I waited till noon today to hunt a local Central Ohio WMA. I was hoping I could catch a few bunnies sunning themselves. I jumped three in 2 hours, that I saw. No Shoot'n, but had fun look'n. Here are a few pics.

Tracks just a few yard from the truck!!

I am so looking forward to bunnies with my bow, sounds like you has a great day!

They took me on a trip through this!!

Fun to hunt with a Beagle ,and good to eat.To many ticks now,and old age made me quit about 10 years ago. I miss it.Better shooting luck next time.Bob

Ended up following tracks to an over grown Utility right-of-way. "Sure looks like, "Bunny Country!"

I’m sitting here looking out the window. 6 day firearm is open now so I can’t chase em til Monday. Got some dogs itchin to give em hell than

You should be able to catch a few sitting if you take your time on those tracks.

Found several runs, and tracks!! Kept hoping to see one sitting out in the sun.

Saw some sign that a few deer made it through the first week of gun season.

Found some spots where a buck once was!!

Spent most of my time zig-zagging through this!! I really miss my beagles. Grew up with Field Trial Beagles.....nice and slow. They were perfect for a kid with a recurve. A few more guys hunting with me may have kept them moving, and got someone, some shooting! Happy Holidays and Good Bunny Bust'n!

There nothing more exciting to me than beagles coming back around with a bunny. I wouldn't be any more alert than if a lion was about to charge me from the briars.

Sure looks like a good day for it.

Love the pics , how do you manage to shoot them with accidentally hitting The dogs? Do you wait until they are flushed out or what? Went hunting for them a couple times and the ones I saw ( not many) bolted out so fast that they were gone before I could even register to shoot. What’s the trick??

I can’t speak for everyone but I don’t shoot on the jump. Heck if I was gun hunting or anyone was with us we’d not be loaded nor arrows nocked until one full circle is completed. For one you put distance between the dogs, two its about the dogs as much as a rabbit. Myself I run a med speed, line control dog so they aren’t flat out screaming a rabbit past you. Very often they hop than squat, hop than squat. Makes for easier shooting and I can’t stand dogs that run faster than their nose. No breakdowns

Great photos. I sure wish I could hunt cottontails. My 1/2 of NH has no cottontail hunting. Jawge

When I had hounds, they were field trial dogs. They were bred to be slow and methodical when on track. They would put on a show of balling, chopping, and bellowing on trail. They were so slow the rabbits where yawning when they came hopping past me. With out dogs, I try to follow tracks and catch them sitting before they take off running. When you have a few buddies you can usually keep them moving and get a shot or two!! Good Luck and Have Fun!

My wife once commented, "Geez they're so slow we can have breakfast, lunch and dinner before the rabbit gets here!" Should have divorced her right then for disrespecting my dogs! :) LOL!

If you have good slow dogs the dogs are usually 50 to 100 yards behind the rabbit when you shoot it. The bunny will be moving along slow and even stopping from time to time by the time their circle brings em back to you. So dont expect the bunny where you hear the dog, lol.

Lol mine are field trial dogs as well. Here’s the thing there’s lots of field trial types. Some are so crazy they need Prozac. Some are pot lickers. Mine are in the middle. You know what they say though, any faster than mine take the short bus to school, any faster they’re too crazy so I guess it’s subjective for sure. Don’t wanna get into a dog debate here but a fellow club member times all aspects. Check times, length of run, time to circle. He runs the same type as I. The med speed circle faster than the fast dogs who spend as much time on the line as off. This is maybe a 5 year average so it’s nit a one time thing. He used to run supposedly fast dogs yet they circled slower Guess I like fast to. Bring em to me fast. Medium speed does it

Bunnies, Beagle,Bows and buddies is one of my favorite ways to hunt. The day after thanksgiving was really special had a group of 5 of us and 3 of them got their first rabbits with vintage bows.

I appreciate all Beagles....Big- Small/Fast or Slow. They're lover dogs. Always wanted a Lemon marked one.

So I learned something... they come back full circle out run dogs with steady hop. Seriously? The ones I ran into bolted out from the hideouts in a briar patch and tall grass. They were so fast that they disappeared in a blink of an eye. The sure weren’t hopping slow.... I guess I need to position myself to ambush when they come out of cover. No snipe hunting right? Lol.

So I learned something... they come back full circle out run dogs with steady hop. Seriously? The ones I ran into bolted out from the hideouts in a briar patch and tall grass. They were so fast that they disappeared in a blink of an eye. The sure weren’t hopping slow.... I guess I need to position myself to ambush when they come out of cover. No snipe hunting right? Lol.

So I learned something... they come back full circle out run dogs with steady hop. Seriously? The ones I ran into bolted out from the hideouts in a briar patch and tall grass. They were so fast that they disappeared in a blink of an eye. The sure weren’t hopping slow.... I guess I need to position myself to ambush when they come out of cover. No snipe hunting right? Lol.

I had the best beagle I've ever seen back in the 90s. I can't remember him losing a track. He even retrieved the rabbits. I lost him at age 12 and rabbit Hunting s never been the same. I used to rush to fill my freezer w deer before november so i could spend every minute outdoors with Sam chasing bunnies. This was in central ohio. I quickly learned that almost every rabbit moved out well ahead of us and without Sam id never know they were there. My theory--- back when we were kids we'd always come right up on them sitting tight-- even in grass fields. I believe that once the coyotes took over that those rabbits that sat tight were eaten, wiping out those and future generations that would have the genetic predisposition to sit tight. Now all that is left are the ones that run out the other side of the brush patch when you enter it. Rabbit hunting is really poor around my area, no cover, overrun with coyotes, hawks and owls and cats. The only way we hunt them now is to do drives. Seems the only places we'll find the are where there are still woven wire fences up ( slows the yotes down) and multiflora rose ( overhead cover against the winged pests). I even build a couple flintlock smoothbores back in the day, just for rabbits...

You'll be waiting a long time, if you don't have a dog to bring them around.

Trad I’m not sure if you’re serious or joking or bashing line control dogs but I’ll answer you just the same. The rabbits don’t need to flat out run crazy. The dogs keep pushing them. Yea they run some, squat some, than hop a little. The fast dogs seem to push them more erratically and it’s harder to get a good shot, certainly harder w a bow. Even hares stop n squat and they’re typically run with faster quicker dogs. They also run what I call stupid loops. It’s just a simpler loopier run without as many hard turns

we hunt deer pretty solid till the end of Jan,,,, we got great bunny areas..... we have some good dogs and lots of fun, bring plenty of arrows because we shoot that much

every March I have a private land pheasant hunt by my house have had it for over 15 years.....

This year I am going to have a bunny hunt in Feb,,,,, Wisconsin

John, besides my bow...I picked up a 12 gauge TC New Englander for bunnies and squirrels.

Mike , no I was not bashing hunting with a dog. In fact I would love to get a dog That will ferret out rabbits and birds etc. I just am trying to see how I could shoot my bow or gun without the dog running into the line of fire... Please forgive my ignorance on this. Yes ,I am serious about learning this type of hunting. Dean Torges used to have an annual Rabbit shoot which intrigued me but lead me to wonder how the dogs stayed out of the arrows..Thanks and again no snark Was intended.

Nice! Blackpowder rabbits are a blast! One fowler i made is a 32 guage--- a true 50 caliber. I killed a nice gobbler with it at 15 yards.

Need some dogs

Rifleman, I have a blackpowder turkey story....lets say I got my bird that year with my recurve, and I will never confirm I called in three birds in one morning and missed them all. Man it patterned good on paper out to 30 yards. Plus, learned about cleaning after each shot! Not that I missed.

Trad like we said the rabbit isn’t jump shot. That means found by the dogs, jumped out, so it’s not normally near the dogs. Of course in any hunting there are some shots that should be passed but for the most part there’s plenty of safe distance. As was posted before normally at least 50 yards and it could be more. Normally the dogs are at least a few minutes back. It’s not normally an issue. I wasn’t sure how you were going in your other post. Hard to tell sometimes

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