When the deer season is over and winter hits northern Michigan , one thing I look forward to is rabbit hunting.  I’ve hunted rabbits many ways, most of which are unconventional.  If you think the only way to hunt rabbits is over a pack of beagles, you would be very wrong!  With a little ingenuity and a lot of patients, you can utilize what you have to enjoy the most popular small game animal in the country.

Back in 1990, I bought a five-year-old male Brittany named Toby, thinking I would use him for pheasant hunting.  Little did I know he would end up being a great rabbit dog as well!  Hunting rabbits with a Brittany is different than hunting them with beagles because of the method the dog uses to hunt.  Brittany ’s are pointing/flushing dogs and with a little extra training, you can use them to help find your rabbits and flush them from their hiding place.  However, when they flush, you have to be ready to make a quick, running shot, because the Brittany will be hot on it’s trail!   If you have a very young dog, it can be trained to flush, but not chase, which will give you a better chance of getting your rabbit.

When Toby got hit by a car, I was devastated!  I had grown to love that dog, for his hunting skill and the fact that Brittanys rarely bark.  I have no patients for barking dogs, that’s the only reason why I didn’t get a beagle.  Later that year, while attending a Bowhunting Rendezvous, my husband Patrick and I passed a booth full of Brittany puppies, and I immediately cried because I really missed Toby.  I picked up the smallest puppy in the bunch and held her in my arms.  My birthday was coming up, and to my surprise Patrick bought the dog for me!  “Daisy” has become the best dog a family could ever ask for.  She hunted pheasants, rabbits and squirrels, and she’s also the best “mouser” than anyone could ask for!  In her later years, Daisy became a better, smarter rabbit and squirrel hunter, because she started using her eyes and ears along with her nose to find them. She’s almost 14 years old now and can’t hunt, but she still has the desire.

If you don’t have a dog, but still have the desire to hunt rabbits, all is not lost!  If you live in “snow country” the best time to hunt them is after a fresh snow.  Rabbits feed from late afternoon until early morning.  Look for fresh rabbit tracks and droppings, and sloooowly follow the tracks, looking ahead for the rabbit sitting under a log, pine tree, or next to bushes where they feed.  If the tracks disappear under a brush pile, circle the brush pile to see if the rabbit exited.  If not, you can sometimes step on the pile or move the brush, and the rabbit will escape, giving you a shot.  On warm winter days, rabbits like to sit out under a log or in thick brush.  With a keen eye, you can spot them and make a stalk, because they will sit tight until you get too close.  If you shoot and miss or the rabbit takes off before you can fire a shot, simply follow the tracks again.  Snowshoe Hares can be hunted the same, however they turn white during the winter and if there’s snow on the ground they can be hard to spot.  Look for the black ears and eyes.  If there’s no snow, hares can stick out like a neon light, because they still turn white!

One year while hunting Colorado during the late cow elk season, Patrick shot his elk the day we arrived, and I got mine the next morning.  We had the entire week left to do what we pleased, so we went rabbit hunting.  One afternoon, while traveling the back roads, we came upon an old riverbed with lots of rock outcroppings, and the rabbits were everywhere!  We parked the truck, and slowly made our way to the riverbed, and picked off rabbits using a .22 handgun!  While we missed more than we shot, we had more fun that day than we’ve had in years!  The following afternoon, after sharpening our aiming skills, we came home with 18 rabbits in just a few hours!  The limit was 10 rabbits each and we could have easily filled our limit if we really wanted to.  We shared our bounty with our elk guide.