where have all the rabbits gone?!

[langouroux 14]

been out lamping and over 3 night i have only shot 5 rabbits! and only seen about 8! hanyone else finding the same thing?

[quicksilver 0]

i have been out a bit lately with hawks and have found that any rabbits still around after the cold spell are certainly big and strong. most of those bolting from the holes are comming out like greyhounds

 

also seeing a lot of places hit with mixi

[Mr_Logic 5]

Not seen any for a while really, very depressing!

[Lewdan 17]

been out lamping and over 3 night i have only shot 5 rabbits! and only seen about 8! hanyone else finding the same thing?

Same here mate Myxy did the rounds end of last year knocked them right back, so will leave the rest to breed up ( dont tell the farmer )

 

LD

[langouroux 14]

glad its not just me then in that case! my poor ferrets are not impressed with the lack of resh meat!

[masmiffy 82]

No many round our way either.

Ferrets more like pets than workers!

Prob averaged 20 an outing last year this year we have only been out 4 times!

[gundogbob 1]

now you come to mention it normaly get one or two when out shooting pigeons but not eny last couple of weeks strange havent noticed many footprints in the snow either

[Colster 1]

Just been out for a walk with the dog on a bit of land near me where I can rough shoot during the day (farmer won't allow night shooting) and the hedges that were previously riddled with rabbit holes look like Mrs Fox has evicted them. Lots of fresh earth outside the hole and the hole is now bigger.

 

Something an old gamekeeper told me a while back kind of ties in with this, he mentioned about vixens evicting rabbits when they are pregnant and that they will dig out 3 or 4 holes before they settle on one to give birth in.

 

So as this particular farmer won't let me shoot foxes on his land, looks like it's pigeon for dinner.

 

The other thing he does have is loads of deer but I'm not in that league yet.

 

I haven't been out lamping on other bits of land for a while as one farm has a pheasant shoot so we don't go on there during the season and one is mainly small paddocks so we do it on foot and the crunching of snow just made a stealthy approach impossible but hopefully going out on Tuesday. I certainly saw lots of rabbits along the roadside this morning on the way to work around 5:30am so hopefully by Tuesday the snow will be gone, the clouds will come in, the wind will pick up and the moon will be at it's least full and we'll have the nirvana of bunny hunting conditions.

[firepower 68]

They are still out around me but not in the numbers they were. Some of the bigger warrens have been hit with myxy but I was out the other night and the one snow covered field had tracks all over it. Strangely no rabbits though.

[rjimmer 4]

Fleas carrying Myxy have more chance to move from host to host when more rabbits are underground. Rabbits often stay above ground in warmer weather so the desease spreads more in the Autumn, when they start to spend more time undgerground.

Don't worry, I'm sure there will be plenty about in June/July.

[mattydski 560]

in answer to your original question...............My freezer

 

[The Seeker 3,048]

Bl@@dy hell thats a few well done mate :clapper:

[cbw 4]

Not getting as many here in West Suffolk, as said earlier we did have mixy in the autumn.

 

Landowner is happy though!!!

 

CBW

[TopDown 0]

Saw a load last night for the first time in ages. Snow was melting and they were munching away. Sadly I was driving home from work!!

[Fidgety 8]

Buzzards had all ours!