Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Archived Hunting Pics => Shooting and Hunting => 2008 Hunting Pics => Topic started by: billy on April 20, 2008, 01:06:16 am
-
I was sneaking along the edge of a a brushy hedgerow when I saw a cottontail run off. I kept sneaking and saw the rabbit underneath some brush. I shot once with an obsidian-tipped cane arrow, but the arrow flew really high and I missed by at least a foot. Not really sure what the deal is with that arrow, I'll have to see why it flies squirrely. Anyway, the rabbit ran off just a ways and stopped again. I shot a Port Orford cedar arrow at him the 2nd time and hit him in the back left leg. I saw him kick his back legs up, and then he limped forward a few feet. It was then saw his leg was totally broken and it was just dangling. oh man, I felt SO bad cause I couldn't let him run around like that...he woulda suffered a lingering death for sure. I had one more arrow left, and it had a rubber blunt on the tip. I really don't like those rubber blunts because I've shot several squirrels with them and had them run off, but I had no choice. He was about 18 yards away, so I drew back, let it fly, and slammed that blunt right into the rabbit's left shoulder. It knocked him over instantly. I ran over to him afraid he was gonna wake up and run away, but I couldn't reach him cause he was in the thick briars. I then tried to pull him out with my bow, and it was then he started kicking. He kicked free of my bow and started flopping farther into the pricker bushes. I was afraid he was gonna run off, but when I looked at my bow, there was blood all over the limb. There was also a alot of blood on the ground where he'd been laying and I knew he couldn't go far bleeding like that. It just turned out to be his nerves going off, and after flopping for 15 or 20 seconds he finally lay still. I was finally able to get into the bushes and get my rabbit. Attached to this e-mail is a pic of me with the rabbit. IT's not a turkey, but at least it's something!
The weather has been really dreary and cloudy the last 3 days, but I'm hoping for sun tomorrow. Gonna go out if it's nice and try for a squirrel or, if I'm really lucky, a turkey. I'll keep ya posted.
Billy
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Nice!
can you hunt rabbits now? just wondering
-
Great shot brother, good eatin too.. Hawk a/ho
-
nice rabbit due.
dont let the rain ruin turkey hunt. the secret to hunting buzzards in the rain or high wind is to move to the edge of fields,usualy to the leward side of the woods where there is liitle wind. when its rainy or windy the birds cant hear as well in the woods due the extra noise created from the leaves and everything rustling and the rain falling so they move out to fields so that they can atleast use their great eyes to feel safe.
many fiar weather hunters leave when the weather turns,but that usually means that you can have the woods to yourself,which in turn means you can hunt the birds with less intrusion from other hunters calling.
so dont let the weather deter your turkey hunt.
good luck dude.
tim
-
oh yeah, iforgot to mention ifn you get another bunny you could use the tails for string silencers,that would look cool 8) >:D
-
good to see ya tried to put it out quickly. though it doesnt always work out. good eatin. ;)
-
Congrats billy.
-
good work billy. next time grab a stick and crack it one in the back of the head. the nock area also makes a great noose for pullin game from the brush.
-
nicw job! I love shootin rabbits, they are good practice, and good eating too.
-
That pic makes me hungry - Depending on where you're at, don't you have to worry about tularemia in spring cottontails? Anybody know much about what to look for? I think I remember something about white / yellow spots on the liver being bad. Wife said she saw a bunny eating my mustard greens in the garden yesterday. Thinking the ones he left would make a good side dish - need to find a coupla morels, too!
-
I've heard the same thing about tularemia: yellow or white spots on the liver is sign they are infected. This one didn't have any, and I did eat him. It was really good! Plus the fact that I got him with my own handmade primitive bow, well, that made him even more delicious. Another thing that this kill makes me grateful for: I'm glad I don't have to rely on my skills with my bow to provide food. If my survival depended on what I was able to get with my bow....well, I would have starved to death years ago!
-
Mmmm - rabbit and dumplings :). I got one a few weeks ago after about four shots - kept shooting high at ten feet, but when he hopped off to twenty feet I nailed him in the back of neck, hmm...
-
I shoot high when they are close too, its frusturating. I think its due to the angle that we miss when they are close, kinda like shooting hiigh accidentally from a tree stand. Lately Ive been bowfishing and I have to aim extra low for that cuz of the light refraction in the water.
-
An old archer once told me, "when shooting at a rabbit aim at the spot where the front feet touch the ground."I am not sure why it works but if you do, the arrow almost always hits the bunny in the head. Hawk a/ho
-
Excellent rabbit! I'm sure he tasted sublime :)!
Old pop cans, corn cobs, or water bottles make good "rabbit" practice. Lay it on the groun and keep shooting it farther and farther away from you with a blunt. I believe it was Maurice Thompson who wrote that when shooting at rabbits so close, you had to aim "beneath" them.
-
Well done Billy
We don't have cottontails up here but we do have snowshoe hares. They are quite tough to kill. I shot one many years ago with the old 3 blade bodkins and cut its heart in half. It still ran around screaming for nearly 1/2 a minute. The only ones that ever died on the spot were the ones that were shot right in the head, a broadhead in the head makes them lay down right there. I wouldn't shoot one with a blunt unless it was real close and could get a head shot
-
Blunts are Brutal....I always use Broadheads
-
nice!! i'd shoot one rite now but here its not rabbit season >:(
-
I didn't even realize there was a rabbit season...I have a friend (in IL, where I'm from) who used to shoot rabbits with a BB gun because they ate his mom's garden and landscaping, at any time of the year.
-
Here in TX rabbits are a nongame animal, with no season or bag limit. I hunt em' in my inlaws backyard year round. ;D
-
Cant eat em though....get the Fever in the Summer eating Cotton Tails.......
-
Thats what I hear but all the ones Ive ever killed have been fine.
-
Thats what I hear but all the ones Ive ever killed have been fine.
Just have to look for Blisters under the Hide....and cut the Liver open and look for Spots.....so I have been told!!
-
I've always heard to only hunt and eat em in months that have an R in them.
-
hey thats great billy...now have fur for some projects..juniper junkey and keenan where talking about you at the primitive gathering this last week end.so i jumped in and said i really wish you could have been out here.i really wanted to meet you..but we will meet some day....they had a great gathering and i finally got to meet gordon,bryan b,dave,keenan.those guys are really neat people.later john
-
HEy John,
Yeah, I wish I coulda been out there too. I love Oregon and if I could find a decent job out there I wouldn't hesitate to move back out there again, just don't tell my girlfriend! I love it out there.
Been thinking of maybe coming out this summer sometime. Not really sure yet, just kinda kicking the idea around. But it might happen.
-
hey billy,i hope you make it out before summer of next year.my wife and i are thinking about moving back to montana next year..later john
-
Must be nice to hunt them now.I gotta wait two more months.All i can hunt for is groundhogs,coyotes,and crows.Try shooting a crow in flight.Now that tough.Someday when i connect,it`s getting mounted.Anyways,goodluck with your hunting adventures.
-
Well done Billy. Welcome to P.E.T.A. ! ( People eating tasting animals ) We have plenty of Rabbits down here in Fla. Marsh rabbits, and cotton tails. Not too much differenct between them cept the coloration. Only problem, most of the Rabbits down here have tape worms, and what we call " Wolves " Don't know if that is just a colloquial name, or factual. Anyway it is a parasite that is reddish brown, and with little spine like things on it, and it is round, and sort of tapered at each end. I have eaten Rabbits, when I was younger, but don't hunt them now. Cowboy the " R "thing probably is because those are the cooler months. There is a myth about that down here for the oysters. I talked to a Marine Patrol Officer, and he said it was a myth, and sometimes the oysters will get a little discoloration during the summer months, but they are still ok to eat. I don't eat too many Oysters, though I do truly love them, raw, fried, baked, stewed, what ever. But I have a friend of mine who is an Epidemiologist, and she said that there is not an Oyster bed in the U.S. that is not polluted. She never eat any raw shell fish, Clams, Oysters, etc. . Only eat them if they have been fried, stewed, or baked. She said not to eat any steamed clams either, because steaming doesn't kill the bacteria. Just the clam.
But I am glad that you did not kill the Rabbit just to kill it. Always glad to see a hunter with good ethics. Yeah, the tails, would be good string silencers. Only problem is they kinda shed.
Wayne
-
Good man, Billy. Glad to see you have a heart for the little beasts.
~~Papa Matt
-
wow, thats a nice sized rabbit! a good story too. i shot a rabbit with a homemade blowgun, it had a razor breoadhead on it, but i hit him in the gut, so i had t get a bb gun out , just to make sure i killed him with a little dignity and respect. i understand where you're coming from with the blunt, my coussin hit a monster groundhod in the ront shoulder with it- and it was a powerful bow too- but the thing still flopped around, like it was hit with a bowling ball.