Still time left this month to hunt swamp rabbits

This past weekend, my son, grandson and I decided to do a little briar patch high stepping for swamp rabbits along some canal banks in the marsh.
Trust me, anything associated with briars is painful. The thorny wild shrubs cut exposed skin like concertina wire.
Let’s just say the swamp rabbits won the day last weekend, because we left the marsh with only a couple of the critters to show for our efforts.
For some reason, I kept hearing in my head the music to Donna Summer’s 1983 hit, “She works hard for the money,” only the lyrics were different. Mine went:
“He works hard for the bunnies,”
“He works hard for the bunnies,”
“He works hard for the bunnies, so you better clean them right!”
Somewhere around midnight, even after consuming a 20-ounce Powerade to replenish the electrolytes in my body, I caught a charley horse in my hamstring that sprang me out of bed. I grabbed the back of my leg with my left hand and threw my right hand over my mouth just in time to muffle a bloodcurdling scream I didn’t want Mrs. Flores to hear.
Scrambling as best I could to the medicine cabinet, I began shaking pill bottles like percussion instruments, tossing them onto the sink counter until I found two that read, “Leg Cramps” and “Muscle Relaxers.” Finally, I slept.
Was it worth it? You bet. It’s torture at least two or three times annually during the month of February I put my old bones and muscles through after duck season.
There certainly are better ways to go about hunting rabbits. The most obvious is using dogs. There really is nothing quite like hunting swampers with a well-trained pack of beagles.
Nonetheless, one of the things I enjoy about social media, particularly Facebook, is the instantaneous update of what folks are doing. One of my Facebook friends, Corey Toups, and some of his friends and family had themselves quite a day a couple weeks back using dogs on the Atchafalaya Delta Wildlife Management Area hunting rabbits. The photo my friend posted showed the bow of his boat loaded from floor to nearly the gunwale with swampers.
Another friend, Britt Cavelier, had a similar photo he posted last weekend. He and his crew hunted some pasture near the marsh south of Houma. The group in his party conditioned some fields with a bush hog, creating shooting lanes for standers, while others walked patches of grass to flush their quarry out from cover.
The fact is, small game hunting in Louisiana takes a back seat to the business of deer and waterfowl hunting. Most hunting leases, marsh, piney woods or uplands are managed for deer hunting. There are few private clubs that let or want their members tramping through the property shooting squirrels and rabbits in fear of disrupting the larger game animal’s patterns.
I can’t say I blame them. It’s big money today when it comes to obtaining hunting rights to a piece of property.
However, most public wildlife management areas are also managed the same way. Rabbit and squirrel hunting “is” allowed, but a survey of the wildlife management area rules will reveal few allow the use of rabbit and squirrel dogs until after the deer season closes.
The same goes for the coastal wildlife management areas. It’s typically not until after the waterfowl season closes that rabbit hunting is allowed so as not to disrupt the duck hunting. Hence, February is usually a big month for hunters who chase small game.
For those that live along the coast, it’s also probably the best month to pursue small game. The marsh grasses are usually flat from frost at this time of year, causing rabbits to find cover wherever they can. In most cases, that cover in the marsh will be in the form of briar patches and tall cane reseau thickets.
Another advantage hunters have at this time of year is high water, 2016 notwithstanding. With the Atchafalaya River reaching 8 feet in Morgan City this past month, the high water condition in the marsh has been exacerbated by hard southerly winds from cold fronts passing through. When this occurs, rabbits have only one place to go — higher ground. Therefore, canal banks are the obvious choice.
But, hunters have to be prepared and willing to take some punishment trying to walk up swamp rabbits if they don’t have canines.
The trick to canal bank hunting is to drop one hunter off and let a couple standers take the boat up the canal 50 to 100 yards to intercept a fleeing jumped rabbit. In short, two legged humans become the dogs.
No doubt, it’s tough hunting and “you’ll work hard for your bunnies,” so you better clean them right.