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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/
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/