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"J"'s 2016/17 Rabbit Adventures

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,741
274
North Carolina
Yesterday my buddy Dick, and a buddy of his Nick (yeah, there's a joke in there somewhere) and I met down in Calcutta and hit a property that's close to Dicks house... Nick lives across the river in west by god....

We met at a diner, parked the trucks there and drove one truck there (land owners kinda quirky) so off we go, 3 hunters, 5 dogs and high hopes lol....

We decided to run Candy, one of Nicks "faster dogs" and Dicks pup..... We jumped a rabbit and within 10 minutes we had it come around.... Candy hot on its heels..... Dick shot it and it took the other two dogs 20 minutes too catch up... They were on the track the whole time.... Never lost it but was extremely slow and methodical.... At that point I realized it was going to be a long day lol....

I decided this setup was t going to work and Candy was the odd dog out... Nick had his dog box with cushions in it, so off the box for Candy.... Hated to do it and it sucked as I wasn't told up front how slow Nicks dogs were.... But it is what it is....

So I spent the day hunting behind field champion field trial beagles.... Now let me preface this with saying, I've owned that type of dog years ago when we started out and found out quickly that's not my style of hunting.... Nothing against it, it has a big following but I like fast pace rabbit hunting.... We ended up with 4 for the day, had about 9 runs with the ones we didn't get "holed up" which I find ironic as the rabbits could of taken naps on each of the runs lol.... But hey, we had a day in the field, good conversations and rabbits were being chased....

I felt bad for Candy, so I'll probably take her out today for and hour or four.... Time will tell....


 

dirtysouth36

Junior Member
Ive run into slow dogs before. Running with a guy i met at another beagle forum. Long story short dogs jumped a rabbit my dogs brought it around we shot it and a 15 min later his dogs finally finished the track..... Nothin against slow dogs but just not my thing as well.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,741
274
North Carolina
Slow dogs make for a long day.I like em to run to catch.

Exactly.... We had a fast Gyp about 20 years ago that would actually catch a few per year.... Once she hit about 8 years old she slowed down and we didn't have that issue lol.... Fastest beagle we'd ever owned.... Lucky for us we only ran one dog back then as we'd play hell trying to find one to keep up lol....



 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,741
274
North Carolina
Ive run into slow dogs before. Running with a guy i met at another beagle forum. Long story short dogs jumped a rabbit my dogs brought it around we shot it and a 15 min later his dogs finally finished the track..... Nothin against slow dogs but just not my thing as well.

All I heard was how great his dogs were.... That part was true, but the 5 minutes to go 20 yards was brutal....
Just not my cup of tea....

If I were too run Sarah and Candy with his dogs they'd of lapped them by the second pass....


 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,741
274
North Carolina
Spent a couple hours out again with Candy, we hit a bottom and she had a good run for about an hour while I snuck away and walked the perimeter of the property to look for sheds lol.... I actually stood on top of a hill about 200 yards from the truck and watched the rabbit in front of the dog at one point.... Kinda like watching the drone videos lol....

She did a good job and I pulled her when she was on a check.... Temps were up and I didn't want her to get overheated....

Heading down to Stratton down by the power plant off of 152 tomorrow morning meeting up with Dick and his normal speed beagles lol.... Hopefully we'll have a view of the river lol


 

Rabbitrunner80

Junior Member
92
0
You spend a lot of time in the brush J. Do you keep track of how many rabbits you kill each year? I love reading your updates. Good luck on the last week!!
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,741
274
North Carolina
You spend a lot of time in the brush J. Do you keep track of how many rabbits you kill each year? I love reading your updates. Good luck on the last week!!

Yes and no lol....

My game best is being torn to shreds this year but the brush pants are hanging in there lol....

We kept tabs years ago and the most we killed was 92 and we canned 80 of them and put em on the shelf... Ate a lot throughout the spring summer and early fall to the point of getting burned out....

Went out today and hit two great looking properties and didn't have a single run... This heat is ridiculous and they're not out or moving.... My buddy was there a month ago at the one property and had 19 runs and we couldn't buy a run today... Tics galore and that was it....


 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,741
274
North Carolina
Made it out for a couple hours yesterday and brought Sarah out as well... Was a solo hunt so I hit a few smaller properties and Sarah did fine, no signs of limping at all so she should be good to go.... We had one long run on each property and the rabbits came by 3-4 times on each... Both were very small and got a pass and I did manage to find my first shed ever in my rabbit hunting career lol.... Goes too show if you stick with it, it will happen lol....


 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,741
274
North Carolina
Thanks guys... hopefully be out a few more times before season goes out... This weather really sucks to be out in running them as I get paranoid of getting them overheated...


 

Renovator

Junior Member
47
0
'J ' this is Renovator were you still planning on meeting up Saturday ?
Weather calling for 20-30 up to 40mph winds. Is Sunday an option ?
Myself and Dirty South are available either day.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,741
274
North Carolina
Looking at the weather I'd say Sunday would be a better option... The wind as well as rain would make a rough day of it... Especially if you have to travel for it...


 

Renovator

Junior Member
47
0
Sunday it is. We will meet 8.00 at Marathon. My worst days are windy days.
Looking forward to meeting you guys. This will be my last outing of the year. I'm starting a new renovation Monday and will have to be hands on the first few days.

Renovator.