Lil’ Bit, the newest puppy, daughter of Sammie P and Penny Sue, found her first rabbit yesterday at Seale.

Milestone
Lucy Lu spent her first night since she was a puppy sleeping with the coyotes. She was mad at me for dragging her out of her house and making her go on the hunt. First, she wouldn’t come out of the woods when we wanted to move from Pittsview to Seale. Despite, Cuz and Dustin’s assurances, Brag and I walked for almost two hours with jumping a rabbit or having the dogs run one.
When we got to Seale, little short legged Lucy cut me off twice from a rabbit heading back to his home briar patch. She disappeared on the walk back to the truck before lunch and didn’t turn up on the afternoon races.
Brag and I called and looked till after dark.

The hunt in Seale was good despite the fact there were only three of us, Plunker, Brag and myself. Plunker left early afternoon.
Final score
Brag 3
Plunker 2
And sucking hind teat, Rimfire 1

Brag just called from Seale and no sign of Lucy Lu today either

After our first volley, Brag said “I see him, he’s hit. I’ll catch him” That confused me a tad since I could see the rabbit dead on the ground in front of me. Turned out we were shooting at different rabbits.
Then Brag made an outstanding shot on a zigzagging Fred.
Plunker, later on missed Jimmy as he sprinted down a naked fence line. Jimmy didn’t stop till he got to the front porch of the house. I suspect he wanted to ring the door bell and beg for help.

I’m not sure about the names of the rabbits since none were wearing collars but since they were the yard rabbits in Tallassee, I’m sure that the ladies of the house who were peeking out windows to see what was going on had names for them.



Our host put us on the first rabbits near the old buildings of the property that is used once a year for a civil war reenactment. I understand that the Yankees win the first day while the Confederates win the following day.

I'm behind on my posts
I'll catch up......later

But for now, bare bones

On Tuesday, six of us hunted Rutherford and for the first time this year, we were in double digits
Yep, "we" got 11
Brag was on fire killing four of the eleven. I suspect they had "top flite" stamped on their sides.
Dustin got 2
Cuz 2
rimfire 2
Lenny 1

It wasn't a rabbits everywhere day, but it was a steady progression

Today, we hunted Tallassee and "we" got 3. It was a better day then the numbers indicated.
Hopefully, I can fill in the details tomorrow before Saturday's hunt puts me behind again.

We had a nice hunt Saturday on Plunker’s neighbors property though I think I need some tips from Vern about hunting in snow since my dogs acted like their smellers were broke till the afternoon when a lot of the snow was gone.



Another good thing about my taste for hats instead of caps is the snow don't fall down the back of your neck.

“We” got 7

One boys hunt was Saturday where he dropped a swamp rabbit just below the Southeast corner of the Tennessee River and Whitesburg Bridge on the South side of Huntsville, Al. I didn't get any pictures of that trip.
Today though a welder from work wanted to meet me and bring his boy rabbit hunting since we were off for Presidents Day. It was cold, as evident by the snow covered briars in the picture.

Having lived in the Italian Alps and other snowy climes, I have to say one of the more interesting sights is watching my fellow Alabamians try to drive in icy weather.

Went rabbit hunting this afternoon with Cuz, a nameless fellow that hunts with us some and two guys who had access to the Brown Road property.

"We" got 3 out of 8 races.

on Saturday to find the one rabbit that would push us into double digits, but I knew it was a lost cause unless one of us kicked a rabbit out of its bed because the Girls (and Sammie P) were walking in single file behind me.

The hunters on Saturday were Elder Sportsmen, Cuz and Rimfire, along with djmed, Plunker, MiddleBoy, Mark and the young bucks, Dustin, Tyler and Josh.

Nothing better than a tailgate lunch after a morning of beating briars

ain't dead yet

"We" got 9 at Rutherford today. A good hunt though we beat the bushes pretty hard trying to scare up the nonexistent rabbit that would have taken us into double digits.



Cuz 3 1/2
and in a stunning finish to tie
Plunker 3 1/2
Middle Boy 1
rimfire 1

Details later

One of the good things about hunting in February is all you need are the lighter briar chaps instead of snake chaps since the snakes are safely denned up for winter

Ran on some ADS land and in perfect form, flushed more deer than rabbits. The dogs didn't run them though, only had to thrash a pup with a cap lightly about three times. The pup then decided to run what the crew was running instead of what he was getting thrashed on. The 5 pack ran from 3:30 till 4:45 on what I believe was the same rabbit, it is slightly possible that they swapped rabbits once. No guns were taken, just priming them up for run and gun Saturday hopefully. Could have shot the runner and two sneakers and never got off of a 2 acre size spot.

out near the original site of the Salem Shotwell Covered bridge, a flood of memories washed over me. This hunt was no different.



The ridge that was the setting for Mortal Like Me. The lane where Uncle NoPass and I sat on what neither of us knew at the time was to be his last rabbit hunt. The bowl where the great possum hunt took place. The now overgrown road where Uncle NoPass where showed me his driving skills when we got stuck after telling me a time worn story about wanting to be a driver in the army but he was to good a shot for that.

Some wonder why I take picture after picture on our hunts. They are aids that jar the memories. When I’m gone someone will go through the pictures and it will dawn on them that I’m not in but a few….well someone has to work the camera.
Carry you a camera. The kids grow up, the hunts fade, your partners pass. You’ll be glad you did.

Lucy slept in….again. I loaded the dogs into the boxes on the trailer, but she never came out of the house. I let her sleep.

There were seven of us on todays hunt; Middle Boy, Only Boy, Steve, Donovan, a teat who has hunted with us a couple of times this year and seems to have taken a liking to rabbit hunting, Brag, Plunker and, of course, myself.

East Alabama Rabbit Hunters and Souse Eaters Social Club's Martin Luther King Memorial Day Rabbit Hunt was a success, if not in rabbits taken, then in an improvement in the shot to rabbits taken ratio.

Plunker and I had been itching to hunt the “mountain” on the back of his property all year.
Plunker decided that after last year’s hunt we needed at least six hunters to hem the rabbits up.
But more hunters didn’t correlate into a bigger bag count, at least on this hunt
We went 2 for fifteen shots with 8 hunters, if you count the “teats”. And since Donovan, the youngest, killed half of the rabbits, I think we’ll count them.

Part of the problem hunting the “mountain” was that we had to cross two creeks. The first is usually a minor affair. But the second had some of the hunters using redneck waders: trash bags over their legs. I tried my usual theory of “if you move fast enough, the water won’t have time to come in the tops of your boots” Maybe I’ll better luck with that theory if I tied my boots tighter.

Most of the day this post was going to be titled “Like riding a bike” after Brag’s retort when I asked him if he wanted me to remind him how to rabbit hunt after being absent all season but one other hunt. He promptly blew a couple of shots
But after we went 2 for 15, with yours truly missing three times on the same rabbit, one a sitting shot, I thought that “Best rabbit Hunters in these parts. Why everybody says so” might be more appropriate. Most long term readers know where this line comes from.

Still, I have to say that today’s hunt was a success.
How can I say that?

Tuesday’s rabbit hunt at Mr. Murphy’s (aka Murty’s) near the site of the old Salem-Shotwell covered bridge before a tree fell on it and the city of Opelika made a new bridge for it’s city park out of parts of the old bridge was pretty good. It wasn’t nearly as thick and impenetrable as it once was. The hunt that is. The new bridge? About the only thing it and the original has in common is that the new bridge is mostly made from wood from the old bridge

In attendance for Tuesday’s hunt besides myself and Plunker was Middle Boy, his son “Only Boy”, Middle Boy’s friend Steve and his progeny. Donovan and Peyton.