Virginia Rabbit Hunting

        My little brother Ewing and I decided we were going to kick brush piles at a couple properties we hunt on, since it had been nearly 3 years since we had hunted rabbits last. My weapon of choice was a Mossberg Super Bantam 500 youth 20 gauge with a stock extension and a rubber recoil pad for extra length, the gun is incredibly quick to shoulder, so for rabbits, it is perfect. Ewing brought a Browning Citori Lightning O/U in 12 gauge, another quick shouldering gun. I used 2-3/4" 7/8 oz low brass #7.5s with an extra full choke, for taking out the head and shoulder area without ruining the other meat. Ewing used 3" 1-1/4oz high brass #7.5s with a modified choke for the first shot and an improved modified choke for the second.
        At the first property, I kicked a rabbit out of a brush pile and it ran straight away from Ewing in a wide open field at 25 yards, but he missed, and my shot pattern was caught in a sapling tree that found its way into my swing following the rabbit. Stressful for the first one to get away like that...We continued hunting for an hour or so with no luck but decided to head back to that same area to finish up. I kicked the same spot on a pile for at least 2-3 minutes and all of a sudden, a rabbit decided it was time to leave and Ewing anchored it at 20 yards. We hunted around for another half an hour with no luck, and headed to the next spot.
      Within 5 minutes of arriving, I spotted movement 2 yards away in a brush pile and realized it was a rabbit, I put the bead on its head, and fired. The head split wide open but that was the only impact point of pellets, so reality is, it was a better shot than a full pattern hit at 20-30 yards. 45 minutes later, I was belly crawling through a brier patch trying to spook something up, when a rabbit darted out going at a blistering rate of speed, but Ewing quickly raised the gun and smoked it at around 20 yards. We hunted for another hour, not seeing any, and took a lunch break, we were TIRED!
       In the last hour of the afternoon, we tried a small brushy fence row where we spooked 2 but didn't get any shots. We also tried a 1 acre patch of young pines, cedars and miscellaneous hardwoods with sparse briers mixed in. I got to crouch/crawl/bushwhack through the whole mess, and Ewing walked around the field edge to intercept any that ran out. I spooked up one but never got a shot due to heavy brush blocking my line of sight. Ewing spotted one on the edge of the woods and shot it, and then we walked around until we lost good light and called it a day. We also jumped 3 woodcock while bushwhacking around but they aren't in season, although we probably couldn't anyways, they are 30 yards away by the time you realize you spooked one! Thanks for reading!