Since I had a time constraint on this chilly Saturday morning – family events were calling – we decided to hit the closest spot we had available.  Jeff and his entourage had shot nine rabbit from this location a week before, so we decided to give it another shot.  The conditions weren’t ideal – it really needed to be about 15 degrees warmer, and a little sunnier – but we took the conditions in stride and pressed on.

“The frozen snow crackled with every step, and the ice cold wind was turning my fingers into frozen stumps.”

Walking up the first lane, Jeff called “rabbit”, and with one shot put the first of the day into his vest.  With anticipation, and freezing cold appendages, we walked the next stretch to no avail; that left only one edge to hit before I would have to call it day, let the guys head to a couple of other properties they wanted to hunt, and head for home.

The first part of the lane didn’t produce anything, but once we hit the next section Jeff was calling “rabbit” once again.  I was scanning the brush in front of me, looking for any sign of rabbit, when I finally did spot him……heading directly away from us.  Matt, who was in the middle, had the perfect shot from the hill he was walking along, so I left the shot for him.  Click.  Click.  His .22 wouldn’t fire.  I could still see our quarry, but not being able to see exactly where Jeff was on the other side of the hill, I had to let him keep going.

Then, about 40yds in front of me, he turned and started to run from my left to right…….at about Mach 4.  Peering through the blowing snow, I put the bead in front of him, and slowly pulled the trigger………and watched the snow fly a little behind and on the other side of him – a clean miss.  Apparently I should have lead him a little farther.

And that was to be the only chance I would have in the hour and a half I was able to hunt.  We walked the rest of this particular property, and then had to head for home to get ready for our last family Christmas event.

Despite the cold, the single-digit wind chills, and the barely double-digit temps, we had a great time.  It felt great to be outside – back where I belong – and it was fun, although a little short-lived, to chase after an elusive prey.  And despite the miss, I still had a great time, and enjoyed every bit of the experience.

And see, Holly, everybody misses.:):)

I did head outside on Christmas Eve; I managed to drive Jeff’s snowmobile around the yard a few times (he will not send me the picture he took, though, because he probably doesn’t want evidence on the site that I was actually outside; it would ruin a post he wanted to write).  I don’t own a snowmobile, so I have to ride others when I get the chance, and it was fun.  We don’t have a ton of snow left down here, but it didn’t stop us from riding around the yard a few times on the sled. I almost killed myself, but that is another story.

Jeff went rabbit hunting yesterday morning, with two other guys, and one of them managed to do something none of us have ever done before:  limit out on rabbits.  Between three of them they shot 11 rabbits.  I don’t think we’ve ever shot that many rabbits in one outing, no matter how many hunters were in the hunting party.  Apparently it was a perfect morning to chase the four-legged snow hoppers.

And me?  Well, besides the brief snowmobiling incident, I’ve been hibernating.  I’ve managed to head outside a few times – to shovel snow and play with the dog – but other than that my outdoor adventures have been pretty non-existent.  And Jeff hasn’t really appreciated that and even threatened to write a post about my lack of outdoor activity (which is why he won’t send me the snowmobile picture; it would ruin his credibility…hehe).

And I would have been fine with that.

We had three Christmas celebrations in the last four days, and with my wife actually having some time off as well, I chose to hang out indoors with them, rather than head out for the rabbit hunt yesterday morning.  We have a rabbit hunt planned for this Saturday, though, and I’m looking forward to it.

The first part of this week will be spent with little Abby, so no outdoor activity this week either.  But come this weekend I promise to have a post that includes pictures of me in the woods…..otherwise Jeff might kick me out of the group.

And we can’t have that now can we?

My new brother in-law was up from Oklahoma – where he is stationed – so we figured we would go shoot some bunnies. My son who is 10 has never been before so this was his 1st trip hunting rabbits. He has his own Ruger 10-22 so he was ready to go! The place we hunted 1st is one of our favorite places to hunt rabbits and has produced big time in the past. This time was no different.

One of the 1st brush piles we hit Tyler got his 1st shot at a rabbit and connected perfect! As any kid would be he was excited to get his 1st and now is hooked for life! This spot ended up producing one-a-piece for Wes, Tyler and I. I ended up getting one more, from another property we hunt (thanks to the Stevens Family), which made 4 total for the day.

It sure was nice getting back out rabbit hunting. With all this cold weather we have had the cabin fever was starting to get to me. It also was the 1st time I have got to hunt with Wes and let me tell you we had a blast!

UPDATE!

Managed to get out on Saturday with my son Tyler and Matt. Matt ended up getting his 1st rabbit ever! I have to give him props after trying to shoot his foot off when one on the rabbits ran straight at him and went between his legs..lol! The 1st part of the day was real slow, but we did end up hitting a spot that produced about 12 rabbits in about an hour! Talk about having a blast! To bad we couldn’t hit those fast little bunnies(.22′s are tough) We did end up with 3, so that’s 7 for the freezer! We were so tired from hunting 8 hours that wwe forgot to get pics.

Lately we have had some bitterly cold weather and last week it was the main reason why our planned rabbit hunt got cancelled.  Finally though, it warmed up this weekend and we took advantage of it.  It was kind of a last minute deal, and I had to buy my license last minute, but we did get out and get some rabbit hunting in today.  I am here to tell you that the snow made it a little difficult, and we got quite a workout, but it was so worth it just to be outside.

Jeff, Ron (my cousin), Tyler (my nephew), and myself all went out and hunted for a couple of hours and had our best day rabbit hunting in quite some time despite the less than perfect conditions.  Our first stop, which is the main place we deer hunt, didn’t produce many rabbits, but the one it did I made sure didn’t get away with my second shot.  Okay so I missed on the first one, but he didn’t evade me on the second.

We then headed back to our other little sweet spot, the one where Jeff shot the deer following the cat, and apparently every rabbit in the county was using it as its hideout today.  We weren’t there 20 minutes and Ron put two rabbits down and then a few minutes later dispatched another one as it had already evaded Jeff and I.  We didn’t get any shots at him, but watched him run out clear ahead of us and then right straight to Ron.  His last mistake:)

So for those of you keeping score:

Ron                          3

Arthur                     1

Jeff                          0

Tyler and Jeff were excellent beagles and flushed all the rabbits we seen and Ron and I took care of the rest.  I’m not trying to rub it in or anything, but I did shoot more rabbits then Jeff.  I’m glad Ron shot all of his and it’s not a competition thing between us.  The important thing is I beat Jeff.  A little brotherly competition that I won.  Jeff, did I mention you lost?  Okay I’m done now.

So all in all an excellent day out.  It felt awesome to be outside and hang out with the family for awhile.  Also was cool that Tyler got to tag along and be our official bunny carrier for the day.  We ended shooting a few more than he could handle though which was not a bad thing.  Also felt very good to shoot the gun, hit my target, and supply some good food fotter for the table once Jeff fixes it and invites us over.

I think my cabin fever is officially coming to an end:)