Location: Doug Duffy's
Weather: Partly Sunny/Fresh Snow
Temperature: 25 °F (Start) 28°F (End)
Companions: Logan
Dogs of mine: Flanders Remi & Wild Seasons Mountain Snickers
# of Rabbits Ran: 4
# of Rabbits Shot: 1
It has been quite the week. I went to see Bill Pettiruti in Montpelier to look at possibly buying a 15 month old dog from him. I didn't get a chance to really see his dog run on his own though. He had been running since 10:30 in the morning and I didn't get there until after work, around 4. He has a really nice setup and Paddy sure did look nice. Dean called me on Thursday to see how my visit with Bill went. During the discussion he mentioned that Pete Crowley was looking to get rid of Wildseasons Mountain Snickers. Well to make the story short I picked up Snickers on Friday night.
Logan and I got to Lowell around 8:20. There was about 5 inches of fresh snow. We geared up Remi and Snickers and headed down the logging road on the side of Bruce and Sue's. Remi got the first start and Snickers joined in. They weren't running anything yet, just working a fresh feeder trail. I caught a glimpse of the white hare cross the moose trail we were on and I called in the dogs. I put them on the wrong trail and they weren't running, I was beginning to wonder what was up. I had Logan head further down the trail to see if he could see any more tracks. Logan started calling in the dogs and he got both Remi and Snickers to start on the trail. They both ran it together for a little ways before checking. Remi came all the way back to me and I didn't hear anything from Snickers for a long time. I leashed up Remi and went looking for Snickers. About 45 minutes later I had both the dogs again. We headed down deeper and I let only Snickers go. Snickers wasn't being very independent. She was following Remi around and not searching on her own. It made it worse with Remi not being there. She was really looking for her harder now. I let Remi join back in on the search and she got the next start. Snickers took the lead and shortly after Remi was by my said again while Snickers was running well. We were in position to take the hare when the rabbit did an "S" run instead of a circle. With Remi on a leash we went up to where Snickers was running. I saw a glimpse of the hare again and moved in closer. When we were in position again the hare didn't come back, once again. While Snickers was running the hare in small circles above us we waited for it to drop back down towards us. Nothing. Snickers ran the hare for about an hour and a half total and Logan and I couldn't get in front of it.
We moved on towards the old downed Popular tree. The logging operation has really done a number and cleaned out our favorite spot. It still seems to be holding hare as Snickers got the start on a familiar running hare that we seemed to have ran before. Logan and I were in position but must have been looking the other way as the hare crossed up where the old Popular tree used to be. We moved down to where Snickers got the start and waited. The hare turned up instead of down and crossed back in the same spot that we missed seeing it earlier. I had Logan go back up there while I waited down low. The hare crossed up where Logan was twice more but he didn't see it. On a run out deep Snickers must have picked up another hare. It sounded like the same hare that we ran earlier in the morning, small circles in the same area as before. Meanwhile Remi picked up a hare behind us and pushed it out across the trail between Logan and I. I caught a glimpse of it as it went into the thick stuff and I settled in to wait for it to cross the logging road. Remi pushed on slowly and bumped the hare just enough to cross about 40 yards in front of me. Dad's 20 gauge single shot barked and the hunt was over. I hollared "Dead Bunny" in honor of Lanny and Snickers and Logan started celebrating. He came running over and we took pictures. He headed up the logging road with the hare and Remi and I went out after Snickers. She was still running the hare. After 2 hours of running she had to have been tired. I tried to set up on the hare once as she came closer but didn't pick the right spot. I cut off Snickers as she came through and headed for the truck. Logan was there at the truck as we came out on the Buckley's driveway.
Snickers has given me a new excitement towards rabbit hunting and I look forward to more hunts to come. Remi isn't packing with her yet but I am hoping that the summer running together will help with that. I have decided to give Remi a chance and only sell Bailey. We will see how that goes. I will have to determine a deadline for progression for Remi before enough is enough. Snickers is 8 years old now and I will need to utilize her the best that I can while she is healthy. If Remi won't work I need to get a pup under her soon to make sure she can help train it. Time will tell….
