Joan Leonard Memorial Bunny Hunt.....Last Years(06) (Teaser)!!!

[Jerry Young]

This was truly an experience that will stay with me for a life time. Reading these posts bring smiles to my face. I'm sorry that I missed Sundays hunt, but I'm already looking forward to "next year"! Thanks again to everyone!

Jerry

[Guru]

I;m still amazed what this "hunt" has become.You just smile as you read along.It jars memories and emotions of the past hunts.This has become something I look forward to as much as anyhunting I do.

Here's the last of my "hunt pix".....

Keith Deters and Shawn.....

 


Shawn telling  Nanook and Mo about his future son-in-laws rabbit in the pipe shot!!!  He'll tell that one later.....

 


 Some(not nearly all of it) of the "carnage"(sp) from the steel target....

 


I'll post some pix of some of the stuff I won in the auction and a gift I recieved from Jeremy.....

[woodchucker]

I was talking to a hunting buddy of mine last night at work about the Bunny Hunt. I was telling him about pushing the thickets,and getting so tangled that I couldn't move!!!!! I told him how I tossed my bow into a clearing (if you could call it that LOL) then I pulled the hood of my Carhartt jacket up over my head and down over my face,then put my head down and just "Bulled" my way through it!!!!! I was telling him that even with my brush pants my legs got all scratched up and if I have 1 scratch I must have 100 of them LOL.

I really could not believe my ears when my buddy looked at me and said "For a rabbit???,There's no way any lousy rabbit is worth all of that"

Well my friends,like David said,I just KNEW he wasn't going to "get it". But... I just had to try and make him "understand". I looked him right in the eye and told him,"I will miss deer hunting ANY DAY,to go to one of Shawn's Bunny Hunts!!!!! BTW,He thinks I"M NUTS!!!!! (he still doesn't get it)

As the saying goes... If I have to explain it,you just wouldn't understand.

[Doug Campbell]

Sounds great Shawn, I'll get the paperwork going with Saint Judes. Congrats again on a great hunt/event!

[Linc]

Curt,Larry just stopped by and handed me the wing bone call.Thanks buddy!      

[Shawn Leonard]

Yeah man, My future son-in-law loves to hunt and last year he came to the hunt and had a blast. He uses a Ben Pearson recurve that I gave him and has become hooked. He hunted deer with that bow 4 times last season and missed a small buck with it. Well on the last push of the hunt we all kind of winged it and moved in our own groups towards the road pointing the way home. I was with Ru, which by the way can hunt with me anytime. He is a real go getter. Damon(future son-in-law)decided to cross the creek and work a peice we had not done. The first pile he jumped a bunny comes and out and he let one fly, missing by inches. He moved ahead, and jumped a few more piles. He kinda got out of my sight, when I see him go running and yanking one back at the same time and letting another arrow fly, another near miss. However this time the bunny ran into a 12" Dia. pipe about 20 ft. long. He walks up and looks down the pipe, the bunny was sitting right in the middle, so he looks for a stick and breaks off a peice and throws it into the pipe and runs to the other end, waiting for the shot, no bunny. He looks up the pipe again and it is still there. He decides to lay down on his side and shoot at the bunny in the pipe. He had to push the bow out with his bow arm just to draw it and let one fly, he says the arrow came flying out the other end with the bunny right behind it, he never touched a hair. He told me this and about laughed my A$$ off. This goes to show what we guys and gal do to try and get our bunnies. Curt took the pic. of me while telling Mo and Fran about it. I know this may get old, but... OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Shawn

[Tdog]

I just can't stop checking this site to see if any new pix or stories show up. I'd like to share my bunny harvest with all because it was just the bunny and I alone in the field. Well we came up out of the bottom and Shawn gave out the plan of attack. Some went with him and some with his Dad. As we where heading out to the field. Mr Lenord put me looking over a little saddle. I thought wow looks good to me lots of shooting room ,out of the wind this is alright with me.The rest of the crew walked up the field and took there post.I was there for a good ten to fifteen minutes when about fifty yards away I watched a bunny come out of the thick stuff run into the field and hide. I yelled out bunny but no one came. So I circle up and around kicked at a small rose bush I thought he went into. Nope nothin so I started back to my post and only taking about two steps there he was looking right up at me.He was a whole yard away. My heart jumped up a little came to three quarter draw and let it ride, right in the beaner.Another bunny in the bag. Thanked the lord for the day and the bunny and my mom cause she up there too and headed back over to my post.Then I heard Shawn yell brin it in and I walked across the field to share my great gift. Thank all who where there in body and in sprit..God bless

[Guru]

Fred,Thanks for sharing that bud...I never did get the full story about how your bunny kill went down...really cool man!!!

 I have a story to tell about a shot that I've waited on for three years now.....I've hunted every hour of every bunny hunt since the first one at "Meathooks".Every shot I've ever had was always flat out running or last year I finally got a sitting shot and Bob beat me to the punch.

Well,the first push of day 2 found me setting out watchers and waiting for the drivers. Heard them start and sure enough started hearing shooting on the other end of the line where I put the guys I really wanted to get shots...it worked...they were shooting!!!! I heard my bud David(huntrdfk) counting shots 1.......2 shots

Couple minutes later...I see a bunny hopping right at me at about 30yds....I get ready...it's coming...stops...then continues on toward me....I'm thinking this is it...I'm finally going to kill a rabbit on one of these hunts....as he gets to about 10yds he goes behind a log...I draw...it comes out and stops to look at me as I finish my draw.....I can't believe it,a sitting shot at 9yds....I let go and the arrow goes right between his front legs.....I shot right under it!!! I couldn't believe it!!!!

Then I hear David........"3 shots"

 I was hitting everything I shot at sunday too,you'd think I could hit a bunny at 9yds..      

[Shawn Leonard]

Yup me too!! I got two gimmes on this hunt and missed them both. That is why it is hunting not shooting!! I had a blast and for us to get 4 rabbits with no snow was icing on the cake. Can you imagine how many shots would of been taken if we had snow? It would of been 202 instead of 102, lets hope for a drop of snow for next year. Next year is already in the works!! OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Shawn

[joe skipp]

I still say if it was overcast, 4" of snow and the temps around 40-50 degrees...we would have had 200 shots and more bunny pics...

Speaking of Shawns future son-in-law Damon, we both shared a spot on one drive and both of us missed a rabbit simultaneously. You should have seen that cottontail haul a.. He ran right past Fran and all we heard was the arrow bouncing through the briars! Damon looked at me and we both wondered aloud "how the heck did we miss him...he was right there!" (maybe 10 yds).

[joe skipp]

One other drive...I just finished a drive with Shawn and hit the open field. Curt was out there and said 2 rabbits had run behind this old house. I tried to chase them out but God knows where they went.
The other drivers were working there way around the back. Curt and I were standing there, maybe 20 yds apart and this rabbit comes hauling out of the thickets right between us in the field. Curt yells "Joe, Rabbit!" and in a split second, the bugger did a 360 between us and raced back into the thickets. I would have loved to know what went through his head when he seen us....So close....

[Huntrdfk]

Ok, who's going to tell the story of Ru's last shot of the hunt?  I'm still laughing about that one.

And watching Curt shoot on Sunday, missing that sitting "duck" at 9 yards, then demolishing anything else he shot at the rest of the day...like Shawn says, that's why it's called hunting.


One more thing, if you are ever in southern New Hampshire, the door to my house will always be open to each and every one of you anytime of the day or night.


David

[Frank AK]

LOL, at least it was only a rabbit.

This summer I shot 9 ptarmigan with 9 arrows. The SAME DAY I shot at a HUGE double shovel carabou and clean missed im 2 inches over his back.

Hunting not killing, thats why I love it.

Frank

[Shawn Leonard]

I will tell the story of Ru. We were pretty much done hunting and some were walking down the road, others like me and Ru were just heading out towards the road. I decided to jump a pile at the end of the neighbors driveway and as I was doing it said look out they like to run in the culvert under the driveway, well I hardly got the words out of my mouth when a bunny explodes out of the bush and up over the driveway, everyone that hunts with me, will tell ya I let ya know when they are coming. It runs up along the road, past about 6 startled guys and under another bush. Well they go running up and jump and out goes the bunny. It heads straight back at Ru who was trailing us and in about 30yds. from the road. Gregg pulls back and let one fly form his 80+ pound bow and the rabbit kicks it in. well Ru starts running at an angle at the bunny, holding the bow with an arrow on the string and drawing at the same time. There was about 15 of us yelling shoot!! He lets one go, it was a clean miss, but to even get a shot off was a miracle!! That was the 102 shot of "our" bunny hunt!! OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Shawn

[Huntrdfk]

I'm laughing again Shawn, thanks.  That was a great way to end the hunt, with the last shot being taken by the future of our sport.


David

[Huntrdfk]

I'm laughing again Shawn, thanks.  That was a great way to end the hunt, with the last shot being taken by the future of our sport.


David

[Wapiti Chaser]

Ru's last shot was great. He didn't want to give up. If he could have moved the truck the rabbit ran under he may still be chasing that bunny. On one of the last drives there was a scare. I was in the hedgerow with David when a bunny popped out on my side. Curt was just on the edge and yelled rabbit !! I saw him draw and shoot which resulted in a loud snapping sound and I saw his bow fly out of his hand !! I feared that he may have been hurt but was glad to find only the bow suffered. Seems his limb broke near the tip.

[Shawn Leonard]

Ouch, I was waiting for someone else to mention that. Curt, has killed a lot of critters with that KS. I think him and Kieth Deters may get together and repair that tip and re-shape the other one. I think Curts bow will survive and may pick up a couple fps.! OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Shawn

[tippit]

Again I sure had one heck of a time!  I appreciate Guru posting all those pictures especially with names.  Once you turn 60 you need all the help you can get remembering everyone's name LOL!
In fact I had such a good time I've already started planning on next year.  After the push from Hell on the 2nd day, we were all walking back across a large cow pasture.  Most of the guys and Mo were trying some flight shooting, but I noticed a bunch of bleached out cow bones.  I picked up so many I needed help putting them in my game pouch of my vest (yes it was empty...No bunnies!).  Anyway next year's raffle knife will have a JLMBH authentic bone handle LOL.  I also got my touch mark in the the mail yesterday so my blades will look more professional...Jeff
   

[Wapiti Chaser]

jeff, Stamp or not your knives are works of art.

  Bob