Rabbit Hunting Continuum With Dr. Larry Marchinton

For thousands of Georgia hunters, especially those with a few gray whiskers, many early outdoor memories involve rabbits. They, along with squirrels, were the gateway to becoming a hunter, long before species like deer, turkey and hogs were plentiful enough to hunt. Depending on where the hunter lived, they could possibly encounter one of Georgia’s four native rabbit species, including the eastern cottontail, Appalachian cottontail, marsh rabbit and swamp rabbit. The eastern cottontail is, by far, the most widespread, abundant and commonly hunted.

Despite the growth in deer hunting, rabbit hunting still captures the hearts of many hunters and stirs memories of simpler days. When the tailgate drops and the dogs start hollering, you instantly remember why you love this sport so much.

last season, the GON crew joined several of the top deer research biologists in the country, along with some local rabbit hunters, and a couple of youngsters who had never been on a rabbit hunt, all together for a memorable rabbit hunt in Morgan County.

The deer research team included Dr. Larry Marchinton and Dr. Karl Miller along with three of their former graduate students, Dr. Mickey Hellickson, Donald Wood and Brian Murphy. Also joining the hunt were Andy Barrs, the new owner of GON and his son Shepard, along with Mickey’s son Rio. The dog handlers included Matthew Hicks and Johnny Tiller. Not to be forgotten was Betty Marchinton, Larry’s wife and hunting companion of more than 50 years.

While Larry was the chief guide on the hunt, Matthew and Johnny served as lead dog handlers. The hunting property in Morgan County featured some ideal rabbit habitat, consisting of young pines interspersed with briars, grasses and native forbs (weeds). While good for rabbits, some areas were ‘thick as thieves,’ giving rabbits the distinct advantage.   

Dr. Larry Marchinton is a world-famous deer biologist who earned the Professor Emeritus title at the University of Georgia after contributing more than 30 years to the university. Larry has been an avid hunter from an early age and went on to study wildlife management at the University of Florida and Auburn University. Despite his distinguished career with deer, it has been rabbit hunting and, especially rabbit dogs, that remain core to his passion for the outdoors. And, to those in the know, Larry is equally respected for the quality of his beagle pack, which is widely regarded as one of the best in north Georgia. This doesn’t just happen by selecting good bloodlines. On the contrary, Larry and Betty can be found training or hunting their dogs nearly 200 days per year. To be among the best, you must train regularly, let young dogs learn from older ones and observe how each dog works with others in the pack. This is the true artistry of a skilled houndsman.

Dr. Larry Marchinton

Before the dogs were cast for the hunt last January, Dr. Marchinton held court with the group, going over the expectations of hunters participating.

“Everybody here knows what a quality whitetail hunt is, I’m sure. We’re going to try to put on a quality rabbit hunt, and that means we’re not going to shoot every rabbit we see,” Larry said. “Just like in quality whitetail hunting, you don’t shoot all the deer you see. And the reason we don’t shoot all the rabbits we see is because the dogs are the main stars of this hunt. We try to provide a quality experience for the dogs and reinforce their training. If you see a rabbit, and the dogs have not jumped it, you don’t shoot. Now, if you see a rabbit and the dogs are already running a rabbit, you shoot any rabbit you see. It could easily be the rabbit they are running, and if it’s not, it doesn’t matter because they’ve got a rabbit.

“Another thing is when you kill a rabbit, go over to where it’s dead and stand right there. The dogs are going to be following its trail. You have to be right there with the rabbit, so they are gratified, you might say. Show them the rabbit and tell them ‘dead rabbit!’  Holler, ‘dead rabbit’ so everyone knows when you kill one.

“If you see a rabbit before the dogs jump it, tell the handler. You holler ‘tally ho’ if you want to be formal, or just say ‘got a rabbit, got a rabbit, got a rabbit.’ The handler will bring the dogs over and put them on that rabbit. Once we’ve got one going and the dogs are giving full cry, shoot at any rabbit you see.”

“Don’t shoot on the jump—give them a minute to get started good. You want all the dogs to get on the rabbit. They might be scattered—you don’t want to shoot when a dog is coming to the trail.

To paraphrase something Coach Bear Bryant is reputed to have said, Larry joked, “Better that you died as a young child than to shoot one of my dogs. And then of course you don’t want to shoot anybody else either!”

The hunters and dogs enjoyed a run that lasted almost an hour before this rabbit was killed. Pictured are Andy Barrs and his son Shepard.

“If you choose to get in the woods and help try to jump a rabbit, that’s good, but try to stay back behind the dogs and the dog handlers. Spread out behind them.

“The rabbit will tend to circle—they might do something different—but there’s a good chance he’s going to come back. And, of course, the hottest spot to be is often where you jumped him.”

Matthew Hicks said, “It works better if not everybody talks to the dogs. They’ll split, and then you have dogs in different areas.”

Larry’s hunting journey began with deer for most of his young life until he began running foxes with his hounds. “I used to love to sit around the campfire and listen to ’em run,” he reflected.

Unfortunately, his hunting area was experiencing heavy development and the opportunity to hunt foxes quickly grew slim. This brought him to rabbit dogs about 40 years ago.

“There are less and less places to hunt, less rabbit hunters,” Larry said. “When I first got into the wildlife business as a student, the No. 1 game animal in the country was rabbit. There were more shells expended on them than on anything else. That certainly changed. And, of course, deer has become the No. 1 game animal now. There have been changes, and mostly development is the problem. But rabbits are still something you can hunt. We have a lot of management areas that have decent rabbit hunting. It’s something you can do sorta like the old days.”

He said the best rabbit hunting properties will have some clearcuts and blackberry thickets.

Dog handler Matthew Hicks leads the pack into an area of thick young pines, which is ideal rabbit habitat in the Piedmont region of Georgia.

Larry has 14 rabbit dogs, and for our Morgan County hunt he brought seven. He usually has six or seven in a pack.

“Every rabbit hunter is different as to what they want out of a dog. It’s kind of like having your own band or orchestra—you try to put it together the way it suits you. Some of these dogs I’ve got out today go all the way back to dogs I had 40 years ago—keeping the line going. But at the same time, you constantly have to bring in new blood to keep from inbreeding.

“One of the most important things is to not run deer. If you breed trash runners, you’re more likely to get trash runners. So, you start off by not breeding two dogs that like to run deer.”

Dr. Marchinton said electronic collars now make it much easier to break dogs from running deer.

Using Larry’s expertise, the group set out into the “wild,” as Larry calls it, and harvested six rabbits during our hunt. While reflecting on the day, Larry noted that several of the chases lasted an hour or more. This, to the beagle owner, is a source of great pride and satisfaction as lengthy chases require well-bred, well-trained dogs.

It is safe to say Larry and Betty have contributed greatly to keeping the time-honored tradition of rabbit hunting alive and well, having introduced literally hundreds to the sport over five decades. When combined with Larry’s profound impact on the whitetail world and the many students he has mentored along the way, all Georgia hunters have clearly benefited from their collective gifts to research, hunting and preservation of our sporting traditions.

It was certainly a memorable experience for this group of hunters who were lucky enough to share a clear January day with Larry and Betty Marchinton listening to their beagles ‘sing’ a song that resonates in the souls of hunters far and wide. May this music never end.   

The Morgan County rabbit hunt included: (left to right) Dr. Mickey Hellickson and his son Rio, new GON owner Andy Barrs and his son Shepard, the author Brian Murphy, Dr. Larry Marchinton (also pictured to the right), Matthew Hicks and Johnny Tiller.