rocky mountain rabbit tactics?

[high desert rambler]

new member here - although i've been lurking for quite some time now... (in fact, i've read through the ENTIRE PowWow archive over the past few months!)...

wondering if anyone has any tactics for bowhunting cottontails in the rocky mountains they wanna' share?  

i have no expectations of taking a rabbit on the run with my longbow, but i've been going out lately trying to develop some kind of strategy for hunting the clever little furballs...  i live in the high desert, around 8500 feet, mostly pinyon/juniper forest with ponderosas and firs on the north-facing slopes...  seems like the bunnies like to hang out near where the shrub oak is heavy, and they'll hide under thick, low lying branches of the junipers... with hidey-holes/burrows in the rocks where anything less than a perfect shot results in a shattered arrow...

so far my strategy has been to walk through the scrub hoping to spook them into a run and then try to sneak up on them once they've stopped, but they usually manage to crawl under some rocky outcropping and disappear...  of course, i'm always scanning ahead and looking particularly under the junipers where they like to freeze and wait, but they blend in so well in this environment you can be looking right at them and still not see 'em...

not to mention that where they tend to hang out it's so shrubby and scrubby that it's very hard to get a clean shot even when you do find 'em...

another tactic i'm gonna' experiment with is walking around and flushing them out and then backing off and finding a high spot to glass the area from.  (it's very hilly here in the mountains so that's rarely a problem.)  i figure since their territories are relatively small, once i know a cottontail is in the vicinity, i can glass 'em from across the way and possible sneak up on 'em...

anyone have any other ideas?  yeah, i know, they ain't elk or mulies, but they're a helluva challenge nonetheless... and "huntable" for a long time after the big-game seasons end...

[Roadkill]

Very cold morning, wait til sun is up and glass them as they sit warming, stalk.  Do not look for a whole rabbit, only parts, ie ears or tail.  Once you find them, they will be back
Look for concentrated dung and the tell tail pee marks to find fresh sign.   I hunt evry chance I get and love it.   Have to go get a job started, then I am going again today

Flushing in thick brush does not work for me, so I stalk.  Also, bend down on your knees and look under brush- makes for interesting shots

[wixwood]

From a few years ago when the bunny numbers were up.

[Grizzbear]

Lay down on your side and look under the cover. it will help tons ifyoucan shoot laying down. go for a head. shot

[Canyon]

No suggestions other than find a way to hunt with wixwood and his crew. That was an amazing rabbit hunt.

[Roadkill]

Darn, you had bunnies that year.  I love to hunt them!   We have never had such a prolific year.  Gr8 video, color me jealous!

[Charlie Lamb]

When you are out after them go slow. A soft step helps a lot since rabbits are sensitive to ground vibrations.

Don't look too far ahead for them either. Concentrate on cover within 10 yards or closer.
You'll do much better by finding them sitting in the first place than trying to walk them down after jumping them.

They can be creatures of habit so remember where you see them and look for them close to that spot next time out.
   
   

[Thumper Dunker]

Go slow look in the shadows and stay down wind. Some times you can squeek them out and some times they will come to you while your squeeking at them.Those little things that they put in cat toys work great.

 
 

[JimB]

I agree with that.I wouldn't want to jump them intentionally.If you get out the first couple hours of morning and especially an hour or two before dark,they should be sitting at the edge of whatever juniper or bush they are using for daytime cover.I try to stay back from this cover 30'-50' and they will often hold tight for a little bit.If I approach too close,they jump in the cover.I think a pair of binos is a good idea.

If you are out when snow is on the ground,make note of what brush patches had the most tracks and stalk those spots morning and evening.Sunny late afternoons are excellent.Rocky country will be murder on arrows.I don't know a cure for that.

[high desert rambler]

thanks fellers!  lotsa' good stuff here... i'll have to wait 'til i hit a coffee shop with wifi in town before i can see Wixwood's video - i live so far back in the hills we still use smoke signals for our internet; no youtubes for me...

JimB - here's my cure for rocky country:  walmart $3 carbon arrows... still hurts to bust one up, but it's better than $6-$8 for the "real" ones...

i'm not sure what happened to the bunnies up here - this spring you couldn't swing a dead cat without four or five bunnies ducking under a bush to avoid getting a mouthful of cat hair... i'd never seen so many - but come fall, i barely see any... perhaps word got out on the rabbitvine  that i'm out huntin'...  wouldn't surprise me - turkeys do the same thing to me every year...

[Homebru]

THAT looks like a TON of fun.
homebru

[JimB]

"JimB - here's my cure for rocky country: walmart $3 carbon arrows... still hurts to bust one up, but it's better than $6-$8 for the "real" ones..."

It's a good point.Footing can help also on hard,frontal impacts.Glancing hits-all bets are off.

I made two really hard hits on rocks last year with footed carbons.One wrecked a 200 gr Grizzly broadhead but both arrows survived.It can help but I think in rocky country one has to consider it the cost of doing business.Wish we had more cottontails.