9/4/2011 - Lowell, VT

Date of hunt: 9/4/2011
Location: Lowell, VT
Weather: Sunny/Humid
Temperature: 68°F (Start) 72°F (End)
Dogs of mine: Belvidere Bailey & Wild Seasons Mountain Snickers
# of Rabbits Ran: 3

Runs like this keep the excitement going and the desire to keep hunting! I woke up at 5 and dressed for cool weather to become quite surprised when I walked outside to load up. It was warm and humid and the air felt thick. The drive to the spot was tough as the fog was thick and the windows kept dewing over. I arrived at my spot and cast the dogs at 6:30. The ground was really damp and I was hoping the scenting would be ideal. Bailey barked on a few feeder trails near the truck without a jump.

We worked our way down towards Allen's Stump and the Corner Crossing. Bailey got a start and excitedly started running up towards the Buckley's camp. Snicker's joined in and the race was fast and solid. According to Bruce (during a later conversation) the rabbit ran out into the meadow in front of their camp and Bruce and Sue got a chance to watch. The rabbit ran out into the meadow and up towards the camp and sat and waited. The dogs weren't far behind and as they entered the meadow the hare took off into the woods again. I was standing down at the start of the run wait for the hare to show himself. The dogs were getting close and I figured the hare had pass through without showing itself. The hare ran right at me, stopped about 8 feet away and looked back at the dogs. The dogs were only about 30 yards behind. The hare noticed me and took off on a fast sprint and the dogs were still on its trail as it headed out towards Pine Island. I must have turned its swing as it started to make small circles out by the Island. I ventured out to the Island and waited for a sighting. The hare passed about 40 yards from me and the dogs were still right on its' tail. A small figure eight out in the alders brought the hare back to me and stopped about 10 feet from me and then continued on its way. I managed to take some poor quality video of the hare on my cell phone when it came in. The race continued for a total of an hour before the dogs checked. Bailey worked the check for about 20 minutes with no luck, and we moved on to another spot.

We found our way down to the end of the log road and worked the edges. I jumped a hare on the edge and Bailey took the line after I called her in. Snicker's joined and they ran it out on a deep circle, but not quite out of hearing.  It was a tight turn and they ran back up towards the start and checked about 60 yards from the start. The search continued for about 10 minutes and I had them work up through the alders towards the Buckley's camp. I entered the camp meadow and started to talk with Bruce for a little bit. Bailey stayed down in the woods and kept looking, while Snickers stayed by my side. Bailey started a hare along the moose trail between the camp meadow and the log road. Snickers ran off to join her, and Bruce and I sat around and conversed for awhile.

The run lasted over an hour while Bruce and I talked over coffee. Thunder started to move in closer and I decided to bid farewell to Bruce and go join Bailey on her run. The GPS showed that she ran many small circles out near Pine Island. As I made my way down towards the dogs it was interesting to see that the ground was still damp from the morning dew at 11am. No wonder the runs were so good. I caught up to Bailey and Snickers at the Corner Crossing with them still on the line. I caught both of them as I could hear the thunder getting closer. We made our way up to the truck and headed home. I met up with Doug and Missy on the road as they were heading out for a four wheeler ride with a few friends. I got out of the woods at the right time as the strong rain came in and made it hard to see and drive. Good timing.

Mid Summer Update

If I had to sit back and summarize my life I could put my life into 3 categories; family, rabbit hunting, and work. In that order too. My family comes first. I am willing to give up the prime running conditions of an early Saturday or Sunday morning to wake up to have my family excited that I don't have to work. I am also willing to give up running on a cool evening after a soft rain to spend time as a family after a busy weekend. Work is a requirement and family is my priority.

This summer has provided a few good outings with the dogs and I look forward to more. I have taken Bailey out solo twice with good luck. The last few outings have been with both dogs, but Snickers is aging and it shows. She is almost 11 and is showing her age. The rabbits that we have ran during the last few outings have resulted in Snickers dropping out and Bailey running solo.

The latest run was out in Grand Isle and have ran cottontail there before. I wanted a place close to home that I could bring a contractor from work visiting from New York out instead of him hanging out in his hotel room for the evening. We cast the dogs and within 5 minutes Bailey had a start. She ran it fast and straight and was soon out of hearing. I was nervous that it was deer and lost contact with her on the GPS after 850 yards. We got in the truck to cut her off but watched the GPS show that she made the turn and was heading back towards the point of the start. Mike saw the hare and commented that it was almost as big as Bailey. The total run was 1.7 miles long, and the point of the turn was .7 miles from the start. A very large run!

Here is a video of the downloaded track from the GPS overlaid on the satelite picture of the area.

3/13/2011 - Lowell, VT

Date of hunt: 3/13/2011
Location: Lowell, VT
Weather: Overcast/Flurries
Temperature: 34°F (Start) 36°F (End)
Dogs of mine: Belvidere Bailey & Wild Seasons Mountain Snickers
Hunting partners: Logan Abell
# of Rabbits Ran: 4
# of Rabbits Shot: 1

FINALLY! After 16 hunts my 13 year old brother Logan shot his first rabbit. Talk about pumped up! I am so excited to end Vermont's rabbit season with a trip afield like this!
We were taking part in Orlean's County Rod & Gun Club Hare Derby again this year and prepared ourselves for the full day hunt. Lunches, drinks, snacks, extra hunting clothes and dinner clothes were packed and the truck was loaded. The daylight savings time change threw me a small curve ball, but still managged to pick up Logan an hour before sunrise to make the trip north. When we arrived we were unpleasantly surprised to find the road that we hunt on had not been plowed this winter. Snowmobile tracks had been made on the road, but the truck wasn't going to make it. We sat and discussed what we should do as the log landing where we cast the dogs was a mile away. The prime rib dinner and rabbit weigh-in period began at 5 and knew that we had a long day of hunting and the walk down the road would be well worth it. We geared up the dogs, loaded the back pack with as much as it would hold, strapped on the snowshoes and headed for the woods. The conditions were better than I was planning for, as the above freezing temperature wasn't melting the snow as fast I thought it would. I don't like to make excuses for the dogs, as they can always be better, but warm weather on snow tends to be rough running conditions. Today would prove to be different. We finally made it to the log landing and unleashed the dogs. We made our first steps off from the snowmobile tracks and realized what we would be up against all day. The dogs sunk in about 6-8" and we sunk in about 12". Bailey worked the softwood patches well and we were finding hare tracks instantly. Snickers hung tight, just waiting for Bailey to get the start and it didn't take long before she did. She worked the track for a few hundred yards without any opening from Snickers. I followed a log road that I thought I recognized, but the deep snow made everything look different. I crossed over what I thought was a fresh track and waited to see if the dogs would make there way to me or not. They didn't and worked down the hill a bit before checking. I waited a bit to see if they would work it out and then called Bailey up to check out the track I was on. When she smelt the track she instantly took the track, opened and disappeared through the softwoods with Snickers barking right behind her. The dogs took the hare on a straight line along the lower side of the overgrown clear cut and out into the alders. The dogs checked on the turn and it gave Logan and I a chance to make a game plan. A little more thought was put into a location to stand before heading to a spot as the deep snow made the walking a chore. We stood and waited, but the dogs didn't pick up the check. The GPS showed that Bailey kept working the check and I relaxed a bit, added a layer of clothing, and a drink and snack. I took a glimpse at the GPS and found that Bailey had worked out of the area and was almost 500 yards away. I started calling with hopes that she would respond, the walk to get her would be exhausting. She responded after about 15 minutes of calling and picked up a hare on her way back to us.

The hare ran past Logan and I about 80 yards out without a sighting and went through the pine island inside the alders. We repositioned with Logan positioned to get the first opportunity to shoot, and me about 60 yards down from him, as a just in case. As the dogs came down closer to Logan I was expecting a shot, but one never came. The dogs took a turn back out towards the overgrown clearcut, Logan must have bumped it. The hare went back up towards the top of its last swing and the dogs kept on it through the turn but checked when they straightened back up to make their way back down towards us. The check lasted for close to 10 minutes before Bailey was drifting a way from where she lost the hare. I called them in and broke out lunch while we waited. The dogs made their way to us and we brought them out deeper into the alders. I wanted to get away from the trails they had already made in the snow.

Bailey found the first tracks and I helped them get past their past trails and out into clean powder. Once there Bailey and Snickers locked on to the line and brought the hare out and back. The hare went up along the edge of the overgrown clear cut and up past the top of the last hare's run. It eventually turned and started its way down to us with what sounded like a line that would bring it down about 30 yards out into the alders from the pine island. We went out into the alders and waited. The dogs were close, but the rabbit hadn't presented itself yet. Then the dogs checked. They were 120 yards out and silent. What a heartbreaker! I decided that I would leave Logan at the spot and swing out wide and back in behind the dogs (and hare) and push the woods towards Logan. I was making my swing out wide when the dogs picked up the check. It wasn't 10 seconds later and I hear the 20 gauge crack, reload and crack again. Logan hollared "Dead Bunny!" and I was estatic! I couldn't get to him fast enough. We took pictures, talked and loaded up to find another hare. CONGRATULATIONS LOGAN!

We made our way through the alders towards the logging road that goes down along the side of the Buckley's camp, hoping to find a fresh track along the way. The first set of fresh tracks that we saw were actually crossing the logging road and we kept pointing the dogs onto potential fresh tracks. Bailey started showing a lot of excitement on a set of tracks and worked with Snickers off the side of the log road into the softwoods. Snickers opened with what sounded like a sight chase. The hare must had been sitting about 10 yards from us just waiting to bust out of there. They locked onto this track as well and took it on a nice swing. The hare had made a S shaped run and I didn't really expect it to complete the figure eight and come back to us. I was expecting it to turn back out on its circle down below us. We repositioned what turned out to be the right spot, but at the wrong time. The hare had ran past before I got there, and to make it worse I had turned its swing. The dogs ran back out away from the logging road and followed the hare back up to where it was started, out across the logging road and through the alders to the lower side of the Buckley's camp, back out to the pine island and back towards us. It turned back out towards the pine island again before it came into sight which made Logan and I rethink to find a new spot to stand. We decided to wait a bit longer and the dogs brought the hare back towards us, but it stayed out in the alders about 80 yards and back up towards the camp again. We repositioned and made our way out to the small meadow between the pine island and the logging road. Logan stayed there and I went up below the camp. Logan radio'd and said that he had just seen the hare about 70 yards out and on a full sprint. He watched it run down along the side of the meadow putting more distance between it and the dogs with every bound. The dogs ran down the edge of the meadow in pursuit and were just out of sight when Logan saw the hare again running up along the edge of the logging road, still on a full sprint and about 300 yards in front of the dogs. I had repositioned in hopes to get the hare, it was getting close to 4 and we had a long walk back to the truck and a lot to do to get ready for dinner. What I didn't realize was that the hare was that far in front of the dogs and I bumped the hare again. The dogs came up towards me and decided to leash them up as it was now 4. I worked on making sure I had everything together to make the walk back to the truck and watched as the dogs had the leash stretch tight, and were on their bellies stretched right out trying to smell the next track in front of their noses.

After the long walk back to the truck, feeding and watering the dogs, and changing we made our way to the prime rib dinner and awards ceremony. Logan weighed in the hare at 3.86lbs. The dinner was excellent and the awards ceremony presented Logan with a 2nd place trophy in the junior division. He was excited and so was I! After the dinner we made our way home, Logan fell asleep within the first 10 minutes and woke up when we pulled into the yard. What a day! YEAH!

Bailey stats:
Miles ran: 9.88 miles
Average speed: 1.46 mph

3/5/2011 - Milton, VT

Date of hunt: 3/5/2011
Location: Milton, VT
Weather: Overcast/Windy
Temperature: 36°F (Start) 41°F (End)
Dogs of mine: Belvidere Bailey & Wild Seasons Mountain Snickers
Hunting partners: Logan Abell, Chris Smith
# of Rabbits Ran: 1
# of Rabbits Shot: 0

I've been trying to find some people to hunt rabbits with and gave a long time friend a call to see if he was interested. Chris said that enjoys trying different types of hunt and would like to try rabbit hunting. I picked him up a little after 7 and headed about 5 minutes down the road to my new hare honey hole. Logan, Chris and I geared up for the cold, windy walk across the fields to the softwoods. The dogs were yanking on the lead to be let loose, and we finally made it out to the softwoods with high hopes. The dogs started to work while Chris, Logan and I were talking about anything and everything. I was listening to Chris and caught a flash of white about 50 yards out over his left shoulder. I ran as fast as one can run on snowshoes on soft snow to where I saw what I was hoping was a hare. Snickers picked up the scent first as she followed me to where the sighting was. She worked it backwards for about 5 yards and Bailey was quickly there to help her out. Snickers quickly figured out she was going the wrong way and went to the other end of where she started. Once Bailey figured out why Snickers went the other direction she took the lead and lead Snickers slowly out away from us. I explained how the run "should" work and Logan and I went one direciton while Chris set up where the start was. The hare took the dogs out 360 yards (per the GPS) in a straight line before making its turn. The turn was tight and the swung high into the thinner softwoods which surprised me. Logan and I shifted our position to compensate for the reverse circle that we were expecting and waited. The first check was long and as the run continued it turned into short runs with frequent checks. I decided to bring the dogs out to another covey with hopes that we could get a good run going. Chris already began to comment on how great it is to hear the dogs barking and how he was already hooked. He was also upset that I chose to invite him out on the second to last weekend, and he would have to wait until the end of September to go out again.

We headed towards another balsam thicket and realized that Bailey was not with us. The GPS confirmed that she went back to work her last check. She responded to my calling and we continued to trudge through the snow as she worked to catch up. A few minutes later and the GPS showed that Bailey was once again heading back to her last check. I called again and she headed my direction, again. She didn't make it far before her stubborn head got the best of her and she once again was heading the opposite direction towards the check. I decided to try a different approach and have Snickers get a hare going in the new location. If she could get one started Bailey would pack up and join in. She was only 200 yards out and working the area quite intensely by the looks of it. Snickers was looking very hard, and I wasn't seeing any fresh tracks. I kept walking around hoping to find some fresh tracks. My calls to Bailey went unanswered and my search for fresh tracks continued. Snickers was searching, but wouldn't range out more than 15 yards from me. I started finding fresh tracks and really wanted Bailey to be there with her strong nose to get the start going. The problem was that my venture to find a fresh track took my out so Bailey was now 700 yards away from me. My calls were unheard and Snickers, although excited on some tracks, didn't find anything hot enough for her to bark on. Chris checked in and commented on the impressive amount of rabbit sign, all I needed was Bailey. It was a long walk through the deep snow to go get her so I was resistant. I started to walk towards her and started to see a reponse to my calling once I got withing 500 yards of her. She was almost 200 yards from me before she turned and made her way back to the check, again. AGH! I figured by the time I walk all the way to Bailey and then back we would not make it out of the woods by 11. Plans for the remainder of the day kept the hunt short.

This Sunday is the last day of the season and am competing in the Orleans County Rod & Gun Club Hare Derby. The problem is the 28" of snow that fell yesterday. Hopefully the warm weather, rain and snow that are coming later this week will help pack down the snow to allow for some good running. The forecast for temperature on Sunday is in the 40's, which I am discouraged about. I've found that the dogs have a hard time running on snow in this temperature. Maybe it’s the scent melting out from under them, maybe it’s the dogs, either way it is tough running. Here goes nothing…..

2/20/2011 - Milton, VT

Date of hunt: 2/20/2011
Location: Milton, VT
Weather: Sunny/Cold
Temperature: 10 °F (Start) 16°F (End)
Dogs of mine: Belvidere Bailey & Wild Seasons Mountain Snickers
# of Rabbits Ran: 1
# of Rabbits Shot: 0

I had another opportunity to get out for a hunt this afternoon. I decided to try out the farm again to see if I could find another hare. Hopefully I didn't shoot the last one last weekend. The warm weather this past week had melted a lot of snow and then refroze. It was hard and grainy with about a 1/16 of an inch of loose powdery snow on top. This was just enough to see tracks on the snow. Inside the softwoods there was still about 2 feet of snow, but the snowshoes were staying on top very easily. Every now and then as I got close to some small balsams or blown down trees I would sink through up to my knees or further.

It took about an hour of walking and circling to find the first track, but it was old. I kept the dogs in the area and Snickers got the start. Bailey rushed in and joined her and they took off together on a straight line to the east. The hare made its first turn towards the south and Bailey missed it. She checked, but the Garmin confirmed that she was working her check and making cirlces around where she lost out. This is a confirmation of the improvement Bailey has made over the years as she used to be so scent hungry that if she lost out on the rabbit she was running she would just run off and look for any scent at all, and not the one she just lost. She would pick up on the scent and run it and then check, run it some more than check. Bailey was the only one barking, and I was beginning to worry a bit about where Snickers was. There are a lot of coyote tracks around the area and I was hoping nothing had happened to her. The interstate was about a half a mile from me but the GPS was confirming that Bailey didn't go near it, and I was hoping that Snickers stuck close to Bailey as she ran. As I waited on top of a snow covered ball of roots from a downed tree Bailey kept working closer. Her checks became more frequent and longer. I was getting very cold and impatient. Every time Bailey would open up another adrenaline rush would keep me waiting and looking, but nothing appeared. After a really long check I called in the dogs and headed back toward the truck.

The number of rabbit tracks in the area where I was standing is a good sign of the number of hare in the area. As my Grandfather always said "a hare can track up a swamp in a night" I am cautiously optimistic about the number of hare in the area. On the way back to the truck I found three more thickets of low growth balsams with a lot of tracks. Bailey and Snickers opened up once but never found the hot line. On the last covey of tracks Bailey opened up a again but didn't find the line there either. The scent conditions were really tough today, but I felt the day was successful as I know that there are plenty of hare in the area, and that Bailey has definitely improved over the years. I feel confident now that I have a good hound and look forward to even better hunts in the future.

Once we got home I looked over Snickers and Bailey and found that the rough snow tore up Bailey's feet pretty good. I applied some topical antibiotic cream to her toes and a cut on her lower leg to help the healing. They enjoyed their treat of warm Alpo and retired to their dog house.

Garmin Astro stats: 5.50mi, 2.10mph, 2hrs 8min.

The video below is the Google Earth Tour of the hunt. The track is downloaded from the Garmin Astro DC40 collar on Bailey's neck. It isn't the complete hunt, but an interesting view of the hunt.

2/13/2011 - Milton, VT

Date of hunt: 2/13/2011
Location: Milton, VT
Weather: Overcast/Windy
Temperature: 26 °F (Start) 26°F (End)
Dogs of mine: Belvidere Bailey & Wild Seasons Mountain Snickers
# of Rabbits Ran: 1
# of Rabbits Shot: 1

I had been wanting to ask my past employer for permission to hunt on his farm, and had the opportunity this morning when I saw him at church. He was more than willing to allow me to hunt, but I was unsure what the land held for rabbits. My father-in-law used to hunt this land as a child and remembers shooting Snowshoe Hare out there. Times have changed and I was unsure what I would find, if anything. I arrived at John's house around 1, and he was in the yard splitting firewood. We talked for a bit, and I explained how rabbit hunting with dogs worked and he was quite interested. I told him the general area I wanted to hunt based upon my Google satellite image reviews. He quickly told me the lay of the land and I started my trek across the fields towards what I hoped would be a rabbit filled swamp. The snow was about 30" deep and the snowshoes were only sinking about 4 inches, not bad. The wind was gusting and was cold. After the long walk across the first field I started into some softwoods. The first batch of woods quickly opened back up to the powerline right of way without sign of a single rabbit. The softwoods were full of tall, older growth and didn't look like suitable cover for a hare, if there were any. I kept trudging through the snow and was beginning to wonder if I was just out for a cardio workout, or an actual run on a rabbit.

Bailey opened up a couple of times, but I could not find sign of any tracks in the snow. I think she was barking on partridge scent as I caught movement of a partridge being chased by a crow through the limbs of the trees. I continued on towards the birds and saw the crow take off with a partridge in its feet, but quickly dropped it. The bird was still alive, but expired shortly after I got up to it. After walking away from it I wondered if the crow would be back for its meal.

The rolling terrain was brutal on the body as I was starting to get quite tired and wondering how far I should venture before turning back. I came to the edge of a long sloping hill and looked down. The cover at the bottom looked very promising, but I knew that if I walked down, I would have to walk back up. I was out there to hunt and started down the hill. The dogs beat me down to the bottom and Bailey opened up right off. From where I was I was starting to see rabbit tracks and was really certain that they were hare tracks and not cottontail! The chase was on. Both Snickers and Bailey were barking together which was good, that meant that the dogs were staying on top of the snow well and the lead dog wasn't snowplowing the track away as it trudged along. The rabbit took them out and back quite quickly. I was trying out my new Garmin Astro and was keeping tabs of where Bailey was on the GPS in comparison to where I could hear them, just for fun. I was about 90% sure that I was going to see a white rabbit running towards me when I would finally get a chance to see it. The first swing back to me brought the rabbit by me without a sighting about 40 yards out. I saw the dogs come through and they took off on their swing again. I repositioned and readied. The dogs checked a couple of times but kept pressing on. The next swing back to me brought them by yet another 40 yards out, again without a sighting. I respositioned once more and readied again. The dogs were coming right at me and then did a U turn right back out. I couldn't figure out what happened, I was standing really still for a really long time, I shouldn't had bumped it. The dogs didn't fall for the rabbit's trick and kept pressing on. The rabbit did yet another U turn right back to me as the dogs proved they could keep up and kept charging on. Then there was movement. A white Snowshoe Hare was coming my way! I shot once with my new (to me) 20 gauge shotgun and the hare stumbled but kept on. I shot again through some thick brush and the hare didn't come out the other side. I was ready for another shot if I needed to, but it wasn't needed. The hare was down and the dogs were coming closer. Bailey was in the lead but I saw her miss a turn. Snickers kept on the trail and she missed a turn but Bailey kept on and took the lead again and was the first to the hare. She nibbled at its feet for a second and kept on in search for more scent. Snickers didn't have any interest in the hare and just kept looking for more scent as well. I gathered up the hare and the dogs and headed in the direction of the truck. I thought the trek into the woods was tough, but soon realized that I was now up against a long upward walk back to the truck. The dogs were hard to keep by my side as they wanted to run some more. I will save them for another day.

I will have to see if the Astro has a keypad lock option as I lost all of the data from todays hunt during the walk back to the truck. The "start new hunt" option was selected and the tracks from today's hunt were lost. I would have liked to have watched the run on Google Earth, but will have to wait for next time.

1/1/2011 - Lowell, VT

Date of hunt: 1/1/2011
Location: Lowell, VT
Weather: Warm/Cloudy
Temperature: 38 °F (Start) 41°F (End)
Companions: Allen Cushing, Logan Abell, Carter Abell
Dogs of mine: Belvidere Bailey & Wild Seasons Mountain Snickers
# of Rabbits Ran: 2
# of Rabbits Shot: 1

It has been a long time since I got out rabbit hunting with the dogs. Once Vermont's deer season starts the time in the woods rabbit hunting is practically non-existent. My spots that I rabbit hunt in are deer hunting spots for others. I would have to drive about 2 1/2 hours to get to a spot secluded enough to comfortably run the dogs. My wife surprised me yesterday and told me that she just called her Dad and he was all set to go hunting with me today. I guess that means I was going rabbit hunting, no complaints there! I took my 5 year old son Carter and my 12 year old brother Logan along as well. It was a bit of a scramble this morning with the new year and new hunting licenses required. I tried to work this all out yesterday, but the state will not sell hunting licenses for 2011 when it is still 2010. What a waste of time!

It was about 8:15 when we let the dogs loose. The warm temperatures and the fast melting snow would prove to be tough running conditions. It was a comfortable temperature to be out hunting in, but the 3" of snow was slushy and wet and disappearing quick. Bailey and Snickers worked a track for a bit before they both opened up and the race was on. They ran solid up past the spot where Allen and I missed the hare in October and out in towards the alders. The dogs kept on it, made the turn and were coming back before losing out. They managed to get the track again, but quickly lost it again. They checked many times while trying to run it and the run started to get stale. I let them work for a while before radioing Allen to find out what he wanted to do. After about an hour of letting them work and check we decided it would be best to try a new place and find a different hare. We started walking a logging road when I noticed a track that looked reasonably fresh. One more step and the white hare busted out of the brush and away from me. I gave the "I just saw a rabbit" call and Bailey came flying in from a long way out and was barking the entire way with excitement. Snickers came in pretty quick as well, I think she is starting to figure out what that call means as well. The scent was probably light on the wet snow and it took Bailey a minute to calm down enough to work a bit harder to find the track. Once they found it both Bailey and Snickers ran the track really hard and fast for about 3/4 of a circle. The way they were heading would surely push the hare by Allen and if he didn't get a glimpse it should come right back down to Logan, Carter and I. They checked. This check felt like eternity. It was a solid 5 minutes before Allen radioed me. He told me that he saw the hare cross the logging road just before the dogs stopped barking and that he had set up in a new spot to catch the hare come out of the back side of the softwoods it was in. I quickly made my way to Allen to find where the hare crossed to call in the dogs and get them going again. As soon as I got to Allen the dogs started on the track again and were coming fast. They quickly crossed over the logging road where Allen saw the hare cross and were coming towards us fast. The hare held up tight before busting out of the softwoods and into to the logging road. Allen shot and the hare took another bound off the road into another softwood patch. This patch was only about 20 yards long and another logging road would provide for another good shot. Allen and I were waiting for the hare to jump out again. Nothing. I decided to try and help bump the rabbit out to Allen by doing a quick drive. The dogs were coming out on the logging road at the same time I made it to where the hare crossed. The dogs followed the track in and found the hare lying about 10 feet into the woods. I picked it up, let the dogs play with it for a minute and then brought it back down to Allen. Logan and Carter joined us from their spots and we took pictures. Carter was extremely excited and was talking a mile a minute. He had plans all set to get home and help clean it, cook it and eat it.

We tried for one more, but never got anything going on the wide swing back up to the truck. Carter insisted on carrying the rabbit up the entire way to the truck, and we helped him by using my gun sling as a rope to hang the rabbit over his shoulder. He was so excited. Both dogs ran well, and Snickers did a little better actually looking for a rabbit instead of just looking for Bailey all the time. Although the weather was great for Carter, and he didn't get cold, it was really hard for the dogs. Hopefully next time will be better, although today turned out to be good day anyways. The ride home was full of excited talk about the hunt, but too much excitement for Carter as he fell asleep within the first 10 minutes of the ride home. Once home, he wouldn't get out of his wool hunting pants until we cleaned the rabbit. You would have thought I gave him the world when I let him use a hunting knife to help me clean it. He can't wait to tell his uncles tomorrow about it. Take a kid hunting, it makes quite an impression on them!!