Greg Slone

It was December 12, 2009; we were out rabbit hunting with Ragan Slone and Aubree Knois, both 10year old girls. We would be joined shortly with another 10year old boy named Cory Skaggs. Our hunt started right at the barn where the dogs are and it didn't take long to put one on the move.

Let me give you a little background on Ragan first, she has been rabbit and deer hunting with me several times but had never taken a gun, or just took her BB gun, which was fine. She had shot this 410 before about a year or so ago and it scared her a little. Therefore she had no desire to shoot anymore for a long time. About 2 or 3 weeks ago she started on wanting to shoot the 30 carbine that her older sister, Raley, had shot her 1st deer with. She went on and on about wanting to shoot a deer, so I told her in order to shoot deer she HAD to shoot the .30 carbine. She finally decided to shoot it and she LOVED it. After the first shot she wasn't scared anymore to shoot it.

This is what led us to the youth rabbit hunting and what type of gun she needed to use to shoot rabbits. We went back to the 410, and as long as it didn't kick more than the .30 carbine she said, she would be fine. So off we went.

As I said, it didn't take long to get the first race under way. The beagles weren't on the rabbit more than 5 minutes and we seen it cross one of the trails. Aubree, Ragan's best friend, was helping me film with another camera. I was using my Flip camera. We set up on the other side of the fence row and in just a minute the rabbit popped out right in front of us and ran right at us. Ragan drew down on the rabbit and squeezed off a shot from the 410 single shot and the rabbit did a back flip. Ragan Slone had just shot her 1st rabbit ever and it was all on film. She was so excited about taking her 1st rabbit and was given everyone high fives and grinning from ear to ear. I think I was more excited than she was, or at least it looked that way on the video. Yep, I got it all on video and you can watch it on my blog, Greg Slone.com

After all the excitement and huggin and so on we finally got back to hunting. This is when Cory joined us to see if he could get his 1st rabbit as well. Cory was shooting a single shot 20ga and was very excited to have the opportunity of taking his 1st rabbit as well.

I decided to go with Cory so I could video him and see if we could get his 1st rabbit kill on film too. The dogs were doing a fine job of getting rabbits up a running them all over the place, the problem was that we were always in the wrong spot. We kept after if for about another hour or so, and finally we got in a cross roads with the beagles in front of us in a thicket barking up a storm. I just knew Cory was getting ready to get a shot at a rabbit.

It wasn't long and out popped a cottontail about 40 yards away in the trail, Cory seen it, cocked the hammer and let the smoke roll. Cory had just taken his first rabbit, from a long ways out, and man was he excited. We also got his 1st rabbit kill on film too.

This was a great day for to youth hunters that had the opportunity to get out for some rabbit hunting and harvest their 1st rabbits. This opportunity would not have been possible without the help of dads and grandparents giving these kids the opportunity to get out and discover the outdoors. This very hunt for both kids will never be forgotten as long as either one of them live. This video will be watched forever. This hunt created a lifetime of memories for me and my daughter that we will share from now on. We are "Preserving the Family Tradition of Hunting" and we hope you all will do the same.

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