Annual Sgt. Spuchesi CPO Youth Rabbit Hunt

Each winter Conservation Police Officer Sgt. Spuchesi with VDWR, holds an annual youth rabbit hunt. He taps me to fill slots for the hunt as I know the kids well from school. Typically we choose youth that have attended our Hunter Education course and those that have participated in our introductory shooting events or other youth hunts we have held. Each year the demand from youth to get their name on the list for the hunt is quite high. This year I was hearing from youth that I was currently teaching that wanted to go on the rabbit hunt. As usual, interest was immediate and slots went fast.
Typically every youth gets shots at rabbits and often most will get a rabbit or sometimes more. Sgt. Spuchesi is very careful in how he hunts the property and how many rabbits he harvests from it. This year when he went to check the property out, he was a bit surprised to find that vegetation had grown quite tall, likely due to all the rain we had this year. Conditions on the ground were going to be tougher as visibility would be substantially less for the youth to spot a brown rabbit hopping in and out of dried brown weeds that were at times head high.
Despite that setback, Sgt. Spuchesi decided to give it a go. This is the hunt he really looks forward to each year. I could tell that he was disappointed that the terrain was so thick, but I could also tell he really wanted to see the youth get a chance to hunt.  His dogs are top notch and he knew they would not be slowed down chasing rabbits through the cover. The trick would be to get the youth decent shots.
We decided to choose youth that we knew well and could be completely trusted to double and triple check their target before throwing a load of shot downrange. With the cover so thick, we did not want a dog to unintentionally get hit.
The weather was very good for the hunt. Temperatures were cool, but not bitterly cold. The wind was not bad at all either. The sun came out and some clouds filtered in and out through the day.
After a prehunt safety brief by Sgt. Spuchesi which included a reminder about when it is safe to click safeties off, his daughter, Miss Katelyn, let the dogs roll out of the dog box and drop to the ground. They all immediately went looking for cover to put their noses in. They knew what their job was and were eager to do it.

Parents paired off with their youth hunter and scattered across the overgrown field to cover the area where the dogs historically had run rabbits. In less than five minutes a rabbit was jumped and the hunt was on. Rabbits were plentiful, but so was cover! The rabbits seemed to have a different tactic than in past youth hunts. On several occasions on this youth hunt the rabbits ran right over the feet of several of the youth. I thought TJ was going to do a rendition of the man in the Ray Stevens song, Mississippi Squirrel Revival.
In that song a squirrel runs up the pant leg of a man attending church. On our hunt I thought the rabbit was going to run up TJ’s pant leg! Then the rabbit stopped, looked up at TJ and threw on the afterburners. TJ got off a shot but it is nearly impossible to hit, but not destroy, a rabbit at that distance without ruining any meat. Later, another rabbit did the same thing to a different young hunter.
We had Grace, Chloe, TJ and Mason hunting with us that day. Grace had her grandpa observing her, Chloe’s stepdad stood with her, TJ had his stepdad and Mason’s dad came to hunt with him despite pulling an all night shift at his job.
The dogs ran extremely well. When the youth either did not get shots or missed, the pack of beagles including Dot, Little Man, Red, Little Red, Minnie Mouse and Artemis, all kept the rabbits moving and circled it back for another opportunity for the youth.
While the hunt was tougher due to the foliage, the youth stuck with it and ended up getting plenty of shots. A total of five rabbits were taken in a matter of a little over four hours of hunting.
I find it therapeutic to listen to the beagles run. They all have a distinct voice. Miss Katelyn was picking out which one was baying when I was standing near her. Any good houndsman or houndswoman, can tell you what is going on. They can tell the story of the hunt by listening to the dogs run. I could easily see that Katelyn enjoyed the dogs like her father as evidenced by her not even carrying a gun. She simply wanted to hear the dogs run.
The wagging tails gave away their position in the weeds as that was about all we could see much of the time. Some of the dogs are jump dogs or lead dogs and some run in the middle backing up the leaders and one or two dogs might be on the caboose of that four footed, tail wagging, train double checking the scent in the event the train gets off track or overruns the trail. It amazes me how the dogs work as a team and get the job done. Sgt. Spuchesi’s dogs are superb at their job and he expects no less.
Sgt. Spuchesi and I would like to thank the youth for coming out, so he had a chance to work his dogs and I had a chance to listen to the music they made. We also want to thank the parents for supporting not only their youth, but the King George Outdoor Club. Finally, we want to be sure and mention that we could not do this without the support of the Rappahannock Spurs Chapter of National Wild Turkey Foundation (NWTF). They often provide supplies and other things we need. They sponsored this hunt as an outreach event and covered us with liability insurance.
If you are reading this story and care about wildlife, particularly turkeys, but other wildlife too, and/or you support hunting and youth, you really should consider joining the NWTF. They do a LOT of good work for conservation and wildlife and they hold youth, women and disabled outdoor programs too. NWTF online membership sign up
If you sign up now, you will get a $25 Bass Pro Shops gift card which replaces most of what you spent getting the $35 membership. You will also get 6 issues of Turkey Country Magazine. This is a top notch magazine with conservation news, recipes, readers’ stories, biology reports, and hunting tips as well as gear columns. NWTF online membership sign up
This program is supported by the 2019 Virginia Wildlife Grant Program through a partnership between the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Foundation of Virginia.

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