2011 Rabbit(Snowshoe Hare) Season

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PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 8:04 pm
Poor year here so far for rabbits.Bagged the first one I have seen this season yesterday.Was lucky enough to bag the second one I have seen this season today.Both bagged with my 28 gauge Ithaca Model 37.

How is everyones elses rabbit season going?

.410
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:14 pm
Can't hunt til I actually get a gun of my own. :| Do the rabbits tend to go in cycles, or can it vary greatly from year to year?
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 9:00 am
Yes snowshoe hare do run in cycles.Most run in about a 7 year cycle.However Nova Scotia is on the southern edge of their range.The cycle could last seven years or twenty years.

Was out yesterday and bagged another rabbit.It was the second one I have seen this season.

They are just starting to turn white.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 3:33 pm
Well for the moment rabbit season is closed here but it starts back up dec 1 i believe. I missed one rabbit earliier this year

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 8:15 am
No more rabbits bagged since my last post here.I fact I have not seen another one since then.

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 5:35 pm
Out this afternoon for a hunt.Saw one rabbit go by me like a white rocket :) and that was it.That was only the third rabbit I have seen all season.

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 6:12 pm
Bagged two rabbits in the last four days with the 28 gauge Ithaca Model 37.Thats on a roll for me this year,as poor as the rabbit hunting has been.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 5:37 pm
Out this afternoon for a short hunt.Went to two places with no luck.Then I found a spot that had not been dogged.Bagged two rabbits in about ten minutes.Went home a very happy person.

The 28 gauge Ithaca Model 37 worked great.I really like this shotgun.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:08 pm
cottontail season is pretty much closed around here now. Too many 'yotes are out there taking all the game. it is so bad that the State of NH is considering putting on the endangered species list. Can you imagine, a rabbit endangered? That is how bad it is.
--Jim
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:11 pm
28 gauge wrote:Out this afternoon for a short hunt.Went to two places with no luck.Then I found a spot that had not been dogged.Bagged two rabbits in about ten minutes.Went home a very happy person.

The 28 gauge Ithaca Model 37 worked great.I really like this shotgun.



I haven't hunted with mine yet, but I have shot some skeet with it and it does handle like a dream. I don't like most 28's built on a small frame, they feel too much like a toothpick in my hands to me, but the M37 version feels liek it has heft and swings perfectly. they did a awesome job.
--Jim

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 6:03 pm
ravengunsmith wrote:cottontail season is pretty much closed around here now. Too many 'yotes are out there taking all the game. it is so bad that the State of NH is considering putting on the endangered species list. Can you imagine, a rabbit endangered? That is how bad it is.



Yes that is hard to believe indeed.Have the rabbits been down for a long time in your area?

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 6:05 pm
ravengunsmith wrote:
28 gauge wrote:Out this afternoon for a short hunt.Went to two places with no luck.Then I found a spot that had not been dogged.Bagged two rabbits in about ten minutes.Went home a very happy person.

The 28 gauge Ithaca Model 37 worked great.I really like this shotgun.



I haven't hunted with mine yet, but I have shot some skeet with it and it does handle like a dream. I don't like most 28's built on a small frame, they feel too much like a toothpick in my hands to me, but the M37 version feels liek it has heft and swings perfectly. they did a awesome job.



I really like my 28 gauge Model 37.For myself I really like a light 28 gauge for field use.I would sure like to see an Ultralight 28 gauge Model 37. :)
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 7:27 am
28 gauge wrote:
ravengunsmith wrote:cottontail season is pretty much closed around here now. Too many 'yotes are out there taking all the game. it is so bad that the State of NH is considering putting on the endangered species list. Can you imagine, a rabbit endangered? That is how bad it is.



Yes that is hard to believe indeed.Have the rabbits been down for a long time in your area?


for about 6-7 years now. each year they seem to close down more of the state to cottontail hunting. I think I have more in my back yard than I have seen in the field.
--Jim

.410
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:02 am
ravengunsmith wrote:cottontail season is pretty much closed around here now. Too many 'yotes are out there taking all the game. it is so bad that the State of NH is considering putting on the endangered species list. Can you imagine, a rabbit endangered? That is how bad it is.


What is the coyote population like? Could they be bringing the rabbit population down?

Back when I first started hunting 40 years ago, coyotes had almost been hunted to extinction in my state. Rabbits where everywhere and frequent roadkill. State eliminated the bounty on coyotes and they have come back big time over the decades. I don't hunt anymore but it seems like I don't see cottontails as much as I used to and my unscientific theory is that the coyotes have put pressure on the bunnies.
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:49 am
Here in Ontario coyotes are doing well. TOO WELL! Rabbits numbers are down(whitetails as well). This winter I'm gonna do my part in knockin the hell out of the coyote population. Try to save my whitetails.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 7:44 pm
20gapump wrote:
ravengunsmith wrote:cottontail season is pretty much closed around here now. Too many 'yotes are out there taking all the game. it is so bad that the State of NH is considering putting on the endangered species list. Can you imagine, a rabbit endangered? That is how bad it is.


What is the coyote population like? Could they be bringing the rabbit population down?

Back when I first started hunting 40 years ago, coyotes had almost been hunted to extinction in my state. Rabbits where everywhere and frequent roadkill. State eliminated the bounty on coyotes and they have come back big time over the decades. I don't hunt anymore but it seems like I don't see cottontails as much as I used to and my unscientific theory is that the coyotes have put pressure on the bunnies.


The 'yotes are happy and well fed, unfortunately. Between the cottontails, they also take out the local cats and small dogs. they are a terrible problem.
--Jim

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:33 pm
Pretty good season here in KY. I haven't got to go as much as I did last year, but the days that I have been out have been pretty good for the weather that we have been having. Cottontails are every where. I sure wish the same was true with quail.

BTW, my 12 and 20 gauges have done very well for themselves. The have earned themselves permanent homes. I never have had a 28 gauge anything, but right now I really "need" a 26 gauge model 37.

I hope things turn around for you fellers up north. Happy hunting!

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:47 am
Out the day before yesterday for a hunt and woohoo managed to bag another rabbit.My first since January 2nd.You can tell its a poor hunting season when you have to brag about bagging one rabbit every two or three weeks. :)
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 7:23 am
Colonel26 wrote:Pretty good season here in KY. I haven't got to go as much as I did last year, but the days that I have been out have been pretty good for the weather that we have been having. Cottontails are every where. I sure wish the same was true with quail.

BTW, my 12 and 20 gauges have done very well for themselves. The have earned themselves permanent homes. I never have had a 28 gauge anything, but right now I really "need" a 26 gauge model 37.

I hope things turn around for you fellers up north. Happy hunting!



Thanks Col. I do too. We have some great places to hunt in. Just nothing in them worth hunting.
--Jim

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 8:51 am
That is the way quail are around here. In the 70's and 80's when I was a little kid (born in '76), there were quail everywhere. My dad and his friends would find several coveys a day out hunting. Now you can walk for acres and maybe fine on covey. If you find one a day you are doing real good.

Too many predators, too much loss of habitat, and changing farming practices have decimated the quail. The rabbits though seem to be doing well!

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:11 am
Coyotes are getting bold here.

There is an alley that runs along an empty wooded area in one of the unbuilt parts of the subdivision. A neighbor was out jogging one dark and early morning and sensed something behind him: there was a coyote pacing him about 15 ft behind.

As a kid, I would see lots of rabbits as road kill but not so much anymore. It's all squirrels, raccoons, opossums and the occasional skunk for small critters.

I do see rabbit tracks in the snow inside the subdivision so a few are finding some refuge.

I can't speak to the bird population.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:37 pm
Out this afternoon for a short hunt.The stars must have been lined just right.Was able to bag three rabbits with the 28 gauge Ithaca Model 37.This is the most I have bagged in one day this season.These were the first rabbits I have seen in the woods since sometime in January.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:11 pm
Nice job!! snowshoe or cottontails?
--Jim

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:04 pm
ravengunsmith wrote:Nice job!! snowshoe or cottontails?



Snowshoe hare.No rabbits in Nova Scotia although everyone calls snowshoe hare rabbits. :)

Out this afternoon for a hunt.Never saw one.Used up my luck yesterday.I guess. :)

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:41 pm
The snow shoe hare hunting has been good in Maine But we do hunt with 5 dogs ,the cotton tail in RI ,my home state is also good with my one dog I think that the states with the harmfull cayote population should offer some kind of incentive for coyote kills maybe like a bounty on them or a free hunting license or something to get the population down I do hunt mostly with my 28 ga flues SXS thanks for the intrest JIM C
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