Bunnies Here but Not There

[Loyalist Dave]

Here's the situation. We have some public hunting lands, known as the Patuxent River State Park. The park is a mixture of hardwoods and meadows. These areas are bordered by some power utility lands, which are mostly meadows.

The areas tend to be good for squirrels, and are OK for deer in bow and opening day of "early" BP season. I have also encountered grouse, woodcock, dove, turkey, geese, ducks, beaver, chipmunks, and hawks and fox there, but never rabbits. So why do you folks think that is? Is the fox and hawk population decimating the bunnies?

One of my coworkers is an avid small game hunter, and we have bunnies up the wazoo in other parks, as well as on private property in "no hunting" parts of the county ( hence the phrase..., The People's Republic of Maryland :haha: ) He wants to use have-a-heart traps to get some bunnies, and transport them to the hunting area. Since they are not "killing" traps, there is nothing prohibiting this, but...,

a) I'm not sure it will work, other than fattening up the hawk and fox population

B) Many of the areas where the bunnies are numerous are in parks where they eat treated plants and grass..., and I wonder about them being full of carcinogenic pesticides, so we couldn't eat them anyway

c) I wonder if there isn't a long-shot chance that the bunnies would over-produce, and really tear up the park areas where they currently are not present. In 15 years of hunting that area, I have never kicked up a bunny, which I don't like, but which may not be a "bad" thing.

What say you folks?

LD

 

[luieb45]

90% of the time if a population is struggling it is due to lack of suitable habitat, from what you descried it sounds like what you're hunting is mature hardwoods. Around here, if you're looking for rabbits the young timber is usually where you'll find them. People are always too quick to blame the predators over predating a species these days but in all honesty the predation wouldn't be nearly as bad if they had suitable cover to hide in. Like quail these days, people like to blame the coyotes for eating all of them but it's the changes in farming practices that have decimated the population. Theres not nearly as many woody fencerows because they've been bulldozed. People plant wayyyy to close to the timber leaving no room for any edge cover, and any grass that would be suitable for nesting cover the farmer decides to mow it ever 3 weeks because he thinks tall grass out on his farm looks "ratty"

 

[Skychief]

Dave, if you have any brambles on this land, toss some salt in them. The salt will aid in rabbit reproduction. Assuming a mating pair or more are present, it may make many more bunnies than you have now.

You NEED heavy cover for rabbits to do well, though.

Good luck, Skychief.

 

[silly goose]

I would agree, its all in the cover. One of the places I love to take my beagle to is so thick you can barely get a shot off. I have to carry pruning shears to make my way down the only deer trail through the place. And if you are foolish enough to shoot a rabbit, it'll take you a half hour to cut your way to it. But its full of rabbits and my beagle runs her fool head off. She comes back shredded from the prickers but has had the time of her life. No way predators are gettin to the rabbits in there.

 

[Rev_William]

I wouldn't advise the trap and relocate, at least in the states I live(d) in its against the law to transport wildlife for release else where. major fines involved check 1st.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Ah HA! So the salt explains perhaps why though there is cover on the private property where I sometimes hunt, when I added some deer-salt-licks a couple of years ago, this year I saw a couple of bunnies, and was able to take one ..., perhaps that's was the key there.

I don't think it's lack of cover at the state park, though, as the meadow and utility cuts have lots of brambles and blackberry on the edges..., oh well maybe it's just not thick enough.

LD

 

[Skychief]

Ah HA! So the salt explains perhaps why though there is cover on the private property where I sometimes hunt, when I added some deer-salt-licks a couple of years ago, this year I saw a couple of bunnies, and was able to take one ..., perhaps that's was the key there.

I don't think it's lack of cover at the state park, though, as the meadow and utility cuts have lots of brambles and blackberry on the edges..., oh well maybe it's just not thick enough.

LD

Do I win a prize? :haha: :hatsoff:

 

[paulvallandigham]

The kind of grasses can mean the difference between rabbits being present, or NOT, strange as that may seem. Some common grasses used to seed lawns have teeth on the edges of the blades, that cut the lips and mouths of rabbits if they try to eat them. Rabbits will eat the new green shoots, that are full of sugar, in the early spring, but avoid the mature grasses later in the summer and fall.

The best way to know what is available, is to take a piece of grass blade, and run it over your tongue, and lips. If it feels course or sharp, The rabbits probably won't eat it.

Predators are no doubt an important influence on rabbit populations, and protected hawks are usually the primary predator in reducing the populations. But, also watch what rabbits are eating, and go over to the site when the rabbit moves on to physically examine the forage to know what they are eating in your locale.

That choice of plants will vary from one season to the next, so make this a continuing education course, until you know from the food you see where and when the rabbits will be present. :thumbsup: :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

 

[larry wv]

Around here the Rabbits were the first and then the rest of the game turned up missing. And it was the Coyotes. Larry

 

[Rev_William]

I'm predicting a shortage of everything this season in colorado. Just found out 2 of my favorite places for small game is currenttly burning.