I think the gun is more important than the gauge.
Pick the one you like best.
I hope you have a great, successful hunt....and post lots of pics.
Unfortunately no pictures of the rabbits but did get some cool snowy trail shots.
We drove up Thursday evening and arrived around 9pm after making a pit stop at Cabelas (man, that place is sorry). We stayed in a cottage right on lake Huron. It was about 20 degrees and snowing all night. We got up Friday morning and cooked up deer steaks, eggs and rye toast and headed out the door for our hour long drive to the 8k acre state hunting lands. My buddy is friends with a DNR officer and he gave us some spots to get snow shoe and cottontail but I swear the DNR guy didn't like my buddy because all the spots he recommended absolutely sucked! We tried 5-6 different spots with 2 dogs from 10am-dark and only got 1 race going that the rabbit won. No tracks in the snow, no sign, heck, not even deer tracks in some of the areas. We did see a lot of deer on the surrounding private lands. Broad daylight we counted over 100 deer and over 50 turkey just on the Friday trip. When driving around we turned on a dirt/snow covered road and saw cars and trucks lining the road, everyone in orange and a shotgun. We asked what they were doing and they said coyote drives with dogs. About that time 30+ deer came flying out of that woodlot and across the field. We went to another spot supposedly having snow shoe's and had a long race but got skunked. We also found a guy sitting in the middle of the woods crow hunting. He had an e caller, camo and was popping crows in a small opening of the woods. We ended that day with some fresh walleye that was fried in olive oil and home made yukon gold french fries also fried. I had never had walleye before and it was great!
Saturday we got up, also 20 degrees and made our usual breakfast again and teamed up with a local who had private land and 2 dogs. We had a 2yo blue tick, 7 month old blue tick/black and tan and he had 2 8yo black and tan beagles. We were on our way to his spots and saw a black colored thing running across and open field. Next thing we know trucks are flying around us and just coming out of the woodwork and here they were coyote hunters. One guy followed us to the spot and said they wounded the "coyote" twice 2 miles down the road and had been tracking/chasing it with the trucks and dogs. This coyote was huge, it looked like a German Shepherd running across the field. He said they were going to go into the woods and finish it off but we never heard a shot. We cut all 4 dogs loose and began walking down this dirt road between fields and they had a race going. The puppy cant keep up with the pack so he found his own rabbit and began racing it. The rabbit shot out in front of me and across the road and it was a big cotton tail. I decided to take the Beretta A300 12ga with low brass #5 shot and a Imp Cyl choke. I fired and missed, fired again and blew up dirt behind it and the 3rd time got it. They didn't let me live that one down. The older dogs were still racing their rabbit and one of my buddies got it after about a 10min run. We moved further into the property and they got another one up. They raced that rabbit for probably 10min or so and another guy got it. We decided we took 3 rabbits off this parcel we would go try some public land.
The public land boarded private land that was separated by train tracks. We left the puppy in the truck because he would lose the rabbit and come back to us and they were afraid someone would mistake him for a rabbit. The older dogs picked up a track and the race was one, right over the train tracks and onto private land. They raced that rabbit for about 20min until they got too far into the private and were called off. We pushed through the woods a little more and got a couple up but with 25mph winds I think it was hard on the dogs so they lost it. On the way back to the truck the blue tick stopped on the trail, sniffed the air and took off for the brush next to the tracks and got another rabbit up. None of us have ever seen a beagle wind a rabbit from 50yards away and then go get it up and running. That was pretty cool. We headed down the road to another spot and decided to leave the older blue tick in the truck and take the puppy. He got on a rabbit about 1/2mile in and lost it. On the way back he went out maybe 40yards and got on a track. He raced the rabbit for about 5-7min and one guy, who was on the phone, shot at the rabbit and yelled it was coming my way. I saw it and shot and missed. I saw the rabbit stop and when I shot my buddy also shot. The puppy came right around and right to the rabbit. We ended that hunt and headed home for some venison chili with fire roasted tomato's and jalapeno corn bread.
Sunday we headed to another area supposedly holding hare and cottontail right on the bay. We did see some very large tracks in the snow that were old but no such luck. It was about 12 degrees and 30mph winds. We went in maybe 3/4 mile and the dogs got on one race and lost it. The cold and ride home sent us home early. Next time I will remember to leave the 12ga at home and take the 20ga which I seldom need the second shot with and bring more blankets and thermals.
