin and gunnin. We hunted there about a month ago and found lots of rabbits and had a long day of runnin. Today the weather was warming up after a few days of 0 deg. and colder nights and single digits in the daytime. We had around 4 - 6 inches of melting snow, found areas paved in rabbit pellets, lots of rabbit trails, gnawed Sumac and Boxelder bark but........ no rabbits. The dogs hunted hard but in a long day we only got up 5 or 6 rabbits. We had everything going for us...... 35F, light wind, melting snow, much rabbit sign but no rabbits. Anyone else experienced this after the prolonged cold temps in the midwest? I wonder if the bunnies were still in the numerous dens around the area.

[Blackwater]

I went Sunday afternoon in a place I go a lot. The dogs would just bark and claw in brushpiles, but could never get one to break loose. I did this for about two and a half hours, till I went home. I'm glad to hear someone else had the same luck. I was worried my rabbit population was taking a blow.

[deadeyebeagle]

sounds like joeyman got thare first.
sorry i couldnt resist. but do you think maybe someone else has been hunting it.

[TallDog]

sounds like joeyman got thare first.
sorry i couldnt resist. but do you think maybe someone else has been hunting it.

i thought of Joeyman and that Browning Light 12, after walking the first 4 or 5 miles and no rabbits in the bag.
I'm fairly certain that the rabbits haven't been shot out; there was a track of 1 hunter who had walked through only part of the area and the heavy sign was fresh.

[Joeyman]

not sure talldog that don't sound right to me. we hunted sunday and jumped 12 rabbits or so. the dogs just couldn't run them.

I think by the weekend and the warmer temps will help us. I think thursday is the peach of the week. try and hunt on thursday. Or wednesday don't look bad either weather wise. I have a big hunt planned for this weekend so I'm hoping for the best. I'm ready for a big rabbit hunt.

[bigjohn]

Tall Dog you need a pair of these little beagles that go into them piles and holes to rouse them out lol.I know what you mean about alot of sign and no rabbits.I hunted an area a week or so ago that had rabbit sign everywhere.I just kept following sign until I got to an area then all of a sudden there were rabbits everywhere.I think when this weather like we've had hits,rabbits migrate to an area that has the best cover and feed.

[jason]

Talldog,
we have a similar issue in northern NY you go to a good spot and there is plenty of sign and tracks but it is difficult to get a run. We have noticed this year the Hare are sitting extremely tight my hunting partner and I have walked up within 3 or 4 ft of a hare under some brush and been haveing a conversation while the dogs are working to get a start and the hare will stay right there unless you or one of the dogs force him to move. Where i live i run my dogs behind my house on cottontails and they are not that way i can go out in the evening and get a start in just a couple minutes. I have witnessed this with the hare both on ft. drum where we hunt and on tug hill.

[gundog]

Talldog, we hunted that day also and they were sitting extremely tight. I spotted 3 of the 10 we jumped sitting in the brush not 3 feet from me. One, the dogs were working my way, so I just stood there- took him 2-3 minutes before he got nervous enough to run. Not only that but they would run a half circle and squat.... run a little further and squat. The dogs would circle them but had quite a bit of breakdown time. pretty tough.
Anyway I say they were there just most wouldn't get up unless you stepped on em. We commented that we probably walked past about as many as we jumped.

[Bunnyblaster]

not sure talldog that don't sound right to me. we hunted sunday and jumped 12 rabbits or so. the dogs just couldn't run them.

I think by the weekend and the warmer temps will help us. I think thursday is the peach of the week. try and hunt on thursday. Or wednesday don't look bad either weather wise. I have a big hunt planned for this weekend so I'm hoping for the best. I'm ready for a big rabbit hunt.

You may be surprised.......sometimes they don't seem to want to get up and play in the wet slop. I've had days that I thought should be good and didn't turn out worth a darn........and visa-versa. Who knows.

[Joeyman]

insert fingers in my ears........nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah

shhhhhhhh bunnyblaster

[ddetar00]

I ran Sunday Morn her in NW Arkansas... 12 degrees... snow / ice.
hit the field just a little before 9:00 was warming up fairly quick... the hounds started working the first
thicket they came to... was hard to get a line... lot of bumping going on.

They finaly got one pushed and fell apart after about 5 min into the race. This went on for several jumps.
they finally worked one out and ran it it out of ear shot... dead silence for about 5 min (yes I was nervous...)
they finally circled that bunnie back to the jump... shortly after I had 4 bunnies come out of that same
brush pile ... one after another. I pulled the hounds cause that just totally jerked them around.

Put them back on a single line inthe adjacent thicket.... they circled it to the gun where the shooter (me)
was a bit rusty and missed... twice!!! but we quickly killed that one...

so it took a while to get them moving... I would say a good hour or so in this brush pile brfore the
bunny decided to bolt ....

[DRamey]

I went a couple of Saturdays ago in a place that we had run 12-14 rabbits the weekend before. While we were hunting, it snowed 4 inches of fine powder. The temp was around 15-18 degrees and the wind was blowing like a hurricane. We jumped 2 rabbits. The hounds ran the first one to ground in less than 5 minutes and the second they got 2-3 barks and acted like it flew away. It ended up being a nice hike!! I don't think coffee ever tasted so good!