Got home from work this afternoon later than usual, around 3:45, but figured I still had enough time to change into camo, grab a gun and race down to the state owned land near my home and hunt the last hour of daylight. I grabbed the .177 Goldfinger, a bunch of CPL's and raced out the door.
Got to the designated parking spot and saw another truck parked. I know this guy and knew he was in there bowhunting for deer, so I put on my blaze orange hunting cap just to make sure he'd see me if I wandered into his area. Wanting to be ready for a shot I cocked the Goldfinger and loaded in a CPL.
I did my usual and still hunted down the main trail, but by the time I got to the end of the trail I hadn't seen hide nor hair of any squirrels. Daylight was starting to fade and I decided to to skulk along another trail when all of a sudden I saw some movement about 40 yards up ahead on the trail. It was a cottontail rabbit that hopped out of the thick, impenetrable briars that lined the trail. The rabbit hadn't seen me and was apparently coming out for a snack. He had hopped across the trail and was nestled in a small patch of brush. I slowly closed the distance until I was 20 yards out. Due to the rabbits position in the brush I couldn't shoot standing straight up or kneeling down because I didn't have a head shot, but I found that if I half squatted and leaned to the right I had a clear shot at the base of the head. It was rather uncomfortable, especially due to my bad back, but I finally got a good sight picture and pulled the trigger.
Immediately after the gun fired I saw the rabbit leap about 3 feet into the air and hit the ground doing the death boogie. He flailed around for about 10 seconds then gave up the ghost. Picked up my prize and since the light was really fading now I decided to hunt my way back to the truck.
On the way back I jumped one more rabbit that came out of the briars onto the main trail, and I did take a shot, but I hit some thin branches that were between me and the rabbit. After the shot the cottontail made a bee line for the nearest thick cover and disappeared under a dense wall of briars and thorns.
Forgot to mention,,,, during the hunt I wound up sneaking up on 2 nice sized deer, both does, that were feeding on the edge of a field. I wish I had brought my bow cause I got to within 20 yards of both of those deer before they even knew I was there. Had a great broadside bow shot at both deer, only problem was NO BOW :(
Back at the truck I ran into the bowhunter, who was leaving also, and spent some time talking to him. He hadn't been seeing any deer so I told him where I saw those 2 does, think he's gonna try that spot tomorrow.
I took a couple of pics of the bunnies when I got home, although it was dark out so the pics didn't come out great. I'm gonna head back tomorrow after work again and see if I can nail another one.
Jeff
