Year Of The Rabbit.

[blackbeltbill]

   This Year,I have been seeing alot of Rabbits. And plenty  of Young Rabbits as well.

  Welcome Change. At the same time,I have been seeing alot of Skunk,Possum Roadkill.

[Lawdwaz]

Lots of rabbits in my suburban location too.   Seems like more than usual but who knows?

[Wolc123]

18 minutes ago, Lawdwaz said:

Lots of rabbits in my suburban location too.   Seems like more than usual but who knows?

I noticed an uptick in their numbers last fall.   I hadn’t hunted them in more than 10 years, but my neighbor and I killed a couple on a small “Bush drive” behind his house last February.  
 

We didn’t use any dogs.  A couple of the younger guys walked thru the heavy cover, while us old farts took up posts on the edges, just like it was a deer drive.  

I was near a ditch, and I saw one sneaking along towards me, trying to get away from the drivers.  It’s long ears betrayed it’s position, and I was able to send a 16 ga load of #6’s it’s way, from about 20 yards away.  
 

 

Many must have evaded us however, because I’ve been seeing them around, almost every time I walks out of the house this spring.

I wonder if maybe high coyote numbers are affecting the increase in rabbit numbers, by taking out their more efficient predators (like foxes) ?

 

[Bucksnbows]

We just experienced the annual “rabbit hatch”, so numbers are at their highest of the year. Fall and winter numbers are what shows the true population trends. 

[mowin]

I've had one rabbit around all winter and spring.  See it every morning.  There's a red fox that's been trying for a bunny snack, but so far it's managed to escape. 

[2BuckBizCT]

tons of rabbits on my property in CT. I see literally 3 or 4 different ones every single day. All different sizes.  Some are huge, and some are tiny.

[Lawdwaz]

5 hours ago, Wolc123 said:

I noticed an uptick in their numbers last fall.   I hadn’t hunted them in more than 10 years, but my neighbor and I killed a couple on a small “Bush drive” behind his house last February.  
 

We didn’t use any dogs.  A couple of the younger guys walked thru the heavy cover, while us old farts took up posts on the edges, just like it was a deer drive.  

I was near a ditch, and I saw one sneaking along towards me, trying to get away from the drivers.  It’s long ears betrayed it’s position, and I was able to send a 16 ga load of #6’s it’s way, from about 20 yards away.  
 

 

Many must have evaded us however, because I’ve been seeing them around, almost every time I walks out of the house this spring.

I wonder if maybe high coyote numbers are affecting the increase in rabbit numbers, by taking out their more efficient predators (like foxes) ?

 

Lots behind my work too.   Hint. 

[Lawdwaz]

I just had 4 running around my backyard!

[DDT]

An old timer once told me rabbits have a 7 year cycle of peak population. 

[cas]

A very cyclical population.  

Numbers are up in my suburban neighborhood that's for sure.  My food plots are working!

 (No, not gonna shoot em.  I just plant clover in my back yard for no other reason than it's better than weeds and I don't need to mow it like I would if it were grass. The rabbits like it )

[mowin]

Seen my resident bunny today, which I thought was a male, in my lawn with 3 little ones. 

[GreeneHunter]

Had a couple running the Olympics in the backyard the other day !

[Chromeslayer]

A dry spring/summer helps not drown the little ones while in the nest 

[G-man]

Didnt have rabbits for 25 years here not even a track...  last 5 they have been growing  in population.. i had 3 between my house on driveway this am

[Wolc123]

20 hours ago, G-man said:

Didnt have rabbits for 25 years here not even a track...  last 5 they have been growing  in population.. i had 3 between my house on driveway this am

It’s been over 8 years since I have eaten a rabbit.  We gave the ones that we killed this past February to our “drivers”.  There is such a burgeoning population of them locally around here now, that I’m going to make a point to try and get some for the table when the season opens up.  
 

Many times, years ago, I cooked “mixed bags” of cottontail rabbit and gray squirrel in the crockpot.  I always preferred the taste of the squirrel, but there’s not nearly as much meat on them.  
 

The best tasting rabbit that I remember eating was that last one, in February of 2015.  On my drive to work that morning, just after I pulled out of our driveway and before I got to my aunt and uncles house next door,  I noticed it bounding  up and over the snow bank.  
 

I was driving my white 2014 Chevy Sonic, a car that our girls and I refer to as the “SSWR” (Super Sonic White Rocket).  Our oldest daughter still drives that car.  I felt the characteristic “badoomp, badoomp” as a front and rear tire passed over the bunny at about 40 mph.  
 

Looking in the rear view mirror, I saw the quivering little gray pile in the middle of the road.  I backed up and tossed it into the trunk.  When I got to work (1/2 hour drive away), I gutted it quickly with my edc pocket knife, tossing the guts onto the snow bank, on the edge of the parking lot.  
 

I suspect that part of the reason that rabbit was better tasting than usual, was because it was well-tenderized, having had the  car pass over it, and driving some road salt into it with the tires. 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Wolc123