Cotton Tales # 2

In February of ‘02, my brown redtick female, Molly, had a litter sired by one of my bluetick males, Rebel. Molly and Rebel are both out of Morning Star Blue Buck but, had different dams. I have had very good luck with Buck’s pups and thought that a double dose of his genes would be worth trying. I kept a bluetick male and a brown redtick female that was the runt of the litter. I named the female, Nichols’ Brown Penny. At the time, that I made my choice, I had seen nothing different about her except her size and coloration. I particularly liked the fact that she had more ticking than any of her siblings. She is the smallest beagle that I have ever had. She would have to stand on her tiptoes to make twelve inches. I told my wife that if she didn’t grow some more that I might have to carry her to the woods in my hunting coat. .

I have a large yard and am able to let my pups out to play and investigate their surroundings. I live on the edge of town and a large wooded area begins about fifty yards in front of my house and extends for about half a mile to the Kiamichi River. There are a couple of grown up lots immediately behind my back fence that is covered with bushes, weeds and honeysuckle vines. I noticed that Penny spent a lot of time checking out everything that she could get her nose into. When feeding would come around in the evening, usually at five, I would call the pups and head for the pens. Penny would suddenly develop the desire to go hunting. She would crawl under the fence and get very busy checking out the grown up lots. I didn’t pay much attention the first time that she did this but, then I noticed that she would do it every time. She also dearly loved to harass our tomcat and any other cats that came around. She would chase them through the back fence and trail them around out in the bushes and a few times she would tree them. I watched her grow and develop through the spring and summer and was impressed with her energy, spunk and natural curiosity. I had been amused, many times, by her antics and came to have high hopes for her. I remarked, to my wife, that I thought that Penny was going to make a good rabbit dog. I have noticed, over the years, that the pups that harass my cats the most usually made the best dogs. I normally start taking my pups to the field when they are six to seven months old and big enough to keep up with the older dogs.

I took the dogs to an area , down in the Kiamichi River bottom, that belongs to a friend. I have hunted this area many times and knew that it had both swamp rabbits and cottontails. This area has plenty of water with a meandering stream and several sloughs. It also has several meadows grown up with sage grass, greenbriers and both dewberry and blackberry briers. It is ideal habit for swamp rabbits and a challenge for any rabbit dog. I prefer hunting swamp rabbits to cottontails and I particularly like this area because of the terrain. There is an old, abandoned railroad bed running through the middle of it and several other high spots where the visibility is good. It is a great spot to just sit and watch your dogs and the rabbits try to outwit each other. More often than not, the rabbit comes out the winner. Since I like to hunt swamp rabbits it is necessary that my dogs get used to the water and don’t hesitate to hit it. This was going to be a good opportunity to see what the pups were made of.

My plan was to follow a fenceline due south to the river and go around the end of it. That would put me in the lower end of a long thicket that parallels the river along the edge of a meadow. We had gone maybe forty yards and, the dogs had hardly finished answering nature’s call, when Jack opened. Hank went to him immediately and the race was on. Penny and Cidni joined the race right away and began to squeal and yip frantically. The rabbit went a short distance and doubled back along a high bank that drops off into a stream. I suspected that the rabbit crossed the stream but, whatever he did, worked, since he managed to lose the dogs after only a few minutes. I gave them plenty of time to get the trail figured out and then called them as I worked my way on toward the river. They all came along shortly and we hunted our way to the end of the fence where the riverbank had caved off into the river.

I held on to the end of the fence and stepped around it as the dogs began to investigate the thicket. I had found rabbits in this thicket before and fully expected to hear one of the dogs open any second. Hank was the first to open. I could see him, through the brush, eagerly checking out the thicket in front of me. Jack and the pups went to him and another race was on. This race proceeded upriver to the far end of the thicket and the dogs made a temporary loss. I waited a few minutes and then began working my way toward where I had last heard them. I got up to where I could see Jack and Hank trailing around in some tall dead grass. They began to trail toward the other side of the meadow and then doubled back toward my right. I moved up a little to where I could see them better as they kept working toward me. I must have almost stepped on the rabbit and was startled when he bolted out of the grass just in front of me and headed back toward where they had first struck his trail. They didn’t go far until they quit barking and I could tell that they had lost the trail again. It only took a minute or so for them to figure it out and then they switched directions and headed back up the river again. Penny happened to be on the upper edge of the area where they made the loss. I heard her let out a squeal and head out up the riverbank. She was jumping as high as she could and squealing at every breath. Her ears were flying and those little short legs were really pumping as she tried her best to catch that swamp rabbit. I saw the rabbit squirt out of the cover in front of her and he quickly disappeared toward another thicket further up the river.

The stream that meanders through this area lies on the opposite side of the small meadow, that we were in, and it empties into the river on the upper side of the thicket where the rabbit was headed. I had hunted in this area before and I knew where I would be most likely to see him if he came back. I moved on up, toward the lower side of the thicket, and stopped in a narrow neck between the stream and the river. All four of the dogs pursued the rabbit on into the thicket where he ran a couple of circles with them in hot pursuit. The race then turned and headed back down the river toward me. I thought that I was being very vigilant but he almost got by me before I could get a bead on him. I was carrying my usual rabbit gun, a single shot twelve gauge. I hurriedly threw the gun up and snapped a shot at him. I thought that I had missed and was surprised when he rolled to an abrupt stop. I watched him as the dogs kept coming an trailed up to him. This was the first rabbit that had been killed in front of the pups and they were a little hesitant to get close to it. I held it to where Jack, Hank and Cidni could get a good whiff of it and tried to get Penny to check it out also. She was much too busy looking for the lost trail and would not come to me. I dropped it into my game bag and headed for the thicket that the rabbit had just come out of. I thought that there was probably another rabbit or two in there. As soon as I got into the thicket I began to see fresh rabbit sign. I worked my way to the upper end of the thicket and was about to step out of the brush into a small grassy area. Penny and Cidni were both trailing around in front of me when Penny suddenly became very interested in sniffing something under some small berry vines and dead grass. Her tail began to whip at high speed as she bulldozed her way through the grass toward the creek bank and began to yip and squeal. She turned to my left up the stream and was really turning it on. Cidni went to her and joined in on the race. Hank and Jack had been trailing around back to my right near the riverbank and it took a few seconds for them to realize that the pups had a rabbit going. By the time they caught up with the pups the rabbit had circled around to my left toward the river and cut back across the thicket toward where he had been jumped. He made the mistake of stopping where I could see him. I had an easy sitting shot and put an end to Penny’s first solo rabbit race. It wasn’t entirely solo but, she did start it and ran most of it solo. Needless to say, I was very proud of her.

We hunted on through the thicket upstream until I came to a shallow area, where I could cross. Penny hesitated when it came to swimming the stream but, she came on quickly after I called her. We crossed a larger meadow that had been brushhogged and the dogs began to check out a narrow strip of cover between the meadow and a horseshoe shaped slough. I walked along the edge of the meadow slowly to give the dogs time to check out the cover. I stopped briefly next to a small clump of greenbriers and dead grass and was watching the dogs trail around. The clump of cover almost exploded , as another swamp rabbit had all of the togetherness that he could stand and made his exit. He immediately disappeared into the briers along the slough to my left. I called Jack to me and tried to show him where the rabbit had been sitting. Apparently the rabbit had not left much scent because Jack didn’t show much interest in it. I turned him loose and began to encourage the dogs to go in the direction that the rabbit had gone. They all finally worked their way down into that area and picked up the scent about forty or fifty feet from where the rabbit had been sitting. The rabbit ran down the slough for fifty yards or so and then crossed it. The dogs followed his trail to the water and crossed also. They picked up the trail again and went all the way across the inside of the horseshoe before losing it.

I called the dogs and proceeded down the slough toward the railroad bed. I intended to cross the slough and hunt another large thicket that was in another grown up field. The dogs got back into the narrow strip of cover along the slough and almost immediately struck another rabbit. It was so close to where they lost the other one that it could have been the same one. This rabbit lost no time and crossed the slough also. The dogs followed it across the slough but, could not figure it out. I went on down toward the end of the slough and crossed. As soon as the dogs caught up with me they began to trail around and acted like it was a fresh track. Jack opened and they all went into a very dense greenbrier thicket. They trailed around for a few minutes and then they all came out except Penny. I was watching the dogs and waiting for something to happen when I heard a strange noise coming from the thicket. I soon realized that it was a rabbit squealing in distress. I found it hard to believe that Penny had actually caught a swamp rabbit but, it sounded like that might be the case. I had taken a step or two toward the thicket, when the squealing stopped and I saw the rabbit just briefly as it went from one part of the thicket to another. All of the dogs went back into the thicket and got very serious about checking it out. Jack finally trailed over to an armadillo hole and began to investigate . Hank followed him to the hole and he decided to dig the rabbit out. I have never had a rabbit to act like that before unless it had been caught. I can only conclude that it must have been injured sometime before my dogs found it. I don’t think that Penny ever touched it but, just may have gotten too close to it for comfort. I called the dogs and headed on around the inside of the horseshoe toward the big brier patch. I don’t like for my dogs to spend a lot of time trying to get a rabbit out of a hole wherever it might be.

We hadn’t gone far when Hank opened on another rabbit and it headed directly for the slough where it lost the dogs. I gave them some time to work on that trail before calling them and continuing on to the next thicket. I have always found at least one rabbit, in this particular spot. Sure enough, the dogs began to check it out and Jack opened and about that time a swamp rabbit almost ran over Penny. This rabbit circled a time or two in the thicket and then lined out to the west alongside the railroad bed. I think that the dogs must have lost him and picked up another because they hung up in that area and acted like the rabbit had no intentions of coming back my way. After waiting for awhile, I decided that I had better go and see what they were running. They were running in a fairly small circle back and forth across the old railroad bed near my truck. They made another loss before I could get to them so I waited and gave them some time to work it out. After I was sure that it was a permanent loss, I called them to me. I took them on the north side of the railroad bed and we had not gone far into that area when Jack opened and another race was on. This area was surrounded almost completely by another horseshoe shaped slough and I knew that if the rabbit did not swim the slough that it would have to come down by me to get out of the area. Of course, the rabbit had ideas of it’s own, and went all the way to the tip of the area and swam across the slough. The dogs pursued it across and kept steady pressure on it. After waiting for awhile, where they jumped the rabbit, I moved on toward the tip of the inside of the horseshoe to where I could have more visibility. After a few more minutes I could tell that the rabbit had crossed the slough again and was headed my way. I got ready and listened as the hot race kept getting closer. Shortly I saw movement out in front and to my left and determined that it was a swamp rabbit easing along the edge of the slough on a path that would bring it within gun range. The dogs kept coming on loudly and the rabbit decided to seek safety elsewhere. It suddenly exited the small cover that it was in and gave me a broadside shot. I had sufficient time to aim and when the gun went off the rabbit began to roll.

This third rabbit completed my legal daily bag limit of swamp rabbits but, I wasn’t ready to quit hearing the hound music. I collected the dogs and headed for yet another thicket. We had not quite made it when Hank struck another hot track. The other dogs joined him and here they went again. This rabbit crossed the creek and went over the railroad bed to the big thicket where we had been earlier. I found a spot where I could see well and waited to see the rabbit and watch the dogs. They circled the rabbit on the other side of the railroad bed and then he headed for a gap where there had been a bridge. After going through the gap he turned right and headed back to where he had been jumped. Before crossing the creek again he changed his mind and headed back toward the railroad bed. This path brought him almost face to face with me. He stopped about thirty feet from me and reversed directions. This tactic threw the dogs off for awhile until Jack picked up the trail again. In the meantime Hank had crossed the creek and went back into the area where the rabbit had been jumped. When Jack opened Hank headed down the stream on the opposite side. He picked up the trail where the rabbit came out and the race got hot all over again. The wily old rabbit had not exhausted all the tricks in his bag and he crossed the stream at another point and succeeded in losing the dogs.

I called them to me once again and leased Hank and Jack. I knew that the pups would follow us out. I was tired and hungry so we headed for the truck. We were within a hundred feet of the truck and I was about to cross a fence when Jack began to pull back on the leash. I looked back to see what his problem was and saw that Penny had found something interesting to smell. She was acting like she smelled rabbit and Jack wanted some of it. I quickly unleashed he and Hank and yet another race was on. They circled this rabbit back and forth across the railroad bed near the truck and finally it came out and went on by me within gun range. It went up the stream and into the area where I had killed the third rabbit. The dogs worked it pretty hot for awhile before losing it. I gave them some time and then called them in, loaded up and headed for home.

My dogs and I had been getting a pretty good workout for the past two weeks. One of my brother-in-laws had been visiting on his way to Idaho and he had never hunted rabbits with beagles. I was more than happy to introduce him to my favorite sport and wasted no time in volunteering to take him. He and I had spent several days checking out some of my favorite hunting spots. There was no shortage of rabbits to run and we were able to harvest a few of them and thoroughly enjoy the hound music. He owned several deer hounds at one time when he lived in Alabama so he was not unfamiliar with running dogs.

I have four seven month old male pups from a litter out of my older female Kiss' Blue Maggie and ARHA GRCH/BC Morning Star Blue Buck. I had been splitting them up and taking two of them at a time. They all showed a lot of natural curiosity and thoroughly investigated everything that they came in contact with. Two of them are blue tick like their parents and somewhat smaller than the other two. They also are shorted bodied. One of them is black and tan and white with some ticking on his legs and the other is brown, tan and white with a pretty tan head. They came in a litter of six and five of them were males. Jeff Kissinger picked out the little blue tick female for his stud fee and I sold a dark blue tick male to a young fellow that had bought a pup from me earlier in the year. I decided to keep the remaining four of them and see which one or ones would turn out to be the best. I haven't always made a habit of doing this and I think that I have gotten rid of some good dogs prematurely.

I decided to go down to the Pine Spur area along the Kiamichi River. This area of approximately one hundred acres belongs to some long time family friends. I have hunted there many times and even wrote about a hunt there. "A Great Day at Pine Spur" in "The Rabbit Hunter", July "98". I had not been to this area this season and was curious to see if the predators had let any rabbits survive since last season. I loaded Maggie, Misty and Chelsea and the pups Rebel and Buckshot and headed out. It is about ten miles from my home to the river crossing near where I wanted to hunt. I wasn't sure that I would be able to cross the river but, was pleased when I arrived there and found it to be low enough to cross. I pulled up on top of the river back and parked in the edge of a pasture to unload the dogs. I don't normally take five dogs when I hunt alone but, I decided that Maggie needed to work off some of the extra weight that she had put on during the summer. She is a lot like her master in that respect.

I planned to start by hunting around the north edge of a large pasture that lays alongside the river for almost a mile. The entire length of this pasture is bordered by thickets and timber. The thickets are comprised of small bushes, sweet gum saplings, and briers of both blackberry and green. The east and south side of this area is fairly heavily wooded. It is ideal rabbit habitat and there are normally both cottontails and swamp rabbits in the area. The dogs were about to tear their box apart before I opened the doors and let them come scrambling out. They immediately took off down the road toward the river while I crawled under a wire gate into the area where I wanted to hunt. I called them and was surprised when they turned around and quickly came on into the pasture. After they spent a few minutes taking care of their preliminary chores they got down to business and started checking out the cover along the edge of the field. I took my time and began moving slowly along the edge toward the other end of the field. We had gone about a hundred yards from the truck when Misty let out a squall to announce that she smelled rabbit. The older dogs had split up and were checking out different area. Maggie and Chelsea along with the pups immediately headed in her direction. It took them a minute or two to figure out the trail and then the race was on. Maggie quickly took over the lead since she is the fastest of the three older females.

The rabbit had been sitting in a large thicket that juts out from the side of the meadow and when it left there it had to cross and open area before reaching another thicket. It went into a long narrow thicket that is situated in a low area that normally has water standing in it this time of the year. The lower end of the thicket consist of some small bushes and tall clumps of water grass and reeds. The dogs were pushing the rabbit hard until they made a lose for a few minutes. I took up a position in the open area between the two thickets. I heard Misty open again and the race got hot once more. The pups were with the older dogs but, I wasn't hearing much out of them. The rabbit circled around and came back into the area just out in front of me and again the dogs lost the trail temporarily. They opened up again shortly and about that time I saw the rabbit coming out of the thicket right in front of me. He stopped in the edge of the field and looked my way before making a sharp right turn and streaking across the open area for his home territory. I followed him briefly with my gun and when I squeezed the trigger he did a flip and started kicking. I thought that he was a cottontail because of his size and I was surprised when I went to pick him up. It turned out to be a young swamp rabbit. I let him lay there until the dogs trailed up to him.

My firearm for this hunt was a single shot twelve gauge with field loads of 7 1/2s. I like this little gun because of it's light weight and ease of handling. It was a Christmas gift from my children last year and I have really enjoyed it. I started out shooting high brass loads in it but, it didn't take long for me to decide that I was going to have to do something about the recoil. It would almost get blood on both ends with each shot. I made a quick trip to Wal-Mart and bought a boot for it and switched to the field loads. It still rocks me pretty good but, if I remember to hold it snugly, I can live with it. Prior to getting this gun, I had been carrying my Winchester Model 1400 and it would wear me out before a day was over. I really prefer using a 20 gauge but, I had fell into a bargain on several boxes of the twelve gauge shells and then I had been given several more boxes of them. I decided that I should make use of them and put the twenty gauge up for awhile.

I started to drop the rabbit into my game bag and then decided to hang him up in a tree and get him on the way back. I slit one of his back lets and hung him up where the crows couldn't find him and continued hunting. I had barely gotten started when Misty opened again back in the first thicket near the edge of the field. She was very near a deep creek bank that falls off into a cut off area that has been carved out by the river. The other dogs went to her immediately and the rabbit headed for the creek. They followed him down the bank and across the creek and up the other side before losing him in one of the many holes along the creek. They worked the area over thoroughly before finally giving up and coming back across to me.

We proceeded along the edge of the field and had gone another hundred yards when Maggie opened with her fast chop. This was her way of announcing that she had found another rabbit. Misty was right there with her and they went to work on him. I didn't hear Chelsea and wondered where she might be. She will normally harken into them as fast as her little short legs can get her there. If she is on a hot trail though, she will just keep working on it and pay them no mind. They pushed the rabbit back down alongside the field in the direction that we had just come from. They circled him back around near me once but, I didn't get a look at him and when he headed back down the field I decided to move out into the strip of woods that he was running in. About that time, I saw Chelsea quite a ways back down the pasture. She came on up our trail and when she heard Maggie and Misty she went to them right away. The race really got hot then and I heard them turn and head back toward me. I knew that I was in a good spot and felt sure that I would be able to see the rabbit when it got close. Sure enough, a cottontail popped out of the brush about thirty feet from me and stopped to look me over since I was standing in it's path. When it turned sideways to sprint off I tried to pop it in the head. I hit it in the neck instead and almost severed it's head from it's body. The dogs were there shortly and tried to take the rabbit away from me. I put this one into my bag and started out once again.

We had an hour or so of relative quiet except for a cold trail that Chelsea didn't want to give up on. She kept on bawling around until Maggie and Misty went to her. Misty barked on the trail a few times but, they could never get it up and going. I finally got them out of that area and into another across an old road that meanders up through the meadow. Chelsea found another cold trail in this area and worked on it until I got tired of waiting. I leashed her and led her back to an area that I wanted her to check out and turned her loose. She immediately disappeared along with the two pups. I started on up through the thicket to see if I could find them when suddenly a cottontail jumped up out of a clump of grass in front of me and disappeared into a brier patch. I hustled on out into the meadow again and found Chelsea and led her back to where the rabbit had been sitting. I stuck her nose into his bed and she didn't need any coaching to know just what to do. She opened up and started bawling frantically and Misty and Maggie responded to her right away. The race got so hot that the pups decided that they had better join in. We had a great race out of this one but, I never got to see him again. They circled him two or three times out of my sight and when I moved up to where I thought that I would be able to see him, they lost the trail. They split up then for awhile and I think that they were working on at least two rabbits for a time. I finally got them back near me and Misty jumped another one in a patch of blackberry briers. The rabbit refused to leave that patch until they finally got too hot on him. All five dogs were in there nosing around and he finally made a dash for other parts. He came tearing by me and I saw that it was another cottontail. I shot at him just as he went into another thicket but, I felt sure that I had missed him. I waited for awhile for the dogs to come on down his trail and then I caught Chelsea and put her on it. She trailed on through the thicket that he had gone into and opened out on the other side. Misty came on through and when she heard Chelsea open, she and Maggie immediately went to her. The pups again joined in and we had another loud race for just a short time before they lost him.

By this time I was getting tired and ready to go home. I worked my way through the thicket where they had gone and stopped to listen and look for them. About that time Chelsea opened up back down to my left and the other dogs joined in. I eased on down that way and found a spot where I had a good view. After another brief loss, they all opened up and the race headed my way. I saw movement up ahead of me and here came a big swamp rabbit streaking to my right and headed for yet another thicket. I finally got lined up on him and when the gun went off he came to a quick stop. All the dogs had been right behind him and I quickly leashed Chelsea and Misty before heading in the direction of the truck. Maggie had disappeared but, I knew that she would come on shortly. I led them across a semi open area and into another line of timber that was situated on a low narrow ridge. I turned Misty and Chelsea loose again and they headed down the edge of the timber. Maggie had caught up with us by then and she went on into the timber and opened immediately. They all got together quickly and the race was on. Rebel and Buckshot had apparently decided that they really liked this rabbit running business and they joined the race, sounding off at ever step. I moved up a few feet into an opening where I thought that I would be able to intercept the rabbit when he came back. He had other ideas though and circled around just out of sight in the edge of the timber. Then he went back across the clearing that I was standing in and began circling up and down another small timbered rise. After the second circle I decided to see if I could waylay him on the next one. I moved quickly on over onto the rise where he was circling. He seemed determined not to leave his home area. All five of the dogs were pushing him hard and the chorus was almost nonstop. The race turned my way and shortly I saw this dark streak coming through the woods in my direction. He was going to pass me on my left and as he passed he was getting closer all the time. I waited until I had a good opening between the trees and when I knew that he was within range I decided to take a crack at him. My aim was good and he tumbled head over heels at the shot. By the time that I got to him, all the dogs were there. I let the pups nuzzle him briefly before dropping him into the bag. I called the dogs and headed on toward the truck. I had all the rabbits that I wanted and a pretty good load in my bag by this time. When we came out into the big pasture again I leashed Misty and Chelsea. Maggie was hunting again and the two pups were with her. They checked out another area and for a time I thought that they were going to jump another one. Rebel barked a few times but, Maggie never confirmed it as a rabbit and in a few minutes they all came back to me. I then leashed Maggie and kept on toward the truck. I stopped back by and picked up the first rabbit which finished filling my bag.

Kiamichi Blaze was born on the 29th of May 1987 and died on the 4th of May 2000. His sire was AKC Piney Woods Buck and his dam was AKC Tony's Miss Buttons. He had several Champions in his pedigree. The Field Champions on his sire's side were FC Wittline Big John and FC Karickhoff's Cappy. On his dam's side there were CH Yaupon Row Collector's Choice, CH Yaupon Row Salute, CH Yaupon Row Hiphugger Hayday, CH J-Jan Blue Jay, CH Colgren's Duke Devil and FC Pearson Creek Casanova. Some of the dogs with unusual names that caught my eye on his sire's side were Cool Hand Louie and Cool Hand Luke XXX, and on his dam's side there was Alice B. Toklas II.

Blaze's independent streak showed itself when it came to being petted or handled in any way. He would not let himself be caught or petted unless he wanted it. When he chose to be petted he could be very affectionate but, most of the time he kept his distance from everyone, including Chester. He did not like to take medicine of any kind and he could get real mean when being wormed or doctored for minor cuts and scratches. Some weeks before Blaze died, Chester was showing me his sore thumb that Blaze had chewed up when he was attempting to doctor him. In spite of all this, they had a mutual respect and affection for each other. Although Chester never hunted or killed a rabbit in front of Blaze, he loved to hear him run and was quick to brag on him. Blaze loved to go with Chester wherever he went about the place and would always be somewhere within calling distance of him. He followed Chester's tractor for many a mile and would chase rabbits and lay in the shade while Chester was brushhogging or doing other farming activities.

I had a pack of beagles when I moved down near Chester's and after getting to know Blaze and hearing him run, I decided that I would like to have some pups out of him. I talked to Chester about it and he said that that would be fine with him. He didn't want anymore beagles and told me to come down and get Blaze whenever I wanted to use him. The next time that my best female came into season I went down and got Blaze. He was about four years old at the time and had never bred before. I put him in the stall with my female and watched to see what would happen. I knew that she was ready. Blaze acted as if he couldn't care less about that business. He sat and looked at the gate like he just wanted to get out and go home. After several hours I decided that he was not going to get the job done and I opened the gate and let him out. He didn't waste any time in getting back to his home territory. I had to find another stud dog to breed to.

The next time that I decided to breed my female I wised up a little and decided to try a different strategy. I took her down to see Blaze. I had her on a leash and I tied her up where he could check her out. At first, he was a little hesitant but, after finding out that she seemed to like his advances, he became more aggressive and began to try to mount her. He would try first one end and then the other, then one side and then the other. Chester and I had to laugh at his clumsy efforts. He refused to give up though and finally was successful. I took her back home and brought her back again the next day. This time Blaze seemed to have forgotten everything that he had learned the day before. He made a few more false starts and then he found the right place again.

I had brought her down in the trunk of an old 1973 Buick. On the third day that I brought her down to see Blaze he came running out to meet us and went immediately to the trunk of the car. He reared up on the rear bumper and could hardly wait for me to get her out. This time he accomplished the mission in record time. After the third mating, I quit taking her to him and waited to see if it had been successful. Blaze never forgot the old car, and from then on whenever I would drive up to Chester's house in it, he would come running to meet me and go right to the trunk and wait eagerly. Chester and I had many a laugh at him over this.

I moved away from there and back to Clayton in the fall of 1992. I would always ask about Blaze whenever I would run into Chester and he would tell me that Blaze was still giving those rabbits fits around the place. I said, "I am very surprised that Blaze has managed to somehow avoid being killed by the coyotes and has survived this long." As Blaze got older his hours of rabbit chasing became few and fewer and his naps became longer. He still ran some everyday, but Chester said that he could tell that he was definitely slowing down. His head was turning more gray and he was getting stiff form arthritis. The last few years of Blaze's life were shared with a large black dog that was half Labrador and half German Shepherd. He and Blaze were the best of buddies, and he would usually accompany Blaze on his rabbit hunting trips to the river bottom. Chester felt that this may have been the reason that the coyotes had not killed him years ago.

I was visiting with Chester around the first of May 2000 and inquired about Blaze. Chester said, "Oh, he is around here somewhere". He said, "Until a week or so ago Blaze was still running rabbits everyday but now he spends most of his time napping in a sunny spot". While we were visiting Blaze came out from under one of the vehicles that were parked there, and I noticed that he was having great difficulty walking. He appeared to be very stiff and in some pain. He found a sunny spot and laid down but, didn't appear to be resting well. I remarked to Chester that he seemed to be in pain, and it looked like he was suffering from the arthritis. Chester said, "If he doesn't show some improvement in the next day or two I will take him to the vet and have him put down. I can't stand to see him suffer". I agreed that that would probably be the kindest thing to do.

I didn't see Chester for a couple of weeks after that. When I next visited him one of the first things that he said to me was, "Well, I had to put the old man down". I detected a note of sadness in his voice and asked him about it. He said that a day or so after I had been there last that he noticed that Blaze was lying down in the garage and couldn't get up. He was just lying there and would bark occasionally, and acted like he was in extreme pain. Chester said, "After putting him out of his misery I took him down into the river bottom, and buried him in one of his favorite rabbit running places". We talked about him for awhile, recalling his experiences with the coyotes and how we had laughed at him and his mating escapades. I said, "I'll bet that you miss him don't you?" He just looked at me and said, "Everyday".

Back on December 9, 2000, I felt that I just had to exercise my dogs and myself and listen to some hound music. I have four pups that I have been training and they were in bad need of another lesson or two. I decided to take a couple of them and a couple of my grown dogs and check out the rabbit population down in the river bottom along the Kiamichi River. This river runs northeast to southwest down the Kiamichi Valley. It's nearest point to me is about a mile south and east of my home. I have hunted this area many times in the past 45 years. I knew that there are both cottontails and swamp rabbits in this area. Their numbers will vary from year to year. Part of this area belongs to a friend and neighbor of mine that I have known since I was a boy of twelve.

I chose Maggie, my oldest female, and her son Ben and two of the pups, Rebel and Buckshot as my pack for the day. Kiss' Blue Maggie is five years old and Nichols' Blue Ben will be two in April. Maggie is out of Lt's Red Lightning and Ben's sire was Nichols' Blue Buckshot who was out of Morning Star Blue Buck and Mitchell's Charlet. Nichols Blue Rebel and Nichols Blue Buckshot II are out of Maggie and Buck. They are almost eight months old and have really been coming along well. Rebel has shown the most initiative and desire to hunt and has really taken a hold on this rabbit hunting business. Buckshot is not far behind him in his progress. I am very pleased with both of them.

I wanted to give the pups some more exposure to rabbit hunting and I knew that Ben needed more experience. He has really come along well in the last year or so. He is the fastest dog that I have and has shown that he can handle a rabbit on his own very well. I know that I need to be soloing him more but, it is hard for me to take just one dog and leave all the others in the pen. Maggie is my fastest female and she runs well with him. She has a fast chop mouth and uses it just right. He tends to be a little tight-mouthed most of the time. He has a good voice but, he doesn't use it quite as much as I would like. He does seem to use it more though when he is running alone. He has an abundance of energy and really covers the ground when he is hunting. He can turn on "the afterburner" when he gets a rabbit up and going.

I leashed Ben and Maggie and let them until we got over into the area where I wanted to start hunting. The pups stayed fairly close to me until I turned the older dogs loose and then they went with them. Ben and Maggie got separated and the pups went with Ben. Maggie was hunting close enough that I could keep up with her and I began wondering where Ben and the pups were. I expected the pups to come back to me anytime but, they didn't. I kept on in the direction that I wanted to hunt and then I heard Ben open a time or two. He has been known to run deer occasionally and I was a little concerned when he opened up so far from me. Maggie had heard him also and we both headed in his direction. She got to him first and I was relieved when I heard her join in on the race. She will not run a deer and I can always tell when the other dogs are running one if she is along. She will go to them and as soon as she knows that it is a deer, she will turn around and come back to me.

Maggie, Ben and the two pups were all telling the news about the rabbit and it sounded like they were headed my way. I really didn't want to kill the rabbit but, I got ready and moved to a place where I had a good view. The rabbit came by me on my left and out of sight. He turned back behind me and headed up through a thick stand of pine and cedar trees. The dogs came on through, on his trail, and followed him into the grove. He made a short half circle and came back across in front of me and I could see that it was a cottontail. He headed back over into the area where Ben had jumped him. There was a house near where he had first gotten up and the fellow that lives there has a couple of beagles and a big hound or two. Of course, they all began to bark and wanted to get in on the race. I could tell that all this commotion was interfering with the dogs and especially the pups. They soon lost the rabbit's trail and eventually came back to me. I called them and headed away from the area and the strange dogs.

We proceeded on down through the woods, crossed a small creek and climbed a cedar hill on the way to the river bottom. We had gone about a half mile when we came out onto a seismograph road near the edge of a big meadow. Maggiei was trailing around off to my left and Ben was out in front down the hill a short way. Maggie began to yip a little and I knew that she had found a rabbit track and was about to get him up. The trail began to warm up and Ben and the pups went to her. The race just fizzled out then and after waiting a few minutes for them to get started again. I headed on toward the bottom. I climbed another hill and had just reached the top of it when Rebel spied a crow flushing from the edge of the meadow. He just had to go and investigate and on his way toward the crow he apparently jumped a rabbit out of a small brier patch. He immediately opened and began yipping frantically. The other dogs, which were still trailing around behind me, responded to him and came pounding by me headed for him. Maggie arrived first and when she opened also, I knew that it was a rabbit. They had some trouble figuring the trail out and spent some time circling around the area. The rabbit had run out of the small brier patch and part way up toward the top of the hill and then sat down. Rebel was really working the area and all of a sudden the rabbit jumped up right in front of him and headed on over the hill. Rebel went over the hill right behind the rabbit and was trying his best to catch it. He was yipping like crazy and I just had to laugh at the sight. The other dogs all joined the race and took the rabbit on a small circle back toward the seismograph road. I heard the race turn back toward me shortly and I looked up to see the rabbit headed my way at a high rate of speed. He almost ran between my legs as he made his way back through the brier patch and out into the meadow. He made a sharp left turn along the edge of the meadow and then turned back over the hill.

The race continued almost nonstop for a couple of circles and then they had a loss. The hill that I was standing on dropped off, on one side, into a small hollow with a stream that emptied out into the river bottom. I moved along the hillside until I was able to see down into the hollow. I was standing there listening for the dogs when I caught a movement back down the hill between the meadow and me. I turned my head for a better look and saw a swamp rabbit coming up the hill toward me. I could have killed it then but, I decided to just watch and see what it would do. It came on up the hill slowly and turned as if to do down into the hollow. I stood very still and it never saw me. It stopped, set down and began to groom itself. It would rise up and look around occasionally and then go back to grooming again. The dogs were back over the hill to my left and were still trying to unravel the trail. I was not sure if this was the same rabbit they had been running or not. After the rabbit finished "getting pretty" it took off down the hill and disappeared into the small bottom. A few minutes later the dogs worked their way around the hill and came out near where I had first seen the rabbit. They hit it's trail and followed it back down the hill but, they could never seem to get it straightened out. They worked on it awhile and then they all came back to me. I headed on off the hill toward the river bottom again. There is a wide flat area along next to the river that has standing water over a large portion of it during this time of the year. I thought that there might be some swamp rabbits sitting around on the higher spots of ground in it.

The pools of water that were scattered around this area had a thin covering of ice and I knew that the running would not be easy for the dogs. We had hardly gone fifty yards into this area when Maggie, who was trailing along through the brush near the edge of the meadow to my right, let out a squall and headed back in the direction that we had come from. The other dogs quickly joined her and they headed toward the hills that we had just left. I turned around and moved a short distance to where I could see back toward the hill and waited for them to bring the rabbit back. The race went on up the hill and began circling. I expected him to come back at any time but, after the second circle I decided that I might have a long wait if I stayed where I was.

While waiting for the rabbit to come back I heard a noise off to my right and further out into the wet area. I looked closely and caught a glimpse of what I thought was either a deer or an elk. I had been seeing elk sign, that morning, since shortly after the dogs ran the first rabbit. I knew that there was a herd of elk that had taken up residence there since coming off the Pushmataha County Game Management Area a couple of miles back in the mountains to the south. I only saw a brief glimpse of it and couldn't be sure of what it was. I turned back around and continued to watch and listen for the rabbit and the dogs. A few minutes later I heard a stick break back to the right again and closer to the hill where the dogs and rabbit had gone. I looked in that direction and saw a small buck deer picking his way across the bottom toward the hill. He looked like he may have had four or six points on a very small rack. I watched him until he went out of sight in the timber and hoped that he wouldn't interfere with my rabbit race.

The rabbit race was really getting hot by this time. The dogs were all sounding off and the noise was almost nonstop. They had some momentary loses but, would start again almost immediately. They were really pushing that rabbit hard and I was surprised that he had not come back to the wet bottom again. I had decided that if the rabbit wouldn't come to me that I would go to it and began to work my way across the wet area and climbed the hill hear where they were running. I wanted to position myself somewhere in the area where he was circling. I found a spot where I could see fairly well and waited. The race headed toward me shortly and I got ready for action. I had decided that I would kill at least one rabbit for the benefit of the pups. The dogs made another lose just out in front of me but, out of my sight. I could hear them in the leaves as they worked the area looking for the trail. I kept watching for the rabbit to come slipping through the woods but, I never saw any movement for awhile. I had been standing there for a few minutes when a movement caught my eye back to my left. I looked in that direction and saw what appeared to be a rabbit. I couldn't believe that one had just suddenly appeared there. I took another look and sure enough it was a swamp rabbit. I raised my gun, took aim and fired. The rabbit fell over on his side and lay still. I looked around to see if the dogs were coming and waited for them to trail up to it. When they didn't come right away I walked over to pick it up and got the surprise of my life. Instead of one rabbit there was two swamp rabbits lying there. One was stone dead and the other was quivering and looked very addled with blood coming from the side of his head. I looked at them for a few moments and looked around for the dogs. They had trailed around the area and came toward the rabbits a time or two but, would never come on up to where they lay. The one that was not dead began to move around some and I was afraid that it was going to regain it's senses and run off. I gave it a swift whack on the head and finished it off. One of the dogs trailed right past the rabbits without seeing them and went on off to my right toward the bottom. The two pups then came trailing up to me and spotted the rabbits right away. They immediately grabbed a rabbit each and began to chew on them. I took the rabbits away after letting them wool them around for a little while.

I wanted to check out another area that I had not hunted in a couple of years. I knew that there used to be some swamp rabbits there and was curious to see if there might still be a few left. I was making my way slowly down a slick muddy bank along a small stream that flows into Rock Creek which flows into the river about fifty yards downstream. Ben and the two pups had gone on across the smaller stream and were headed up the west side of Rock Creek. I was having a little trouble with the steep, slick bank. They were out ahead of me when one of the pups opened up. I thought that it was Rebel and he had jumped rabbits on several occasions already. Ben and Buckshot were there with him and another race began immediately. Maggie was close to me and she headed to them as fast as she could go. They headed up the creek and turned back across another flat bottom toward higher ground. The race was really hot and it sounded like they were starting to circle and head back my way. I hurried on up the creek and found a nice log to sit on while I waited for the rabbit to return. I had not heard Maggie open and was beginning to wonder why. A few minutes later I heard a noise out in front of me and looked up to see her coming back. I knew then that I had trouble on my hands.

I started toward the noisy race and had not gone far when I saw another swamp rabbit scoot out from under some dead limbs and disappear behind a large log. I looked around for Maggtie and she was coming along slightly behind me. She went on by me and found the rabbit's trail. She didn't open right away but, started following the trail toward where it had gone behind the log. She trailed over to a hole in the ground and stuck her head down in it. She could never get the trail going away from that hole and after watching her check the area thoroughly, I concluded that the rabbit had only gone about fifty feet and crawled into that hole. I called her and went on toward the race that was still going on. They were circling but, were getting farther away with each circle. They had gotten out into an area of several small to medium sized meadows and were still pushing something very hard. When I got out into one of the meadows where I thought that I could possibly see them, Ben had left the pups behind. They were not giving up and continued working the trail and barking excitedly. I tried to head Ben off but, he was having none of that. I managed to catch a glimpse of him and noted where the trail was. I headed over to where I had seen him go through and waited on the pups to arrive. Ben continued to pursue the deer and went on south over the hill. When the pups came out on the trail in front of me I caught and leashed them and warmed their backsides while scolding them for their bad behavior.

Upon arriving home I put Maggie and the pups in their pens. I had to tell my wife and mother-in-law about killing the two rabbits with one shot. I don't think that either of them could really appreciate the great significance of the event. Although they made the appropriate responses, I couldn't help but feel that they were not all that impressed. "Oh well". I ask my wife to take a couple of pictures of my rabbits and me and she said, "Are you kidding, what is so important about those rabbits". Again, I tried to impress on her that this was indeed a momentous occasion and that it should be recorded for posterity. After more snide remarks and snickering, she followed me outside and snapped a couple of pictures for me. I have concluded that the life of a great hunter/provider is not always easy.