Just back from a few days away at the farm of my wife's cousin.
Was going to take the Hornet shooting Lyman 225415 bullets but decided the Ackley needed an airing.
The little PB 85gr linotype bullet over 11gr SR7625 for 1800fps sure does the number on our large hares.
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Cheers from New Zealand
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Well done Jeff,I like to see small game shot cleanly as those two hares are,not a fan of blasting creatures to shreds.
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Another "well done Jeff".
Real targets have fur (or equivalent).
In another life I used to shoot hares and rabbits. A female hare made a very good stew or curry. I wasn't so keen on rabbits. For those not in the know, hares have dark flesh like beef, while rabbits are white meat. I don't know how this plays out with American Jackrabbits.
European hares owe their presence in "the colonies" to the old sport of coursing - chasing hares with greyhounds. Once our more modern sensibilities converted coursing into greyhound racing as we know it today, with greyhounds chasing a "tin hare", the real hares were more or less left to go feral.
My father and his brother had two packs of hunting dogs, one working, one resting, that included some greyhounds. Game was hares, rabbits, foxes and pigs. At one time, just as the tin hare was coming into vogue, Dad had a particularly fast greyhound. He worried that being so fast the dog would end up running into a tree or a stake and killing himself. His local barber was a greyhound racer, so Dad gave him the dog. The barber arranged for a pedigree and papers and the dog was a big success. Dad said every time he went to town for a haircut there was ten pounds waiting for him courtesy of the greyhound races. It was a few years after this that Dad paid 12 pounds 10 shillings for a new Winchester Model 65 .218 Bee - so that dog was making real money.
You are only as good as your library.
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The above stirs memories of my youth when hunting rabbits in western Maryland with my dad, uncles, and cousins. Uncle Woodrow had rabbit hounds (beagles) that he had trained quite well to flush the rabbits out of the snow covered thickets. We used shotguns to try and hit the fast moving rabbits being chased by a hound or two. Dad had bought me a single-shot Winchester Model-37 20 gauge youth shotgun for these hunts, and to use when squirrel hunting too. I still have that shotgun which he bought at our local Sears store I believe. It's a tad on the small side and the LOP is set up for a youngster. Every time I hold that old shotgun, it brings back fond memories of my youth - hunting with my dad, uncles, and cousins - and trying not to freeze to death while doing so.
The main concern when hunting with the dogs was not to hit one of the pursuing beagles. One had to develop intense situational awareness as well as concentration to shoot the rabbits, not the dogs. My uncle Woodrow was as fast as lightening with his Browning and my cousins Dale and David were equally fast. I was a little young at the time and frankly was trying not to freeze to death in all of my layered coats and gloves and wool watch cap. I kind of look back and recall I looked like the kids outside in the movie A Christmas Story.
The men would usually harvest a dozen or so rabbits out of the snow covered hills and briar patches which my Aunt Virginia would stew that evening or the next day. I loved the stew best although her fried rabbit was quite good too. Gone now are the halcyon days of youth and only fond memories remain. I do truly miss those hunts, the excitement surrounding those blistery cold mornings, my ears turning red, my breath visible on each exhale. The excitement as the dogs were released and warmed up was contagious, and then Uncle Woodrow would shout out "HUNT" and those rascals would run off into the fields and berry thickets flushing rabbits. Inevitably, the baying would start and a dog or two would be on a rabbit like white on rice.
After a few hours of hunting in the icy weather, we would tap into the steaming hot coffee that Aunt Virginia had sent off with us. I would have my own thermos cup of coffee like "one of the men" and not simply sip out of my dad's cup like a child. Times then were grand.
I feel so sorry for any young men who have not had the opportunity to learn bonding, responsibility, and have social interactions with relatives and peers like some of us older folks had in our youth. There were no smart phones, cell phones, instant food, fast food joints, or other distractions from the game at hand. We ate ham biscuits wrapped in foil out of paper bags. We drank steaming hot coffee made in a percolator. We had a crock of water in the back of Woodrow's truck with a ladle in it to be shared among us. Nobody was worried about germs or California Prop-65. None of us even cared where California was. I guess now there are video games about hunting or AI generated cartoons and such for the unsocialized youth of today.
I'll take a day afield any day over the alternatives posed now. I just wish we had hares like those shown above. We could have filled the meat pot a lot earlier and not have frozen our ears, noses, and hands like we did back then! Thanks for the great stories from NZ!
With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.
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Aaron
Like you I grew up in a family of rabbit hunters but in upstate New York. Between my father, grandfather, and uncles we had battalions of beagles. Lord, how I miss those days that only remain in an old man's memory.
beagle6
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Also managed to recover a bullet. It riveted more than I thought it would for linotype.
Cheers from New Zealand
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Aaron: Your rabbit hunts sounded a lot like the ones I used to go on with my brother and friends. He had 3 beagles. One aptly named "bummer" would occasionally switch his nose gears from rabbit to mouse and lead us on a merry chase until we would see the mouse tracks in the snow. Thanks for bringing back some great memories.
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Jeff, the riveting on that lino bullet surprises me. Could you give us a little more information on that shot? Distance? Was it recovered in the body of one of the hares?
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Jeff, the riveting on that lino bullet surprises me. Could you give us a little more information on that shot? Distance? Was it recovered in the body of one of the hares?
My thoughts precisely! That's a lot of deformation on a hare. Now of course, being a NZ hare means they are a more robust critter but that's a surprising amount of nose crush. That must be a softer alloy?
With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.
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Also managed to recover a bullet. It riveted more than I thought it would for linotype.
And it didn't shatter.
You are only as good as your library.
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Recovered from hard soil approximately 30 yards from muzzle.
Alloy tests at 19.3 BHN so bang on for linotype.
No way would that bullet ever stay inside a hare.
Cheers from New Zealand
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We had rabbit beagles growing up. Oh, how I miss the beagle bay. The music they make when on one is something else.
Yep, freezing cold in too big hand-me-down hunting clothes until I grew into them. We had a thermos of coffee to start the day, mine got cut in half with water in a WWII canteen cup since I was young. Dad kept a white gas stove on top of the dog box in the back of the Scout/Jeep/truck that we would break out for breakfast around 9ish. Bacon/sausage, eggs, and gravy sure warmed us up.
Dad was quick with his 20-gauge Winchester 101. Back then I was too with the 20-guage Red Label he bought me. Last time I went rabbit hunting about 5 years ago, not so much.
Thank you all for bringing back some memories.
-Michael
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One of my Dad's early days dogs was a mostly English Setter mix of independent mind.
Running rabbits with dogs would often end up back where the rabbit started, after he'd led the dogs around the circuit. That was the key to shooting them - wait for the rabbit to come back past.
This particular dog figured it out and instead of joining the chase would find a likely end point, log or pile of rubbish, and nab the rabbit when it arrived. If he got it wrong he'd pretend he hadn't noticed there was a chase going on. Rabbit? What rabbit?
You are only as good as your library.
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That is a fine looking rifle. I like your setup.
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We need another Rabbit match!
Jon
Jon Welda CW5 USA Ret.
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Jon-
I have been thinking the same thing. Maybe we could use the rabbit target that is located on the CBA Info > download tab.
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That's because they are hares.
Hares are much larger, breed once a year, do not burrow, have dark flesh, and run with their tails down.
European rabbits are much smaller, breed continuously and furiously, burrow if they can but can equally live on the surface in rubbish piles and logs, have white flesh, and run with their tails up. I would expect considerable overlap with your Cottontails.
Can someone please tell me where a Jackrabbit sits in this spectrum? Another Hare?
You are only as good as your library.
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Yes, a hare. When I lived in north east Nevada they were sometimes referred to as Blacktail Hare. I do not remember wasting much centerfire ammunition on them. There were simply too many of them back in the 80's for that to be economically viable.
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And we have the snowshoe hares in the mountains here. Big critters with huge feet for traveling on top of the snow, hence the name.
Glenn
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Aaron
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linoww
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RicinYakima
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Tom Acheson
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JeffinNZ
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timinpa
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beltfed
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Boschloper
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Bryan Austin
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muley
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