A "Bazillion" Jackrabbits-Honest to God

Snug 2 · 01-01-2007, 09:30 AM

I spent a few days in Burns looking for cougars. No luck. Cut a few tracks, but they headed to south slopes and we ran out of snow. Next time...

I was invited to go shoot a few rabbits with a friend's family. They said they killed 1200 the night before... ya right. So we head down onto the Catlow rim and met the land owner. He tells us to head out into the pivots and work the edges. As the night progresses, the rabbits will eventually be in the middle of the fields.

It started out slow... one here, one there. Then two's, three's, six's... There were six of us shooting, in two rigs. In 2.5 hours we probably killed 500 rabbits and then got tired of it. If we would have had more shells, and fewer people getting cold, we could have killed 1200 without a problem. The owner said that by 10 PM, there will be groups of 50-60 rabbits in his spot light.

Have you ever seen the photos of the great rabbit round-up that periodically happen in the SE part of the state? Well this is what is was like. This guy has 12 pivots. We barely scratched the surface of two of them.

I did shoot one badger at 378 yards (range finder) with my 22-250. It is always nice to make a long shot work as planned.

Snakebite · 01-01-2007, 10:08 AM

Sounds like fun. But why shoot a badger? I know it's an unprotected mammal. but I'll bet they eat jackrabbits.

DAB · 01-01-2007, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snakebite

Sounds like fun. But why shoot a badger? I know it's an unprotected mammal. but I'll bet they eat jackrabbits.

Livestock can step in the Badger holes and break thier legs ( as Papa Hog would put it ) me thinks.
DAB

Snug 2 · 01-01-2007, 01:04 PM

Why shoot a badger? Multiple reasons. First off, they make a mess of the alfalfa pivots. The holes they dig and the mounds of soil are a problem for the machinery. They can also cause problems for the 1500 head of cattle this guy owns. Yes, they eat rabbits when they can catch them, but they also eat a lot of game bird eggs and chicks. The badgers are thick in the area I have access to. Shooting a few each year never seems to matter.

Fisherman_Mark · 01-01-2007, 05:25 PM

What do you do with 1700 dead rabbits? Give them to the local zoo for cat food? Holy smokes, I wouldn't want to be out there when they ripen up..

johndeeregreen · 01-01-2007, 05:29 PM

That much fun shoudn't be legal. I so wish I was there.
Congrats on the badg.

gerry · 01-01-2007, 06:08 PM

Crabbait????

Snug 2 · 01-01-2007, 07:07 PM

I was reading in "Oregon Desert" today about the rabbit problem in Harney county in 1915. They paid a 5 cent bounty on jacks (as they called them). The locals turned in 1,029,000 rabbits that year. So yes, there are years when they are thick.

Maverick Maxcat · 01-01-2007, 07:56 PM

That sounds like too much fun. Any interest in doing it again when bird season's over?

Snug 2 · 01-02-2007, 05:57 AM

Mav, I might be able to get back over in Feb. Jan. is pretty much out of the question. Glen says hello.

Abalone · 01-02-2007, 10:55 AM

You may have missed your best chance at a cougar.

After a masacre like that there are bound to be predators on the take
That much blood in the air might bring in a cat. On a couple of occasions I have killed Coyotes while blasting away at Sage rats. Dang dogs run right in on me. I have shot them with my .22 mag at less then 100 feet. No reason a cougar wouldn't do the same.

( just a suggestion )

Poor Bunny's Hope Bugs wasn't with em.

JohnnyP · 01-02-2007, 11:08 AM

Snug;

Be very careful handling any of those rabbits, I spent a week in the hospital and almost died last year after a very similar rabbit hunt in SE OR. I caught a disease called Tularemia or "rabbit fever", do a google search, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Funny thing is I'm planning to go again this year....just not going to touch any rabbits this time.

We had a blast and I've never seen so may rabbits in one spot in my life. The only reason we stopped is we burned up our supply of 2,000 rounds of .22LR ammo. If you're interested in being part of a filming for a TV show let me know. I've got rancher friends with plenty of rabbits but another spot couldn't hurt.

Here's a picture from our hunt, we only picked up a few easy ones that were on the road near the truck.

DGindlesperger · 01-02-2007, 11:13 AM

Sounds like a BLAST !!!!!!!

Daffyblaster · 01-02-2007, 11:13 AM

Do you guys seriously not eat any of these rabbits? We used to hunt and eat them back east (southeastern US). We would only hunt them in the winter to cut down on the rabbit fever possibility. I sure do miss it. Rabbit is some sweet meat.

Quack Attack · 01-02-2007, 11:22 AM

I too have killed my share of black tailed jack's, but we never ate any either, because of rabbit fever. It is blood born, so cleaning them increases your risk immensly. None the less, these are actually hares, and have much different meat than the rabbits you remember from the south. The meat on these is actually a dark meat, similar to venison, though your average rabbit does not have much, and is more gamey than venison. OK I guess we did eat a few, particularly the white tailed variety we got up in the mountains which were bigger and more worth the effort. I would reccomend against it though, and really shouldn't admit to it.

Daffyblaster · 01-02-2007, 11:50 AM

Good article here on Rabbit Fever.

http://www.beaglesunlimited.net/rabb..._tularemia.htm

Very informative. I think I might chekc into getting the vaccine for it, being outdoorsy and all. Now if they only had a vaccine for Lyme disease and Avian flu we'd be in high cotton.

If any of you guys know of any rabbit hunting opportunities closer to Portland send me a pm.

Fisherman_Mark · 01-02-2007, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daffyblaster

Good article here on Rabbit Fever.

http://www.beaglesunlimited.net/rabb..._tularemia.htm

Very informative. I think I might chekc into getting the vaccine for it, being outdoorsy and all. Now if they only had a vaccine for Lyme disease and Avian flu we'd be in high cotton.

If any of you guys know of any rabbit hunting opportunities closer to Portland send me a pm.

How about a vaccine for Buck Fever!! I am sure there are family members that would love to see that one come out.

crabbait · 01-02-2007, 07:10 PM

I told my dad this story and he said that when he was a kid in the early thirties they lived in Powder. He said his father and another man went out after Jacks with a wagon about 9' wide and 10-12' long, 3' sides. He said they were back within a few days with the wagon piled high with rabbits. They hung them in a shed, frozen solid, and the whole town ate on them all winter. Meat was a little harder to come by in the early thirties.

stlhdr1 · 01-02-2007, 07:39 PM

I'm not much of a begger but if there are any possibilities of bringing some one along, this looks like something tough to pass up. I have a 22-250 and a .22 mag I could participate with...

Keith

pnwcoast · 01-02-2007, 08:21 PM

10/22 LR Carbine

lor · 01-02-2007, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pnwcoast

10/22 LR Carbine

How far is it to the land of rawbits.
I have a bolt action 22 LR, compound bow, and a 12 guage.

Chrome Bumper · 01-02-2007, 08:36 PM

Good crawdad bait.

icbig1s · 01-02-2007, 08:42 PM

I have a question, is it legal to hunt rabbits at night?

Hawk · 01-02-2007, 08:45 PM

So, did we ever decide what we do with all the dead rabbits? Do we pick 'em up, or leave 'em for the yotes, badgers, eagles and hawks?

The_Duck_Master · 01-02-2007, 08:50 PM

I had the opportunity to participate in one of these shoots when I was a kid in Montana. Had a blast but there was a catch. Most of the rabbits inhabited a shelter belt around the rancher's house. He said we could shoot as many as we wanted but we had to haul them off. I guess he'd learned his lesson from a previous thaw.

Anyway, we shot a couple hundred of them and by the time we'd picked em up we pretty much had enough of the whole thing. Most of them ended up as bait on my bro's trap line.

That said, if any open seats come up I'd very much appreciate the opportunity as well.

fish_on · 01-02-2007, 08:58 PM

Has anyone ever heard of or remember the Mud Lake Idaho bunny bash? Back when the rabbits were thick as shad we had a blast taking care of the problem. There is no way now that you could get away with what we locals did to exterminate bunnies

.

We would also strap landing lights to our 10/22's, drive around the haystacks you could shoot for hours. The fox and coyotes ate well too.

Abalone · 01-03-2007, 07:53 AM

My Uncle had a friend in Arizona that was a doctor and owned a 10 k acre ranch near flagstaff. It was infested with rabbits. My cousin Steve Koler went to visit one year and they hunted rabbits. They used machine guns.
He told me they never were sure if they hit any rabbits but with three guys shooting Thomsons and other Fully automatic rifles it was Kick ass fun and they didn't have to worry about cleaning the meat.

That's something I have always been envious of.

elkaholic · 01-03-2007, 08:11 AM

Yes, it is legal to hunt them at night. By using an artificial light. Be sure you get written directive from a landowner that you are acting as their "agent".