Rabbit Hunting

Now that the rain has stopped and the snow is down, the kids are out again. It's Rabbit Hunting season. 

gros morne from the unnamed trail that goes nowhere.

After school, the under 13 set pulls on boots and gloves and grabs their wires, twisted into rabbit snares.   Up the snowy trail they go, behind the water tower, the trail that climbs straight up the hill for seemingly no reason, because it just stops, but does not take you anywhere.

Eyes out for the tracks of rabbits.. they ask each other, is that a rabbit?  No, squirrel.  No!  That's a fox.  The rabbits are easy to tell... sometimes theyre just the small cat like paws, but often, its the long back foot, with the little front paws.  Other times, rabbit at rest, the imprint of tail, paws, long back feet.   They seem to run the same paths over and over.  So the kids find the rabbit paths, and set their snares.

Setting the snare.

Every evening after school, maybe sometimes before school, up they go to check to see if they have snared any rabbits.  They hope the rabbits are dead, if not, they have to kill the sad little beasties.   A quick karate chop to the back of the neck they tell me.  There is always a fight over who's snare it was, and whose rabbit it will be.  None of them, except for mien kinder like rabbit... they always give them to their nans.