Winter Rabbit Hunting, Making the Most Out of Winter

The snow falls as does the temperature.  After a stretch of several months with a revolving door of human activity, the fields and forests now more closely resemble a ghost town.  There’s no reason to go out there anymore.  This is the perception of those that do not seek out the cottontail rabbit.  They sit huddled in their warm homes, left to reflect on their exploits in October and November.  Their guns and bows have been put away in storage, and their attention has shifted to football, shoveling snow, and maybe the occasional trip to ice fish or snowmobile.

For me and others like me that follow beagle dogs in snow after the ubiquitous cottontail rabbit, this is the season that we live for.  There was a time when small game like rabbits were the object of all hunters young and old alike, but the proliferation of the white-tailed deer has changed the focus of the American hunter.  I hunt deer too, but secretly I relish having the winter to myself, or seemingly so, to run my beagles after cottontails.  After months of sitting quietly in a tree or in a blind waiting for luck to chance my way, I’m ready to get out into the stillness of a frozen world and listen to a chorus of excited hounds in full chase, ready bust the brush to make something happen, ready to holler and laugh with a companion at a shot made or missed on a returning rabbit.  The season is mine.

Perhaps it is the seeming loneliness of the cold winter landscape that adds to the bond felt between my hunting companions, mostly close family members, and myself.  We are out there, the only humans within sight partaking in a unified goal.  An effort we take very seriously and attempt with great intensity, yet at the same time one we address with the light-heartedness and total enjoyment that makes undertaking such a task in relatively harsh conditions fully enjoyable.  Our faces get beaten red from the chaffing winds and the bright sun bouncing off the snow-covered ground.  If the snow gets too deep, the legs throb from lifting and setting back down of tall heavy boots.  We work up a sweat that soon chills the body in an attempt to roust our quarry from their hiding places.  But the broad smiles we share cannot be hidden, even as our lips crack and bleed in doing so.  Like minded hunters make for a fun hunt even when the rabbits are not running.  The season is ours.

And then there are the beagles, the true stars of the show.  For those that have never hunted behind beagles, ones that come from hunting lines that have been raised to hunt, you simply cannot realize the drive of these little hounds.  Pound for pound, I’d put a beagle against any other hunter, man or beast, for pure drive after game.  I see what these dogs run through time and time again, never ceasing, never giving up, and I am filled with love and admiration at a fellow living thing that not only feels the passion for the chase as I do, but one that exceeds it.  The effort I put into hunting rabbits pales in comparison to that put forth by the beagles.  Similarly, the great pleasure that I derive from hunting rabbits also pales in comparison to that which my beagles get.  I don’t know if dogs can technically smile, but one look into my beagles’ eyes after running a rabbit tells me that they’ve achieved a happiness that the human spirit, burdened with our responsibilities and troubles, can never hope to reach.   To hear a brace of beagles running a rabbit in a frozen swamp, the music of their voices piercing the crisp air and knowing that they will circle that wily critter back to you, is to know heaven.  One cannot feel cold when he knows that as that distant howling gets louder and closer, the object of the chase is coming your way and you need to start scanning for the little brown jet through the brush.  The moment of truth approaches and the heart begins pounding as the realization of the coming shot approaches.  The season is theirs.

And I would be remiss in failing to mention the cottontail rabbit, a creature which is prey for so many hunters, man and beast.  Such a simple creature that lives a simple  life, eating and breeding as much as it can in a short amount of time, as if knowing more than any other creature that its time on this earth is short.  No game animal so closely matches the tenacity and drive of its pursuers as the cottontail rabbit does to the beagle.  So closely matched are the two that the existence of one without the other seems like it would put the universe out of balance.  And while the cottontail seemingly has the world against it, Nature takes care of her own.  Don’t pity the rabbit, for it will quickly make a fool out of you if you think twice about pulling the trigger on one.  I’ve emptied a 12 gauge autoloader at racing rabbits only to see them waving that cotton-ball tail at me as if giving me the middle finger as they ran off laughing.  You bet I feel respect and admiration for those rabbits we chase, and it’s probably not a stretch to say I feel a love for them too.  This season is all of ours.

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Elk Champion Jake Clark to Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame

MISSOULA, Mont.–Cowboy, outfitter, conservationist and devoted champion of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Jake Clark of Powell, Wyo., will be inducted into the Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame on Sept. 10.

A ceremony in Casper, Wyo., will recognize 2010 inductees selected for “significant and lasting lifetime contributions to the conservation of Wyoming’s outdoor heritage.” Previous honorees include President Theodore Roosevelt, Curt Gowdy, Olaus Murie, George Bird Grinnell and many other names familiar to hunters and conservationists. The Wildlife Heritage Foundation of Wyoming sponsors the special honor and event. Read more

Starting Out Young

by Mac Moad

Tanner Colten Moad, 5 years old, is one of the coolest kids I know. The youngest of 4 children of mine, Tanner never stops moving.
Before gun season in central eastern Oklahoma, the traditional bow season usually takes priority. I had taken the first week of bow season off from work in an attempt to tag out early at the request of my wife Lori. In her mind, if I was to tag out early, my deer season would then be “dear” season, with lots of additional chores getting done that get overlooked during each year’s deer season. Read more

PIcture This: Mac the Dog

Send Pictures to:

Todd Krater
U.S. Hunting Today
Managing Editor
todd@ushuntingtoday.com

Note: If you want a picture posted and do not have a digital copy I would be willing to scan it for you.  Please contact me for details.

US Hunting Today reserves the right to refuse any picture for any reason as well as edit it where appropriate.

Wolf Science: A Political Football

It started in 1987 when Ed Bangs, the Department of Interior and all the wolf-lover environmentalists sold their idea to the American people, specifically those in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, that 30 breeding pairs of wolves and 300 total wolves would be all that was needed to declare wolf recovery a success. Read more

The Beginning Of The End

Fighting back against the criminal enterprise of wolf introduction.

Wyoming Conservation Projects to Receive RMEF Grants

MISSOULA, Mont. – Wildlife conservation projects in 12 Wyoming counties have been selected to receive grants from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in 2010.

The new RMEF funding, totaling $335,500, will affect Albany, Big Horn, Carbon, Converse, Fremont, Hot Springs, Lincoln, Natrona, Park, Sheridan, Sublette and Teton counties.

“These grants are possible because of the successful banquets and fundraisers staged over the past year by our Wyoming volunteers, most of whom are elk hunters as well as devoted conservationists,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “Since 1984, our annual grants have helped complete 408 different projects in Wyoming with a combined value of more than $40 million.” Read more

Bow Hunting Grand Slam 2007

By Mac Moad

The first week of October was finally here.  The first three days were spent in my favorite stand watching 3 raccoons in which I had named Larry, Curly, and Moe.  The mother raccoon was slightly bigger than the two younger ones, and seemed curious to every movement surrounding them.  The days here in eastern Oklahoma in October were still in the 80’s with mosquitoes buzzing everywhere.  I was wondering if it were still to hot to hunt and questioned myself again over and over.  Each day so far, I had hunted morning and evening with only a few does showing up. Read more

Interview With Will Graves: Author, “Wolves in Russia: Anxiety Through The Ages”

Below is an interview, moderated by Jim Beers, with Will Graves, author. It took place on January 24, 2010 in response to reports of cystic Hydatid disease from worms that have been reported in wolves in Idaho and Montana.

Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife of many decades.

Jim Beers is available for consulting or to speak.

Learn more about Will Graves below. Read more

Merry Christmas!

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