I’ve done a fair amount of dove hunting, but I’ve just started hunting small game. I’m doing pretty good with finding public land squirrels and having a great time doing it here north of the Metroplex. I’d love to bag some rabbits, too. I have read that they like to hide out in brush piles near open fields where they can scurry out to eat and then hustle back to the cover of the brush. All of the open fields on the edges of the COE land I’ve been hunting are hayfields or pastures. Do pastures and bermuda grass attract rabbits? Is it worth looking for them in these areas?

And do I just walk up to a brush pile near a field and give it a good kick and be a ready for a cottontail to bolt?

That's sounds okay. Folks that raise rabbits commercially feed them hay, so.... They need cover from predators so brambles and hay edges would make sense. Private land that leases to deer hunters- they may let you hunt if you're just after rabbits. A dog helps but rabbit hunting is one thing you can do on your own.
A lot of folks don't realize rabbits can be nocturnal, which means first light is often a very good time.
Many years ago I lived up north where there were snowshoe hares, twice the size of cottontails. And good eating. These guys had beagles and 4 or 6 of these hares on the tailgate of their trunk (I was grouse hunting) In any event a lot of eating.
Good luck.

I used to hunt COE land at Lake Lavon. I typically had my best luck late in the evening about the last hour of light. I'd just walk the open areas and look for bunnies. I've never had any luck whatsoever with the kick the brushpile method. My favorite area was the North side of the big pond on area 13.

Thanks, unclebubba. Were you finding them out in the open?

Looking at the satellite overlay on Google maps, I’m not seeing a pond in area 13.

I have hunted rabbits for years with and without beagles. Best tip i can give you is don't 'kick' a brush pile. Walk slowly, take four steps, stop for 5 seconds, repeat, repeat. If you make a bunch of noise you will jump them too early and not get a shot, or they will hole up. If you 'sneak up' on them and make them uncomfortable. but not scared, you will get many more shots. It also sounds crazy, but it works.

This sounds a lot like how I have been hunting squirrels, but with more time in between movements, and I concentrate on being very slow and quiet, and I do a lot of listening.

Are you targeting brush piles and briar patches on the edges of open fields?

Field edges with overgrown fence lines, briar patches especially blackberry, big clumps of downed brush, abandoned human structures like ol farmstead, and like has been mentioned slow calculated watchful movement. I just don't see rabbits of any sort like I used to here in Texas. I hunted hogs a few times around Sabinal and that place was so over run with them I could take all I wanted with my longbow just out stump shooting.

Are you targeting brush piles and briar patches on the edges of open fields?

Sorry, I forgot I replied to this post. All the above. They like thick stuff, they like open fields with grass.

I found the pond on the map. I’ll try that out soon. Thanks again for the tip.

evening hours are good also

A lot of times rabbits in thick brush will freeze in place, and wait and hope for you to pass on by. Especially if you are taking your time moving through the woods, and are very quiet and sneaky. I have taken a lot of rabbits at very close range when they do this, but I can only imagine how many I have passed by that I never saw.

My favorite way to hunt rabbit and squirrel is to just walk casually through the woods with the 12 gauge. I get the ones that let me get in range. I might only get 2-3 animals in the morning but it’s great to cover a lot of ground, just to see it all and explore.

I found the single greatest crappie hole I have ever fished in my life, rabbit hunting like this with a little Shakespeare dock pole stuffed in my back pocket by the handle. Never killed any rabbits there though lol. You never know what you might find out there, there’s still a lot to discover on ACOE ground.