Rabbit Population

Incahoots · Post by **Incahoots** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:31 pm

Population in areas I run at are well above normal. Some guys from VA were hunting a spot near my house and shot at least 20-30 rabbits last week in 1 day. They made the running a ton better alot less split tracks. Before they hammered the rabbits it was hard to run the dogs without a split track on every rabbit.

J Rooster · Post by **J Rooster** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:06 pm

We are loaded with rabbits. I have killed 82 rabbits this year. It don't seem like you can thin them out. I keep shootin' and shootin'

J Rooster

D.Gross · Post by **D.Gross** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:55 am

So Rooster, Where do you live in these great United States????????????

ANTHONY KERR · Post by **ANTHONY KERR** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:33 pm

We hit one hotspot here in North Carolina and jumped 16 and killed 15. The other dog owner and I did not kill a single one, but we both went home smiling. No strays were shot despite jumping 3 while a race was going on. We would just wait for the shot and hock em on over. The barometric pressure must have been in line with the humidity and the new moon. Aw heck we just got in em when they had the stink on em. I could still hear the dogs pounding in my head when I laid down to go to sleep.
Anthony Kerr

Not bad for a bunch of over running wild and wicked little pack hounds.

hounddog · Post by **hounddog** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 11:54 am

Here in the mountains of Virginia, we seem to have plenty of rabbits. Yes, we have yotes here and some stray cats but maybe and JUST maybe the problem is over harvesting. We have only taken 15 to 20 rabbits this season, enough to keep the dogs tuned up. Remember, if you go to a spot and shot almost every rabbit you jump, there will be no more to run until spring. I do realize that a lot of you hunt public land and it's first come first served. I have 4 big farms that I hunt that no one else can hunt on therefore allowing me to control the numbers of rabbits that are on these farms. I'm not telling you folks to quit shooting rabbits but you have to save some for seed. I hope I didn't offend anyone, just my opinion.

hounddog
Jim Umbarger

dmbarnes · Post by **dmbarnes** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 7:21 pm

Me and my buddy are not having any trouble finding rabbits, We mostly hunt private land. I agree with hound dog- don't keep going back to a spot repeatedly, we might hit a spot a maximum 3 times in a season. Went out to Missouri to hunt with Swing and the rabbits were everywhere. I do think that the DNR could do a better job of managing state areas for rabbits and quail. But it seems like us rabbit hunters are on the bottom of the food chain just like the game we hunt.LOL!!!

paz · Post by **paz** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:30 pm

[quote="dmbarnes"]I agree with hound dog- don't keep going back to a spot repeatedly, we might hit a spot a maximum 3 times in a season. quote]

Dale, to tell the truth, that does worry me sometimes. I took a buddy from Indiana to my honey hole, and we killed more than I would have liked, but the population hasn't seemed to diminish at all...

That being said, my gun is put away for the year, got some young females to solo...