2012-2013 Rabbit season

Figured I'd come over here and say hi and let everyone know what I've been up to. As some of you know, J's story affected me very deeply. Life is such a fragile thing. I've never lost a dog in that way, but I did have one beagle killed on the road by a car while I was only 20 yards away. I almost lost a beagle two summers ago when he put his head in a 220 conibear trap. Don't know quite how he survived, but he did. Every day I am thankful for what I have. And even with no unforeseen accidents and mishaps, the truth is that the lifespan of a dog is not all that long and for those of us who have dogs, we will have many in our lifetime.

In 2007, I adopted an adult beagle from our local shelter. I have no idea of her age, but she is still with me today and still running rabbits, but I do see signs of her slowing down just a bit. In 2010, I acquired a young dog from a friend. He is now 3 years old. Then October 2012, I adopted another beagle from the local shelter. Through a twist of fate I actually found out the kennel where she was raised and I know she is 7 years old. She was heartworm positive when I got her so I had to treat her for that. Because of the exercise restriction that is necessary after treatment, I could not take her out running rabbits until the beginning of December. But since that time, I have been running all 3 dogs together all the time. She is an average rabbit dog (and that is probably generous), but she does try and she does have her moments when she outdoes the other two. I feel blessed that she is part of my life none the less.

This is her running second to my 3 year old male.



I will only shoot about a half dozen rabbits per year from my farm so that I leave plenty of rabbits to reproduce and keep the population as high as I can. I am only one or two away from this season's limit. It's been almost 2 months since I last shot a rabbit on the farm, but I run the dogs 2-3 times per week anyway. I just love running the dogs and being outside with them. I've hunted public land a couple times and hunted a friend's farm a couple times. Oh and Thanksgiving was the annual family rabbit hunt on my in-laws farm in southeastern Ohio. Other than that, I've stayed on the home farm.

Of course, my three are all house dogs and today, the three gathered together in the sun coming in through the window and enjoyed an afternoon nap.



Anyway, I've thoroughly enjoyed coming over to this forum this season and reading all the stories about squirrels and rabbits, especially the ones about taking the kids out hunting. So that is my update for now. Less than one month of rabbit season left. But really, the running of the hounds never truly ends.

Huckleberry Finn said:

Bluedog, I love reading your posts. Thanks for sharing.

Aren't you concerned about educating some rabbits on your farm!?

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LOL! Funny you should say that. Oh the rabbits do get a good education. I have 3 main areas plus another area farther back where I run the hounds. I try not to go to the same area more than once a week. I usually only get the far back area once a month. But I have noticed that as the season goes on, the runs get shorter and shorter and the rabbits go straight to their holes much quicker. I don't run the dogs in the heat of the summer so it gives the young bunnies a chance to grow up some and then come late summer/fall when I start running the dogs again, I will once again have some good long runs. But yes, the rabbits sure learn what a hole is for by this time of year.

The snow is almost all gone now, but there is supposedly more coming this weekend. And for something different, I actually have a three day weekend coming up. So I'm sure I will be out this weekend to see if I can find some of these.....



And let the hounds do a little of this ......



One of my most challenging spots to hunt is right near one of the high tunnels where we grow vegetables. Challenging because the thicket where the rabbits hang out is riddled with holes in an embankment. When the pasture is grown up, the rabbits will make good long runs in this spot, but this time of year with little cover, it is hard to get them out of the thicket for any length of time. But sometimes they will. Of course when they do pop out of the thicket, they will usually run across the pasture and down to the creek and hole up down there. Well we've had some spinach growing in the high tunnel over the winter and last week found that the rabbits had eaten it all. So now I have to go see if I can do a little thinning of the rabbit herd in that spot. Unless something changes, that is this weekend's project.