13 replies to this topic

[Air Rifle Hunter]

Since my first successful jack rabbit hunt last Monday, I've been dreaming about getting out again. I didn't have alot going on at the house for the first Saturday of June, so I planned to head out early again to see if I could have another successful jack rabbit hunt.

Like last time, I left the house at about 3:40am and arrived at the spot at around 4:45am Saturday morning (this morning). I waited until 5:05 before I jumped out of the truck, put on the gloves, pack and .25 M-Rod and head on out to see if I could harvest a few jacks.

The first part of the morning was rather uneventful with many Cottontails spotted scurrying about and the spotting of two deer calmly walking about. I saw a few Jacks, but they ran off before I could even shoulder the M-Rod. Finally right around 8:45am, I slowly came around a tall shrub oak and froze. About 30 yards away was a young jack rabbit. It was looking at me, but wasn't taking off. I very slowly shouldered the rifle hoping I wouldn't spook the jack, got it in my crosshairs, eased back on the trigger and THWAP! With an offhand shot I'd shot it with a heart/lung shot (see photos below). I'd have used shooting sticks, but when I was getting my pack on I dropped my brand new Stoney Point Shooting Sticks and the dang plastic broke (which you can see in the photo). I was stoked. I put the jack in my 'Rabbit Bag' and then dropped it in my backpack and heading out to look for another.

The temperature kept rising as morning turned into afternoon, but I kept my long sleeve camo shirt on because I didn't want to get sun burned. I was hot, really hot, but the breeze helped to keep me cool... somewhat. At one point my thermometer said it was 90 degrees out where I was at. Yep, I was hot and sweaty alright.

Anyway, I wanted to try and get another, so I kept on trudging on. My feet felt like they were on fire and my legs were tired from all of the hiking up and down hills and trails I was doing. Finally around 1:35pm or so I was walking through another area and saw two jacks take off. I blew my whistle and one stopped. I immediately lined up the shot and scored another hit. This was also a heart/lung shot at about 25 yards (see photos below). The shot shell in the photo was laying on the ground when I went to get the jack, so I just left it there for the photo.

I had two other chances to bag an additional two jacks, but being as my shots had to be offhand and these two were at about 50 and 70 yards respectively, I unfortunately missed both of those shots. I'll have to try and see if I can fix my Shooting Sticks or at least order some replacement parts from Stoney Point so that I can get them back in operational order. Shooting offhand after carrying around that 10+ pound Marauder Rifle (rifle with scope) is a bit challenging. I'm dissappointed in the quality of the Stoney Point shooting sticks product so far.

Anyway, I was out there for a total of about 9 hours, bagged two jacks and had a great time. I even saw three deer and surprised myself when I stalked within 20 yards of one and it never even knew I was there. Well, I'm really looking forward to when Cottontail season starts (I'm counting the days!). Then I can start bringing home some of the "Easy Bake" stuff too. One thing I noticed when cleaning the Jacks was that the young jack's meat looked much lighter in color than the older/larger jack. I'd even say that the young jack's meat looked more like cottontail meat. That was just an observation I made while cleaning them. Now they are both soaking in brine.

I'd have to say that I'm definitely hooked. I've got the "Jack Rabbit Fever"! Well, maybe the "Hunting Fever" in general too.

Young Jack with .25 Marauder:


Young Jack (Solo Photo):


2nd Jack of the Day with .25 Marauder:


2nd Jack of the Day (Solo Photo):

[RaabHimself]

Nice man! Those Jacks look allot better than the ones around here.

[Bisley]

Gotta love it. Isn't funny how after you break the ice with the first one it all seems much easier. Too funny. I think somebody found a new hobby

The shot shell in the photo was laying on the ground when I went to get the jack, so I just left it there for the photo.

And the dynamite crate just happened to be laying there where I "caught" all 40 fish in the lake

[STPilot]

Good report and nice shooting!

[ratassassin]

Well done. Good job sneaking up on them. Jacks are hard to get with an air rifle because of the typical range. When we hunted jacks in April with rimfires all the shots we had were 45 to 100 yards.

And they're tough animals. My buddy shot an adult blacktailed jack at 45 yards with his .22LR and hit it solid, but it ran off. We chased it down and he got a second shot into it about 5 minutes later with a loud "thwock". It had already lost lots of blood but even after the second shot it still ran off quite aways. Later, I shot a big 5 lb. blacktailed jackrabbit at 103 lasered yards with my CZ 455 .22 LR and Remington Subsonic HP. My first shot broke its hind end down and anchored it, but it took several more shots to put it down. I prefer hunting them with .22WMR but we only had .22LR's with us that day. It looks like your .25 Marauder puts them down very well.

[ShooterJohn]

Nice shooting Ray. Try contacting Stoney Point about the broken part. They replaced a leg on mine for free because the length adjuster refused to adjust after a short period. They were very nice about it and apologized for the inconvenience.

[Yateswell]

Persistence paid off, way to go.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

Nice shooting Ray. Try contacting Stoney Point about the broken part. They replaced a leg on mine for free because the length adjuster refused to adjust after a short period. They were very nice about it and apologized for the inconvenience.

I should have done that John, thanks for the suggestion. However, I already glued it back together with a type of super glue that will bond with plastic/nylon and it seems to be holding so far. I'll have to learn to be more careful in the future. I'm hoping it will hold up.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

Well, I tried cooking the Jack Rabbit a couple of different ways today. For lunch I had some marinated in a Korean Kalibi (sp?) sauce. It was actually pretty tasty. The gaminess is still there a little bit, but it didn't bother me.

Then for dinner I had also let some marinate in a Carribean Jerk marinade. That was good too. I did make sure to perforate the meat with holes to help the marinade to soak and absorb better and it seemed to work. I'm trying to experiment with different cooking methods to see which I like best. One of these days I want to get a meat grinder and try making some Jack Rabbit burgers and add some other ingredients (like maybe a little bacon or something with a little fat) into the meat to season it before cooking the burgers. It is just an idea...

[ShooterJohn]

Try cooking it in wine with some vegetables like carrots and potatoes and celery in a dutch oven. It comes out as tender as can be and tastes wonderful.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

I need to get myself a Dutch Oven to cook with (I don't own one).

I did try out the marinated jack in the Carribean Jerk marinade today for lunch. Wow! It made a great sandwich! I bet it would have been good shredded up in the marinade and used like pulled pork or a sloppy joe type of sandwich too. Yummy!

[BCF]

I had some Rabbit Adobo for dinner last night, and the night before. I don't know if you can search for that. It's a filipino food, and you can make it with pork, chicken, beef, squid, shrimp, and rabbit- at least those are the meats I've had it from. Really easy to make. Basically, you put in a medium pan, and fill water to just below height of meat. Then toss, plenty of salt, pepper, white vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaves, and fresh chopped garlic and cook slow for 30 minutes or more. Once it all looks cooked and smells good, remove cover and let the water evaporate. When it's almost evaporated put in some cooking oil and fry until it gets a little crispy and the meat falls off the bones. Eat over white or brown rice. That's how I always cook my rabbit.

[ShooterJohn]

Recipe right here: http://marxfood.com/...t-adobo-recipe/

[Air Rifle Hunter]

Recipe right here: http://marxfood.com/...t-adobo-recipe/

Thanks! I bookmarked it .