Ireland

[Joe Kelly 0]

years ago the land was hopping with rabbits. I could easily shoot 100 and still get more the next Sunday. but now there scarce. same for the grouse. We had so many when i was young. hard to find plenty of hares now as well. you could see 20 hares in a field easily. also I remember playing with the corncrake chicks as a child. Joe

[wetdogsmell 99]

there all in my frezzer

[kev2010 8]

years ago the land was hopping with rabbits. I could easily shoot 100 and still get more the next Sunday. but now there scarce. same for the grouse. We had so many when i was young. hard to find plenty of hares now as well. you could see 20 hares in a field easily. also I remember playing with the corncrake chicks as a child. Joe

Its a sad state.I can count on one hand how many hares ive seen in the last five years.Theres hardly any rabbits about.If its anything like where iam its been hunted to death.Seems like everbodys got a dog or three,ferrets & a gun.Kev

[cúagusgiorraí 57]

Yes, I remember when there were rabbits everywhere. I just took it for granted at the time. Now there isnt a single rabbit for miles! Mixy has a lot to do with it and the farmers want rabbits gone as soon as any arrive. I was told grouse were everywhere as well, but I have only seen a couple in my entire life. Never heard a corncrake either I wonder if a change to mechanised agriculture, slurrying, have anything to do with it.... mink? over hunting?

[tinytiger 822]

more badgers around than any time i remember,,eating nests of baby rabbits?

[kevin from bristol 95]

well i have to dissagree on the way to stow the other day i seen over 60 hares in a morning there everyware and as for deer there are still loads about i have noticed alot more badgers and fox but rabbit numbers are as big as ever where i am at the moment as for ireland i would agree that the whole of the south is massively over hunted and some places in the north was over back in the winter had some very poor lamping

[SHOTGUNSNIPER 47]

We noticed a sharp downturn in game levels when the heyday of illegals was in full swing - I know the Game and Fish have caught at least 3 poaching rings all staffed by illegals and selling the poached venison in Carnicerias (Latino Butcher shop) in the last few years...

[Wild_and_Irish 11]

no hares about here have only seen one in the last few years and that was out lamping at a friends farm, he then told me coursing club men had asked if they could gate net there a few years before that must be something to do with it imo, because there was a ban on in north at the time so these hares would have been going south, just too much pressure on them.

 

I think you might be right cuagusgiorrai, my father reckoned that the hare would stay away from fertilized grass and eat the bitter grass, I think he was right because we used to have a small field beside our house years ago that wasn't fertilized and it wasn't 20yds from a main road and had a hare in it all the time.

[pattstaff 157]

Ive been wondering that for years.I wonder does all the chemicals sprayed on the grass and crops and injested by rabbits,have an adverse effect on their breeding ability ie;invoke infertility in them leading to them dying out in areas.

[neil cooney 10,416]

There are more deer in Ireland now than any time in living memory. I wouldn't be supprised if the grouse numbers are at their average level too. We've never had much grouse (compared to Northern England and Scotland) and those who count them have always been lucky if they seen more than a few brace in a days counting over pointers and setters.

I put the scarcity in hares down to 2 things, 1. lurcher men (they're not pothunters because they throw them in the ditch) who run 4 and 5 dogs at a time (this is most lurcher men)and 2. Buzzards, we've never had so many and they kill a lot of leverets. Coursing clubs do not make any dent on hare populations as any hares netted for a meeting must be brought back to the place of capture. The wildlife wardens are very strict about this as I've seen with my own two eyes and no coursing club will flaunt these rules as they'd loose their liscence.

As for rabbits? I don't think any research has been done on RHD in this country and I wouldn't be supprised if it was to blame for a lot of rabbit dissapearance. With myxy you find the rabbits but with RHD you don't.

[clint 45]

Is same every where ,i work farm land cambridge to northumberland,filey to cumbria, i see many dead field, with only grass & crow. Lot of new house on field area, dirty river, & dead animal everywhere, rabbit, fox,deer . Most damage i see to animal with dog, from night. Is there disease also in country ,which kill all wild animal. I see only maybe 10-20% animal from normal. is sad.

[neil cooney 10,416]

You must be just lucky to hunt with good sportsmen Bighunter. Several times every year I meet lurcher men while out (including some of the big names) and it's always a farce. Several lurchers at a time and if they want to prove they killed a hare they've to go back to the ditch they threw it in and fetch it to show you.

Maybe during a match or when with guests they run them single or doubled up but I don't see it.

[dmick 22]

There are more deer in Ireland now than any time in living memory. I wouldn't be supprised if the grouse numbers are at their average level too. We've never had much grouse (compared to Northern England and Scotland) and those who count them have always been lucky if they seen more than a few brace in a days counting over pointers and setters.

I put the scarcity in hares down to 2 things, 1. lurcher men (they're not pothunters because they throw them in the ditch) who run 4 and 5 dogs at a time (this is most lurcher men)and 2. Buzzards, we've never had so many and they kill a lot of leverets. Coursing clubs do not make any dent on hare populations as any hares netted for a meeting must be brought back to the place of capture. The wildlife wardens are very strict about this as I've seen with my own two eyes and no coursing club will flaunt these rules as they'd loose their liscence.

As for rabbits? I don't think any research has been done on RHD in this country and I wouldn't be supprised if it was to blame for a lot of rabbit dissapearance. With myxy you find the rabbits but with RHD you don't.

100 euro a hare down my way & there never put back .

[neil cooney 10,416]

Dmick I think your talking about chancers out catching hares to sell to other chancers for blooding. That's nothing to do with organised coursing where the hares are counted by the wildlife warden who then goes out with the C.C. the day after the meet and watches and counts the hares being returned to the place where they were caught.

Statements like yours only do harm when put on the www for the all to see. Especially as it's obvious you haven't a clue what your on about.

It's illegal to net hares without a liscence. It's illegal to course hares with lurchers.

[dmick 22]

Dmick I think your talking about chancers out catching hares to sell to other chancers for blooding. That's nothing to do with organised coursing where the hares are counted by the wildlife warden who then goes out with the C.C. the day after the meet and watches and counts the hares being returned to the place where they were caught.

Statements like yours only do harm when put on the www for the all to see. Especially as it's obvious you haven't a clue what your on about.

It's illegal to net hares without a liscence. It's illegal to course hares with lurchers.

sorry bud talking about clubs and only replied on the www because you were painting the clubs whiter than white , wasnt there a study done by a northern uni & they found there were more hares on club grounds .