2/9/2007

It’s Winter in Nebraska and There’s Still Time to Go Rabbit Hunting - Tom Keith

LINCOLN, Neb. – Most of Nebraska’s winter hunting seasons have come to an end but the rabbit hunters are still having a good time pursuing bunnies with modern and black powder shotguns, .22 rifles and archery gear.

There are still three weekends left before the cottontail season closes Feb. 28, and the weather couldn’t be much better for hunting. Most of the state has snow on the ground and the weather bureau says there may be more on the way.

The morning following a light snow is the best time to be in the field hunting because that’s when cottontails are moving and leaving a lot of tracks. By walking slowly through an area you like to hunt you can get an idea of how many rabbits live there and what types of cover they prefer, good information that will prove valuable as you hunt.

The traditional, and most enjoyable, way to hunt bunnies is with a brace or a pack of beagles. The small dogs track rabbits while baying to keep the hunter appraised of their position. A fleeing cottontail tends to make a circle and return to a spot near the point where it started running. When the dogs move a rabbit out of cover, the hunter finds a high spot or other vantage point near an open area where he thinks the rabbit will return, and waits there for a shot when the cottontail comes back.

Although hunting with beagles is a lot of fun, not everyone is able to own dogs. But, that doesn’t mean you should stay home if you don’t have a beagle or two -- a lone hunter, a pair of hunters, or a small group can all be effective and successful hunting without a dog.

The old adage, “Find a weed patch and you’ll find rabbits,” is as true today as it was a hundred years ago. The same goes for fence rows, windbreaks, grassy waterways, thickets, tangles and brush piles.

Brush piles are especially valuable to rabbits because they provide warmth, and protection from predators that attack from above. “Never pass-up a brush pile without kicking or otherwise disturbing it,” is sound advice.

If hunting alone, be ready for a rabbit to come speeding out from any opening in the brush pile, and if you have a hunting partner, have them stand on the opposite side of the brush pile in case the rabbit tries to escape in that direction. Stomp on or shake the brush pile to make reluctant rabbits leave the pile and send it scurrying for a safer spot to hide.

During periods of severe weather rabbits look for weedy winter cover along creeks and small streams adjacent to cornfields and other croplands. These low-lying areas are usually protected from the wind and downed tree trunks and limbs provide secure cover from many predators. A hunter can move slowly along the high land above the creek bottom and shoot rabbits as they move about below.

During days immediately following a cold snap rabbits are eager to feed, but they also spend time during the comparatively warm afternoons sitting in the sun on exposed south- facing hillside, which makes them vulnerable to a stalking hunter with a .22-cal. rifle.

In the late winter hungry rabbits often search out dense thickets and weed patches for food, apparently hoping to find weed seeds and berries left over from the fall or waste grain in adjacent crop fields. Several inches of snow sometimes cover the ground and even cottontails are slowed by the snow, making them fairly easy targets for a hunter.

Finding a good rabbit hunting area is not difficult in Nebraska. Although roughly 98 percent of the land in this state is privately owned, there are some 300 state and federal public areas encompassing about 800,000 acres where public hunting is allowed. There are also some 180,000 acres of Conservation Reserve Program-Management Access Program (CRP- MAP) land where hunters may hunt private lands enrolled in CRP-MAP. The free CRP-MAP Atlas, which explains CRP-MAP and has maps showing the locations of lands enrolled in the program, is available at all Nebraska Game and Parks Commission offices, from permit vendors, and on the Commission’s Web site at www.OutdoorNebraska.org. In addition, many rural landowners will allow rabbit hunting on their property, but it is imperative that the hunter receive the landowner’s permission before hunting on private land.

Rabbits may be legally hunted 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset. Wherever you hunt, remember to wear hunter orange so you will be easily seen and identified by other hunters. The law does not require upland game hunters to wear hunter orange, but is the safest thing to do.

Before heading out to hunt rabbits, you can purchase a 2007 Nebraska hunting permit and Habitat Stamp online from the Commission’s Web site at www.OutdoorNebraska.org, from a Commission office or any of some 900 permit vendors across the state. All residents 16 years of age and older who hunt small game must have a Nebraska hunting permit and a Nebraska Habitat Stamp. All nonresident hunters, regardless of age, must have a Nebraska hunting permit and a Nebraska Habitat Stamp. The resident annual hunting permit costs $12, a nonresident annual hunting permit is $68, and the Nebraska Habitat Stamp, is $13. Also, pick up a free copy of the 2006 Nebraska Hunting Guide (the 2007 edition won’t be available until fall), which has information about hunting regulations and public hunting lands across the state.