Rabbit Hunting - 1/17/2010

James and I went up to White Memorial Conservation Area on Sunday morning. We pulled up to the CA around 7:15. Temperature was right at freezing and there was a lot of fog in the area. Beautiful day for hunting. As we started the day the dog was really anxious and was barking on just about any rabbit trail, new or old.
It took some time to get our first rabbit up. Chip (the dog) was working in a thicket on the edge of the woods while James and I were walking the outer edge. Chip had pushed a rabbit out of the thicket, and was on it's trail. However, he ran the rabbit down through the woods then just stopped and came back up towards us. I have no idea what happened with that rabbit.
Because of the way Chip was barking on every scent, we didn't pay much attention to him as we crossed over a grass field. He took off away from us baying and going crazy. As we listened to him, we realized he was circling and decided he was actually on a rabbit. We staged ourselves on either side of a brush pile where we thought the rabbit came from. As Chip approached we never did see the rabbit and had to move on.
Not much further across the same grass field Chip was in front of me working a thicket and I watched him get a rabbit up and start the chase. He ran the rabbit in a huge circle for about 15 minutes. We setup on either side of a small depression that lead from the woods back to where Chip jumped the rabbit. Unfortuneately, James saw the rabbit on another deppression that was just out of shooting range. Chip stayed on him, but we never saw this rabbit either. (there is a video of this chase. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSpC9pCuqC8)
As we were making our way back to the truck Chip jumped another rabbit in a brush pile and was right on him. However, this one crossed the road outside of the CA and we called the dog off. I'm not losing my dog over a stupid rabbit.
It was a great trip and I am really impressed with how well Chip worked. It usally takes him about 4 or 5 outings to start turning the rabbit, but he proved me wrong this trip.

Rabbit Hunting - 12/20/09 - Whiteside

Our first rabbit hunt of the season, and really of the last two years. We didn't get out last season at all, so my beagle, Chip, was a little rough for wear. There were 4 of us that went, and it was the first hunt ever for James. We had to be back in St. Charles by 11:30 so we left the house at 6:00. By 7:00 we were at Whiteside putting on our insulated bibs and extra layers of fleece... it was cold (24 F). It didn't take long and we had our first jump of the day. I got him up in a small field and got the dog on him within a minute or so. Chip lost the rabbit aobout 150 yards out. There were a lot of BIG piles of fallen timber that I think they were holding up in. We continued and had another field jumper. This one came out of a creek and crossed a large field. James could have gotten a shot off, but with a new gun, didn't get the safety off in time to shoot. Again we got the dog on it and again Chip lost the rabbit. I don't recall the third rabbit... but the forth one Jeff kicked up and the shit was so thick I had problems seeing my feet. Needless to say, Jeff didn't know where the rabbit went so we couldn't get the dog on the scent and we pushed on. The last one came up between us (all 4 of us) and the dog got right on it. 50 yards away was another one of these HUGE timber piles. Yeah... Chip could have lost him, but I'm pretty sure that rabbit ran in the pile. All in all, it was a good day. Weather was good, snow on the ground and we had 5 rabbit up on public ground with one dog.

Dove Season - Opening Day 2009

Dove season opened this past Tuesday, and as we usually do, Les and I took the day off to go throw lead and see if we could knock a few down. Gary met us at Greg & Cindy's before sun-up and we took our places. We had standing corn on one side and soybeans on another with a telephone line at the split. This typically produces birds for us. However, on this cool opening day, there were just not many birds flying. I ended up getting 5 but lost one in the soybeans. Les and Gary each got one, and around 11:00 we gave up. We hadn't seen a bird in over an hour and just got discouraged. Come to find out Brad went down that evening and nearly limited out. I heard other stories that as the day went on, the birds started coming in.

We went down again on Saturday morning. Got there before sun-up again, but sat in the barn for a couple of hours as the rain just kept coming down. Finally around 9:00 or so the rain lightened up enough that a few birds were moving around. We shot at a couple that were probably too far to shoot, but when you've been sitting for so long, you'll shoot at anything. Then we walked across the field (the corn was now cut) towards a small patch of tree. One bird flew in and any of us could have shot it, but I pulled my trigger first and that was our only bird of the day.

Saturday night I cooked all the birds for some friends and they were really good. I filet them off the breast bone then put a piece of pepper jack cheese and a jalapeno slice between the two halves. Wrap the whole thing with half a slice of bacon and put a toothpick through it to hold it all together. Once on the grill, we dab them in barbecue sauce just before we pull them off the grill. They are delicious! - cld

Meat On The Table

It was a successful hunt. Les invited me (or I invited myself) to hunt with him this year on opening weekend. The place is just northwest of Truxton. Jeff and Les had their stands picked out so they gave me the remaining stand. This worked out in my favor. My stand was setup for a bow. It had the start of a power cut in front of me which turned into thick brush about 50 yards past my stand and there were woods on the other side of the power cut. To the left was a small grassy strip between the edge of the woods and some thick cedar trees. Behind me and to the right was thick woods that you could hardly see through, more less shoot through.
About 7:30 Saturday morning I had a deer come out of the woods across from me and step into the brush in the power lines. I knew it was a buck, but didn't know how big. I could have probably shot it, but didn't want to get into a situation where he was only a 6 pointer. (New conservation laws state that a buck has to have at least 4 points on one side to be legal to shoot). So I had my scope on him and started counting. There were only 3 on the right side that I could count. Then it turned back and I counted 4 on the left side, which means he was a shooter. When he turned back to move into the woods I saw two, nearly 3 inch long brow tines. This made this a 9 point deer. At this point I only saw the body of the deer when it moved into the brush. As it moved into the woods it kept stepping slightly away from me and I never got a clear shot. I did notice it was limping on it's left front leg a bit. Then, just like that, it was gone.
After going back to the truck to get a bit of coffee and a bite to eat, I went back to the stand. It was probably around 11:00 when I thought I heard a squirrel almost under my stand behind me. I turned my head to see a really small button buck. He walked right under my stand, smelled the air, looked at me but must not have seen me and then walked along my right side headed toward the power cut. He stood in the brush a bit and then moved away down the north side of the power cut.
After letting that one pass, I kept thinking to myself that it may have been a mistake to do that. Les and Gary had only gotten one deer off this property since they started hunting here 6 years ago. Now it's starting to get dark and there is only about an hour left in the hunt. I'm hoping that I stick it out longer than the neighboring hunters and they may kick something my way. The wait worked out. I spotted this doe walking up on me from behind me and to my left. She was in the grassy area between the cedars and the woods. About 75 yards behind me she started into the woods. That gave me the opportunity to flip my seat up and turn around in my stand. I had my sights on her, but there were so many trees that I didn't have a shot. I had one opportunity to shoot between the trees and above and below two branches if she kept walking in the same direction. She wasn't in a hurry. She finally reached my shooting lane, but was angled away from me. After letting 2 deer get passed me, I wasn't going to take a chance to let this on e get passed. She took one more step and I shot. It was dark enough that I remember seeing the muzzle flash in my scope. She ran 75 yards in a circle fell down and did the death thrash. It was dark by the time we got her field dressed. But it all worked out. We hung her at Linda's cousin's house over night and got her cut up on Sunday.
Sunday mooring I saw one more 5 point buck. He was coming from my left just on the other side of the power cut. He was carrying his left front leg next to his chest. It looked like someone had shot him in his leg but he seemed to be OK. My guess is that he will make it.
Sunday night Linda let me debone my deer at the kitchen counter. After I set the back straps and tenderloins aside, I ended up with 30 pounds of meat to be processed and I didn't have to cut on the front quarter that was mutilated by the gun shot. I'll be taking the meat in this week for processing.

Opening Day of Dove Season

As most hunters know today was opening day of dove season. As we usually do, Les and I headed up to Blackwalnut to the Wehmeyer's place to see if we could take down our dozen birds. We didn't expect to see any, just becuase we had not been seeing any flying in the days leading up to today. We suspect it is due to the cold snap we got for the few weeks prior to today. I picked Les up about 5:30 and we were at our spot before 6:00. We finished our coffee and watched the sun start to give the back side of our hunting area an early morning glow. That was our signal to load the guns and take our positions, dove season was open. We sat for a while with some gun shots off in the distance. Distant shots are good, because it wasn't long after that and we had our first round of birds coming through. Most of the morning they would come in waves. A few at a time, mostly towards Les. They would circle in the field next to him where the neighbors had a decoy line set up and when they missed, Les would BLAST them. Brad showed up about an hour after we got there. We each had about 4 birds, and it didn't take long and Brad had 3 on the ground. Brad and I hunted 75 yards from each other facing opposite directions and calling out birds for each other while Les sat over behind the barns in his perfect spot, blasting one bird after another. By the end of the day Les had 10 with one lost, I had 9 with one lost and Brad had 4, two lost and one on top of the barn. For not expecting to even see any birds, we had a really good morning. By 11:00 we were home with the birds soaking in brine just waiting to be wrapped in a half a slice of bacon with a jalapeno pepper slice and a slice of pepper jack cheese sandwiched between the two pieces of breast meat, grilled with a dab of barbeque sauce. Now that is some good eatin'!