Arizona Cottontails In Pinal - Maricopa County

[cloudbaseracer]

I was just down around Casa Grande Arizona which is 30 miles SSE of Pheonix and saw a ton of very large rabbits running around.  One specific day I was flying my hang glider and came in to land in one particular scrub brush area and at about 100' I saw all this activity scurrying around on the ground.  Turns out it was a ton of cottontails.  This was my 4th year in a row to this area and I had never seen this much activity.  

Any of you guys hunt in Pinal or Maricopa County for these rabbits?  They were so plentiful it made me want to take a special trip back out just for them.  We don't have anything like that here in Chattanooga where I live.  There were so many that I just knew I could have a great time with them. Several were a really large and FAST!

I looked online tonight for the regs but it was a little hard to figure out the season.  

Any other states have an abundance of large rabbits one could sling carbon at?

Cheers,
James

[D.J. Carr]

Probably Jack Rabbits

[centaur]

I'm guessing you were seeing jack rabbits rather than cottontails. As an old fart, I will be snowbirding in Pinal Co. in January, but I don't hunt rabbits there as the non resident hunting license is kind of spendy. I just roam the desert and stump shoot, which is still a lot of fun.

[gringol]

Very large, long legged rabbits are jackrabbits.  There are cottontails in az, though.  I spent a few years there and nonres small game tags were around $100 for the season, including migratory birds.  Weekend tags were available.  The prices could be higher now, but $100 seems pretty reasonable to me.

[highcountry]

We don't hunt them until it gets cold. Couple of freezes takes care of the "liver bug". Those Jack rabbits are pretty tough critters. Smart as a Whitetail and fast as a speedy goat(Antelope). I don't eat Jacks, too tough,like leather.  You can hunt them here in AZ year round but better wait unitl it gets good and cold. We had our 1st freeze last night. Bunny season soon!