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Feb. 13, 2003
Rabbits use all the tricks to avoid hunters
By BRENT FRAZEE, The Kansas City Star
WARSAW, Mo. - Rich Abdoler named his hunting beagle Houdini.
But during a hunting trip at Truman Lake this week, he wasn't so sure if the name was better suited for the rabbit he and his dog were chasing.
"Everyone thinks, `How hard can it be to hunt rabbits?' " said Abdoler, a park ranger at Truman and an avid rabbit hunter. "But they haven't seen some of the tricks these rabbits can pull.
"When it gets this late in the hunting season, they've learned the ropes. They can do some amazing things to escape."
Abdoler thought he had seen it all. But even he was impressed with what he saw this week.
The chase started when Abdoler flushed a rabbit. His dog gave chase, barking excitedly as it followed the trail.
Within minutes, the dog and the rabbit were a half-mile away. Just when Abdoler was starting to think that Houdini had lost the scent, he heard her excited barks as she followed the rabbit full circle back to the spot where it was flushed.
A few minutes later, the dog approached Abdoler and led him to a brushy hedge row. Then it jumped up on a tree and started barking loudly.
Confused, Abdoler inspected the tree and spotted a knot hole some two feet off the ground. There, sitting tightly in that hole, was a rabbit.
"That rabbit had to scramble up that tree a ways to even get in there," Abdoler said. "He was probably looking for any way he could to get away from that dog."
Ah, the thrill of the chase...
For rabbit hunters, that's what it's all about. Put a group of hunters, a pack of beagles and some crafty rabbits in a field, and you never know what will happen.
Abdoler can tell you. He grew up hunting rabbits without a dog, crashing through the briars along railroad tracks near his home in Wellington, Mo. But he'll tell you that he didn't really become a rabbit hunter until he bought his first beagle in the early 1980s.
"Watching the dogs work a rabbit is what makes it fun," he said. "These beagles just love to hunt.
"It's a challenge for them. These rabbits can be tricky.
"But a good dog will give them a go."
Abdoler remembers the day he learned just how efficient a good hunting beagle can be in the rabbit fields.
"A group of us were going into this field at Truman and two other hunters without dogs were walking out," Abdoler said. "We asked them how they had done and they said, `We think we saw two, but we never got a shot. There just aren't many rabbits around.'
Well, the 10 of us went in there with our beagles and we took 45 rabbits that day."
Today, rabbit hunting is part of Abdoler's winter routine. He starts after the first frost in December has pushed down some of the vegetation, and he hunts several times a week until the Missouri season closes Feb. 15.
He works and lives in an ideal place to meet his interests. Truman Lake offers 100,000 acres of public hunting, with plenty of ideal rabbit habitat.
Overgrown fields, brushy hedge rows, thick briar patches -- that's where the rabbits live. And that's where Abdoler and Houdini hunt.
Houdini's job is to head into the thick stuff and push the rabbits out. Abdoler's job is to figure out where the rabbits will go once the beagles give chase.
The rabbits are usually pushed far ahead of the barking dog. Abdoler knows he has to put himself into position to get off a shot at the fleeing game.
"It's a game," he said. "It doesn't always work. But there are enough rabbits out there that I usually have a chance of taking a limit (six) when I'm hunting with a shotgun."
Rabbits use all the tricks to avoid hunters
By BRENT FRAZEE, The Kansas City Star
WARSAW, Mo. - Rich Abdoler named his hunting beagle Houdini.
But during a hunting trip at Truman Lake this week, he wasn't so sure if the name was better suited for the rabbit he and his dog were chasing.
"Everyone thinks, `How hard can it be to hunt rabbits?' " said Abdoler, a park ranger at Truman and an avid rabbit hunter. "But they haven't seen some of the tricks these rabbits can pull.
"When it gets this late in the hunting season, they've learned the ropes. They can do some amazing things to escape."
Abdoler thought he had seen it all. But even he was impressed with what he saw this week.
The chase started when Abdoler flushed a rabbit. His dog gave chase, barking excitedly as it followed the trail.
Within minutes, the dog and the rabbit were a half-mile away. Just when Abdoler was starting to think that Houdini had lost the scent, he heard her excited barks as she followed the rabbit full circle back to the spot where it was flushed.
A few minutes later, the dog approached Abdoler and led him to a brushy hedge row. Then it jumped up on a tree and started barking loudly.
Confused, Abdoler inspected the tree and spotted a knot hole some two feet off the ground. There, sitting tightly in that hole, was a rabbit.
"That rabbit had to scramble up that tree a ways to even get in there," Abdoler said. "He was probably looking for any way he could to get away from that dog."
Ah, the thrill of the chase...
For rabbit hunters, that's what it's all about. Put a group of hunters, a pack of beagles and some crafty rabbits in a field, and you never know what will happen.
Abdoler can tell you. He grew up hunting rabbits without a dog, crashing through the briars along railroad tracks near his home in Wellington, Mo. But he'll tell you that he didn't really become a rabbit hunter until he bought his first beagle in the early 1980s.
"Watching the dogs work a rabbit is what makes it fun," he said. "These beagles just love to hunt.
"It's a challenge for them. These rabbits can be tricky.
"But a good dog will give them a go."
Abdoler remembers the day he learned just how efficient a good hunting beagle can be in the rabbit fields.
"A group of us were going into this field at Truman and two other hunters without dogs were walking out," Abdoler said. "We asked them how they had done and they said, `We think we saw two, but we never got a shot. There just aren't many rabbits around.'
Well, the 10 of us went in there with our beagles and we took 45 rabbits that day."
Today, rabbit hunting is part of Abdoler's winter routine. He starts after the first frost in December has pushed down some of the vegetation, and he hunts several times a week until the Missouri season closes Feb. 15.
He works and lives in an ideal place to meet his interests. Truman Lake offers 100,000 acres of public hunting, with plenty of ideal rabbit habitat.
Overgrown fields, brushy hedge rows, thick briar patches -- that's where the rabbits live. And that's where Abdoler and Houdini hunt.
Houdini's job is to head into the thick stuff and push the rabbits out. Abdoler's job is to figure out where the rabbits will go once the beagles give chase.
The rabbits are usually pushed far ahead of the barking dog. Abdoler knows he has to put himself into position to get off a shot at the fleeing game.
"It's a game," he said. "It doesn't always work. But there are enough rabbits out there that I usually have a chance of taking a limit (six) when I'm hunting with a shotgun."
