By Robert E. Sellers in the November issue of FFG. I thought it was a great article. He's basically telling the story of my youth in southeast PA. It's a style of hunting not really possible around here anymore.

Anybody else read and enjoy it?

Have not read it but I'm betting your referring to my youth of pick a spot to let the dogs out and hunt tell dogs and man are wiped out without moving the truck. Just take off out on the old strip mines and hunt tell your hating the idea of how far you are from the truck.

No, it’s referring to still-hunting rabbits with a .22.

Gee when I was a kid we could never get THAT far. New jersey WAS a small game great spot, rabbits most every where and some wild pheasants especially in the salt marsh next to Staten Island(NY). They had stocked birds in the state lands. I never got many squirrels but that was because of my location. Now I only go back at X-mas time to see the relatives and that is to many times for me......jk oops my bad did not read the article, no rifles of any type in NJ

I love still hunting rabbits. Day after a new snowfall, nothing but fresh tracks. Great times.

Lugnut Just finished reading the article you recommended in the Nov 2024 issue of Fur Fish Game magazine I first started getting FFG about 1963 or 64 It had stories like the rabbit hunting article that you mentioned Everday people doing everyday types of hunting The FFG magazine is the only one that I have received continuously during all those yeas I enjoy reading and often times the photos and art work are worth the price of the various magazines available In recent years I received Deer & Deer Hunting, Bowhunter, Delta Waterfowl, Pheasants Forever, Outdoor Life The Boykin Spaniel Society The PA Game . News Plus some others I had received and saved every copy of the PA Game News since about 1964 or 65 I still get The Trapper and the NRA and NTA membership magazines also I really like the FFG because it is a regular guy just going out and making the best what is possible to do For example I am not a big fan of hunting stocked pheasants But if you enjoy hunting with dogs stocked birds make it possible to go out and have the best kind of fun you will ever have Hunting pheasants with dogs And of course all of us would prefer that the birds where wild But you can't do what you do not have .

Hunted snowshoes in the UP with a .22 those were good times for sure.

Grew up in NE PA and we hunted rabbits that way. Also hunted grouse after rainstorms along stone walls. The grouse would get on top of the walls to sun/dry off and we would shoot them w/22's.

If I remember correctly there was a regular column in The Trapper and Predator Calling magazine Called Putting By and Making Do I do mot recall who wrote it but I always enjoyed how he could make something out of very little or enjoy a seemingly simple idea into a special event In looking at the replies on this thread t here are several ideas and methods that are not the general way things are done but for those using those idea they where a unique way tro bag some game and have and have a real sense of doing some thing that not many others ever heard of or thought of I can bet hunting snow shoes could be satisfying thing because It would take skill to see them in the white cover and also the grouse and the stone wall would be a real accomplishment to use a habit they have to locate and sneak near enough to get a few HUNTING SUCCESS IS NOT ALWAYS MEASURED BY THE SIZE OF THE BAG LIMIT OR TE SIZE OF THE ANTLERS .

I'm Going to buy that copy...as I d onto have a subscription

we used to hunt rabbits in the farm country around here starting in December. We hunted the same areas and knew how the rabbits would behave when driven, where they would run to mainly.
It was mostly thick creek bottoms between farm fields. We set standers at the brush piles, old hillside woodchuck dens, edges of spruce plantations and other places the rabbits would run to. One person would walk the creek bottom and meander back and forth looking for sitting rabbits. This guy usually carried a .22 rifle or pistol. Pistol was preferred as the cover was thick and they were easier to carry. Looking for the black marble of rabbits eye can help to spot a rabbit as it sits. Some rabbits would sit tight and you'd have to almost step on them before they'd run others would move out ahead of you. When you got about 50-100yds from the end of the cover you'd expect to hear shots from the standers. They used shotguns or .22 rifles. It was great fun. We hunted some of those drives at least once a weekend and pretty much always kicked up a couple of rabbits. Never used dogs.

One place we hunted was a farmers yard around his barn and house. He had old equipment everywhere along with piles of brush, old cars and assorted old stuff that all the farmers never got rid of. On guy would have to jump, bang and do all he could to get a rabbit out of the hiding spot while usually 2 shooters would stand at the ready. It was fast shooting as the rabbit had very little distance to cover to the next hiding spot. You could chase a rabbit form pile to pile at times. The only rule the farmer had was he got the first rabbit for his dinner.

Rabbit hunting was our main source of entertainment pretty much every weekend in December and January.

I bought a new Ruger 10/22 in 1968. Burned a lot of shells through it chasing rabbits for next 15 years while my son was growing up. Still got the gun but don't get used much anymore. I to subscribed to FFG since 1964 and have hundreds of back copies. Still get it and enjoy these kind of articles.

Sadly most youth now days have no idea about hunting small game. Their first hunting experiences revolve around setting in blinds over food plots or turkey decoys. As a youth (I'm 72 now) we neighborhood boys would walk the railroad tracks around the edge of town ,22's in hand, and harvest many rabbits and squirrels. Seems a lost sport now.

As a kid I lived in a small town out in Suffolk County Long Island called Lake Panamoka. We were surrounded by every vegetable field you could imagine, potatos, corn, strawberries, peppers, you name it.
At the age of 12, I graduated from my Daisy Red Rider to a Crosman 760 and now I started big game hunting, well, compared to mom's birds off the feeder with the Daisy.
Poncho was our family's white Lab and he loved to chase anything with feet. As soon as school would let out, I'd run home from the bus stop to p, grab my bb gun and yell to Poncho Lets Go!
We'd hurry down the block, cross the dirt lane down the potato field and get to where a pepper field bordered a huge non ag grassy field that was littered with small pine trees. The other side of this feild was usually strawberries.
Stacks and stacks of wooden pallets sat on the edges of the non ag field and Poncho would start sniffing at and running around those pallets while I'd sit or stand still about twenty feet behind him. Never took long before a rabbit would dart out and look for another hiding spot. When I was lucky, they'd freeze while looking for a safe spot and I'd get my shot.
Many times a rabbit would be nestled in under a small pine and I'd shoot them before Poncho even knew they were there.
Hard to believe that was over 45 years ago. Poncho's been long gone, as well as the Crossman, and now I'm in Upstate NY. Nowadays I usually grab the 12 gauge and go alone.
Nice to reminisce..FFG frequently gets me doing so. Have read that mag since I, would guess, ten years old.

Rabbit population is way down here. Has been for quite a few years. I dont kill many. Wanted some for supper though last winter so shot two. Have not read the article.

My papaw used to tell me of walking the dirt roads as a boy and killing rabbits sitting up under the road banks. This would have been 1925-30. I can go out on a three day snow and can’t hardly find a rabbit track now. Even when I was a boy in those late 70’s bad winters there were rabbits everywhere.

I was picked up by the Truancy Officer in the early 70's while on my way to an "Old-Style Rabbit Hunt" with my .22.

Back then I knocked off school to hunt quite a bit. That morning I had just left the house and was walking down the dirt road towards the farm where I hunted squirrel and rabbit. The Truancy Officer pulled up beside me and told me to get in. He put my rifle in the trunk and took me to school where they gave me in-school suspension. I had to sit in a small, windowless room all day.

My mom had to come and pick me and my rifle up after school.

Hunting the RR Tracks was one of my favorite when I was young.Many Squirrels,,Rabbits and Partridge.Walked many a mile on the tracks.

The railroads don’t allow hunting off them here anymore. They have a detective that watches for it. Times have sure changed.

I prefer to hunt rabbits with a .22, right after snow too. I like to barely startle them, so they move a short distance and then shoot them while they are sitting in thinned out, Winter cover. I make some small brush piles, just for that reason.

Keith