Why No Rabbits?

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We have bobwhite quail here on our property. I won't tell anyone that knows us we have them. But then, we allow thickets of blackberries and other thorny species, where our neighbors mow everything to get the last bale of hay.
We do the same here, we only mow about 6 acres, just enough for rifle ranges & revolver ranges, the rest is a thicket of
what was once a wall of briers & brush but in the past couple of years the Autumn Olive bushes have put up a canopy for
easier walking than we wish.
We have fought the Autumn Olives since we first moved here, thousands of dollars in machinery & workers to hold them
back, yet on the other hand everything eats the berries which helps in any hunting season including Rabbits Deer Bear
even Squirrels eat them but mostly the Deer & Turkey, but no Quail & maybe a single Grouse per year.
Rabbits, yes we have lots.
I don't see how they remain in the numbers they are, with all the Foxes we have here.
 
Here in NE Kansas where there used to be rabbits everywhere, it is rare to find one outside the city limits. The reason? Probably the over-population of coyotes and hawks...they are everywhere.
 
We have a good population ? We harvested 70 this season . I also have quail and whippoorwills , along with eagles , hawks , owls and bobcats and foxes . I am sure I have them , but I have not seen a coyote .

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Old lady nature generally levels the playing field sooner or later. The fat house cats will fall prey to something bigger and faster soon enough.
 
I have about a half-dozen in my yard. They taunt my fat little Rat Terrier, it's kind of fun to watch him try to catch them. Out at the farm however, my niece's chickens keep the coyote and fox nearby, hoping for a 'winner, winner, chicken dinner!' so there are few bunnies near the house. The numbers are down out in the fields and copses also. The bald buzzard, er, eagle population explosion around here has really cut the numbers down. The other day driving to work, I saw a rare sight; a bird that was not a bald eagle sitting on a deer carcass. It was a Cooper's Hawk-likely the eagles didn't know it was there yet, it was a fresh roadkill.

I carry a .204 in my combine. It isn't just for coyotes.
Not hawks, I hope! (I hear they taste like baby seal, anyway....)
 
My nephew got a double like I have never seen before . Our dogs were running the rabbit and when the rabbit came into sight he saw a fox chasing it . He shot the rabbit and then the fox .

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My old bird dog half-heartedly pointed a hawk that was clutching a quail . They were on the ground in the fencerow.
 
Three of my not fat barn cats have come up missing recently. I figure coyotes.
(Or maybe that eagle that just flew by my window..?)

Not long ago I was riding my quad around my place when I saw a carcass in the field. When I went to investigate, I was surprised when I found this.
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When I called my neighbor whose property it was on, he said that he witnessed an eagle attacking a barn cat that had taken up residence in the area. He thought that the carcass was the cat. Cat 1, eagle 0? I did see the cat recently, but 1/4 mile away.

Rabbits have declined here too. When we moved here about 35 years ago, there was a huntible population. You see them in the summer, but when hunting season opens, not so much. Turkeys are everywhere though. The cycle of nature?
 
Rapid increase in predators of all kinds. From my deer stand I watched a weasel chasing rabbit in heavy snow. Another time a large mink passed by. Years ago kids and trappers trapped them out. Few trappers anymore and very few farm boys either. We have a lot more hawks, owls, Eagles, coyotes, fox, wolves cats wild and domestic and bear too. Populations of wild game have taken a big hit in the last couple decades. Except turkeys. They are everywhere.
 
Turns out he has stoats living on the farm, they are enormously aggressive predators.

I has to look up a stoat!

Habitat loss has be be a major effect too. Same reason quail have declined.
 
Rabbits just hate & fear stoats.

As I recall, from Watership Down, one of the the worst insults that a rabbit may hurl is, "Silflay hraka u embleer rah" (please excuse spelling, I am using old recall from 30+ years ago) which, as you can see, refers to the person targeted as smelling like a stoat (right after being told to eat poop). :)
 
Stating the obvious no prey no predators, except for human interaction, well meaning folks feeding feral cat populations for instance ,it will balance out. Even coyotes will run out of cats and poodles eventually. :)
 
1967 when I was getting out of the USAF, Australia was over run with kangaroos and was looking for professional hunters, they would pay your way, you bring own rifle, oh, and by the way you had to become an Aussie citizen....lose US citizenship.....not! Got out for 6 mo, went back for 21 yrs
 
Hogs have been scarce lately so the feeder in trap is turned down to just 1 second twice a day.

Had one new customer yesterday but I didn’t drop the gates on him.

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And there was plenty left for the rabbits this morning.

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We're rural enough here in NE VT that domestic cats aren't a big issue, but those that are allowed loose make good feed for the fishers and coyotes. Plenty of fox, coyote and bobcat to keep bunny populations in control, so much so that your more likely to see a fox, coyote or bobcat while kicking around the woods or jump shooting partridge (grouse to those from away) and woodcock. BUT, get a good beagle and there are bunnies to be had. They just behave like wild animals around here, not like semi-domesticated suburban pets.
 
NOW there are lots of places for critters to hide, but for some reason, not a single bunny. There's plenty of water, vegetation, and cover.

I just saw a film on Nature (PBS) concerning the New England cottontail becoming threatened. It dealt with reintroducing hand-raised rabbits back into Rhode Island where none have been reported for years. It was vague on the cause of its depletion. Maybe you have the same problem.
 
We had a population of cottontails in our neighborhood for awhile. Not at the nuisance level, and the wife loved seeing them in the back yard. Then we got some new neighbors who let their cats out to roam and that was the end of the rabbits. Found carcasses around for awhile and then nothing. Now I see maybe one a year in the entire area.
 
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