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.