Rabbit Hunting

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  • Andros Jim

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    Is there anywhere to hunt rabbits around milton? I was thinking of power lines.
     

    SAWMAN

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    Spot and stalk ??
    You would most likely need a trained dog. Most rabbit dogs that I have hunted over are trained to chase the rabbits in a circle,back towards the shooter.
    The type of rabbit that we have down here typically hangs out in the area of the thickest undergrowth. Between the thorny berry vines, "wait a minute" vines,and Johnson Grass,these areas are typically super hard to hunt. In the wettest areas the little critters love to hang out in "fuggowie" grass.
    Possibly a couple pit bulls from the animal shelter over in Baldwin County would help with the hunt. --- SAWMAN
     

    FrommerStop

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    Spot and stalk ??
    You would most likely need a trained dog. Most rabbit dogs that I have hunted over are trained to chase the rabbits in a circle,back towards the shooter.
    The type of rabbit that we have down here typically hangs out in the area of the thickest undergrowth. Between the thorny berry vines, "wait a minute" vines,and Johnson Grass,these areas are typically super hard to hunt. In the wettest areas the little critters love to hang out in "fuggowie" grass.
    Possibly a couple pit bulls from the animal shelter over in Baldwin County would help with the hunt. --- SAWMAN
    I can not see why beagles would not work well here. Just keep them away from gators, coyotes, and of course there are always venomous snakes. But then that is true of just about any dog.
    I wonder if the feists will hunt rabbits. Wiki says
    Most feists have an extreme drive to chase rabbits, squirrels, and all rodents.
    Young%27s_Atomic_Flash.jpg
     

    Daezee

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    Just my observation:

    As previously posted, I spend a bit of nighttime out for hogs, dillos, and coyotes. I walk up on deer to chase them out of farmers’ fields to help prevent crop damage at night. I grew up in Indiana and loved hunting rabbits in the fall and winter. My mother and grandmother were awesome rabbit cookers. Now in the north part of Santa Rosa County there do not seem to be many rabbits. I see more deer and hogs than rabbits. I am not saying do not try, I am saying if one got a rabbit under fair chase standards (using dogs or simply kicking through weeds and brush, not by using thermal at night), I’d consider it quite an accomplishment. On my little hobby farm I see maybe 1-2 rabbits per year. Good luck.
     

    FrommerStop

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    Just my observation:

    As previously posted, I spend a bit of nighttime out for hogs, dillos, and coyotes. I walk up on deer to chase them out of farmers’ fields to help prevent crop damage at night. I grew up in Indiana and loved hunting rabbits in the fall and winter. My mother and grandmother were awesome rabbit cookers. Now in the north part of Santa Rosa County there do not seem to be many rabbits. I see more deer and hogs than rabbits. I am not saying do not try, I am saying if one got a rabbit under fair chase standards (using dogs or simply kicking through weeds and brush, not by using thermal at night), I’d consider it quite an accomplishment. On my little hobby farm I see maybe 1-2 rabbits per year. Good luck.

    I see more than that on my place in pace. As I am starting to clear the place the rabbit population is going down. In recent years the apparent absence of foxes is likely not hurting the rabbits. My dogs like to eat the baby rabbits, but they never seem to catch the adults.
     

    Daezee

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    Admittedly I am not beating the brush for rabbits. The last night out I saw 1 coyote, 1 rabbit, 14 hogs, and 19 deer. When the peanuts have been turned up for harvesting, I will see a few more rabbits out eating peanuts. FWIW, the bucks are now in velvet which can be seen through thermal. Sounds like the rabbit population varies across the county. I am in the north Hwy 87 area.
     

    FrommerStop

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    It does not seem that people hunt rabbits a lot around here, but yes they are around. I suspect that predators are quite important. A large neighborhood red hawk once did kill one on my driveway and was eating it on the ground. Likely the same hawk killed a neighbor pet white rabbit that was out on a lawn and was also eating it on the ground. The foxes for sure get them, but I think the coyotes kill the foxes. When cover is thick rabbits do better.
    I do not know if the rabbits are safe to eat here relative to disease.
     

    FrommerStop

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    we have eagle around too they will eat all your wabbits and small dogs too

    My dogs go ballistic when ever any large bird flies overhead. Likely due to innate behavior developed in their ancestors to guard small domestic critters from eagles. They have some mastiff genes in their distant ancestry.
     

    Daezee

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    My dogs go ballistic when ever any large bird flies overhead. Likely due to innate behavior developed in their ancestors to guard small domestic critters from eagles. They have some mastiff genes in their distant ancestry.

    Along the same lines of innate behavior, my goats do not like it when they are in the open and the shadow of a buzzard flying is seen and will run to get under a tree. Another time all the adults quickly got in a semi-circle facing outwards and the kids panicked and started running home. I looked where the adults were looking and saw a dog (not any of my dogs...the goats know them).
     

    MauserLarry

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    Rabbits seem to come and go in cycles around my place. Some years there are a pile of them running around and then they seem to disappear for a year or so. I seem to be in the disappearing mode now. Haven't seen a rabbit this whole year.
     

    MarkS

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    Usually I see a few rabbits around my place but it’s fenced for the goats which also protects the rabbits
    Some years there’s more rabbits than goats


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    FrommerStop

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    Usually I see a few rabbits around my place but it’s fenced for the goats which also protects the rabbits
    Some years there’s more rabbits than goats


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    it is possible that the goats run the foxes off. Take a very good fence to keep them out. Coyotes would likely go after the goats. A lot of people keep a burro to protect their goats from coyotes.
     

    SAWMAN

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    Their ain't a fox made that would take on a grown goat. ESPECIALLY a gray fox. And female goats are pretty protective of the young.
    A farmer friend has two donkey's in a 12A fenced area with his cows and horses. If a domestic dog or coyote enters the field,the cows and horses head for the barn. The donkey's take off after the intruders. If they catch it,and they work together extremely well,they will stomp it into mush. ---- SAWMAN
     

    FrommerStop

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    Their ain't a fox made that would take on a grown goat. ESPECIALLY a gray fox. And female goats are pretty protective of the young.
    A farmer friend has two donkey's in a 12A fenced area with his cows and horses. If a domestic dog or coyote enters the field,the cows and horses head for the barn. The donkey's take off after the intruders. If they catch it,and they work together extremely well,they will stomp it into mush. ---- SAWMAN
    Depends on size relative to goats. A pygmy goat i think would be within the prey size that a large grey fox could handle. Coyotes will decimate goat herds.
    Burros and mules are something else for sure.

    url
     
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    FrommerStop

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    I just saw a rabbit about 5 minutes ago tearing across my property. One of my dogs must have smelt it or other knew it was about since about a minute later he ran to where it disappeared and soon after his older sister followed him running about the semi-clear creek bottom searching for it.
     
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