Where have all the rabbit hunters gone?

[nrh0011]

I think the extended deer season and popularity of deer hunting has taken the biggest toll. The few rabbit hunters I know of are losing places to hunt every year. Like others have said it’s getting hard to justify keeping a pack year round. I still thoroughly enjoy going a few times a year.

 

[Mack in N.C.]

We are up in North Carolina!! I have 2 friends that each have a big pack. We are getting ready to hit them hard after Christmas till the End of February.

 

[clyde445]

Flushed one today but missed. He did a half circle but I couldn't find him. My Brunswick stew ingredients are getting lonely.

 

[trad bow]

The three WMA’s I bird hunt on are wrapped up everyday of the the week with multiple different beagle packs running. I don’t think it has fallen off in popularity, it’s just most diehard rabbit hunters don’t broadcast their activities. Same with most other types of hunting and fishing.

 

[308-MIKE]

I've been told my grandfather hunted rabbits as a kid but he may have had a bit more pressure to put food on the table than I do. Either he didn't pass the info or my Dad wasn't interested because I never got the memo and Dad was never a hunter. Actually, no one in my family hunts.

Over the past four years I've been trying to rabbit hunt Dawson Forest. I say trying because there's been no sightings and you can only learn so much from youtube and books. More like walking around with a gun for a long time. That was until the weekend after season opener this year. I flushed two and got a shot at one but missed. I kept trying and was able to flush one on 11/22 and he became stew a day later. A lot of suggestions I've read or have been told as to where to find rabbits in north Georgia simply have not been true in my experience. As a solo hunter I've found that doing the dog's job is a bit challenging but manageable.

I don't like how the State ignores priority on small game and I understand loss of habitat, predators, etc aren't helping. On the other hand, complaining to DNR doesn't work. Big game is where the money is. I only spent $15 for my license and feel excited every time I hit the woods. What I'm trying to say is don't be put off by the lack of perceived interest. Keep wading into those thorns. Keep running your dogs if that's your thing. Just don't give up.

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I don't deer hunt but as an aside I spotted this goofball before he spotted me while taking a break on 11/16. (center right)
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I keep thinking it would be cool to have several guys in rabbit areas. Walk through thick stuff at, say a right angle. Have the gun walking maybe 20 yards to the right( or left angle with hunter to the left of the group), and and a few paces behind, see if any rabbits get flushed towards the gunman. Every so often switch "dogmen" and gunmen. If course, you'd need a strict rule, no shooting to the left if you're on the right.
Just an idea that pops into my head once on awhile. It might work at a place like the dove fields at pine log.

 

[antharper]

Not being a smart butt and I love any type of hunting , especially with a dog involved ! And I do agree rabbit and all small game hunting is not what I used to be . I had killed a few truck loads of small game when I was a kid before I ever thought about shooting a deer . But why isn’t there more small game leases ?

 

[chrisn1818]

I have 3 beagles. I run them every weekend at least once. I don’t usually shoot the rabbits just because there are not many left. I love the sport but now I just try to see the rabbit. Oh I carry a gun but it’s more for exercise ?. If I found a place that had a lot of rabbits I wouldn’t mind taking a few now and then but population seems pretty low to me.

 

[Wifeshusband]

It's really sad. I know a few landowners down where I deer hunt who will allow folks to come in and take out some squirrels, and I even know of one landowner who allows deer hunters he doesn't know well hunt his property simply because they were polite and the deer were eating his wife's vegetables and flowers, but I don't know any landowners who will allow a pack of beagles running through their property. It wasn't like that back in the 60's and 70's. Guys used to run packs on Ft. Benning a lot back then, but I don't hear of anyone doing that on the military reservations anymore.

 

[armystrong20]

I have a lease in taliaferro county that has some big brier heads and and i’m Seeing some rabbits. I was hoping to get someone with a pack of beagles to meet up and see If we could kill a few after deer season.

I am not far from you maybe we could meet up one weekend and run

 

[Rulo]

You can run them on private property the day season opens.
What am I missing there?

Mr Bowyer29,

Do you have a pack of beagles that you maintain all year and then run in season?

and one more thing.....

Do you own a piece of property that you and your friends and or family deer hunt on?

 

[Throwback]

More of a land access issue than anything less IMO

 

[Bowyer29]

Mr Bowyer29,

Do you have a pack of beagles that you maintain all year and then run in season?

and one more thing.....

Do you own a piece of property that you and your friends and or family deer hunt on?

Good morning sir.
No, I do not own beagles. My feist is enough for me. She is crazy and quirky, but she is ours and we love her.

I lease a very small piece to kill deer on, and I am blessed to have over 150 acres of family land, that is an operating cattle farm, to hunt as well. It has pasture, pines, and some of the nastiest, thickest privet, briers, sumac, etc., that I have ever seen. Quail, rabbits and deer thrive.

 

[4x4]

Someone say rabbit hunting!? Belle is a juvenile redtail hen, first pic. Zip is an adult Harris's hawk, 2nd pic. Both are rabbit killers

 

[Bowyer29]

Someone say rabbit hunting!? Belle is a juvenile redtail hen, first pic. Zip is an adult Harris's hawk, 2nd pic. Both are rabbit killers
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Now that is cool!

 

[antharper]

Someone say rabbit hunting!? Belle is a juvenile redtail hen, first pic. Zip is an adult Harris's hawk, 2nd pic. Both are rabbit killers
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Beautiful birds especially the Harris

 

[johnq85]

We are seeing more rabbits this year on our leases after a successful year of trapping last year. Definitely would like to entertain someone with a pack of beagles to expand the recreational use of the lands we lease after the Holidays. SE Georgia, Long County.

Two years ago I trapped a property for a friend and caught several coyotes and a pile of grey fox. The following spring the land owner commented to me that he had seen a rabbit on his driveway and it was the first he had seen in years there. I didn't get back out on the property last year but the land owner told me he's been getting coyotes on the cameras again. I think the trapping of predators, especially coyotes really helps the small game populations.

 

[NCHillbilly]

You can run them on private property the day season opens.
What am I missing there?

Because every square foot of land has somebody deer hunting on it, and the expert buck-killing man on the tv says that if somebody sets foot on it, all the big bucks will leave.

I miss my beagles. Had a lot of fine days out there running them.

 

[greg_n_clayton]

Because every square foot of land has somebody deer hunting on it, and the expert buck-killing man on the tv says that if somebody sets foot on it, all the big bucks will leave.

I miss my beagles. Had a lot of fine days out there running them.

You and me both know running the deer off is a crock ! That is the reason folks with dogs aren't allowed...even after the deer season in a lot of cases !

 

[Fletch_W]

You and me both know running the deer off is a crock ! That is the reason folks with dogs aren't allowed...even after the deer season in a lot of cases !

We had beagles that ran loose most of the day where I grew up, always howling and chasing things, and there was no shortage of deer there. The only thing is that if you have a dumb beagle that hunts deer instead of rabbits, they'll chase them for a mile. I wouldn't want my deer getting harrassed by untrained beagles.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

Funny.....the deer dog running clubs around here return to the same 3-4 tracts every weekend and run deer every time. You can’t even run the deer off with dogs trained to chase deer, much less a pack of beagles or a tree dog that are broke off deer. But you won’t get a deer hunter to believe that. Sad but true.