Snow makes good rabbit hunting

Back when I first started hunting rabbits, it seemed that there would always be plenty to hunt, but times have changed. Cottontail rabbits were so plentiful around our house and garden it was no trouble shooting enough to feed our family and neighbors. As I recall, the best time to hunt rabbits back then was right after a snowfall. We would grab our single-shot .22 rifle and get all the action we wanted. The only time I never shot a rabbit was while hunting quail with a bird dog. I had been told not to shoot a rabbit while hunting quail because the dogs would think it was alright to chase rabbits and not just quail.

We usually would share the rabbits with a neighbor who was always ready to accept any I would bring them, but only if it was after a snow or cold weather. They said unless it was after a snow or a cold spell that the rabbits would not be good to eat. It had to do with disease and they never took one during the warmer months.

As the recent January snow begin to fall, many Missouri rabbit hunters started to make preparations to load up their beagles and head out in spite of the freezing temperature. Although rabbit numbers are way down from the good old days, there are still pockets where they are huntable.

Many of those rabbit hunters wait for the snow to go rabbit hunting. When the snow starts falling there is no better time to go rabbit hunting. So far, this year I haven’t been out very much, but as the season runs out, I am happy to see the snow, and I will wait until it’s little warmer.

Most rabbit hunters like to hunt with beagles. They wouldn’t go hunting if they didn’t have a dog to aid them. Your success rate goes up when you have a good dog to help find them.

Heavy snow, unlike the recent ones we have had so far this winter, makes it easier to find rabbits. Snow piled up on small bushes provides cover and safety for rabbits. They stake out temporary shelters all over their territory, so they are never far from a refuge when they sense danger, they scurry to the nearest shelter and remain motionless for as long as necessary.

While most people growl and dig with their snow shovels, they forget that, in the world of rabbits and other small animals, snow is not always a nuisance, but as welcome as the rain and sun. It is an insulator, a warm shelter and a vital stepladder.

Rabbit hunters look for beaten down trails in the snow which rabbits have made for easier travel, just as deliberately as we would shovel our walks.

Seasoned rabbit hunters know what to look for when hunting in the snow, the first thing they look for is tracks in the snow. The more tracks they find the better the hunting will be. If there are only a few tracks, keep on looking because a few rabbits can make it look like there are dozens of rabbits in the area. We had two beagles in a favorite spot one December when there was snow on the ground. I always found cottontails at this spot. There are brush piles available, good cover and food for the rabbits so they were always around, although their numbers have decreased from when I first started hunting there some 50 years ago. Things have changed a lot since I first hunted rabbits. Back then there was no limit and it was nothing to take all the rabbits you could carry in a short time. Today, you have had an excellent hunt if you get your limit of six cottontails.

Several of my high school friends were addicted to rabbit hunting ever since we attended high school in Carrollton, Mo. My dad had a beagle so I started hunting with a dog. It’s hard enough to kick up a rabbit with a dog, let alone without one. Most of the guys I hunted with used shotguns, but I used my .22, and still do, especially when hunting in the snow. I have learned that if a dog is on the trail of a rabbit, I stay close to the place where it was flushed because more than likely the rabbit will go back to the same location and you can be ready for it.

Where suitable habitat exists the hunting is still good and that’s a fortunate thing for hunters who put up with fighting heavy cover, cold weather and maybe even miss a football game just for the chance to get some shots at a brown and white blur heading for cover.

The days of no limits and plenty of rabbits are gone, but when there is a cover of snow on the ground in a Missouri winter, there will be hunters who get a lot of satisfaction from tromping through the brush and hearing their beagle howling while on the trail of a cottontail. As it’s been pointed out, the rabbit season is even longer than the archery season for deer and usually, hunters can get in some good rabbit hunts with snow on the ground.

The rabbit season which opened on Oct. 1 ends on Feb. 15.

Not only does the rabbit season end on Feb. 15, the squirrel season also closes on that date. There are still a lot of squirrel hunters out there after the good population of bushy-tails.

My first ever hunt, when I could carry a .22 rifle, was on a squirrel hunt with my brother. He was a veteran squirrel hunter and knew just where to go after squirrels. He had me sit quietly in the woods by a stand of hickory trees waiting for one of the bushy-tails to show up. It didn’t take long before a big red squirrel jumped off a limb in front of me. I waited until it stopped and then took aim and fired. It was my first squirrel of the day followed by three more. My brother had told me that if a squirrel moved to the other side of the tree, I should throw something to the other side and the squirrel would move to my side to make a good shot. It worked and I was able to take a lot of squirrels over the years.

Three or four red squirrels made a good meal for our family and I can still remember how good those fried squirrels, biscuits and gravy were. Later on my friend, Glen Atkinson, had a squirrel dog that made the finding the bushy-tails much easier. When his dog would tree a squirrel, it was easy to get a good shot.

Unlike the rabbits, the population of squirrels has stayed high over the years although there doesn’t seem to be as many hunters after them as there used to be, but both rabbits and squirrels make for some good hunting and eating here in Missouri and are still enjoyed by a lot of hunters.