Here wabbit wabbit... or not? Where to next?

[IronSights]

I'm a new hunter, but a good marksman and have been fishing since I was a kid. I'm feeling pretty well-equipped for rabbit hunting (scoped 22 and 12ga) and want to do it as a warm-up for deer. I went out for Deer last fall (just for 1 day, but that was better than none) and have been out 7 or 8 times trying to scout for or actually bag some rabbits. So far... nothing.

I was down at EE Wilson several times and did get some experience finding scat and looking for burrows - the only place I saw any live rabbits was literally 2 of them in the skeet shooting area next to a walking path and didn't feel right shooting them - both because it was the first 5 minutes I was there and because it was near a walking path - literally just a row of blackberries between them and the path. I saw 3 in the same spot on my way out, which was probably enough past sunset that it was out of regulations to shoot them.

Since EE Wilson is only open December-February, (or November-Feb?) I went looking at a number of places up in the coast range. And so far I found bupkis. I tried some replanted clear-cuts and found a boatload of burrows and the remains of something that seemed more like a gopher than rabbit that a bird left on a stump. Again no rabbits. I'm thinking that I'm in the wrong environment and elevation for rabbits, but then again I saw a post on here about several people finding them at one of the places I've been to (Lost Lake), but that was years ago.

I hate to drive 3+ hours to go hunt rabbits, but I'm not seeing places within an hour or two drive that are BLM in a valley or grassland area that are open access that aren't in the coast range.
Someone suggested Prineville... that's 3.5 hours from here without traffic. Would anyone point me to a specific place, general area (like a park or road) or a feature to look for in the coast range that is likely to attract rabbits? I'm happy to go scout all over the coast range since I live 5 minutes from Highway 26, but it feels like I'm picking spots that look good on paper and then are pretty far off what I need in person. It's great to get out and hike, but it's getting discouraging.

For the curious, this is the thread I looked at - https://www.northwestfirearms.com/threads/rabbit-hunting-this-weekend-near-salem-oregon.33259/

Read More

 

[RVTECH]

What is EE Wilson?

 

[Mark W.]

E.E. Wilson is a wildlife management area on the site of Camp Adair military base. it is off Hwy 99W North of Corvallis.

 

[Twodogs]

East or south east would be where I would head for rabbits.

 

[oremike]

I've never hunted the little bush bunnies around here, I suppose I would if I was hungry enough. Out east of hiway 97 there are the much bigger Jackrabbits, I've hunted those with a handgun before. Bring camping gear, a couple friends and make a weekend out of it. Hunting is different than fishing, fish are only found in the water, hunting is more of a walking sport and there is a lot more land to walk compared to water to fish.

 

[Reacher120]

.

 

[ma96782]

Where to next?


Aloha, Mark

 

[Mistman]

I have quite a few bunnies on my place so imagine there out there pretty much everywhere. They're small, the cats kill them fairly regularly. I've shot a few to munch, not terrible. I've never hunted them (just shoot them) nor do I see them out and about that often but early morning along my driveway there are usually 2 or 3. They come into the garden and I get them them on the trail cam fairly often. If the cats didn't hunt them we'd have more for sure. They like overgrown fence rows and burrow through the blackberries. Coyotes and bunnies have a cyclic relationship, bunnies are often one of the primary food sources for coyotes. In years of abundant bunnies coyotes populations follow, in lean bunny years coyotes will often go barren. In the 25+ years I've lived here I can see the correlation. When they're are lots of bunnies we have a lot of coyotes, they thin out the bunnies then the coyotes thin out some.

You should see predators come into a wounded bunny call, they'll literally run in. Bunnies are around and an important food source for small and medium size predators. These bush bunnies aren't that easy to hunt, too much brush, 2 feet in and they're gone. A smaller dog trained to chase out bunnies would help but shooting would still be tough. As mentioned previously, east of the Cascades has more accessible bunny and jackrabbit populations. I've got into bunnies pretty good in certain places but jackrabbits are the most abundant and easily hunted. Walk out in the sage and when they flush just keep an eye on them, they usually stop within a short distance. They can get pretty big too. It's even more fun at night, they're everywhere.

 

[Flymph]

Supposedly a people who hunt rabbits prefer to hunt them in colder months when the fleas and ticks are more sparse. I would probably hunt rabbits where I want to hunt deer, and stick to that spot to learn the area.

 

[L308]

Years ago I used to hunt rabbits at EE Wilson. At that time the wildlife biologist told me many rabbits live their entire lives in the blackberries. I didn't use a dog and had the same type experience you described. One or two per day. However, I have seen people get many rabbits in a day by using beagles. I also saw a group who surrounded a isolated patch of blackberry and kick it like the devil to drive rabbits out into the open. A fish and wildlife biologist told me that you should hunt rabbits in winter or fall. The reason is they carry a blood born disease called tulamaria (I don't know how to spell it) that can spread to people. I believe it is killed by cooking but not by freezing. The cold weather kills rabbits that are weakened by being infected. The last I knew there are many rabbits at EE Wilson. It's just very hard to get them out of the blackberries.

 

[chukar]

Years ago I used to hunt rabbits at EE Wilson. At that time the wildlife biologist told me many rabbits live their entire lives in the blackberries. I didn't use a dog and had the same type experience you described. One or two per day. However, I have seen people get many rabbits in a day by using beagles. I also saw a group who surrounded a isolated patch of blackberry and kick it like the devil to drive rabbits out into the open. A fish and wildlife biologist told me that you should hunt rabbits in winter or fall. The reason is they carry a blood born disease called tulamaria (I don't know how to spell it) that can spread to people. I believe it is killed by cooking but not by freezing. The cold weather kills rabbits that are weakened by being infected. The last I knew there are many rabbits at EE Wilson. It's just very hard to get them out of the blackberries.

Very close on the disease..

Tularemia home | CDC

Learn more about tularemia, a disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis, known to infect animals and people.

www.cdc.gov

 

[OldBroad44]

I think the rabbits around here know which areas are not ones people shoot in, and use those. Its lots easier to find rabbits in yards and gardens in residential areas where you can't shoot than off in the woods or meadows where you can. Those rabbits OP found near the path in EE Wilson probably knew that area near the path was safer.

Rabbits can be very smart. Over a period of a few mornings I watched a rabbit in my back yard teach my duck flock to accept his presence. At first he kept about forty feet away and pretended to be foraging, even though the grass was very poor in that spot. And he never looked directly at the ducks. (Thats what predators do.)The ducks made occasional half hearted alarm calls. (Plenty of small mammals kill ducks, including some much smaller than the ducks such as weasels or mink.) Each day the rabbit approached closer, always working his way closer an an oblique angle, not directly toward ducks.after several days, the rabbit foraged and rested right in among the ducks and they didn't mind. Instead of foraging at night when the ducks were penned and predators were about the rabbit waited until I let the ducks out in the morning and joined them. That way he was protected by the fact that there were always some ducks standing watch while others foraged or rested. And if a predator threatened the flock, their alarm calls brought their protective person to the upstairs window without the screen on it in a flash. The window she shot through at any would-be duck predators.

One day in Georgia I watched a rabbit as it was running from my beagle . the rabbit ran on the trail about fifty feet beyond a spot where there was a large fallen tree trunk about twenty feet from the trail. Then the rabbit turned around, came back along the trail, jumped sideways onto the top of the log, then jumped another twenty feet behind the log and ran off. In other words, the rabbit laid a false trail. The dog would run along the main trail and the scent trail would end. The new trail started at the top of the log, which was fifty feet from where the scent trail ended and 20 feet from any part of the scent trail. furthermore, the spot where the rabbit landed on the log was dry and raised and wouldn't hold scent well. And it was above beagle nose level. I sat down out of the way to see what the dog would do.

Pretty soon the dog came running along the trail, singing happily as beagles do when they are on a very fresh trail but haven't sighted the rabbit yet. He ran swiftly up the trail, then fell silent and stopped at the spot where the rabbit had doubled back. He cast around a bit at the end of the scent trail, then he doubled back and came silently down the doubled portion of the trail, sniffing carefully. And he found the spot where the doubled trail became single! From there he then started an expanding circle to find where the rabbit had landed when he left the trail. The dog missed the landing spot on the log but found the next landing spot, and soon was running along the new trail singing happily. However, A less experienced dog would have lost the trail at that point. And it took even this very experienced dog about six minutes to get past the trick it took the rabbit only a couple minutes to create.

 

[Member 34319]

The internet likes to spread the information on varmint disease. Yes it can happen, but it's not as common as the internet makes it out to be.

Rabbits are fun to hunt. Most clear cuts will have some or many. It's not hard to find a rabbit in the woods.

Squirrel is easier to find and hunting them is also a good start. That or duck. Duck and squirrels are great learning hunts. Not just for the hunting, but the prep too. Learn to skin, and clean the little guys and by the time you go for the bigger critters you'll have some experience.

 

[OldBroad44]

Years ago I used to hunt rabbits at EE Wilson. At that time the wildlife biologist told me many rabbits live their entire lives in the blackberries. I didn't use a dog and had the same type experience you described. One or two per day. However, I have seen people get many rabbits in a day by using beagles. I also saw a group who surrounded a isolated patch of blackberry and kick it like the devil to drive rabbits out into the open. A fish and wildlife biologist told me that you should hunt rabbits in winter or fall. The reason is they carry a blood born disease called tulamaria (I don't know how to spell it) that can spread to people. I believe it is killed by cooking but not by freezing. The cold weather kills rabbits that are weakened by being infected. The last I knew there are many rabbits at EE Wilson. It's just very hard to get them out of the blackberries.

Yeah. I carried rubber gloves when camping to use in cleaning any rabbits I got because of the possibility of tularemia. I'd shoot them with my revolver, usually a 6 inch Ruger Security Six in those days. I would always get the occassional rabbit for the pot when hiking or lolling resting under a tree. Never when actually trying seriously to hunt a rabbit. By this time I was accompanied by a good protection dog, but she was no beagle. She could certainly find rabbits. But as with most dogs, she ran fast and the rabbits ran off or went to ground. Beagles run slow and make lots of noise. The rabbit, just like the human hunter, can tell just where the dog is and what it is doing from its barking. The rabbit chased by a beagle usually stays above ground and circles within its territory, hopping casually, stopping occasionally to forage. The human hunter simply waits where the rabbit was jumped. It will likely be back by soon and can be shot. Our family beagle was the small type, bred to be able to get in and under brush and brambles.

 

[DirectDrive]

Good stuff, OB44 !
Makes me think back to my youth with my Basset and Labrador.

 

[No_Regerts]

I'll tell you one thing, the big ole hares near the SERE school may be indicative of the hunting prowess of the air crews going through the course. These things are the size of cats.

 

[OldBroad44]

I'll tell you one thing, the big ole hares near the SERE school may be indicative of the hunting prowess of the air crews going through the course. These things are the size of cats.

My parents were in Alaska just after WWII. They enjoyed hunting snowshoe hares with handguns. My dad carried his service revolver, a SW Combat Masterpiece .38sp. (The Air Force was more focused on the need for plane crash survivors to be able to hunt and survive the wildernesss than fight off armies single-handed.) My mother carried a Colt Woodsman .22 Target. These hares were huge by rabbit standards, 6 to 12 pounds usually. My parents shot them in the head, so each rabbit represented a very nice clean handy sized portion of prime meat. We had a cabin with a meat cache, a heavy wood structure on stilts to protect the fall harvested naturally frozen meat from bears.

The rabbits were brown in summer but turned white after cold weather in fall. They were nearly invisible against the white snow. They tended to freeze when approached, unless you almost ran into them. You could walk right up and get close enough for a pistol shot. If you could see them in the first place.

One year the cold fall weather came but without snow. The rabbits all turned white. So when my parents went out rabbit hunting, the landscape was full of giant snow-white rabbits against the background of brown earth and woods, the rabbits all motionless, confident they were invisible....

 

[oremike]

I figured out to hunt into the sun and look for the Jacks ears, with the sun right behind them the ears are red from the blood in them. Also I was told to wear rubber gloves when cleaning them and don't mess with the ones with white spots on their liver. Some people say to only hunt rabbits in months with "R's" in them.

 

[CRBMoA]

I know a boy that used to hunt jack rabbits in Malheur county.

It was a long time ago. Rabbits like alfalfa fields.

When you empty three guns and they are STILL marching out of the brush, toward the alfalfa, and they will hop over their own dead and dying to get there, you take note.

The boy and his dad and brother used to take 3-day weekends and exterminate rabbits. I wouldn't call it hunting.

The numbers are shameful and you wouldn't believe me anyway.

 

[oremike]

We used to call it bunny blasting. After awhile scoped .22's an 12ga's were no fun anymore so I'd use my Ruger Blackhawk in 45 Colt. If I were to go these days, I use my Blackhawk in 30 Carbine.