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Cottontail hunting in Southern Nevada
What's not to like about rabbit-busting in the desert? "HIking with a shotgun", my buddy Jay calls it; a good workout for legs and lungs, and a good test of skill when a desert cottontail suddenly flushes. Plus, they are absolutely delicious grilled over campfire embers, especially after being marinated overnight in white wine, olive oil, fresh garden herbs, garlic and fresh-squeezed lemon juice.
My favorite area is in some granite hills not a million miles away from the California state line, where abandoned gold mines and puma poop dot the landscape. High-clearance is needed on the dirt access roads going into the Lake Mead NRA, and off-trail it's rare to find another human footprint or spent shotgun shell. Jay's Brittany pup, Ranger, is still learning the ropes - more flushing than retrieving - but dogs are not absolutely necessary for this kind of upland game hunt.
Best time to start is at dawn; once the sun hits, the bunnies warm up and start hopping about. These critters favor creosote and catclaw-forested washes, making their homes among the roots. Once one of them darts out in from of you, you may only have two seconds to draw a bead on him and knock him over before he disappears out of range, or out of sight. I use a 12-gauge with 8 shot, and make sure I've brushed up on traps at the range the week before; these rabbits are harder to hit than pheasants or jacks.
A word on the latter. Jackrabbits are also plentiful here, but I rarely shoot them as they are bigger, slower and easier targets, and not as tasty as cottontails (darker meat with a slight liver flavor, best slow-cooked in a crockpot with some chipotle and then paired with a robust Syrah or Zinfandel). Desert cottontails are a great test, and taste great!
