“Bunny, bunny!” Shawn Leonard let’s out the tell tale cry after “jumping” a large multiflora rose brush pile and sending the cottontail rabbit fleeing. The “bunny” cry continues down the line of traditional bowhunters until the bunny either gets away or the jubilant cry of “I got him” rings out.
The above scenario repeats itself dozens of times over the course of the annual Joan Leonard Memorial Bunny Hunt (JLMBH) weekend held in late February. 2009 marked the 7th consecutive year Shawn and his family has hosted the event. 2009 had 87 traditional bowhunters participating from 6 states including 19 youth bowhunters. The event is now carried out as a benefit hunt for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The hunt is announced via the online chat group of TradGang.com and attendees must be TradGang registered.
The bunny hunt did not begin as the Joan Leonard Memorial Bunny Hunt, in fact it wasn’t until the 3rd year that it gained its name. It actually began due to the unfortunate luck of Curt Cabrera, one of the inaugural hunters. Don Haines of Western New York had been hosting a bunny hunt and Curt and Shawn had attended and were looking forward to attending again in 2003. However, a stray rifle bullet by a young hunter pierced Curt’s upper leg incapacitating him for quite some time. He just couldn’t make the bunny hunt and was feeling dejected. His good friend Shawn simply said, “we’ll just hold our own when you’re ready”! It took virtually all year for Curt to heal, but the first annual Northern New York bunny hunt was scheduled for the last weekend of the season. Word was spread via TradGang and 17 hard core traditionalist showed up for the event. As part of the requirement for attending, Shawn asked for people to bring a gift to be given away to the successful shooter who challenged the “steel rabbit”. The “steel rabbit” is exactly as it sounds. It is a hole cut in ¼” steel and confident archers are sat down on a bale of hay at about 15 yards and asked to shoot through the hole and pop a balloon. Pop the balloon and you win! Miss and you get a shattered arrow! The people who showed up the first year brought such nice stuff that Shawn’s mother, Joan, said “you can’t give that nice stuff away for shooting through a hole”. Shawn agreed and a raffle was set up. The traditional archers also thought the stuff was nice and $350 - $400 was raised from the raffle. Shawn didn’t know what to do with the money, as the hunt was not held for profit, but his mother Joan didn’t hesitate and simply said “give it to the kids at St. Jude”. The first year was such a fun time and success Shawn and his family decided to host it again in 2004. In 2004 more traditional archers showed up and even more money was raised, over $1,100. Plans were being made by Shawn for 2005 when tragedy struck and Shawn’s mother passed away. Not to be deterred by misfortune, Shawn, his father Alfred (Jake), his wife Cindy, and his daughters Nicole, Allison, and Heather all vowed to continue the bunny hunt tradition. There was a significant change for 2005. The hunt would now be held in tribute to his mother and would from that point forward be known as the Joan Leonard Memorial Bunny Hunt (JLMBH). The JLMBH would continue to be held as a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital benefit event.
The 2005 hunt was a huge success as was the 2006, 2007, and 2008. The 2009 hunt was the biggest ever and the traditional archers rose over $5,300 for St. Jude. The total contribution to St. Jude has exceeded $10,000! Not bad for a bunch of traditional archers who are just looking for any reason to get together for fun and hunting.
The JLMBH is a pretty special event and some amazing friendships have been forged by the annual hunt. What makes it even more stunning is that Shawn hosts the event out of his personal home and at considerable personal expense. We all know this wouldn’t even be a possibility if it weren’t for a very understanding wife and family. Shawn’s wife Cindy and his daughters are remarkable! They work tirelessly for weeks prior to the hunt and during the 3 day event (Friday evening until Sunday evening) they are non-stop in setting up and taking down food for the army of hunters. The JLMBH has gotten so large now that it takes a lot of extra hands just to make the event run smoothly. Fortunately, there is a core group of hunters that willingly jump in and help (Curt, Jamie, Izzy, David, and many more). To make the event even more memorable is that the rabbit hunting is excellent! The hearty hunters have braved temperatures well below zero, snow so deep you sometimes had to crawl, rain, wind, and briar thickets so dense that you can fall down and not hit the ground. As Shawn likes to say, “after a good rabbit push, if you ain’t bleeding you ain’t hunting right”! Despite all these obstacles the JLMBH archers have been able to continuously improve on their take of rabbits. The first year 2 rabbits succumbed to well placed arrows and the tally has continued to grow with 19 being made into meat in 2009. Not bad for a bunch of yahoos running around with nothing more than a stickbow and arrows.
Who knows how this hunt will evolve in the future. It is getting so big that some things will inevitably change. Right now it is open to anyone who wants to come. Based on the recent growth and success it is just a matter of time before it outgrows Shawn’s house, hunting grounds, and his family’s ability to support it. However, for now 2010 is being planned and Shawn, Cindy, their daughters and a few good men are already working to hold the JLMBH to benefit “the kids at St. Jude”. I’m sure Joan Leonard looks down on her family during that special weekend in February and feels a great sense of pride!
Shawn, well done my friend, well done!
This story is a result of an interview I did with Shawn after last year's phenomenal hunt. We all owe Shawn, Curt, and many others a great thanks for all they do to make this get together happen. As a former employee who worked in Biomedical Research, for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, I can assure you the money is going to a great cause!
Topic: The Story Behind JLMBH (Read 533 times)
