Advice for rabbit hunting?

[DirectDrive]

Beagles. You have to get yourself a half a dozen Beagles!!

I had a Black Labrador that was like a bulldozer crashing into the blackberries after rabbits.
A lot of dogs won't do that, they'll peck around the outside of the briar patch.

One time I thought I had lost a Basset Hound and a Black Labrador under a farmer's giant slash pile trying to get at a rabbit.
Finally they backed out, but it was a long, long time.

 

[dangerranger60]

Growing up, my mom who is from central europe would make a traditional rabbit stew from the region that her family is from in Germany/Poland/Czech Republic. It would have the leg meat & all the other meat of an entire rabbit in it, along with potatoes, carrots & sometimes also a bit of sauerkraut/cabbage. It was such a wonderful comfort food on those cold winter nights when I would get home from working out in 30-40 degree weather.

Sometimes she would make the same dish, but with all of the meat from a duck instead of a rabbit, and oh man, was that duck stew tasty too.

One branch of my family is from northern Europe. Rabbit is very popular! DR

 

[echo1]

Good rabbit tale,

In December of 1968, I drove with my buddy's Mexican family (the Huerta's) from Fremont, Kali to Kingsville, Texas nonstop. I was still in high school and it was our Christmas break. They were from there, his dad had transferred to Alameda Naval Air Station when they closed a base in Corpus Christi in the early '60's. While we were in Kingsville, his uncle, who was the same age as us, had a friend whose dad was a foreman on the King Ranch (the largest ranch in the US), got us permission to hunt on their dirt. We could only take rabbits and Javellana and were told not to disturb the deer stands. We drove for 2 hours (still on Ranch property), getting to wherever at dusk to spend the night. The next morning, we got after it. I was using a borrowed Remington pump .22, I don't know what model, but it was brand new and quite unique. It had blonde furniture and was bronzed instead of blued. Back home I had a Mossberg M44 US & a Savage 24, .22-410.

In those days I could see good and was very quick to acquire. There were six of us and we all split up. Right of the bat I started to jump Jacks and knocked them down. Then I started to flush cotton tails and was knocking them out too. I was shooting quite a bit and one of the Caballeros came over to see what the commotion was about. By then I had a couple stringers of cotton tails, and when he showed up, I had just shot one and it fell back in a burrow. I reached in to get it and he ran up and stopped me, "Nada chingon, Gila Monsters or rattlin snakes" he says. He was surprised that I had so many cotton tails already. I told him that I had shot a mess of Jacks too but left them. He said to get the Jack as well, they'd make tamales out of those. By the end of the day, as a group we'd taken over 200 rabbits and a Javellana. I killed 112 bunnies on my own, not counting the early Jacks left behind.

As was their custom, we took all the game to a Brujo. It was just like the scene in La Bamba (but before the movie), snake heads, skins, and pelts strung along a barbed wire fence. He dressed out the game, kept the hides, and they gave him a shank of Javalina. All the home boys couldn't believe I kilt so may critters and really took kindly toward me. They nick named me Pancho a la Pena. I don't remember much after that we drank a lot of Tequila. PAX

 

[Spitpatch]

I had a Black Labrador that was like a bulldozer crashing into the blackberries after rabbits.
A lot of dogs won't do that, they'll peck around the outside of the briar patch.

One time I thought I had lost a Basset Hound and a Black Labrador under a farmer's giant slash pile trying to get at a rabbit.
Finally they backed out, but it was a long, long time.

My rabbit dog as a kid in Nevada was a Standard Dachshund. She had no prayer of catching an unwounded Jack, but would literally "mop up the floor" with one she got ahold of, and was radar for Cottontails. Bayed up more than one Diamondback (smart enough to stay just out of range of 'em), and bayed up a Scorpion in our bathroom.

 

[Toadkiller]

I've never been hunting at all but I've always wanted to. I think I'll take my .22lr out soon for some rabbit hunting, any advice on how to do it? I'm unsure about how to find them without scaring them off... do I just walk and lookout for them or would I likely scare them away before I ever see them? It feels impossible just thinking about it. In my mind the best way would be to walk quietly and stop to look with my binoculars every now and then but I really don't know.

The first thing is - lower your expectations. Whatever they are for shooting rabbits on the west side of the state, lower them. I've lived in Yamhill county for five years now and we have deer, skunks, squirells, opossums, raccoons and everything else all over our property, and have yet to see a single rabbit. Like you, I'm from a place where cottontails come out every morning and before dusk and seem pretty dumb. Easy pickings. The ones I have seen around here in parks etc are never more than three feet of a blackberry patch and they almost always vanish before you could raise a gun. Your only hope for any numbers is to get a beagle and let them flush em out. I don't really know about the rabbits out east. Maybe the cottontails out there act more like what you're used too. Not to trying to be Debbie downer here, but I'm lucky to get one or two bunnies while driving miles and miles of back roads looking for grouse, which seem more abundant. I usually shoot em in the head with my .17 from 100 yds. For me, small furry hunting on the west side has been tough. Even the damn squirrels seem to know where the city limits start LOL. Almost never see one in the woods. Good luck!

 

[Spitpatch]

Thicker'n fleas on my place.

But to be fair, I tolerate no predators seen (housecats are the worst), and I don't hunt the bunnies or the quail (also in good abundance).

I'll shoot just enough of each once a year to make a nice meal. Watching them the rest of the time gives peace of mind.

 

[Toadkiller]

Thicker'n fleas on my place.

But to be fair, I tolerate no predators seen (housecats are the worst), and I don't hunt the bunnies or the quail (also in good abundance).

I'll shoot just enough of each once a year to make a nice meal. Watching them the rest of the time gives peace of mind.

If you've got rabbits thicker'n fleas in Forest Grove, us wanna-be west-side bunny hunters would love to know what kind of habitat, terrain, food sources etc. these rabbits are hanging out in and around. And, do you also see them on public land, or is this subspecies ("brush rabbits" I believe is what the literature calls them) mostly a farm/alfalfa field dwelling critter? Thanks.

 

[Spitpatch]

A contributor of dubious credibility previously wrote here,

"... cruise the back roads looking for infestations of Scotch Broom in previously logged areas. The coastal woods rabbits seem to like those thickets."

Neighbor has a healthy patch of it, surrounded by blackberries. Bunny refuge. Also, my place and his have not straightened-out the creek, or denuded the brush on either side. I keep the blackberries out of my pastures, but it's penetrable along the creek only by the Bunnies at speed. Mornings, they carefully feed at the edge of the pasture. A lot of the old logging camps in the Coast Range ended up with Scotch Broom infestations that exhibit now. Blackberries are more often found at civilized areas.

 

[Toadkiller]

A contributor of dubious credibility previously wrote here,

"... cruise the back roads looking for infestations of Scotch Broom in previously logged areas. The coastal woods rabbits seem to like those thickets."

Neighbor has a healthy patch of it, surrounded by blackberries. Bunny refuge. Also, my place and his have not straightened-out the creek, or denuded the brush on either side. I keep the blackberries out of my pastures, but it's penetrable along the creek only by the Bunnies at speed. Mornings, they carefully feed at the edge of the pasture. A lot of the old logging camps in the Coast Range ended up with Scotch Broom infestations that exhibit now. Blackberries are more often found at civilized areas.

I'm right at home with people of dubious credibility. Highly credible people make me suspicious lol. Note to self: learn WTH Scotch Broom looks like. Thanks Spit!

 

[RVTECH]

My two, new 'yard pets'!

 

[Spitpatch]

I'm right at home with people of dubious credibility. Highly credible people make me suspicious lol. Note to self: learn WTH Scotch Broom looks like. Thanks Spit!

When it blooms, the flowers are the brightest yellow imaginable. Hard to miss. The plant itself is sagebrush-shaped, 2-5' tall.

 

[Mikej]

My two, new 'yard pets'!
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Just about "Fryer' size I'd say? I raised rabbit for a few years when I was 13-ish. With a neighbor kid who's sister became my girlfriend. We sold them dressed out for $.89/lb. And bred them up for "Easter Bunnies". What they say about "****" like rabbits is TRUE!

 

[Toadkiller]

My two, new 'yard pets'!
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Dark and light meat, just like chicken!

 

[Mikej]

My two, new 'yard pets'!
View attachment 2278734

A few years ago we had what we believed to be a native, "Brush Rabbit" in the yard. Had no idea how it got here. I only saw it like, four times. Never saw anything move so fast. Like a little fury bolt of lightning. I was informed it was highly illegal to trap it, and transfer it to some, are you ready for this? "Brushy area", away from my garden in the CITY! Statute of limitation is probably up by now. I did just that with it. A beautiful brushy area off of Airport Way behind some huge warehouse.

 

[Toadkiller]

A few years ago we had what we believed to be a native, "Brush Rabbit" in the yard. Had no idea how it got here. I only saw it like, four times. Never saw anything move so fast. Like a little fury bolt of lightning. I was informed it was highly illegal to trap it, and transfer it to some, are you ready for this? "Brushy area", away from my garden in the CITY! Statute of limitation is probably up by now. I did just that with it. A beautiful brushy area off of Airport Way behind some huge warehouse.

Industrial parks are often the best rabbit hunting grounds. Except for the 150 yard rule, city limits rule, trespassing rule, and other annoyances..

 

[BarrelThief67]

Year round, open season for rabbit in Oregon? When do you all typically quit taking them due to parasites?