Rewarding rabbit hunts make for a busy day at Churchill Club
It was 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning with temperatures in the mid 60s. The ground was dry, but the air had enough humidity to leave a good rabbit scent on the ground. Bad news if you are a rabbit.
Groups of rabbit hunters met at Churchill Hunting Club to hunt the Louisiana swamp rabbit.
Kenny Domangue, Glenn Perque, Hunter McDonald, Pete Cassagne, and myself set out on a very dense area of the hunting lease.
It had lots of briars and fallen trees, which is a very hospitable habitat for rabbits.
Between the large clumps of briars, the undergrowth was broken up enough to maneuver through the trees while trying to watch for the fleeing rabbits.
This allowed us to have good shots when the Beagles chased a rabbit towards a hunter.
Cassagne’s dogs are very good in many ways, but they’re getting up in age, so they don’t chase rabbits as fast as they used to.
With only three dogs, you’ll never loose a trail made by a rabbit – one of the three will always be on the hunt. When one dog jumps a rabbit, the two other dogs will join in on the chase.
At 8:15 a.m. we spread out around a large briar patch and Cassagne released the dogs.
In unison, like a choir director directing a choir, one of the dogs jumped a rabbit and the other two joined in.
I caught a glimpse of the ears moving in the brush and soon the dogs were right behind.
To my right Perque fired two shots from his 20-gauge Remington 1100 and yelled out, “I missed!”
But the dogs stayed on the trail. Listening to the dogs howl in the briars was music to the ears of a rabbit hunter.
Soon the pack of dogs reached Domangue’s point, he fired his 20-gauge and killed one.
The dogs continued barking and Cassagne yelled out, “The dogs are still chasing a rabbit.”
Domangue’s rabbit was trying to sneak out without being chased. And Hunter was sitting on a log and looked up to see the dogs running a rabbit right at him.
He fired two quick shots and the rabbit made a hard turn back towards Cassagne.
With a good headshot, he finished the chase with a kill.
We gathered up the dogs and moved further on the dirt road. Soon the chase was on again. Shots echoed in the woods as the dogs cased the rabbits around the hunters.
We hunted until 11 a.m. and all together we killed six rabbits. The dogs were tired and so were we, so we called it a day.
Next weekend our clan plans to make another hunt. Hopefully, we will have more hunters.
Our biggest problem this go-around, we did not have enough hunters. Churchill Hunting Club has 7,000 acres and we couldn’t cover the whole area with just five hunters.
Tips for rabbit hunters
1. Always be ready to shoot, but never take the safety off until you identify the rabbit.
2. Have your gun in the ready position in case the rabbit pops out.
3. When the dogs turn the rabbit and are heading in your direction, watch ahead of the dogs.
4. Aim one-barrel width ahead of the nose of the rabbit.
5. Wear some type of hunters orange.
6. Use 8, 7 ½, or 6 shot for rabbit.
7. Field dress the rabbit as soon as possible and place on ice.
8. Listen for the jump spot and wait; the dogs will case the rabbit back to his spot. Rabbit will make a circle.
9. Bring water for yourself and the dogs. Stay hydrated; you will experience long walking distances.
10. Have some type of shot sack to carry shells, rabbits, snacks, and water.
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