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Speaker 1: Welcome to this Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.

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Speaker 1: I'm coon hunting, to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my experiences and life lessons. This Country Life is presented

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Speaker 1: by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you

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Speaker 1: the best outdoor podcast the airways had off. All right, friends,

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Speaker 1: grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some

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Speaker 1: stories to share. Rabbits, dogs and car hoods. Dogs of

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Speaker 1: all kinds stir my soul more than anything when it

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Speaker 1: comes to hunting. Rabbit hunting with dogs is what I

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Speaker 1: do the least, but may be my absolute favorite. It's

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Speaker 1: easy to do, the dogs don't have to be world champions,

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Speaker 1: and it's exciting and fun. I'm going to tell you

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Speaker 1: all about it, but first I'm going to tell you

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Speaker 1: a story. The story this week comes from our man

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Speaker 1: on the scene, Ron Ausman. Ron has been a faithful

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Speaker 1: listener of the show and sent this story in a

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Speaker 1: while back, and since we're chasing rabbits this week, I

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Speaker 1: thought i'd include it here. So in Ron's words and

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Speaker 1: my voice, here we go. November nineteen seventy five, I

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Speaker 1: had just passed my Pennsylvania Hunter's Safety Course and would

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Speaker 1: be allowed to start carrying a gun and hunting with

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Speaker 1: my father and our small pack of bassets and beagles.

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Speaker 1: In Pennsylvania, a junior hunter had to be twelve years

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Speaker 1: of age before he or she could start hunting. And

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Speaker 1: my birthday was on the twelfth of December. I assumed

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Speaker 1: that my father would take me to the store to

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Speaker 1: buy a hunting license on my birthday. Now I would

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Speaker 1: start hunting after Christmas when the second small game season started.

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Speaker 1: He just told me to remember my birthday was November

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Speaker 1: the twelfth this year. Now, the license department asked no

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Speaker 1: questions and they issued me my first official hunting license

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Speaker 1: without a hitch and Dad told me we were going

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Speaker 1: hunting on Thanksgiving morning, which was one of our traditions.

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Speaker 1: A couple of days before Thanksgiving, my dad had another surprise.

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Speaker 1: He gave me a brand new H and R single

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Speaker 1: shot Topper junior in twenty gage. Now that shotgun would

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Speaker 1: serve me and then my brothers for several seasons. The

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Speaker 1: morning of the hunt, I woke up at our normal time.

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Speaker 1: We had breakfast at home, and we loaded up to

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Speaker 1: Buick station wagon with our gear and four hounds and

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Speaker 1: off to our hunting spot. We went back. Then there

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Speaker 1: was a lot of accessible land that was not posted

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Speaker 1: in the county where we lived. The spot we were

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Speaker 1: hunting was the future home of the new Greater Pittsburgh

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Speaker 1: International Airport, and that we're going to be breaking ground

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Speaker 1: there in the next couple of years. But right now

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Speaker 1: this was basically a great play. So several thousand acres

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Speaker 1: of awes and rabbit cover that was open to the public.

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Speaker 1: We started hunting, working our way through red and green briers,

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Speaker 1: letting the hounds work in front of us. We were

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Speaker 1: hunting for about an hour before we struck the first rabbit.

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Speaker 1: The hound opened and started the race. My dad was

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Speaker 1: a meat hunter. Some shooting a rabbit on the jump

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Speaker 1: was fair game, but this time he didn't have a

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Speaker 1: chance to make a clean shot, and the hounds were

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Speaker 1: running the rabbit good. So Dad had me stand on

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Speaker 1: top of a a fallen tree and said, watch for

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Speaker 1: the rabbit. You should come back around in a few minutes.

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Speaker 1: He went and stood about fifty yards away and watch

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Speaker 1: it through the rabbit. Within a few minutes I could

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Speaker 1: see the rabbit coming my way. Now, if you hunted

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Speaker 1: rabbits with hounds, you know that the rabbit gets a

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Speaker 1: good a good lead on the pack typically and then

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Speaker 1: slows down and maintains a steady pace trying to return

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Speaker 1: to where its original setting spot was. I cocked the

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Speaker 1: hammer on that h and r and waited until that

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Speaker 1: rabbit was about fifteen yards away. I got him. Dad

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Speaker 1: came running over and we celebrated first rabbit on my

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Speaker 1: first official hunt. About an hour later, the hounds had

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Speaker 1: another rabbit started and Dad had me standing in an

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Speaker 1: open area to watch for it. The hounds were working

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Speaker 1: their way to my rear and out behind me, and

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Speaker 1: I was trying to watch all around as the rabbit

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Speaker 1: could appear just about anywhere. I was watching in front

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Speaker 1: of me, when out of the corner of my eyes,

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Speaker 1: just to the left, the rabbit appeared and stopped about

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Speaker 1: ten yards away. Fortunately, the way I was holding my shotgun,

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Speaker 1: the barrel was pointed right at the rabbit. I cocked

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Speaker 1: the hammer and shot from the hip. Bam. Rabbit number two.

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Speaker 1: Now by this time, it was about three o'clock, in

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Speaker 1: time to head back home for a big family dinner

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Speaker 1: that my mom and my grandmother had been working on

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Speaker 1: all day. The best part of the whole day was

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Speaker 1: later that evening when my father called his brother to

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Speaker 1: tell him about the hunt. These were his words to

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Speaker 1: his brother son to Dad zero. Now that is one

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Speaker 1: of the fondest memories. I have a hunt with my dad,

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Speaker 1: and how proud he was of me on our first hunt.

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Speaker 1: And according to the retired gunnery Sergeant Ron Ausman, Pennsylvania

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Speaker 1: born youth hundred rabbits, an adult defender of Iron Nation,

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Speaker 1: now residing in the great state of Alabama, that's just

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Speaker 1: how that happened. Now, in that story, nothing really remarkable occurred.

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Speaker 1: There was no surprise ending or hilarious calamity that befell

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Speaker 1: Ron or his father. It was just a simple story.

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Speaker 1: And then my best Keith Morrison's storyline twist or was it?

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Speaker 1: If you look past the wilful falsifying of a state document,

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Speaker 1: a son and a father, a crime they committed together,

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Speaker 1: and the rabbit hunting, what you have is a father

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Speaker 1: and a son spending time together that eventually led them

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Speaker 1: to Grandma's house and fellowship over a shared meal with

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Speaker 1: more folks, and then a father's phone call to a

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Speaker 1: brother to brag on a son a rabbit hunting may

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Speaker 1: have been the activity, but family was the result. If

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Speaker 1: you read between the lines and look past the trees,

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Speaker 1: then you can see the forest. Thanks for sharing, Gunny.

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Speaker 1: There are few things in the outdoors that I enjoy

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Speaker 1: the most that don't include a dog. Now, whether it's

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Speaker 1: my well known passion for coons, squirrel and duck hunting,

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Speaker 1: with the latter two of each being formidable on their own,

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Speaker 1: the addition of a good tree dog or retriever just

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Speaker 1: enhances the whole flavor of the endeavor. It's like black

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Speaker 1: pepper on biscuits and gravy. It's good by itself, but

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Speaker 1: reaches a front level of greatness when the pepper grinder

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Speaker 1: stops after a minimum of half a dozen turns. Rabbits

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Speaker 1: can be and have been hunted without dogs since we

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Speaker 1: figured out they tasted good with mashed potatoes and gravy.

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Speaker 1: I can't remember a time at any time when we'd

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Speaker 1: see a rabbit cross the road or flush as we

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Speaker 1: were rambling around the homestead and someone not wish that

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Speaker 1: Rascal's next move was into a skill of the hot grease.

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Speaker 1: They taste great, and next to quail, it was the

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Speaker 1: wild game. My mama liked the most. Rabbit hunting was

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Speaker 1: a lot like squirrel hunting. For a lot of folks,

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Speaker 1: it was their introduction into hunting. Season is pretty long

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Speaker 1: to bag limits liberal, and how you gather them up

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Speaker 1: is fun. You don't have to be quiet or have

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Speaker 1: any special clothing or equipment outside of a firearm or

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Speaker 1: bowing era and if you're good with a slank shot,

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Speaker 1: you can use that, provided it's legal where you are.

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Speaker 1: The Eastern two Thursday the un the United States has

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Speaker 1: good luck, charms and supper hopping all around it. There

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Speaker 1: are four states where you can hunt the year round.

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Speaker 1: That's in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Utah. But here in

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Speaker 1: Arkansas it's September to the end of February. Most of

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Speaker 1: the other states have a similar season now. Growing up,

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Speaker 1: it was commonly said that you couldn't eat a rabbit

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Speaker 1: unless the month in which the rabbit was acquired contained

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Speaker 1: an r in the spelling. September to March was okay,

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Speaker 1: but May through August no boin on. Some folks there

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Speaker 1: that down even further by saying that you should wait

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Speaker 1: until the first frost before killing and eating them. That

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Speaker 1: sounds a little crazy to you allow me to explain

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Speaker 1: the reasoning behind it. Down here in the Land of Cotton,

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Speaker 1: buttflies are an issue and they're found over most of

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Speaker 1: the US except for Alaska, plus southern Canada and northern Mexico.

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Speaker 1: And they thrive in warmer climates and they lay eggs

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Speaker 1: on the backs of rabbits that hatch and enter into

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Speaker 1: any open orifice or wound, where they can migrate to

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Speaker 1: the neck and the shoulders, the back and the behind

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Speaker 1: and grow until the next stage, where they form underneath

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Speaker 1: the hide while breathing through a poor or a hole

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Speaker 1: in the skin. Two weeks to a month later, they

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Speaker 1: will burrow out of the skin and fall on the

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Speaker 1: ground and dig a hole where they can spend their

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Speaker 1: next stage of development. It's like a snake farm, except

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Speaker 1: we're talking about a butterfly, and butterfly it just sounds

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Speaker 1: nasty podfly. It pretty much is. In the cooler months,

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Speaker 1: the flies aren't as active, and that's where the old

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Speaker 1: wives tales and practices come from, the ferring to the

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Speaker 1: colder months to eat them. If you've ever seen a

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Speaker 1: rabbit or squirrel one of those on them, you'll know why.

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Speaker 1: Final comments on bodfly walls or wolves as the old

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Speaker 1: folks referred to. Is it safe to eat a rabbit

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Speaker 1: that has been parasitized by a butterfly? And the answer

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Speaker 1: is yes, Remove it and the meat around it, and

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Speaker 1: cook the meat to one hundred and sixty degrees and

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Speaker 1: you're good to go. Now, would I eat a rabbit

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Speaker 1: that's been infected with one? And the jury is still

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Speaker 1: out because I ain't never been that hungry, not yet anyway.

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Speaker 1: So with that bit of info behind us, let's get

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Speaker 1: to hunting. Now. Outside of a rabbit being an n

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Speaker 1: seasoned target of opportunity that you could snag while you

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Speaker 1: were out hunting something else, there were four ways to

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Speaker 1: hunt rabbits where I grew up. You could use dogs

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Speaker 1: to run them, and we're gonna talk more about that

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Speaker 1: in detail in a minute. But you could walk and

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Speaker 1: cover where you thought a rabbit might be and flush

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Speaker 1: one out. This method works better with more than one person.

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Speaker 1: You walk in close proximity of each other and cause

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Speaker 1: more of a deservance. That way, you'll have a better

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Speaker 1: chance of making the rabbit run instead of just letting

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Speaker 1: you pass by its hiding spot. The third way is

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Speaker 1: to track them in a fresh snow. That was a

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Speaker 1: rare occasion where I live, But the name is exactly

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Speaker 1: how you do it. You find a set of tracks

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Speaker 1: and start following them until you find this rabbit. Now,

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Speaker 1: the softer the snow the better. The crunch of ice

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Speaker 1: and frozen snow lets them know that you're getting close,

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Speaker 1: and they'll stay way ahead of the approaching racket. Getting

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Speaker 1: on a fresh track, and the few snows that I

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Speaker 1: can remember that we ever got there. I was a kid.

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Speaker 1: That was ideal for tracking rabbits. Was like finding a

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Speaker 1: five dollar bill in the old coat pocket. You knew

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Speaker 1: you were in for a good day. Following a set

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Speaker 1: of tracks into soft snow and seeing them in in

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Speaker 1: a brush top or a grown up fence corner meant

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Speaker 1: he was in and a hole in there, or he

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Speaker 1: was just chilling and staying war. Now, those you could

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Speaker 1: kick out and get to working on. Mister Brown and

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Speaker 1: mister Winchester. It was always a surprise when they busted

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Speaker 1: out of cover, even though you knew it was going

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Speaker 1: to happen. It was fun. The fourth way we hunted

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Speaker 1: him was by sitting on the passenger side hood of

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Speaker 1: a car with a twenty two rifle at night, while

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Speaker 1: your buddy drove and eased down the gravel road, the

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Speaker 1: headlights of the car shining in the rabbit's eyes, making

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Speaker 1: them glow and blinding him long enough for the shooter

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Speaker 1: to send him a led surprise to the nogget. No.

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Speaker 1: I know some of you are appalled at that confession.

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Speaker 1: I just uttered, and rightfully so in my defense. It

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Speaker 1: was my brother Tim who told me that this was

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Speaker 1: illegal when I was seventeen years old. He, being eight

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Speaker 1: years older and the wiser of our two men hunting team,

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Speaker 1: had only found out just prior to telling me at

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Speaker 1: the tender age of twenty five, that it wasn't legal

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Speaker 1: to hunt rabbits at night. Why'd they change the law?

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Speaker 1: Of Tim? Believe it or not, he said, it ain't

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Speaker 1: ever been legal. How we stayed out of the penitentiary.

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Speaker 1: I do not know where ignorance is blissed is folly

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Speaker 1: to be wise? The poet Thomas Gray said that in

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Speaker 1: seventeen forty two over in England at Eton College. Two

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Speaker 1: hundred and forty one years later, circle nineteen eighty three,

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Speaker 1: on the Timber Company roads of Southeast Arkansas, Tim and

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Speaker 1: I were still proving that to be true. Don't do

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Speaker 1: that today, kids. Not only is it illegal and unethical,

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Speaker 1: there ain't a car made today with a hood that

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Speaker 1: could hold up a fat baby without caving in. Now,

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Speaker 1: running rabbits with dogs, that's a that's a special kind

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Speaker 1: of fun. And the dogs I like the most are beagles.

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Speaker 1: My friend George Pennington, the King of West Point of Virginia,

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Speaker 1: owner of wood Haven Kennels, and a Tier one field

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Speaker 1: trial action star himself, gave me some grief over a

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Speaker 1: recent statement I made that described beagles as little walker

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Speaker 1: dogs because of their similar color patterns and shades. I

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Speaker 1: stand beside that remark to this day. I'm not standing

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Speaker 1: behind it because I'm allabed to get hit with some

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Speaker 1: of the rocks and the spursions being cast in my

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Speaker 1: general direction from all the beagle purists like George, who

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Speaker 1: are quick to correct the ignorant. I'm a slow learner.

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Speaker 1: Remember I was nearly grown when I found out shooting

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Speaker 1: rabbits from the hood of a car wasn't kosher anyway.

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Speaker 1: As luck would have it, I've been fortunate enough to

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Speaker 1: know some folks through my time here on this spending

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Speaker 1: orb we call home that possessed numerous rabbit hating individuals

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Speaker 1: known as beagles. We had some many moons ago that

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Speaker 1: I've talked about before that we used to push deer

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Speaker 1: around at the ben Our deer camp so we could

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Speaker 1: shoot at them. I said, push them around instead of run,

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Speaker 1: because the only ones running were the beagles a full speed.

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Speaker 1: If they can't keep up with a rabbit, how in

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Speaker 1: the world would they be able to make a deer

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Speaker 1: run more than a few yards at a time. They

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Speaker 1: wouldn't much is the same with a rabbit. People who

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Speaker 1: oppose chasing game with dogs always painting a picture of

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Speaker 1: the game being pursued as running wide open with their

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Speaker 1: tongues hanging out and barely stay in ahead of the vicious, snarling, snapping,

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Speaker 1: biting hounds that are only inches behind the poor distressed creature.

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Speaker 1: Nothing could be further from the truth. Ideally, here's how

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Speaker 1: it goes. The beagles are cut loose and hit the ground,

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Speaker 1: moving in the same general direction, each one hoovering up

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Speaker 1: all the scent in their path as they criss crossed

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Speaker 1: through the brush and the brambles, hunting up the fresh

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Speaker 1: scent of a rabbit. When one of them barks in

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Speaker 1: the kittens they picked up the scent, the others will

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Speaker 1: come to him, and when they smell it too, they'll

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Speaker 1: begin to bark and follow the scent in the direction

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Speaker 1: of the rabbit left. So how do they know which

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Speaker 1: direction the rabbit is going? And how long does it

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Speaker 1: take for them to figure it out? Well, I'm glad

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Speaker 1: you asked, because I deep dive very little as I

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Speaker 1: stumbled my way through my existence. But those questions have

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Speaker 1: nagged me to no end for a long time. I

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Speaker 1: started doing some research recently and finally discovered a paper

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Speaker 1: written and a study performed by a couple of nerds

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Speaker 1: over in the UK that was as dry over read

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Speaker 1: as Chevy chases Turkey in Christmas Vacation, but it was

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Speaker 1: loaded with tons of information. My faithful sidekicking doer of

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Speaker 1: all things requiring above average intelligence, Reva Hanson, will include

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Speaker 1: the link to that article in the show description should

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Speaker 1: you want to take a closer gander at it, or

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Speaker 1: if you ever find yourself unable to go to sleep. Now, y'

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Speaker 1: all hang on for the next part. It's worth it,

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Speaker 1: I promise. Once the rabbit scent is picked up, it

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Speaker 1: only takes a few feet for the dog to determine

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Speaker 1: the direction travel. Now, the study used human tracks in

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Speaker 1: a sterile environment and went into great detail explaining as

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Speaker 1: to how they controlled and conducted the test to be

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Speaker 1: unbiased to leave me great detail anyway, after reading it twice,

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Speaker 1: I started smelling what the scent nerves were stepping in

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Speaker 1: when they explained what was taking place in the dog's nose.

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Speaker 1: Allow me to break it down for you. Imagine someone

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Speaker 1: spraying perfume on a Q tip and wiping it with

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Speaker 1: a single stroke on a kitchen table from one end

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Speaker 1: to the other, and then expecting you to walk in

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Speaker 1: the room thirty minutes later and tell them which direction

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Speaker 1: they wiped it on the table by putting your nose

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Speaker 1: next to the surface and smell. Now, that's what a

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Speaker 1: dog is doing. Pretty cool, to say the least. The

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Speaker 1: theory is that they can detect the difference in the

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Speaker 1: strength of the odor as it decays across a very

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Speaker 1: short distance. In the study, it claimed that it took

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Speaker 1: three to five feet for the direction of travel to

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Speaker 1: be determined by the dogs sniffer. I'll pause a second

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Speaker 1: for all the folks that were teetering on and jumping

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Speaker 1: out of the window through that last part to welcome

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Speaker 1: you back to your chair. Now the dogs are after

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Speaker 1: the rabbit, and once the rabbit realize he's being pursued,

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Speaker 1: he'll take off and run, or hop out along the trail,

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Speaker 1: or make one of his own and sit and listens

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Speaker 1: for the dogs to get closer. Now, this is something

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Speaker 1: the rabbit does every day and night of his life.

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Speaker 1: It is their place in the food chain and the

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Speaker 1: reason for their being. You have to play the hand

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Speaker 1: that you were dealt in their hand was a blessing

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Speaker 1: for predators such as ourselves, not a curse to them.

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Speaker 1: Rabbits will run out and circle around, and nine times

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Speaker 1: out of ten come within a few feet of their

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Speaker 1: original starting point. The circle is meant to confuse the

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Speaker 1: predator by allowing the rabbit a chance to get into

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Speaker 1: his burrow, or make the pursuer just plumb losing by

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Speaker 1: confusing him where he went circling back over his own

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Speaker 1: sent trail. Now, fortunately for us, he ain't figured in

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Speaker 1: the part of the equation that has us standing at

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Speaker 1: the ready with a shotgun where he left from. When

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Speaker 1: he makes his triumphant return samp next time, a hot

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Speaker 1: cast iron skillet, let's cover gutt and a cottontail rabbit

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Speaker 1: real quick. It takes about as long to gut too

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Speaker 1: as it does to explain how to gut one using

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Speaker 1: this method. It's quick, and if you're hunting in warm weather,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna want to get the guts out of them

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Speaker 1: as soon as possible. But you grab the cottontail by

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Speaker 1: the neck and with your other hand squeeze him down

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Speaker 1: toward his hind end like you're trying to get the

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Speaker 1: last bit of toothpaste out of a tube. All his

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Speaker 1: enters will soon become his outerards courtesy of his naturally

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Speaker 1: installed exhaustion pipe area. That's right. The guts pop right

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Speaker 1: out through that spot where his tail lights would go.

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Speaker 1: They just busts through the skin out on the ground

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Speaker 1: it goes. You can use the traditional method using a

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Speaker 1: pocket knife, and you know which kind of pocket knife

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Speaker 1: to use. Don't waiting to pull this podcast over on

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Speaker 1: the side of the road, kids, Well, gut them with

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Speaker 1: your knife, keep them as cool as possible to clean

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Speaker 1: them when you get back home. Now. I always check

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Speaker 1: delivers for spots and lesions that could indicate to riemia.

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Speaker 1: Even if they present, it's okay to eat the meat

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Speaker 1: if you cook it to the recommended temp of one

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Speaker 1: hundred and sixty degrease farenheit or seventy one celsius if

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Speaker 1: you're eating rabbits during halftime at a hockey game. To

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Speaker 1: clean him and get him ready to quarter up, just

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Speaker 1: make a small incision through the skin in the middle

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Speaker 1: of his back, insert two fingers on each hand and

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Speaker 1: pull north and south at the same time. Crest on it.

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Speaker 1: Shirt and breeches gone, and all your left with it's

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Speaker 1: a naked rabbit. Now you're not gonna get to larimia

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Speaker 1: from properly cooked rabbit. You're more than likely to get

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Speaker 1: it from cleaning them and not wearing rubber gloves. That's

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Speaker 1: an easy fix, and so is the rabbit. Once you

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Speaker 1: get him cleaned, quartered up, and I like the back too,

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Speaker 1: I wash it off and soak all five pieces and

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Speaker 1: buttermilk and spices for at least an hour. I like

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Speaker 1: to soak them overnight in an ice box or as

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Speaker 1: most of you sophistic it's call it the refrigerator. Then

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Speaker 1: I'll let him warm up to room temp while steal

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Speaker 1: in the buttermilk on the counter. Then I'll take him

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Speaker 1: out of there, powder's behind him with some self ries

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Speaker 1: and flour and let him swim in some peanut ol.

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Speaker 1: I've rubbed up the three hundred and fifty grid. Now

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Speaker 1: that's one hundred and seventy six in Canada. Check the

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Speaker 1: thickest part of the meat with an instant tormometer, and

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Speaker 1: when it hits that magic temple of one hundred and

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Speaker 1: sixty degrees or seventy one celsius, you're in business. Biscuits, gravy,

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Speaker 1: mashed potatoes, green beans, and fried rabbit. It's hard to beat. Y'all.

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Speaker 1: Get out there and get after him. Take an old

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Speaker 1: friend or a new youngin, or better yet, take them both.

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Speaker 1: Let me know how y'all do. Keep sending those stories

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Speaker 1: into my tcl story at the meadeater dot com. Funny stories,

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Speaker 1: amazing stories, or one where you learned or taught a Listen.

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Speaker 1: Y'all have sent us some good ones, and we'll get

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Speaker 1: around to use some of them when the time is right.

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Speaker 1: You need to check out Steve's Shoulden history channel that

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Speaker 1: debuted this week. It's called Hunting History and he's been

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Speaker 1: working on it for quite a while. Lots of good

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Speaker 1: episodes coming see y'all be sure to check it out

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Speaker 1: until next week. This is Brent Reed signing off, y'all

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Speaker 1: be careful at