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

[Bearfoot 1,477]

Let's face it what would you  rather  have 100 rabbits or a small mixed bag rhfd same as shooting rough or driven two totally different things yr dog won't be fit next day legs face like a ballon 

[stealthy1 3,964]

Badgers are the biggest problem.  Look at at what the countryside has lost?   Lapwings, Skylarks, Plovers, Hedgehogs, Hare, Bee's.   All ground nesters.   Badgers got the taste for Hedgehogs and Rabbits through eating road kill.  I worked at a printers for a couple of years with some early starts.  On the way to work you could see the Badgers dragging road kill into the under growth most mornings, with Foxes standing and watching.  Add to that, all the fannies that bought ferrets and let them go due to them biting, and there you have it, a recipe for disaster. 

[jiggy 3,209]

12 hours ago, Str said:

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

Can see your point but they weren't over hunted in my area. I've caught one rabbit this season. That's not exactly hammering them except that the  population was probably 2. So technically I've wiped out 50 percent of them

[jiggy 3,209]

47 minutes ago, stealthy1 said:

Badgers are the biggest problem.  Look at at what the countryside has lost?   Lapwings, Skylarks, Plovers, Hedgehogs, Hare, Bee's.   All ground nesters.   Badgers got the taste for Hedgehogs and Rabbits through eating road kill.  I worked at a printers for a couple of years with some early starts.  On the way to work you could see the Badgers dragging road kill into the under growth most mornings, with Foxes standing and watching.  Add to that, all the fannies that bought ferrets and let them go due to them biting, and there you have it, a recipe for disaster. 

Do you think so? The department of agriculture hammer badgers with snares around here and it doesn't seem to change much.

[jiggy 3,209]

2 hours ago, bendrover said:

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. 

Like your idea as long as you don't drop an infected rabbit into a previously clean area. Still haven't heard any thoughts on the legality of dropping them. Do Uk laws differ from Ireland. Are they regarded as invasive species. It would be a shame to break the law.

[stealthy1 3,964]

1 minute ago, jiggy said:

Do you think so? The department of agriculture hammer badgers with snares around here and it doesn't seem to change much.

If it was disease knocking over rabbits and hare's were are all the bodies?   Mixi has been around since the 50's, and so have the rabbits, so it can't be that.  There are half the lurcher runners there was before the ban.  So what is eating them?  

[Chaff 3,621]

Think a lot die underground mate, plus you be lucky to find them laying on ground with all the fox Brock buzzards and round here we got kites 

[Allan P 1,150]

There’s many variables why there is a decline in rabbits, diesease, over hunting, more predator numbers and farming practices to name a few.  But at the end of the day all these problems are linked to human greed and convenience. 

[jiggy 3,209]

2 minutes ago, stealthy1 said:

If it was disease knocking over rabbits and hare's were are all the bodies?   Mixi has been around since the 50's, and so have the rabbits, so it can't be that.  There are half the lurcher runners there was before the ban.  So what is eating them?  

Plenty of hares around here until the coursing clubs rock up and net them. Funnily they are supposed to release them back in same area. I've seen them catching plenty of times but never releasing and the numbers drop after. They aren't even lads from our area. I've no interest in hares but something tells me they release them back on their own ground. Numbers dive every time they visit. There would normally be plenty about until they visit.

[stealthy1 3,964]

When ever we get a large dose of Mixi here, you see the skeletons of rabbits still with fur on with all the meat licked off, I've not seen any lately or any puff eyed rabbits.  But the rabbits have gone, or moved on due to pressure.   My opinion about rabbits dead underground is that sick rabbits get bullied out of the warren due to hierarchy, and die outside, or go out to feed and don't make it back.  I've not seed any skeletons under ground while digging to ferrets that haven't been gassed.

[Chaff 3,621]

Can't say I have found any skeletons while digging, I still reckon that when hit with both myxi and rvhd at the same time what ever immunity they might have can't deal with both diseases.

The past few summers I have watched good numbers in various burys, only to return in winter with nets and ferrets and catch 1 or 2.

These diseases seem to strike when population is at its highest, I guess when the fleas are most prolific?

 

[ijf 111]

Intensive farming practices has a lot to answer for IMO. Farmers need to take more responsibility for their actions but I guess they are only trying to make a living like us all. The government needs to take ownership and apply laws to protect nature. 

Clearing cover for more grazing/growing,  clearing hedges, spraying slurry, spraying insecticides, planting non native grasses etc etc

The smallest things are the first affected. 20 years ago while driving in August your windscreen would be black with insects. That doesn't happen any more. That has a knock on effect. I think it has had a massive effect on Salmon as well... the par and fry don't have much food if they don't have insects to eat...

Less cover for insects would make them easier to find as well for the buzzards, foxes, badgers.. maybe a reason why those are thriving?

I think it would certainly help if lads reintroduced rabbits to areas that have seen population decreases and didn't hammer places that have decent populations. 

Is Mixi still legal? Do farmers still spread it or is it just here to stay??

 

 

[stealthy1 3,964]

20 minutes ago, Chaff said:

Can't say I have found any skeletons while digging, I still reckon that when hit with both myxi and rvhd at the same time what ever immunity they might have can't deal with both diseases.

The past few summers I have watched good numbers in various burys, only to return in winter with nets and ferrets and catch 1 or 2.

These diseases seem to strike when population is at its highest, I guess when the fleas are most prolific?

 

 

I was thinking that about the numbers build up and die off by passing things on to each other, and then when you look round there are pockets of rabbits that are divided by a river or some obstacle, and this protects these populations from a diseases.  I have a few out of the way warrens, but they're a good walk from the beaten paths, maybe this protects them.

[nothernlite 18,088]

Over hunting and greed  has ruined a few places 

Edited December 11, 2018 by nothernlite

[jiggy 3,209]

2 hours ago, ijf said:

Intensive farming practices has a lot to answer for IMO. Farmers need to take more responsibility for their actions but I guess they are only trying to make a living like us all. The government needs to take ownership and apply laws to protect nature. 

Clearing cover for more grazing/growing,  clearing hedges, spraying slurry, spraying insecticides, planting non native grasses etc etc

The smallest things are the first affected. 20 years ago while driving in August your windscreen would be black with insects. That doesn't happen any more. That has a knock on effect. I think it has had a massive effect on Salmon as well... the par and fry don't have much food if they don't have insects to eat...

Less cover for insects would make them easier to find as well for the buzzards, foxes, badgers.. maybe a reason why those are thriving?

I think it would certainly help if lads reintroduced rabbits to areas that have seen population decreases and didn't hammer places that have decent populations. 

Is Mixi still legal? Do farmers still spread it or is it just here to stay??

 

 

Good post. The lack of insects is creating a snowball effect and reducing a lot of species numbers. Farmers don't and won't change unless it's hurting their pockets. Farmer beside me got a grant to set up nesting boxes. He nailed 8 boxes in 1 tree. He doesn't care about preservation but so many boxes per acre makes coin. Imagine 8 clutchs of birds in one tree.