Rabbit populations

[lilranch2001]

Anyone else seeing an extreme explosion in the rabbit population around their places?

Not only have the population exploded, but they are also very very large, and docile to the point where you can almost walk up to them.

 

[5030]

One of my favorite game animals to eat besides squirrel Plus, you can buy commercially prepared rabbit at the grocery store. Not squirrel however....

 

[kenmbz]

We had a rabbit and squirrel explosion, now have plenty of foxes.
Still some Rabbits and squirrels around,

Rabbit is good eating,

 

[5030]

Young fella down the road was raising wabbits for the fair but just before fair they got eaten by, I presume either a Fox or a Yote. Nothing left but some fur balls.

Wasn't me, I'm innocent on that one.

 

[riptides]

Rare sight so far here this year. Turkey and deer populations seem down too.

 

[MossRoad]

Anyone else seeing an extreme explosion in the rabbit population around their places?

Not only have the population exploded, but they are also very very large, and docile to the point where you can almost walk up to them.

Yep. More than most years here.

I've noticed fewer feral cats this year, and, we had a very mild winter.

I posted this a few weeks ago. They are still hanging around.

 

[Oaktree]

Rare sight so far here this year. Turkey and deer populations seem down too.

I've noticed that here as well.

 

[dmccarty]

No, we seem to have the same number of rabbits. There will be a bunch born, you will see a few of them, then fewer of them as they get bigger, until you see only one or two , or none. Then the cycle repeats.

Tree rats seem to be fewer this year but maybe we will see more when the leaves are off the trees.

We have a healthy population of hawks, owls, coyotes, and foxes...

 

[Bearsixty7]

I see anywhere from 1-5 at times. I wouldn't mind them so much except they burrow/nest up near the house instead of out back and then if you step in one it will almost break your ankle!

I've taken a couple out with the compound bow. I bought some small game tips and put them on some arrows. I need to try a couple of them out. Just can't do it when the wife is home

 

[lilranch2001]

I see anywhere from 1-5 at times. I wouldn't mind them so much except they burrow/nest up near the house instead of out back and then if you step in one it will almost break your ankle!

I've taken a couple out with the compound bow. I bought some small game tips and put them on some arrows. I need to try a couple of them out. Just can't do it when the wife is home

Yeah, that reminds me earlier this spring I had one trying to nest about 20 feet out my front yard off my front porch just in the middle of the lawn, that made no sense to me at the time but your post brought the memory back up to mind, I even had to end up filling in the hole it had burrowed into the yard.

The night before I had noticed it out my front yard about midnight, the next morning I noticed the hole brought into the yard, along with the fur and nesting material there

 

[Thomas]

Deer turkey populations doing very well also black bears,rabbits not so much with coyote .

 

[scootr]

We had a wet winter following a few dry years that nearly wiped the dam cottontails out.
Not too many this year but with abundant food I imagine next year I'll be shotting them off the lawn again.
Got a scope for the pellet gun- It's good sport. You throw the front door open and shoot as many as you can

 

[ruffdog]

Almost no rabbits here. We do have good nesting for Great Horned owls though. They don't call em "flying tigers" for nothin.

 

[The Deerslayer]

Definitely noticed an increase this year at our place. Will see up to 4-5 of various ages in the yard at any given time. They generally do not spook and scatter when walking by them.
Surprising to see an increase especially when I hear the yotes sounding off most nights nearby.

 

[sandman2234]

We have zero rabbits, never have had any over the last 45 years. Two weekends ago, I mowed about 15 acres of a 36 acre property about 1.3 miles from my house and saw about half a dozen! I was impressed enough to slow down and take a picture and let them hop away.
David from jax

 

[lilranch2001]

Almost no rabbits here. We do have good nesting for Great Horned owls though. They don't call em "flying tigers" for nothin.

I have not heard the hoot of the great horned owl in a few years… that may be the answer to the rabbit explosion!!

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

The Pigmy rabbit population here is growing, State says you can't shoot them as they are an endangered species.

 

[jyoutz]

We had an explosion in the population of ground squirrels this year, but not rabbits.

 

[Jstpssng]

They go in cycles here. First the rabbit population takes off and the predator population follows suit. Rabbits get overpopulated, then start to die off from disease, predation, and parasites. (Not necessarily in that order.) Then the predator population drops due to disease, lack of food and lead poisoning. (Again, not necessarily in that order.)

Right now the raccoon population seems to be down due to rabies while mange has culled the coyotes.
Rabbits are on the rebound.

 

[tallyho8]

We had loads of rabbits for many years before Katrina. After Katrina, the swamps around our area had so much activity in them with contractors building levees to prevent flooding in the next hurricane that they ran all the wildlife out of the swamps and into our areas. We had more deer than we had ever seen plus fox that we had never seen before and more coyotes than a thousand road runners could kill. The coyotes cleaned out the rabbit population and then started on the cats, small dogs and chickens.

They worked their way into the suburban areas and got the residents angry and complaining that something needs to be done. The politicians found articles that stated that killing the coyotes just leads to even more coyotes being born and increases the population. They encouraged everyone not to shoot the coyotes. With ever increasing complaints about the coyotes, they voted to hire trappers to start trapping them but the trappers all said it would be a never ending battle getting rid of them and advised the politicians to inform the public to bring in their small animals at night and to never leave food out at night for pets.

I've lost several barn cats and many chickens, most during the day, and have resumed hunting them but it isn't easy. You can sit in a stand for 6 nights straight and go relax on the 7th night and the next morning go out and count your losses. With my dogs and so many neighbors dogs around, poisoning them is out of the question. I have wondered if some type of birth control pill could be used to control the population.