2021 Rabbit Hunt - Small Game Season Finale

Happy hunters with a nice rabbit harvest.

 A group of Lowcountry rabbit hunting enthusiasts gathered on the last Saturday of February for a small game season sendoff. The winter months allow for small game hunting of dove, duck, squirrel, rabbit, quail, woodcock and snipe - but each season closes in succession during January and February. While there will  be hunting in late March and April for the wild turkey, that is considered to be a large game category. 

Beagles and hunters between rabbit chases.

Even though the calendar read February 27, the thermometer read 80-degrees after lunch time, and so the beagle pack and the hunting party that follows them were feeling the heat. A game plan of beginning the hunt at 7:30 a.m. was essential to the success of our hunt. The first rabbit of the day completely broke cover and ran down the side of a greenfield, causing two standers to whirl and shoot. Five shots rang out, and the rabbit completed its perfectly-planned semi-circle escape route around the hunters and back into the safety of thick cover. The first rabbit chase of the day was in the books, lifting everyone's spirits.

2021 Small Game Season Finale

I have visited duck ponds after duck season in the past to hunt snipe, and to watch shorebirds, but this time it was to rabbit hunt along the ditch system that drains waterfowl impoundments. Brambles and briars are the chief components of rabbit habitat, and the ditches and areas in-between grow thick with them. The rabbit master and his pack of beagles must penetrate these thick areas in order to rouse the rabbit. Thick brush pants guard the hunter, while the beagle can successfully navigate the cover by going underneath. When a beagle cries out, everyone knows that a rabbit is now on the move. By our lunch break at noon, ten rabbits had been harvested, giving all a feeling of accomplishment.

To view past blog entries about rabbit hunting click on 2017 - 2016 - 2012 - 2009