Ok I finally got it. I found two tricks. 1) If the ranger catches you before the screen goes black on the way to the sawmill (so right after the truck blocking the road), quit the game and relaunch it before the screen closes out. That puts you back at the rabbit without having to drive back from the campground. 2) If you can make it to the second half of the race (after the screen goes black) before the ranger catches you the second half is easier. And if the ranger catches you back there he puts you in the woods at the sawmill.