KSBuck1977

I had pan fried cotton tail just a couple days ago, one of my favorite meals! We got some snow this week in Kansas so I went rabbit hunting yesterday. No luck, only seen two but didn't have a shot at either with the .22. Didn't kick up many (cottontail or jacks) this year pheasant hunting, the population doesn't seem very good right now in Kansas. About 15 years ago I ran into a big group of Portuguese guys in Western Kansas hunting Jacks. They were from the East coast and came to Western Kansas every year to shoot Jacks. They had been hunting 3 or 4 days and said they had harvested over 100 jacks during that time. About 5 years ago I took a guy out to Western Kansas to hunt Jacks with his Golden Eagle. The guy drove down from Minnesota and it was one of the coolest things I've witnessed. My 2 hunting buddies and I talk about it all the time.

Father Forkhorn

I've always kicked them out of the brush and weeds and shot them on the run with a shotgun. A lot of stops and starts and kick a log or brushpile as you encounter them. A lot of rabbits spook if you stop and stand still.

Since I was a kid, they always told me never eat one that has white spots on the liver. Rabbit fever. This website appears to agree: on rabbit fever

That said, I later lived with a biology professor in my community who specialized in immunology. He said by the time you examined the liver you were probably already going to get rabbit fever if the animal had it. He said just walking within a few feet of an infected rabbit would likely transmit it. He called it the perfect bioweapon--it would infect about 80% of the people who were exposed and leave them sicker than dogs, but deaths were very rare. It could completely immobilize an army.

He also emphasized it's a rare disease now and never discouraged me from rabbit hunting, especially in winter. CDC says only about 200 cases per year and you can get it from gardening and stuff like that as it exists in the soil. too. Search the websites and you'll see them saying wear gloves when dressing and use tick repellants, as the ticks on the rabbit can transmit it.

Father Forkhorn

Saw something the other day that there are three times the number of coyotes here in Kansas than there were in the eighties. I'd imagine that's part of it.

Champlain Islander

I have hunted both snowshoe (hares) and cotton tails with beagles. Lots of fun but a lot if work if the snow is deep and you have to use snowshoes. Early season for cotton tails is pretty easy if you don't have a dog. Just go to areas with ground cover like brush piles and cedars.

Bocajnala

Ohio too.

And the birds of prey. Don't forget about them. Drive the highways and count the hawks you see.

I'm lucky that I get to watch two eagles near my house somewhat frequently. I've watched them directly across from my driveway in the field on rabbits several times.

They're pretty, and it may be an unpopular opinion ... But they're just flying coyotes.

-Jake