Small game explosion

[clemsonfor]

Have yall forgot your biology, or maybe you have not had wildlife biology. Rabbit and small game populations are cyclical and lag each other. Rabbit population increases one year and the next breeding time the foxes have more pups that survive, b/c there is more food. More pups mean more adults, this will increase till they start to decimate the rabbit population to a sustainible number, then what happens, the foxes start starving and cant feed and therfore wont have as many in a litter or as many surviving young. This is the preeditor prey relationship. After the p[reditor population crashes the prey (rabbits) increase and then the cycle repeats.

You may be at that peak point in the rabbit poulation as well as nearing the top of a preditor curve as well right before the population of prey crashes followed by preditors, the coon, possoms, and foxes.

-Nate

 

[mmurphy]

Have yall forgot your biology, or maybe you have not had wildlife biology. Rabbit and small game populations are cyclical and lag each other. Rabbit population increases one year and the next breeding time the foxes have more pups that survive, b/c there is more food. More pups mean more adults, this will increase till they start to decimate the rabbit population to a sustainible number, then what happens, the foxes start starving and cant feed and therfore wont have as many in a litter or as many surviving young. This is the preeditor prey relationship. After the p[reditor population crashes the prey (rabbits) increase and then the cycle repeats.

You may be at that peak point in the rabbit poulation as well as nearing the top of a preditor curve as well right before the population of prey crashes followed by preditors, the coon, possoms, and foxes.

-Nate

Sorry! I learned alot of things in school that was not true!!!! But then again some things I should have payed better attention to.

 

[nybirdman]

I have been here for forty years....never have seen it like this.Rabbits for sure up and down over the years but not the fox and raccoons to this extent.
Coyote numbers seem to be down ,I think this adds to the situation.Some one mentioned song birds,come to think of it they also are in great numbers.
Deer population has been on the upswing for some time;recent reports of black bear in the general area....we are the St. Lawrence river valley very unusual.....a long way from the Adriondacks.

 

[polo1665]

Rabbit population is definitely up in my corner of the world, but at the same time I've noticed that I haven't heard the familiar eerie calls of the Barred Owls in the woods.

Hmmmmmm...........less owls and more rabbits. I'll have to think on that and get back with you.

Mark

 

[dave1949]

Rabbit population is definitely up in my corner of the world, but at the same time I've noticed that I haven't heard the familiar eerie calls of the Barred Owls in the woods.

Hmmmmmm...........less owls and more rabbits. I'll have to think on that and get back with you.

Mark

My Mom, in BG, OH says she may as well take up rabbit ranching, they have munched down about all her flowers this year. I told her to get a CO2 pellet pistol Now that would make a great youtube video.
Dave.

 

[polo1665]

My Mom, in BG, OH says she may as well take up rabbit ranching, they have munched down about all her flowers this year. I told her to get a CO2 pellet pistol Now that would make a great youtube video.
Dave.

Just make sure you get her an Elmer Fudd hat to wear while she's hunting:laughing:
Waskily Wabbits

I had always heard that the red tail hawks control the rabbit population. Must not be completely true There is no shortage of red tails here, but there seems to be more rabbits every year, and boy oh boy they love them black eyed susans. Another pest on the rise are them darn turkeys, these things will turn a mulched flower bed into a nightmare over night. I believe I am going to have to start hunting them this year.

Mark

 

[12pack]

I have a new puppy dog, a Black mouthed cur and there are no more critters on my three acres. He has made sure that what he hasn't killed has moved on from being harrassed.
I still have one pesky groundhog he has not gotten yet and that I haven't gotten a bead on with my .22 caliber pellet gun.

 

[clemsonfor]

Another pest on the rise are them darn turkeys, these things will turn a mulched flower bed into a nightmare over night. I believe I am going to have to start hunting them this year.

Mark

As a turkey hunter i think your the only person i have ever heard complian about too many turkeys. You must live in a more suburban area where there is no hunting for miles. I have never been anywhere where they get close enough to a home to decimate landscaping. There pretty skiddish creatures.

 

[polo1665]

As a turkey hunter i think your the only person i have ever heard complian about too many turkeys. You must live in a more suburban area where there is no hunting for miles. I have never been anywhere where they get close enough to a home to decimate landscaping. There pretty skiddish creatures.

Come on over.......I'll show ya
We live in a rural area and it is hunted, for both deer and turkey. The young ones do not seem to be skittish at all and the hens have no problem with parading them through the backyard or down the driveway in front of your car. I have not personally hunted turkey on my property yet, but more than likely will start this fall, there are just too many.
The deer population is also very large. The deer hunters seem to be more plentiful, but also more interested in hunting for a trophy buck than anything else.

Mark