# First successful hunt...without a gun....but...with the odds stacked a little...



## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

We had our first successful feau hunt this morning. ;D

We had crossed the playing fields and gone down to the dam for a swim. It is hot here today, so by the time I arrived at the dam, the dogs had already had their first swim. We played around in the water for a while, with them retrieving the Kong floater. After half an hour swimming, it was time for the half hour walk back.

We usually walk along the fence line, so that the dogs can sniff at the Rabbit scent and do an occasional chase of a Rabbit when they spot one. 

We were about halfway along the fence line when & Zsa Zsa stopped dead and went into a stiff point. Like a really intense one. I knew they had sight or smell of something but I couldn't see it. I stopped dead and in the shadows of a tree, I noticed a Rabbit. Zsa Zsa looked at me and I gave her a hand signal and her and Astro took off after it. I never expected them to get it, they have not been successful in the entire time I have had them, but this time, Zsa Zsa got to it first and grabbed it around the neck. She gave it a shake when it wriggled and then it half frightened her and she dropped it. 

It took off again, this time, straight into the waiting mouth of Astro. Then Astro got half frightened when it moved and he dropped it. It took off again only to be scooped up by Zsa Zsa again. I gave her lots of encouragement and she brought it to me and dropped it at my feet. It took off again, once again, only to be snatched up by Astro. Astro gave it a shake and dropped it at my feet. I then put it out of it's misery quickly and broke it's neck. 

It was then when I noticed the unfair advantage the dogs had. Rabbits are not native to Australia, but rather introduced by us dumb white settlers. With very few predators on our continent for Rabbits, they thrived. They are in plague proportions and it is legal to kill them. But with so many, they had to work out a way to control them. So, they introduced a Rabbit specific disease called Mixamatosis. It eventually blinds them and they can no longer forage for food or escape predators and soon die. It's a horrible disease, but over the years the majority of the Rabbit population has developed an immunity to it. So now they are growing in numbers again.

This particular rabbit, you can see by the photo, has the disease and it's left eye was almost completely closed, although it's right one was still healthy. But, the lack of left side vision was what kept putting it back into the dogs mouths when they dropped it. So, slightly unfair advantage to the dogs.

But, I was very proud of how they behaved. They got soooooo excited by it. I gave them lots of praise for finding it, then for retrieving it and then for dropping it at my feet. I was a very proud daddy today   

They got a juicy bone when they got home.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Good story. I almost bought some rabbits from the feed store yesterday to work with one of my dogs. Its frowned on by the bird hunting purest. I'm not a purest. So I'd love to have one of the dogs trained to point and stay steady when the rabbit runs. Can't ever see me shooting a rabbit with a dog on chase.


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## R E McCraith (Nov 24, 2011)

PIKE will point and hold on a rabbit-for me I never shoot them because it's a hard habit to break for a bird dog when they run it's NO BIRD and we go back to hunting-


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## Suliko (Sep 17, 2011)

We have lots of bunnies running around in the neighborhood. I always wondered what would my Sophie do if she actually caught up with one. Didn’t have to wait long! Few months ago she chased a bunny down a field, and when she caught up with him she just continued to hop with the furry “friend” and didn’t know what to do with it! It was quite funny. 
I think in Hungary it is not uncommon for Vs to hunt hare. My dad back in Latvia used to hunt hare (not with a V) – excellent fur for hats!


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## pippa31 (Aug 2, 2011)

Pippa has been chasing bunnies since we brought her home and two weeks ago she finally got one! The funny thing is that she didn't quite know what to do about it....she looked at me with a look that said, "Look what I got! Now what do I do???" ;D

And to top it off, turns out the rabbit wasn't dead....just stunned (she had pinned it). When she took her paw off of it, it hopped away under our fence into the neighbor's yard. Must have learned its lesson though - haven't seen a bunny in our yard since


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

Little Zsa Zsa got another one tonight. This one was healthy and lively. I heard a commotion and looked ahead to see Zsa Zsa with the bunny in her mouth and the bunny squeeling. Astro arrived on the scene soon enough and the two of them put it out of it's misery in rapid pace. I won't go into details except to say that the rabbit died in a more rapid and humane way than I could have done were it up to me. They then brought it to me to show me, dropping it at my feet. Since it was dead I let them have a play with it and Zsa Zsa then took off with it and carried it in her mouth all the way back to the car. I was thinking of wrapping it up for her to take home for dinner, but our Rabbits are disease ridden little creatures and I prefer them not to eat them. If it was a farmed Rabbit, no problem, but not a wild bunny. So I made her leave it. She wasn't very happy about it though.


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## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

Vs are great at catching live animals and still always amaze me. My Mac last week caught one of the squirrels you get this time of year and well short version of story had him for lunch... There was no getting him to drop it.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

While hunting out in his yard, Willie has caught: two squirrels (both got away), one rabbit (got away), and two chipmunks (both lost their lives). He showed no interest in eating the chipmunks. Just killed them and dropped them. I must admit he is not very interested in birds. I think this is because he realizes he can't catch them. Well, he does point at them, but then again, he points at anything that moves. He never actually tries to catch a bird.


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

Go Zsa Zsa! Riley has only caught planted birds so far, but I can tell it's really sparked her hunting instinct as she's started stalking any little creature that moves. 8)


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