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Rabbit Hunting Farm Woodlots

by Mark Flege :: Featured: July, 2003

A number of years ago I’d arranged for permission to hunt a large dairy farm in the West Central part of the state of Ohio, a two-hour drive from my home. The farm belonged to the parents of a co-worker, she had laid the groundwork such that all I had to do was show up on an agreed upon day, introduce myself to her father and hunt. She’d told me that her family farmed 1000 acres so my expectation was that I’d have plenty of ground to cover. When I arrived at the farm I met her dad in the barnyard, introduced myself and asked where it would be good for me to hunt. He kind of chuckled and said the only unplowed land he had was a four-acre woodlot in the middle of the property. I hid my disappointment and thanked him, thinking that I’d just driven two hours for nothing. I drove to the area he’d indicated, turned out my dog Zak, and began the hike down an access lane to the woodlot. As I entered the edge of the woodlot I noticed a number of large tree tops laying on the ground, apparently the farmer hold sold some White Oak trees to a timber buyer and the loggers had been in during the summer to remove the trees, leaving the tops behind. As I approached the first treetop my beagle began to cast back and forth, his tail wagging furiously. I recognized the sign, he was working out the scent of a rabbit. The dog moved into the treetop and within a minute opened up on a hot track, he went out the opposite side of the top at full speed, his cry echoing through the woods. I setup on the stump of the tree and waited. Zak was working the rabbit well and in less than five minutes I saw the bunny scooting along about 25 yards away, my gun came up and the chase was over. This scenario played itself out seven more times over the next few hours as the dog and I worked our way through the old woodlot, most of the rabbits ended up in groundhog holes but two more found their way into my hunting coat.

Since that day I’ve had success a number of times hunting woodlots on farms that otherwise had none of what most people would consider typical rabbit cover. As is the case with most good places to hunt, some pre season scouting is in order. To find these hidden gems, I drive country roads looking across the bean and cornfields for distant tree lines. These woodlots are often way in the back of the farms and are usually surrounded on all sides by agricultural crops. I look for signs of recent logging activity. These logging sites manifest themselves by jagged tree lines, a large numbers of small trees, bent or bowed trees and trees with broken limbs or tops. I also look in areas that have experienced heavy windstorms, ice storms or tornadoes. All of these weather events will bring down trees or treetops, creating ideal cover for rabbits.

While these woodlots hold rabbits throughout the season, I’ve had my best luck hunting them after the weather turns nasty in late winter. The hunt I made to the dairy farm took place on a late December day, with a cold north wind and intermittent snow showers. This past season I had an opportunity to hunt a woodlot that had been logged the previous summer. This was a small 3-acre tract and the loggers had removed about a dozen large trees, leaving the tops, with leaves, behind. I hunted the woods on an afternoon when the wind chill was hovering in the single digits and there was 4” of snow on the ground. The icy wind chilled me as I approached the woodlot from across a snow blown soybean field. Once inside the woods, the remaining trees created a windbreak , that in combination with the rabbit sign I saw around the first top, began to warming me up nicely. In a matter of minutes my blue tick beagle, Max, had a rabbit going and the fun began. This first rabbit ran a short course and was in the bag in less than 3 minutes. With all the rabbit sign in the woods Max was on full alert and hunting hard. We worked our way to a tangle of treetops and Max plowed in, almost instantly a rabbit came flying out, Max opened up in full voice as two more rabbits came out right behind the first one. I almost never shoot a rabbit on the jump, preferring instead to let the dog run them and taking a shot if they come back around. This time was no exception so I watched as the first and second rabbit disappeared and Max went out on the scent of the third. This rabbit chose to cover a lot more ground than the first so Max’s music filled the woods for a good 15 minutes before I saw the bunny slinking back towards me through the downed treetops, my 20 gauge came up and the chase was done. With two rabbits in my hunting coat I was feeling pretty good and it wasn’t long before Max had another rabbit moving out from one of the downed tops. This rabbit chose to run a short course and in no time joined his two companions in the game bag of my hunting coat. At this point I thought it best not to be greedy and so exited the woods and headed for home.

I would strongly suggest that next season you find yourself a couple of the woodlots like those I’ve described and work them on a cold January day, you won’t be disappointed.