Why The Rabbit Population Collapse?

[devon flighter 421]

  On 17/02/2016 at 17:26, jukel123 said:

 

In parts of Aberdeenshire there are definitely more Roe than rabbits. In my area of Scotland there's more foxes than rabbits. The future is here.

 

same here ,i do see way more hares, roe "and foxes"than rabbits ! this is on shooting land and i know for a fact other than the foxes nowt ground game wise has really been touched other than by vehicles for over 20 years ,its common to see 8+ hares on a lot of fields at night and during the day ! buzzards have gone up probably 10 fold over the last few years and used to see brock once or twice a year now its almost a twice nightly occurrence

[Omanyra 2,518]

Some interesting ideas on this, 7 pages..great stuff

[Somewhereyournot 1,117]

I was thinking that too, good to see all angles. I see a lot of buzzards now, where years ago my old man and others caught plenty of hares but u just can't see them now.

[bendrover 556]

  On 17/02/2016 at 16:53, swg dave said:

START RESTOCKING LADS IT WORKS, GO TO SOMEWHERE Y

THAT HOLDS GOOD NUMBERS, TAKE SOME RABBITS NOT ALL,

AND REINTRODUCE THEM BACK TO YOUR CHOSEN GROUND.

THE SEASON IS NEIGH OVER, POOR OLD SHOOSHY

THEY DESERVE THAT MUCH.

VISIT LOCATION THROUGH THE SUMMER MONTHS, AND YOU WILL

BE PLEASED YOU TOOK THE TIME AND EFFORT TO DO IT..

BEST WISHES TO ALL,, DAVE

just to add , release them in village gardens etc . They will get protected there then eventually spread out .

[low plains drifter 10,850]

  On 12/02/2016 at 21:17, Truther said:

 

  On 12/02/2016 at 20:45, David Aiken said:

 

  On 12/02/2016 at 19:51, Mary said:

 

  On 12/02/2016 at 19:34, tiercel said:

 

  On 12/02/2016 at 19:29, Mary said:

 

  On 12/02/2016 at 16:56, David Aiken said:

The last 1/2 dozen or so I've shot all had mix

 

Lads shooting them is a massive contributer to their decline, same as the fox population, getting slaughtered by men with their big guns and their bigger ego's.

So it's acceptable to kill over a hundred a night with a lurcher, but not with a rifle? FFS get real they are all dead and it does not matter how.

 

TC

  On 12/02/2016 at 19:34, tiercel said:

 

  On 12/02/2016 at 19:29, Mary said:

 

  On 12/02/2016 at 16:56, David Aiken said:

The last 1/2 dozen or so I've shot all had mix

 

Lads shooting them is a massive contributer to their decline, same as the fox population, getting slaughtered by men with their big guns and their bigger ego's.

So it's acceptable to kill over a hundred a night with a lurcher, but not with a rifle? FFS get real they are all dead and it does not matter how.

 

TC

Doesnt matter to the lazy hunter lol, point and shoot, robbing another man of his sport with his dogs. Go to rifle range or somewhere and leave genuine lads to get on with it, or trade your gun in for a PlayStation, loads to shoot at on there.

What do you mean lazy hunter? Are you getting at people who shoot rather than use dogs? Can you cull rabbits around sheep with a lurcher? No, I doubt it, but a rifle can at the request of a farmer who wants rid of rabbits and doesn't care about the sport.

A local place to me always held decent numbers of rabbits and hares, the rabbits get myxi now and again, but always come back, last time i lamped it, about 5 years ago, i counted 18 hares in one small field. The rabbits and hares never got to the point of doing much if any damage. Then the farmer let a small shoot have the land...................I can't find one hare, and the rabbits are very low in number...........lamp and rifle...........ferreting and shotgun.........vandals with guns.................plenty like that round here, WANKERS.

Pudding heads flattening hares with rifle and lamp, now that really is a shitty thing to do, driven hare shoots are'nt a pretty sight either

[myersbg 1,385]

I was talking to a keeper mate of mine the other day and he had been down country on a big estate early feb, and they had four days shooting Hares [driven] there was over 30 guns each day and on the first day they shot over 800, i did not want to know what they shot on the other days.

I asked him if we could go and net some for re-release next year and he was going to see whether they would let us on but i am not holding my breath.

[jok 3,393]

Swg Dave. Do it, get caught and your going down.

[Somewhereyournot 1,117]

800 fuckkng hares shot and they say the ban is good for protection of them. Ffs

[VOON 1,317]

  On 17/02/2016 at 17:31, Chaff said:

This year our bit of land produced good numbers, some showed signs of fighting of myxi but the previous year there was very poor so we went else where.on this same land there are some massive burys that we never do leaving to over populate and then fill the smaller easier ones. Myxi constantly mutates to a stronger strain that initially wipes out big numbers then rabbits slowly build up amunity and so the cycle continues . So the numbers go up and down year after year. Now I might be talking out my rusty bullet hole here, if so please correct me.

Did anyone ever vaccinate wild rabbits against myxi and rhd, and then release them?

[MickyB 327]

On the topic of shooting, I just seen this "plus late season hare shoots and bag numbers from 100 to 300+ head days." http://www.angliasporting.co.uk/gameshooting

Now im not knocking shooting BUT is 100-300 a day a lot to take of "wild game"? Pheasants fair enough they are put down in numbers to be shot but the Hare is on its own from the start, if you had a few days I wonder could there numbers return the following year?

[CushtyJook 1,097]

It's dire for rabbits and I've notched a severe Decline of hare numbers this winter also I think I've seen two so far in the summer I was counting five or six every few feilds

[Chaff 3,636]

  On 18/02/2016 at 10:05, VOON said:

 

  On 17/02/2016 at 17:31, Chaff said:

This year our bit of land produced good numbers, some showed signs of fighting of myxi but the previous year there was very poor so we went else where.on this same land there are some massive burys that we never do leaving to over populate and then fill the smaller easier ones. Myxi constantly mutates to a stronger strain that initially wipes out big numbers then rabbits slowly build up amunity and so the cycle continues . So the numbers go up and down year after year. Now I might be talking out my rusty bullet hole here, if so please correct me.

Did anyone ever vaccinate wild rabbits against myxi and rhd, and then release them?

Not sure about that one mate

[Chaff 3,636]

Just back from a little woodland walk checked out a little bury that always had nice clean holes and the dog always marked to find it was flooded out, so the weather not helping matters.

Starting to think that the introduction of vhd was the final nail in the coffin, hope I'm wrong maybe this time next year we might be telling a different story.

[Omanyra 2,518]

  On 18/02/2016 at 09:31, Somewhereyournot said:

800 fuckkng hares shot and they say the ban is good for protection of them. Ffs

 

I got invited to a hare drive up here, 303 on the first day, and 306 on the second day..Never been a hare shooter, and had to borrow a gun to shoot them days

An estate where I used to run my dogs on the blue hares, the keepers quota to shoot every year, was 700..

Queery old numbers....

[smithie 2,444]

  On 18/02/2016 at 11:26, Chaff said:

 

  On 18/02/2016 at 10:05, VOON said:

 

  On 17/02/2016 at 17:31, Chaff said:

This year our bit of land produced good numbers, some showed signs of fighting of myxi but the previous year there was very poor so we went else where.on this same land there are some massive burys that we never do leaving to over populate and then fill the smaller easier ones. Myxi constantly mutates to a stronger strain that initially wipes out big numbers then rabbits slowly build up amunity and so the cycle continues . So the numbers go up and down year after year. Now I might be talking out my rusty bullet hole here, if so please correct me.

Did anyone ever vaccinate wild rabbits against myxi and rhd, and then release them?

Not sure about that one mate

if the mixi mutates it would be hard to vacinate against as next season it would be a new strain and vacation would then be out dated...