Why aren't the lads with high populations of Rabbits helping the lads with none in a hunting community

[Str 793]

1 minute ago, Chaff said:

No maybe not but they ain't helping matters.

Its a combo of myxi and rhd the two combined they don't stand a chance.

So it’s nothing to do with us lot over hunting rabbits?.

[Chaff 3,621]

In some cases maybe I know a few that hunt all year round and yeah they wipe them out.

I only ferret a bury once and take what it gives, these same burys have always repopulated every year with good numbers but that stopped 5 or so years back when that vhd came about. I have found dead rabbits witch were in perfect condition          ( apart from being dead) just lying on the ground in my mind I'm convinced its this disease.

[Str 793]

Disease killing rabbits is not new I am in my 50s and I’ve seen mixi strike again and again but they have some how come back from it but its the combination of disease,land pressures, over hunting that I personally think is the problem ,I’ve heard lads on here say many times I used to be able to take 20 30 40 rabbits when ferreting but only a few now!!! They still keep going back when they know rabbits are thin on the ground and ferreting them again!! You can’t have your cake and eat it.

[Aussie Whip 4,098]

I think its the combination of diseases driving the population right down and then hunters,be they man or beast killing off the few rabbits that have become immuned.It could have something to do with climate change as well with more insects to spread disease,something rabbits and us have never dealt with,or not in recent times.If the population gets too low,inbreeding will create weaker animals as I've seen in isolated populations of rabbits here.

[fred90 3,230]

4 hours ago, Str said:

Disease killing rabbits is not new I am in my 50s and I’ve seen mixi strike again and again but they have some how come back from it but its the combination of disease,land pressures, over hunting that I personally think is the problem ,I’ve heard lads on here say many times I used to be able to take 20 30 40 rabbits when ferreting but only a few now!!! They still keep going back when they know rabbits are thin on the ground and ferreting them again!! You can’t have your cake and eat it.

how do you explain Yorkshire dales huge numbers week in week out. yet still there every year. 

[two crows 3,342]

2 hours ago, fred90 said:

how do you explain Yorkshire dales huge numbers week in week out. yet still there every year. 

when I used to go to the dales they never seemed to get mixy either and always nice big rabbits, just think what people said when mixy first took hold, and the rabbits were decimated.

[Bearfoot 1,477]

Edited December 12, 2018 by Bearfoot

[Attaboy 159]

1 hour ago, Bearfoot said:

50percent young farmers will get Parkinson's disease due to chemicals used in modern farming just Google it 70 percent sheep deer rabbits  are rideled way fluke seen it way my own two eyes iam afraid there's a bigger picture salmon are riddled way worms to in there vents there is not much left thats  not infected by man just chew round the good bits

That's what I suspect Bearfoot. Round here the numbers seem linked to the type of farming. Intensively farmed arable land where there is a lot of chemical usage, particularly glyphosate have lower numbers. On the higher ground with sheep or cattle, the numbers are higher. The biggest numbers I've seen are on some new permission, which is an organic cattle farm. It would be interesting to see if the rise in glyphosate use is linked to rabbit decline and if areas that are intensively farmed are also areas where the numbers are low. I may be wrong but I get a sense that something sinister is beneath all this, other than dodgy characters creeping around in the dead of night with high powered lamps

[Str 793]

7 hours ago, fred90 said:

how do you explain Yorkshire dales huge numbers week in week out. yet still there every year. 

The Yorkshire dales are a national park so it’s farmed more kindly, I am a regular in the dales but on a motorbike,in the summer months the fields are a blanket of butter cups with buzzards soaring above them!! It’s a very different world to we’re I live that’s arable farming,so in answer to your question it’s got to be farming practice and we’re the dales are situated which is high ground so colder temperatures especially in the winter which maybe kills viruses ,I know the rabbits in the dales get hunted get mixi etc but maybe because the dales are ideal living conditions for  rabbits it enables them to bounce back,Fred  90 I am not having ago at you or anyone on here but some of the blame lies firmly at our doors.there was nobody worse than me but I am learning.

Edited December 11, 2018 by Str

[fred90 3,230]

1 minute ago, Str said:

The Yorkshire dales are a national park so it’s farmed more kindly, I am a regular in the dales but on a motorbike,in the summer months the fields are a blanket of butter cups with buzzards soaring above them!! It’s a very different world to we’re I live that’s arable farming,so in answer to your question it’s got to farming practice and we’re the dales are situated which is high ground so colder temperatures especially in the winter which maybe kills viruses ,I know the rabbits in the dales get hunted get mixi etc but maybe because the dales are ideal living conditions for  rabbits it enables them to bounce back,Fred  90 I am not having ago at you or anyone on here but some of the blame lies firmly at our doors.there was nobody worse than me but I am learning.

well that's answered that has answered that. Good points made by all. 1 thing we all agree on rabbits have declined rapidly. 

[Bearfoot 1,477]

☠☠☠

Edited December 12, 2018 by Bearfoot

[bendrover 556]

Rhvd wiped the land of rabbits in the last 20 year . If your dropping rabbits,  then do so . But you need to diversify the strains . Ferret 3 different regions.  Do it at this time of year after some hard frosts . You must dig out old burys and release there . Preferably near villages etc where they get some peace from the shooters . If they last a month watch them take hold over the summer.  It does work . But just dropping them at thick cover  and nog opening the burys is a fruitless waste of time and live rabbits. 

[Bearfoot 1,477]

Edited December 12, 2018 by Bearfoot

[Allan P 1,150]

I blame the hunting with dogs act. Rabbits and Rats are the only quarry that can be legally hunted by dogs. So as law abiding citizens Lurcher owners only target the humble rabbit, hence the decline in numbers. It also explains the population explosion of all Deer species. They are now left alone so numbers increase. Definitely a good point to reverse the law.

[jiggy 3,209]

12 hours ago, fred90 said:

it's a valid point you make and it makes sense but explain this to me. local to me going back 15 years buzzards were unknown & badgers were seldom seen. not huge number of rabbits but decent. now loads of both & rabbits virtually extinct & no local hunters to speak of. answers on a postcard please

Same in Ireland. All poisons except mice and rat poison were banned and the raptors and pine Martin are thriving since. Jackdaws used to be swarming every derelict cottage and rookerys with hundreds of nests were common. I think this is down to buzzards taking fledglings off the branchs before they fly. Before the alphachlorolose ban grey crows were killing our 10 week old pheasant poults in an open top pen. There was a splash nearby where up to 500 grey crows washed at dusk before roosting during winter. I set posion beside it  with a mortar board nailed to a stake with 6 pound of mince and I only seen 1 or 2 greys for up to 2 years after. The pheasants thrived after. That time you could walk into local chemist and he would give it out no bother. Sadly it's banned now but it probably did target a few of the wrong species. Owls seem to be the only bird of prey not doing well.