Bunny Hunting In Central Indiana

[07superglide]

I konw most every one here likes the yots and tree rats. But more and more people I talk to say "yea I use to bunny hunt alot"So what happened? are we too lazy,not enough meat? You dont HAVE TO have a dog to do it. even tho im wanting one(not getting any younger) Not to mention they are easyer to clean and better tasteing than tree rats! What gives?

[NEK]

Yeah - I used to bunny hunt all winter back in the 50's and 60's when I lived in the farm country of southern Michigan. We hunted a lot of the farms just north of the Indiana border in Hillsdale county,MI for rabbits and Fox squirrels. It was great hunting back then, when you could still get farmers permission to hunt.
Now - in this part of Northern Vermont where I live - there are no Fox squirrels or very many Cottontail rabbits. People say there are some Cottontails around - but I have been here over two years now and live in the country and haven't seen a one. I would sure hunt them if they were around - I miss eating fried or stewed bunny and Fox squirrel is still my favorite game meat.

[Palladin8]

When I lived in IN I used to hunt bunnies with friends and family all winter long. If we had a good day and got enough we would cook them up. If not we would freeze em until we had enough and then cook them up. Living here in Las Vegas now I don't really hunt specificially for bunnies. When I see a big Jack rabbit I will pop him. The past few years I have seen some strange growths on the few rabbits I have shot so I didn't bother skinning or clean them.

[stormin1563]

I tell you why. Because there's hardly any rabbits left there. I live in Colorado now but I was born and raised in Northern Indiana. When I was a kid you could go anywhere and shoot a few rabbits. Permission wasn't a problem, and you'd see plenty of cottontails. But in time everything changed. 1. The coyote population has drastically grown and put a good dent in the rabbits. 2. Permission to hunt is near impossible anymore! Where I lived in the Northern part of the state all the land was leased. The Chicago a$#holes came over year after year, more and more offering money to all the farmers who let us locals hunt our whole lives untill they had all the ground tied up, and us locals had nowhere left to hunt. I'm serious when I say there are more Illinois hunters there than Indiana guys! 3. And probably the biggest reason is they don't have the habitat they used too. Every damn farmer destroys thousands of acres of wildlife habitat every year! Think back years ago when every ditch bank was lined with heavy brush and good old oaks.... Now they're bare. They wipe out all the ditches, and even starting to wipe out entire woods! About 3 miles from where I lived just before I moved an old farmer sold his ground to a "big time" farmer. He had approximately 300 acres of field and a beautiful 100 acre woods. First thing that guy did when he took ownership was wipe out that entire woods to make more field! Just doze it all into piles and burn it! Makes me sick! But anyway... That's why.... Bunnies are an endangered species in Indiana anymore....

[mcostan]

That's the problem here as well, too many coyotes. I've seen a few at the club and I do have beagles (they aren't trained though) and we have been walking a lot lately but they havn't actually ran a bunny yet. My pup yips and courses, I'm not sure what she's after.


I'm going to try some other sections of the club. There are a few bunnies but I'm told there were more before the yotes.

[Bocajnala]

Problem around my areas , central PA and all around Ohio, just doesn't seem to be too many rabbits around. Most blame it on the coyotes, could be. I don't have a dog. But I spend a good amount of time walking the brush rows and such looking for rabbits. I get 3 or 4 every year. But not like what I'm told it used to be.
-Jake

[coolbrze0]

I live for rabbit hunting. We're in VA and although our #s have been down a good bit since the blizzard of '10, we still get into them pretty thick. I'm fortunate to live here & have pretty decent habitat, a lot of farms to hunt, and tons of friends in hunt clubs & leases that invite me to run my dogs at their places. Honestly, I'm not sure what I'd do w/o hearing a good pack of beagles chase a bunny, talk about GREAT times in the field!

[07superglide]

First snow and first bunny hunt! Man I love it! We are looking to plan a 5mi hunt down some old RR tracks. I think is gonna take atleast 5 people and take most of the day! Yesterdays hunt about 2hrs we got 5! (and we missed 4!!)