Rabbits. help me out.

A

AKD

CGN frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
11   0   0
Location
Southern Alberta.
Help me out plz i ment to say thank you

So i found some good ground with alot of rabbit tracks when i was out 2day. I have no hunting dog and im pretty much running solo.

The woods im in are a mix of spruce and popular. I walked around keeping a eye around the bottom of the spruce mostly as they looked like possibly good areas that a rabbit might be hiding. This was around 1-2pm. I saw nothing but some squires.

Can anyone help me out with some things i should be doing / what i should be looking for ? Any tricks ect would be appreciated thx.
 
Last edited:
how early ? like just just as the sun comes up ?

what kind of areas do they mostly sit in during the day? and will they run out if i walk by close ?
 
Keep in mind that if it is real cold and windy and snowy out the rabbits will tend to hunker down. Your best places of finding them is in slash piles. So when you see tracks heading into a slash pile, go walk up to it and give it some kicks/jump on it and chances are a rabbit will come running out.

You never said where you lived or what kind of rabbits your hunting. Are you looking for cotton tails or hares "varying hare/snowshoe hare" a hares fur will change to solid white in the winter time, and they are very hard to see when you have snow on the ground.

Your best chances of getting them is to snare them this time of year!

Good luck
 
I haven't went for rabbits in years, but morning or late afternoon seemed best. For some reason they will sometimes sit tight when you get really close, but a few kicks at brush will get them going.
 
im hunting out on the crown land by blue ridge in Alberta. near whitecourt. It should be about -7 there 2moro morning and -3 with some snow in the afternoon. There is snow on the ground but im not to sure how fresh it is.

witch ever rabbit shows up is good to go

im gona head out for the day really early 2moro and hopefully well have some luck.
 
Last edited:
Got in the jeep at 5:30am to head out and the batt was dead. so I racked out till noon. Ill come back here and let you guys knwo how it goes next weekend.
 
I'll say one thing about you, you sure are an ardent hunter! Anyone who would get up to go rabbit hunting on a winter morning at 5:30 is ardent and ambitious.
By the way, your "rabbits," in the Whitecourt, Alberta area, are snowshoe hare.
 
H4831 said:
I'll say one thing about you, you sure are an ardent hunter! Anyone who would get up to go rabbit hunting on a winter morning at 5:30 is ardent and ambitious.
By the way, your "rabbits," in the Whitecourt, Alberta area, are snowshoe hare.
Click to expand...

Could be, however I know that in and around the Edmonton area, we got White-tailed jacks, snowshoe AND cotton tail. I dare say all three species be found in both areas?
 
H4831 said:
I'll say one thing about you, you sure are an ardent hunter! Anyone who would get up to go rabbit hunting on a winter morning at 5:30 is ardent and ambitious.
By the way, your "rabbits," in the Whitecourt, Alberta area, are snowshoe hare.
Click to expand...

It beats waking up early for work any day :p
 
Around Whitecourt, you PROBABLY don't have to use the word "likely". They are snowshoes. And snaring the buggers is much more productive and doesn't require 5 a.m. wakeup calls.
 
sjemac said:
Around Whitecourt, you PROBABLY don't have to use the word "likely". They are snowshoes. And snaring the buggers is much more productive and doesn't require 5 a.m. wakeup calls.
Click to expand...

Yep, could very well be. Jest sayin, we see all sorts of 'em around north central and Barrhead area. Feel free to knock the sentiment outa my mouth. I seen what I seen, and know enough to tell the difference. Snaring may be more productive, but don't get you up hunting, what you're really out for, isn't it..

Not necessarily totally related, but interesting and fun to read about, was a post a guy put up a while ago in AirRifle about air rifle rabbit pie in Manitoba. See if I can find it, and post it here too. It's a gooder.
 
Last edited:
If you are hunting a forested area, it's going to be tough to kick them up unless you have brushpiles they can hide in. Snowshoe rabbits sitting in the bush will be tough to push out and get a shot at as they will have many excape roots. Definitely the best time to try is sun up or sun down as they are mainly nocturnal. Pick an area or two that has the most tracks and sit tight and try to wait for them to move first.

As for snaring, you you can do that if you are just looking for the meat, but no hunting to be done in this excercise.

Good luck and report back. Oh and when I go hunting for rabbits, wake up in Toronto at 4:30am to get to the hunting grounds 1 1/2 hour away for sun up, to chase bunnies all day. Now that's what I call a great hunting day.
 
The advice about dusk/dawn is spot on. 'Bunnies' rely on the time period between when ocular rods and cones switch over to being used/not used by predators. Think of it as the period when an owl looses his advantage and a hawk has yet to gain his advantage.
This is about the only time of day a thinking bunny will travel across open space.

It is a very short period of potentially intense activity. You want to have given your own eyes adequate time to adjust and be aware of what time shooting is legal/not legal.

If snaring is legal in your area it is a much better way to get bunnnies and makes for a much more pleasant cleaning.
Check snares early in the morning and you might get a chance to shoot a couple and you might also get the caught ones cleaned before they freeze solid.
saddle of bunny is quality fare. I blacken them cajun style and then pressure cook.

P.S getting up at 5am for bunnies is only 'ardent' if you don't plan on napping all afternoon and sleeping inthe next day. LOL
 
Last edited:
I find it kinda funny, i should say after all the good advice im not exactly a new hunter or new to the woods. just never really hunted for rabbits. even as a kid I was always interested in shooting one with my bow but never saw them running around.

a uncle of mine is a really good cook, one of his friends over the holidays gave him some meat from a few and he cooked a rabbit meat pie with them. It was good. really good. now that i decided to go out and actually hunt for them i realized its a bit more tricky than I thought.

thx again for the good advice. instead of waiting for the weekend im gona take advantage of the evening and go out 2moro after work to see what happens. hopefully supper is good! ill let u know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom