In most states, you will need to wear blaze orange on the hunt. This definitely can help you spot a hunter among the dense brush. For comfort, wear hunting boots that fit well and are broken-in, and thick brush pants or chaps over your legs. The thorns on briars seem to become longer each year and they dig deep when you move near. Quality leather gloves for your hands and shooting glasses to cover your eyes can also help you avoid errant thorns and scratches. If you do have a hunting area where brush has been cleared and placed in piles, such as often happens when the edges of a field are cleared or storm-downed trees are cut and placed along fields and roads, these also could be top places to kick out a rabbit. There also seems to be more and more of these brush piles on farms as corn and soybean prices have climbed and more land has been cleared for planting. If you can, safely put your shotgun aside and climb up on top and jump up and down on the brush to flush out a rabbit. A hunting partner should be standing just beside the brush and ready to shoot at a sprinting rabbit.
One other place to hunt cottontails, and their larger cousins the jackrabbits, is around food plots. From Texas to the Dakotas, more and more farms and hunting properties are seeing small areas of fields and forest openings cultivated and planted with an interest in shooting a deer there in the future. That’s until rabbits detect the lush ground vegetation and move in. Rabbits can consume a lot of grass or food plot matter in a short period, and in areas where hunters have shot and reduced the coyote population, rabbits can become a big problem. Rabbit hunting also is affordable. You probably already
have many of the needed firearms and clothes, but you might wish to make one other purchase – of a hand-held hawk call. Blowing this shrill-pitched call sometimes can dislodge a rabbit from a secure hiding place. Or that shrill sound can make a running rabbit swerve into a patch of briars and stay put until you arrive. Wear the call on a lanyard around your neck so it is ready for service on short notice. Believe it not, rabbits like to lurk in brush and watch for approaching danger. You’ll move nearer and spot more rabbits if you wear camouflage, including face mask and gloves. If you must wear hunter orange, consider a vest with the camo-orange pattern. Sometimes a rousted rabbit will sprint a good distance away and then pause at the edge of, or move just inside of, a briar bramble. The bad news is that if you’ve been walking and breaking brush, you could be breathing heavily and this makes long distance shots less likely to connect. In that situ- ation, a good set of shooting sticks can help you be steady and deadly. Look for the type that fold and can be carried on your belt.
Another helpful aid for wintertime hunters is snow camouflage. When winter has covered the ground in white, snow rabbits can easily spot you as approaching danger un- less you blend in. Snowshoes also can help you move around when the landscape is white. Look at the weight capacity and design when buying or renting snowshoes. You want the style that is short in length to make brush walking easier. Note that some state and local parks rent snowshoes for a day or weekend, and in most cases you do not have to stay in the park to use them.
Actions for all shooting disciplines
11550 N. Bruss Rd. Rathdrum, ID 83858 Phone: 208-687-0341 Fax: 208-687-1250
www.batmachine.com
Finally, when you do get rabbits, remember that the face and fur found on them can be used to tie some of America’s most popular trout fishing flies. You’ll suddenly find you had more friends than you realized – and you’ll have a great meal after a great hunt. Plus, remember to ask the right questions because those friends might have friends – and family – with farm land that harbors rabbits. Once you shoot rabbits and begin to discuss the thrills,
you’ll find the group of friends who want to go rabbit hunting or plinking with you will multiply nearly as fast as rabbits.
Winter weather and snow cover may dictate the use of winter camouflage for rabbit hunting.
www.varminthunter.org Page 173
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