How cold is to cold?

January 3rd 2008 it was 15 degrees with a very heavy frost on the ground in Hart county Ky. On a morning like this some say it is to cold to hunt rabbits. Well, you can ask Fred Gibson, Nathan Howell, Mike Cardwell and I, Greg Slone, this question.

The four of set out this very morning with a pack of six beagles a video camera and the hopes of bagging some cottontail rabbits and boy we were not disappointed. The land we were hunting was comprised of large fields with grown up fence lines and large sink holes which were consumed with thick briars and cover. As we started around a pond not fifty yards from the truck, the dogs were already on the first rabbit of the day in less than five minutes. The briars around this pond were so thick that the dogs even had problems maneuvering in this terrain. As we were scattered around the top of hill in hopes of even getting a glimpse of the rabbit in such heavy brush, it wasn't long that our first cottontail was spotted creeping through the underbrush. No shots rang out at this rabbit, but it wouldn't be long before the first shot was fired at the cottontail and it was a MISS. Fred seen two more that the dogs had drove out of the thick cover and never even seen them or smelled them. This day was shaping up to be a good day!

As we continued to push on through the heavy brush and over grown fence rows our first rabbit was finally bagged after three or four great races. Nathan was the lucky man on the spot to put the first cottontail in the bag. I even managed to capture it on tape! Our second rabbit was only in the next sink hole about forty yards away. Again, as the dogs enter the thick brush one of them sounded off almost immediately and the whole packed joined in the short race before Nathan dropped the hammer again on rabbit number two. By this time Fred and Mike are getting a little anxious to put a cottontail in their sites. It wouldn't be long before everyone had bagged a rabbit. Not long, as in about ten minutes we had another one in the sack.

As we proceeded to move across the fields from sink hole to sink hole and fence line to fence line the dogs were still hitting on all cylinders. The sound of a pack of beagles bellowing in the cold crisp air is something that you have to be there to appreciate. The uniqueness and different barks that these six dogs had were that of a musical being played out in the wild. This pack of dogs was fun to watch and listen too the entire day we were out there. A lot of people just enjoy the sites and sounds of a beagle or a pack of beagles running a rabbit and I happen to be one of those people. Now don't get me wrong, I also enjoy harvesting a mess of rabbits to put on the dinner table as well.

As the daylight started to fade and the day coming to a close, we run up on a flock of turkey and about twenty deer. This is the beauty of being in the outdoors, you never know what you're going to see. You do know this, if you're in the house or on the couch you are for sure not going to take part in the wonderful views that nature allows you to have.

As quickly has it had started it was now the end of one most exciting rabbit hunts I have ever taken part in. The four of us had taken sixteen rabbits and four quail. Now, I don't care whose book you're looking at, that is a gratifying day of hunting. The only thing take might be more gratifying is the overwhelming feast that harvest of rabbits will bring to us in the near future.

I would like to give a very special thanks to Nathan Howell for allowing us to hunt such beautiful and plentiful land. I have to also give a special thanks to Fred Gibson for the invite and him and Mike Cardwell for supplying a wonderful pack of beagles.