Rabbit huntin'

[Anonymous Poster]

Rabbit huntin\'

Just to show you we don't always try to kill each other around here, I'll tell you about the time Jake pestered me all afternoon about going rabbit huntin' with him.

Ordinarily I say 'hunting' but I have been corrected by him so many times that I now pronounce it properly. It is a very involved procedure the way he does it, and requires a driver, a spotlight aimer and of course him and his gun. Three people, a vehicle, and a gun, to take out a three pound rabbit. Hmmm.

The object is to drive around the grove shining the spotlight and when he sees a rabbit he shoots it, maybe. There is an intricate series of thumps performed on the roof of the truck to instruct the driver to 'turn left, turn right, stop, go' etc. Details that he grilled me on all afternoon. I know that this is illegal to do with deer, but I wasn't /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gifso sure about rabbits.

Finally about eight thirty a cold (for us) December evening he came in and informed me that it was time to go. I sighed, got up, and searched for boots and jacket. On my way out I summoned Elvis, our mutt, who has taken to sleeping just inside the front door on a blanket as he is old and skinny and doesn't retain heat like he used to.

"C'mon Elvis. Wanna go get some rabbits?"

"Uh uh, no, I don't think so, but thank you for asking." Tail thumping the floor, all innocent like.

"Look" I say under my breath, "if I gotta go, you're goin' and that's that, so get your behind in that truck."

He sighed, much as I had, and dragged butt out and jumped in the cab. I grabbed his blanket as a peace offering and stepped out into the cold night. Off we go, My oldest daughter in the back with spotlight, my son in the back with his .22, all frosty breath and excitement. Around and around we go, didn't see the first rabbit. Saw a raccoon.

“I'm gonna shoot it.” Jake says.

“Fine,” I say, “but you're eating it by yourself.”

“Well, maybe not then.”

We’re making our second tour through the grove and Elvis gives me this 'is this what you dragged me out for? I don't know if I can stand all this excitement' look. I just glared back at him and he sighed like he was trying to expel a bad lung, and lay down on the seat grumbling to himself. I got three thumps which meant turn right and I hollered out the window,

"Say son, are there gonna be rabbits on this here rabbit huntin' trip?"

No answer just two thumps to turn left. I felt like an idiot, but I made the turn. Then it dawned on me. Sure I'd rather be sitting in the house watching television, but I had been invited to be a part of my son's life. To learn something about him, what makes him tick, get a glimpse into his world. It won't be that many years from now that I won't be getting those invites any more.

I got another three thumps so I turned right again and smiled. What the heck, even if we didn't get any rabbits, I could say I'd been 'rabbit huntin'.

IMPORTANT NOTE: As a precaution I contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and was informed that this activity is against the law, so this trip was our last. Shame too, because I would do it again. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[thcri]

Re: Rabbit huntin\'

Cindi,

I sure have enjoyed your stories every morning. Got to kind of look forward to them. You should send some of them to Reader's Digest. I think they would be good for the whole world to read.

Keep them coming

murph

 

[dmccarty]

Re: Rabbit huntin\'

Cindi,

I'm sure glad that was your last hunting trip. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I used to
work with the GFC in Florida a few years ago, more than a
few at this point, /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif and you really don't want to
be caught doing that kind of hunting. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

It could have cost you the rifle and the truck. Plus the fines
and sentences! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Equipment used in wildlife violations can be and almost
certainly will be confiscated. A Judge might give it back... I
knew of a case in South Florida where a man was "harvesting"
lobsters that where to small. He got caught. He lost his
SCUBA gear, boat, trailer AND vehicle. OUCH!

He had taken dozens of very little lobsters, they would fit in
spaces use to hold lures in a tackle box. Which is what he
had done. I thought he deserved the penalty myself but the
Judge let him have at least the boat, trailer, and truck back...

Later,
Dan

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Rabbit huntin\'

Yeah I found that out. I called the next day and they informed me that any spotlighting of any kind will get you in very deep trouble. Basically they said you cannot use a spotlight, (which includes, headlights) and gun in conjunction. What do you know about using a light in conjunction with take down dogs for hogs? There's a lot of that going on around here. Not by us. Pit bulls are typically used for take down and I don't know, it just seems brutal to me. Jake hog hunts all the time out back of the house. Went out with rifle one day, came back with a twenty pound screaming squalling little red gilt, no rifle.

"Where's your gun?"

"Had to put it down to catch the pig"

"Thought you were going to shoot a pig to eat."

"Well, heck, not this little thing."

Had to go back for the rifle. Sold the pig for twenty bucks to a freind for the freezer.

 

[fishman]

Re: Rabbit huntin\'

Some states allow exemptions for people who are having depredation problems on their crops. You might check, since you've already called them anyway.

 

[Bird]

Re: Rabbit huntin\'

Cindi, you and your kids are just too young or too properous. We didn't have either a pickup or a spotlight when I was a teenager huntin' rabbits at night; just had to ride the fender of my '46 Chevy and depend on the headlights alone, and we used a shotgun instead of a rifle at night. You don't know what you've missed until you try to balance on that front fender while your driver is driving at breakneck speed trying to keep a jackrabbit in the headlights running across the pasture and just as you get within range and squeeze off a shot with the old twelve gauge, you go over a terrace. Did you know that the combination of a twelve gauge, a terrace, enough speed, and worn out shocks on a Chevy can cause a 16 year old to do a complete backflip and land in the dirt on his face? /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Rabbit huntin\'

I can see the dinstinct possibility of that happening, yes. Smile. I've seen some things that will curl your hair, not the least of which was running over my own son with the family car while armadillo hunting. I'll post that one tomorrow. He's a pretty tough cookie though, he's been thrown, dropped, and run over and still hasn't moved away. I saw him come across the pasture on our Tennessee Walker mare, at breakneck speed. Sydney (the horse) is not big on running as her breed might suggest, so she stopped on a dime and he flew over her shoulders head first but curled around and landed on his feet like of those dang, uh, you know, uh, ...gymnasts at the olympics. And the horse fell down. Nobody got hurt.

 

[Bird]

Re: Rabbit huntin\'

Yep, Cindi, you sometimes wonder how a farm kid ever survives. When I got my first horse, my best friend and nearest neighbor talked his dad into buying him one, too. Then he got permission to ride in the pasture across the road where we'd never been before and the grass and weeds were nearly waist high on us kids. Franklin went charging across that unfamiliar pasture; the horse stopped and he didn't, but he wasn't as lucky as your son. The horse stopped because there was a ravine there into which Franklin dived head first. It might not have been so bad if the property owner hadn't been using that ravine for a garbage dump. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Fortunately, no broken bones or serious injuries, but I've never seen a kid wear that many bandaids at once.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Rabbit huntin\'

Aww.....! Poor kid! Jake has the luck of....well I can't think of a good metaphor but it's almost like he's invincible. I know he's not and he knows he's not but you couldn't prove it. He seem to have used up his major accidents before he hit six.

 

[dmccarty]

Re: Rabbit huntin\'

Cindi,

Sorry for the late response but I keep forgetting to click on
the "Add this thread to my favorites." box so I don't get the
email telling me that someone responded.

Hmmm. Using the light I *** THINK *** is going to cause
problems. In FL in "prima faci", I'm pretty sure I just misspelled
faci, to have a light and gun at night. In English, /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif, having
a light and gun at night means you B Poaching and all the
evidence that one needs is the light, gun and night.

Hunting Pigs with dogs. Yes you can and no you can't. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
How is that for being clear? In FL pigs are considered
livestock, so if its on YOUR land you can do with them as you
want. Shoot him or let the dogs go after them. They are
your pigs. Now if it is on PUBLIC land there are regulations.
In a WildLife Management(WMA) area I don't think one can
run dogs period.

How is that for being clear. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Of course the law is about the law and not about right and
wrong nor being clear. For instance, I'm assuming the law has
not changed in 10 years, but the statutes allow one to carry
a firearm when hunting, fishing, and camping. But in some
areas one could not posses a firearm. But if I'm hunting,
fishing or camping..... It don't have to make sense its the
law. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif The statutes where just waiting for someone to
get charged and fight it out in court to make case law. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Twern't going to be me though!!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Call that 1-800 line again and ask the people in Dispatch.
They should help you with your questions. I'm a good 10
years our of FL so my info is dated.

Later,
Dan