Hunting Rabbits in winter?

[Crazy.kayaker]

Hello all you winter rabbit hunters I have a question for you. I've been out and other then nearly killing myself when I saw a bunny I've been unable to find any rabbits or prints of them. I'm hoping you can tell me what to look for as I went to a few places I saw bunnies in the summer and fall and can't find any prints or any sign of them is there something special I have to look for? Or is it still just walk though the brush and trees and see if you can scare one up? I have a pair of snowshoes I've been using so I don't sink knee deep in the white stuff around Kamloops so I'm not stuck to roads.

C.K

[spreerider]

I am from the island but when we went rabbit hunting when i was a kid we always found logging roads near fields and walked them in the morning or evening, they always cross open spaces in the same path so once you find where they are crossing.
they seem to stay close to cover but still close to the open, mostly we found them in grassy slashes close to the thick stuff.
I hope this can help you out.

[Will]

Plenty of bunnies around the loops.
look for thier trails in the snow....tracks are easy to find. Bunnies are tough to spot though...often it's the little black eyes you'll spot ! Move slowly & they will freeze if not alarmed.
They stick close to thier holes and disappear quick like if need be. Just walk snowed in roads....they are everywhere. But once you find a good spot, keep it to yourself.

The last hour of daylight is Primetime...at least for me.

[Crazy.kayaker]

Plenty of bunnies around the loops.
look for thier trails in the snow....tracks are easy to find. Bunnies are tough to spot though...often it's the little black eyes you'll spot ! Move slowly & they will freeze if not alarmed.
They stick close to thier holes and disappear quick like if need be. Just walk snowed in roads....they are everywhere. But once you find a good spot, keep it to yourself.

The last hour of daylight is Primetime...at least for me.

Thanks I guess I need to try a few different roads then and I only saw that one rabbit cause it ran in front of a GREEN tree (shocked we still have any green trees still)

[KevinB]

Where have you been going CK? If you aren't seeing many tracks, then try a different spot. If you see a fair # of tracks the morning after a fresh snowfall, that's a better sign.

Usually they set up for the day near the base of a tree with low-hanging branches, and sometimes under brush piles etc.

If I'm hunting alone, I usually zig-zag my way through an area, keeping an eye out for fresh tracks of one running - that mean's I've kicked one up, and if the snow is fresh and not too covered by other tracks yet, I start going after it slowly. Usually I'll bump it up a few more times, if I'm going slow enough I might even get a glimpse of it as it zooms off. They usually don't go that far each time. Eventually you may catch up with it enough to see it sitting still and get a shot. Usually they're pretty close, so head shots with a .22 work well.

If there are a lot of them around, you can have good luck just finding an old overgrown track or skid trail through the area and walking it slowly.

Keep in mind that they will usually head in a general counter-clockwise direction after the first few times you bump them up, if the cover is there. I don't know why that is, but it can help you sometimes.

And contrary to popular belief, snowshoe hares don't dig holes or burrows, like rabbits do, but they will tuck in under logs and such.

[Crazy.kayaker]

I am hunting up between Lac De Bois and McQeen but all the tracks I saw a month ago are under the snow and my 4 trips up there for rabbits have come back with out seeing any sign of a single rabbit.

I've also gone up Jamieson once but haven't gotten up again but I did see in that one trip, 2 cougars, 1 Wolf, 1 Coyote, 1 Rabbit (long story about why rabbits still alive) short story is I missed and gun got snow in it hunt ended.

If someone here lives in kamloops and wants a partner to go rabbit hunting let me know I don't need much heads up to go either as I'm on Disability.

The guns I have for rabbit hunting are: .22 lever and a single shot shotgun (SSS) with a pump here friday or monday depends on when it gets processed at Postal.

[rishu_pepper]

The guns I have for rabbit hunting are: .22 lever and a single shot shotgun (SSS) with a pump here friday or monday depends on when it gets processed at Postal.

Cool, you got a pump? What is it?

[Crazy.kayaker]

It's an Ithaca M37 Featherlight (older style pump handle) with two barrels one is a 30" Full Choke and the other is a 26" Imp Cyl. for the price I got it was a steal of a deal. But I still want a nice SxS in 16(?) or 20(?) gauge once I can afford one again.

[KevinB]

[quote=Crazy.kayaker;383099]I am hunting up between Lac De Bois and McQeen but all the tracks I saw a month ago are under the snow and my 4 trips up there for rabbits have come back with out seeing any sign of a single rabbit. quote]


I go up on the south side of Bleeker Lake (It's up on the way to Roche Lk). I usually see a bunny or two in there. There's a little old overgrown road that follows along the south side of the lake, that's good to walk in on. You can find it all in Google Maps.

Your lever .22 would be great, if it has open sights. All that snow and the crawling around chasing bunnies doesn't mix well with a scope

[Crazy.kayaker]

I'll have to try bleeker lake area and my .22 lever is open sights. I live on the north side of kamloops so I tend to enjoy the norther area more but I keep forgetting about all the great terrain south of me. I tried a new place further up quite a distance and had quite a bit of success finding rabbit sign had one hiding but couldn't get it out after 15 minutes gave up and yes I saw him/her run in to the hole. Also had to change my shotgun load from a #8 to a winchester rifled slug as I had to scare a wolf away that may or may not have been stalking me with my .22 about 3 feet at the shoulder BIG SUCKER!!


Why do I always see the predator and not the prey?!?! Too slow or late right?

C.K