I tend to prefer these types of outdoor shows over the ones on the big channels, sponsored by camo companies and idiots that yell stupid chit like "Freak Nasty big daddy" and "I put the crush/schwack on em!" types.
That said - the theme song really sucks but as a kid I knew a few people who bunny busted behind dogs, that seems to have gone away for a lot of folks these days. Saturdays knee deep in snow, Ruger 10/22 in hand and hoping to cut tracks was fun.
Grew up doing that with my Dad and Grandpa Joe. I miss it. The conversations about dogs, dog trading/buying, were awesome! Back in the late 80s/early 90s seeing someone with a dog box in the back of a truck wasn't uncommon. It's like seeing bigfoot now. A few things have helped kill that around here: 1. farming practices have changed to the point there's much fewer rabbits, 2. increase in predators mean there are fewer rabbits around, 3. every place has someone deer hunting on it, so folks don't give permission for beaglers.
Grew up doing that with my Dad and Grandpa Joe. I miss it. The conversations about dogs, dog trading/buying, were awesome! Back in the late 80s/early 90s seeing someone with a dog box in the back of a truck wasn't uncommon. It's like seeing bigfoot now. A few things have helped kill that around here: 1. farming practices have changed to the point there's much fewer rabbits, 2. increase in predators mean there are fewer rabbits around, 3. every place has someone deer hunting on it, so folks don't give permission for beaglers.
I still see dog boxes - especially in the UP but they're almost always bear dogs these days. Grouse guys use the plastic kennels in the bed under a cap so harder to see (it seems)
We don't see near the rabbits we used to. Friend of mine has had dogs his whole life and runs them year round and pretty much every day he can during the season. He goes all over Ga and just doesn't kill much anymore. I guess its predators, and maybe folks just cleaning up their land more and more, just don't have or see the briar patches.
We used to have some real good hunts, these guys came from a couple hours away to hunt my place. Shoot, 20-30 rabbits a hunt was expected, then the guys started bringing others without asking first, girlfriends, a line of trucks pulled up to the gate, etc...that was the beginning of the end. Then one joker shot into a raft of ringnecks I had on a pond during the hunt and that pretty much ended things and I voiced my displeasure. Never had hunts like that again, just wasnt worth the headache or the liability. Folks sure know how to ruin a good thing.
Same - we don't see the bunnies as we used to but I think the breeder in the video touches on something. Rabittat - lol. Cutting trees to create it. Places to hide, eat and rear babies.
I know on our property we've been lax - fixed for the most of it last 3 years but people log less than they used to, cut less. They buy 10 acres for the home and then "clean the woods" off all the underbrush which allows for easy walking but horrible for small mammal life/habitat.
Grew up doing that with my Dad and Grandpa Joe. I miss it. The conversations about dogs, dog trading/buying, were awesome! Back in the late 80s/early 90s seeing someone with a dog box in the back of a truck wasn't uncommon. It's like seeing bigfoot now. A few things have helped kill that around here: 1. farming practices have changed to the point there's much fewer rabbits, 2. increase in predators mean there are fewer rabbits around, 3. every place has someone deer hunting on it, so folks don't give permission for beaglers.
My brother and I still try to hunt rabbits, but finding a place to hunt is difficult. We have lost most of our decent places as landowners have died and their heirs shut it down for deer hunting only or just sell the property to someone who will not allow anyonee to hunt. The best time to hunt is November and December, but the landowners usually say, "Sure you can rabbit hunt, but not until after deer season." Deer season runs into early January now and we usually. have lousy weather then. February is the only good month, but when we start shooting pregnant rabbits we shut it down. The rabbit population is way down also. Coyotes and hawks have taken a toll on rabbit populations here.
This year we haven't even been once. I have a pinched nerve in my lower back and can barely walk. My brother has severe neuropathy in his feet and has issues walking on uneven ground. Our beagles look at us with disappointment in their eyes.
My Grandfather used to train Beagles for rabbit hunting. He always had half a dozen or so on the farm. I haven't rabbit hunted with Beagles in over 50 years. But it sure was a lot of fun. Great memories.
Also they banned DDT and the raptor population exploded. We used to have rabbits everywhere. Now there is a hawk watching every half acre all winter here. Rabbits don't stand a chance during daylight. Plus the fur market collapsed and coyotes and bobcats are numerous here.
We always used to do a "Jan 1 Bunny Bust" at my dad's friend's cement block plant. I shot a pile of rabbits with an old Mossberg bolt action 410 with PolyChoke then too. When the group got larger, we tended to go to shotguns instead of 22lr. Was a good time.
I have always had a Beagle or two, they're fun, But About once every couple years some Black fellows from Milwaukee would stop in and ask to hunt. They would turn loose a dozen Beagles and I would sit on the patio and listen. It was amazing.
Grew up doing that with my Dad and Grandpa Joe. I miss it. The conversations about dogs, dog trading/buying, were awesome! Back in the late 80s/early 90s seeing someone with a dog box in the back of a truck wasn't uncommon. It's like seeing bigfoot now. A few things have helped kill that around here: 1. farming practices have changed to the point there's much fewer rabbits, 2. increase in predators mean there are fewer rabbits around, 3. every place has someone deer hunting on it, so folks don't give permission for beaglers.
I still see dog boxes - especially in the UP but they're almost always bear dogs these days. Grouse guys use the plastic kennels in the bed under a cap so harder to see (it seems)
Our son just shifts gears as the seasons change but the boxes never come off. He's currently in rabbit mode during the day and coyote mode at night[that's actually year round].
Between bear, coon, rabbit and house dogs he field a couple of dog football teams.
One of my son's h.s. football coaches is a beagle(r). I don't think he hunts over his dogs, he's into breeding and running trials. My cousin was into it 20 some years ago. We would get out and hunt over his beagles this time of year. Summer, July sometime, when it was legal we would go to camp and let a few of them run, usually in the evening when it cooled off.
My Dad loved to rabbit hunt. He had a friend who had a pack of Beatles and they would hunt nearly every Sunday morning. Us kids had to go to SS and church so I didn’t get to rabbit hunt much. Besides, only shotgun I had was Win 37 12 gauge in full choke. He used a Win 50 or 59 with Winlite barrel and chokes. Then a Browning Sweet 16. He always fixed parched peanuts to eat the night before the hunt. He carried shells in the L pocket and peanuts in the R pocket of his hunting coat. I would have 30-40 rabbits to clean after Sunday dinner. Hate cleaning a rabbit to this day. My brothers never helped. Did sell a few rabbit feet at school for good luck tho. Don’t see how they can be lucky, the rabbit had to die for them to have one. I do remember a hunt on an island in the Mississippi River near Friars Point MS. Nothing but cane cutters and no dogs. Three were all you wanted in your game bag, they were so big. We got so we deposited them at the water’s edge and picked them up by boat. Never had a hunt like that before or since. I remember we BBQed some of them low and slow after the pressure cooker. Fine fare. Didn’t have many deer till the 70s; mostly small game and doves and ducks.
Around here the farmers are not helping, with every farmer pushing out fences and planting right up to the road ditch . money seems to be unlimited. we see them push out a pond to get another 2 acres of planting . tell me how dose that pay , the dozer and fuel for 2 acres . not kidding seen it over and over then figure cost to push fences. when I was young the county afc office , ffa, and the conservation dept visited the farmers promoted no mow areas and now its fricking plant that chit right to the point the county roadgrader has to be careful not to knock the corn down !! then we have all the apex preditors that are protected. the thought process just escapes me .
teach your children well , ride hard, shoot straight, be involved!
Lol guilty. Posted a reply before checking out the op. That’s Kristin and Discovering. I work with her sister. She’s done a good job taking over for Buck IMHO. Doing some things Buck never did (ice climbing in Munising for ex).
Rabbit hunting was a huge part of my teenage years. Every Saturday during the season. My legs always looked like a roadmap from busting through those briar patches.
Always fun, often exciting - one farm we hunted required crossing a tall railroad trestle over Oldman's Creek. Try that with a shotgun on one arm and carrying a squirming beagle in the other!
All just happy memories now. My hunting buddies have passed on, as have all of the dogs (of course), the farms have been developed, but that trestle still stands as a reminder of good times past.
Spent more time behind beagles than I ever have messing with these rifles. But like a lot of things in life, things change. Not many places to run them anymore without loading up and doing a little traveling. I was attached at the hip to them from the time I was big enough to snap a leash on one, haven't had one now for for many yrs.
One is alone in a land so vast, there is only the mountains, the wind, and the eyes of God.
It's one of those things and I think the respondents here showed it - was such a solid part of the average outdoorsman's story. Hunting rabbits with friends. Same, for me as ducks and upland birds - with friends. I often find deer hunting itself to be solitary with good camp after but small game, you get to pursue with friends and family in the hunt. That's awesome and sad it's slipping away.
