got a rabbit!!!

[billy]

  I was sneaking along the edge of a a brushy hedgerow when I saw a cottontail run off.  I kept sneaking  and saw the rabbit underneath some brush.  I shot once with an obsidian-tipped cane arrow, but the arrow flew really high and I missed by at least a foot.  Not really sure what the deal is with that arrow, I'll have to see why it flies squirrely.  Anyway, the rabbit ran off just a ways and stopped again.  I shot a Port Orford cedar arrow at him the 2nd time and hit him in the back left leg.  I saw him kick his back legs up, and then he limped forward a few feet.  It was then saw his leg was totally broken and it was just dangling.  oh man, I felt SO bad cause I couldn't let him run around like that...he woulda suffered a lingering death for sure.  I had one more arrow left, and it had a rubber blunt on the tip.  I really don't like those rubber blunts because I've shot several squirrels with them and had them run off,  but I had no choice.  He was about 18 yards away, so I drew back, let it fly, and slammed that blunt right into the rabbit's left shoulder.  It knocked him over instantly. I ran over to him afraid he was gonna wake up and run away, but I couldn't reach him cause he was in the thick briars.  I then tried to pull him out with my bow, and it was then he started kicking.  He kicked free of my bow and started flopping farther into the pricker bushes.  I was afraid he was gonna run off, but when I looked at my bow, there was blood all over the limb.  There was also a alot of blood on the ground where he'd been laying and I knew he couldn't go far bleeding like that.  It just turned out to be his nerves going off, and after flopping for 15 or 20 seconds he finally lay still.  I was finally able to get into the bushes and get my rabbit.  Attached to this e-mail is a pic of me with the rabbit.  IT's not a turkey, but at least it's something!

The weather has been really dreary and cloudy the last 3 days, but I'm hoping for sun tomorrow.  Gonna go out if it's nice and try for a squirrel or, if I'm really lucky, a turkey.  I'll keep ya posted.

Billy

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[david w.]

Nice!

can you hunt rabbits now? just wondering

[hawkbow]

Great shot brother, good eatin too.. Hawk a/ho

[sailordad]

nice rabbit due.

dont let the rain ruin  turkey hunt. the secret to hunting buzzards in the rain or high wind is to move to the edge of fields,usualy to the leward side of the woods where there is liitle wind. when its rainy or windy the birds cant hear as well in the woods due the extra noise created from the leaves and everything rustling and the rain falling so they move out to fields so that they can atleast use their great eyes to feel safe.
many fiar weather hunters leave when the weather turns,but that usually means that you can have the woods to yourself,which in turn means you can hunt the birds with less intrusion from other hunters calling.

so dont let the weather deter your turkey hunt.

good luck dude.

                                                                                              tim

[sailordad]

oh yeah, iforgot to mention ifn you get another bunny you could use the tails for string silencers,that would look cool

[huntertrapper]

good to see ya tried to put it out quickly. though it doesnt always work out. good eatin.

[DanaM]

Congrats billy.

[jamie]

good work billy. next time grab a stick and crack it one in the back of the head. the nock area also makes a great noose for pullin game from the brush.

[kdub]

nicw job!  I love shootin rabbits, they are good practice, and good eating too.

[Postman]

That pic makes me hungry - Depending on where you're at, don't you have to worry about tularemia in spring cottontails? Anybody know much about what to look for? I think I remember something about white / yellow  spots on the liver being bad. Wife said she saw a bunny eating my mustard greens in the garden yesterday.  Thinking the ones he left would make a good side dish - need to find a coupla morels, too!

[billy]

I've heard the same thing about tularemia: yellow or white spots on the liver is sign they are infected.  This one didn't have any, and I did eat him.  It was really good!  Plus the fact that I got him with my own handmade primitive bow, well, that made him even more delicious.  Another thing that this kill makes me grateful for: I'm glad I don't have to rely on my skills with my bow to provide food.  If my survival depended on what I was able to get with my bow....well, I would have starved to death years ago!

[cowboy]

Mmmm - rabbit and dumplings . I got one a few weeks ago after about four shots - kept shooting high at ten feet, but when he hopped off to twenty feet I nailed him in the back of neck, hmm...

[kdub]

I shoot high when they are close too, its frusturating.  I think its due to the angle that we miss when they are close, kinda like shooting hiigh accidentally from a tree stand.  Lately Ive been bowfishing and I have to aim extra low for that cuz of the light refraction in the water.

[hawkbow]

An old archer once told me, "when shooting at a rabbit aim at the spot where the front feet  touch the ground."I am not sure why it works but if you do, the arrow almost always hits the bunny in the head. Hawk a/ho

[Kegan]

Excellent rabbit! I'm sure he tasted sublime !

Old pop cans, corn cobs, or water bottles make good "rabbit" practice. Lay it on the groun and keep shooting it farther and farther away from you with a blunt. I believe it was Maurice Thompson who wrote that when shooting at rabbits so close, you had to aim "beneath" them.