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Buzzard Roost Brier Patch

by Harvey Cain :: Featured: April, 2003

Early one January morning John and I traveled to George County for a day of rabbit hunting near the Pascagoula River.  John is my neighbor, good friend and a rabbit hunter X-STRAW-DEE-NAIR.  He would rather rabbit hunt, than to eat crawfish.  John's passion for this sport and his dedication to his dogs has always been an inspiration to me.  As you will see John will play a key role in this story.

I have always referred to this bit of God's creation as the Upper and Lower Rhine Lake area.  I am now convinced that it is formally know as Buzzard Roost.  There was a sign that verified the name and as we turned into the Management Area I noticed a number of buzzards having an armadillo snack.  We have enjoyed several fine hunts here, and were hoping for a few more.

The woods were damp and the temperature was in the 40's.  The conditions were a great improvement over the harsh cold dry days we had on our last few hunts.  Even with better conditions the dogs did have some problems keeping the rabbits up and moving.  There were plenty of rabbits to run, but they all wanted to go into the water or into a hole.  We hunted through the open woods and ended up at a large brier patch just off the Management Area.

We are not sure if this fifty to sixty acre patch of hide ripping briers is government or private land, but we did know that as far as brier patches go it was a whopper.  There are no trees, which allow the sun to get in and causes the briers to take over.  These briers are thick and tall.  One way to describe briers is to say that they are head high.  That would be true if you were a very tall giant.

Anyone who remembers the story of Brer Rabbit knows that rabbits are born and raised in the brier patch.  This place was sure to be infested with them.  The big challenge would be to run them out of the briers and back into the open woods.  Something must have told us that we were destine for this challenge.  We had put Vaseline on all the long tails as they were leaving the truck.  We were hoping to reduce the number of hounds that would end up with bloody tails.  Our brave little hounds did not hesitate to plunge into this brier infested rabbit haven.

John had brought his two males, BB and Red.  BB is a solid, hard hunting hound with the voice of a coon-dog.  He is about five or six years old and can be depended on to use that mouth to scare the jeepers out of a rabbit.  Red is John's new pride and joy.  He is a two-year old red and white out of the prestigious Satsuma line.  This is one aggressive, fast running hound that is a credit to his ancestors.  He too has a voice that will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.  I don't know if this dog can smell rabbit tracks on the water or if he can wind the wet critters across a slough, but I do know that on a number of occasions I have seen him swimming in high gear and barking with every stroke.

I brought my A-Team, Shorty, Rosco, Little Brown Sugar and Peaches.  I also brought 6 ½ month old Fancy.  This would be Fancy's first ever, real hunt with the big dogs.  The last member of our crew was, 11½ year old, Liberty.  The following is a quick look at each of these special little hounds.

Shorty is a hefty seven year old that has a very loud mouth.  He turns the volume all the way up and then just gets louder.  He did not run his first rabbit until he was two years old.  I must have walked him over the top of a hundred or more rabbits before he figured it out.  He is lucky that he ever got old enough to run that first rabbit.  He is now a rabbit running machine that can do it all.  Jump, run, recover and retrieve.

Rosco, is a four year old tri-colored hound with lots of nose.  It is some times hard to get him to leave a track that all the other dogs have declared lost.  His persistence often pays off with the lost rabbit back up and running.

Little Brown Sugar is a 2½ year old, twelve-inch, chocolate and white hound that every rabbit hunter would love to have.  I would not trade her for a new truck.  Well maybe if it was a four-wheel drive.  Brown Sugar can slide into the tightest brush piles and work through the thickest brier patches to push Mr. Rabbit out for a run.

Peaches is the hound I have always dreamed of.  Now that she no longer has any desires to run deer, she has earned the title "Leader Of The Pack". She is strong, but sensitive.  She has the intelligence of a bird dog and the nose of a bloodhound.  It is hard to believe how great she has become in her three short years.  She is a good-looking red and white beagle that is also out of the Satsuma line.  This is one of the hardest hunting most disciplined dogs I have ever owned.  We have such a special relationship, that I have grown to believe that we belong to each other.  She seems to know what I want even before I want it.  On more than one occasion, I have seen her running just a few feet off the tail of a rabbit.  If she ran them any faster, the rabbit would finish the race in second place.

Fancy is new to this business, but she has shown a lot of potential.  She has been running on her own for more than two months, with her longest run lasting over an hour.  She is one of eight pups born to Peaches this past summer.  With Peaches for her mom and John's Red as her dad she is sure to become another great rabbit running hound.  Fancy is just starting her career, as Liberty approaches her golden years.

Liberty is our veteran with many seasons and races to remember.  She has been semi-retired for the last few years.  However, several times each year she comes out of retirement to give the youngsters a few pointers.  She is normally able to stay with the pack for a race or two, and then she falls out to go and do her own thing.

Fancy and Liberty both stayed with the pack as they hunted through the open woods and they were with them when they entered the Brier Patch from Hell.  Moments after the dogs entered this area, a race and then several races were on.  Liberty was right in that mess helping the younger dogs move the rabbits through this wall of briers.  At one point, I could hear Fancy as she added her voice to the race.  It became obvious to me that this area was so thick that even the young and the old could keep pace with the fast and the bold. On several occasions, two and sometime three rabbits were up and running.  When pushed hard the rabbits would dart out of the briers and run into the woods.  John took quick shots at two but missed.  "Too fast, to slow, to far."  Something like that!  When I miss, I always blame it on the Lori curse.  (Lori is an animal lover, in the office where I work.   She thinks all creatures should live forever.)  When the dogs came out where John made his last shot, we decided to catch them and pull them out of this mess.  They all came out except Liberty and Red.

We could hear Red running strong, several hundred yards into the thicket. We moved around the brier patch, back close to where Red was hammering his rabbit.  We released the dogs back into the briers to help Red.  Some of the dogs made it to Red and the rest started another hot chase before they got to him.  I finally got a shot at a rabbit as it slipped down the edge of the thicket.  It was an easy shot, but I could not find the rabbit.  I could not penetrate far enough into the briers to look for it.  As the dogs came to where I had shot, I started catching them again.  Even with the Vaseline, the long tail dogs had taken a beating.  Tails and ears were showing some wear.

I had several dogs on the leash, when out came Shorty with the rabbit.  He had it nipped in the middle of the back.  It seems that he found the rabbit and no other dog was there to try and take it away.  He was able to deliver it without damage.  Shorty walked up to me as to say, "Here is your rabbit".  I reached down and tugged on it and he turned it loose.  What a nice retriever Shorty has become.  Now that is great when you have a dog that will bring you a rabbit without any parts missing.

John's big adventure came when he had to rip through the briers to catch up with Red.  The briers were matted so thick, that he could get within a few feet of Red, but could not catch him.  From time to time we would talk on the radio.  John would be out of breath as he was chasing after Red who was in hot pursuit of that rabbit. Red was sounding good and I do believe that I heard John let out a yelp or two.  The briers were tearing up both John and Red.  After some time John was able to dive on Red.  When they came out they were a little beat.  John had blood running down his face from a rip in his ear.  The front of his jeans were shredded.  He made a vow to teach Red all about Come and Down.

With the dogs all rounded up, we headed for the trucks.  With any luck, we won't be back to this patch of briers for quite some time.  This was the end of a tough one rabbit day.