Drop box

[moxy 617]

A customer of mine has a large walled garden on three sides and stock fence on the other and the neighbours hole of a farm( to put it politley). I would land to do the moles and on occasion often saw the odd rabbit.

Now looking to spending more time of their retirement in the garden they began to invest in rabbit food no sorry, i meant plants!! which the rabbits took a delight to!

At a glance i would have said the bunny population was no more than a good dozen or so. I have mooched most of the land which borders the foresaid farm within my daily duties and only now and again have i seen the odd squatter or the blink of a white tail making away in the distance but the plants continued to take a hammering.

I set a couple of cages around the garden and the odd fenn within the walls and slowly started nibling away at the numbers. The fenns didnt fair as much as the cages and i had more success baiting the cages with carrot. After a few weeks of trapping and the customer still reporting rabbits every morning, the game needed to be upped!

After delicate negotiations over cost, ie its X ammount or the plants! an agreement was made.

We set about blocking all the accessable holes within the walls except the one and netted up the stock fence. One way in one way out, winner.

An unwelcomed approach to the farm was made regarding rabbit control, i was instructed in no certain terms that i was not to touch their rabbits even if it was for free!! So the plan was set.

During the finance negotiations the mention of a drop box was welcomed. I have never made one before and only had brief dealings with prefab metal ones. So off to the workshop it was ( well my front yard!!)

 

 

I set about digging the hole for the box, well thats a complete lie!

Re-worded!, i got somebody else to dig the pit for me, as i got the glory of placing the box in situe and neatly filling the hole in

 

 

The box remained closed for around a month which gave the rabbits confidence in using their new and only route or so i thought.

During this time we did reasonable numbers in the cages.

 

D-day came and the anticipated wait for the opening of the box came. Trap door chocks removed, good windy and rainy night and feck all in the box in the morning nor anything for nearly a week but rabbits in the cages every other day!

 

 

The box finally began to provide rewards for all the effort my lad had put in digging the hole but the catches are few and far between, accounting for two's or three's at most, again the cages proving to be more successful.

 

 

It wasnt long before it became apparent that the rabbits had another route, even in the snow i struggled to match up the tracks to a hole in the wall.

I landed early one morning whilst on a forray with the dogs and watched four rabbits scale a five foot wall with ease.

I had often doubted myself over the choice of run to place the drop box, and although the run over the box was often used it was the conclusion that the rabbits could not be arsed wandering down to the hole in the wall and it was much easier to hop on over!

 

Anyway with success from the cages and the use of the drop box we have accounted for a good seventy rabbits from the garden over eight month, which on face value i would have put money on the rabbit population being in the low teens, just opens your eyes sometimes.

[pipa 299]

welldone mate, is there anything you cant put youre hand to?

[moxy 617]

welldone mate, is there anything you cant put youre hand to?

Yes! I dont massage men or remove genital warts

[michael flatters 2]

Well done Buddy,you now need to snare the top of the wall too.

[J Darcy 5,871]

Brilliant Post Moxy

[IanB 0]

That run through is crying for a snare, fenn or bodygrip, the drop trap will be more effective in numbers if you isolate the other entrance area's as you said... Good post moxy .

[jimmy100 48]

spot on moxy