lack of bunnys

[#1poacher 8]

yeah defo not alot about i was out with a mate last wk and drove nearly mile, saw 4 fox 1 hare and had a few runs on rabbits terrible from carlisle to maryport.cud ave drove half that last year and saw alot more.

[blackpack 70]

same here mate worst ive ever known lucky to catch 3-4 now on a 4hr lamping session

[Guest Countryboyo]

Last season was bad but this season is even worse. Last year we put it down to a heavy dose of mixy. Every year in our area the rabbits get mixy to some degree about every five they get it really bad. I have never seen mixy reduce the rabbit population to the numbers we are seeing now. Hedgerows where we once would see hundreds of rabbits are bare. We have never over done it they always came back year after year. This is not just on a bit of land but on 10's of thousands of acres that we hunt. Predaters couldn't reduce the numbers like this. Over hunting couldn't. There are areas where the rifle boys can't shoot and areas where it is impossible to get at them with other methods, but this year the rabbits are gone. I have picked up dead rabbits that have blood coming from nose and arse. The keeper next door has done the same. It looks like VHD is killing them. The keeper rang the ministry of ag. to see if they had noticed anything or if there was any new deseases. They told him it was down to 2 years of heavy rain. It will take years for the rabbits to get back to the numbers we were seeing only 3 years ago. We know the rabbit is a surviver and lets hope he does.

 

Good hunting

 

would bad weather alone realy effect rabbits that much?

[undisputed 1,664]

Last season was bad but this season is even worse. Last year we put it down to a heavy dose of mixy. Every year in our area the rabbits get mixy to some degree about every five they get it really bad. I have never seen mixy reduce the rabbit population to the numbers we are seeing now. Hedgerows where we once would see hundreds of rabbits are bare. We have never over done it they always came back year after year. This is not just on a bit of land but on 10's of thousands of acres that we hunt. Predaters couldn't reduce the numbers like this. Over hunting couldn't. There are areas where the rifle boys can't shoot and areas where it is impossible to get at them with other methods, but this year the rabbits are gone. I have picked up dead rabbits that have blood coming from nose and arse. The keeper next door has done the same. It looks like VHD is killing them. The keeper rang the ministry of ag. to see if they had noticed anything or if there was any new deseases. They told him it was down to 2 years of heavy rain. It will take years for the rabbits to get back to the numbers we were seeing only 3 years ago. We know the rabbit is a surviver and lets hope he does.

 

Good hunting

 

would bad weather alone realy effect rabbits that much?

 

 

No bad weather wouldn't account for the amount of rabbits that have disappeared in all these areas. Imo it's deff something else that responsible

[killa-combo 142]

yeah defo not alot about i was out with a mate last wk and drove nearly mile, saw 4 fox 1 hare and had a few runs on rabbits terrible from carlisle to maryport.cud ave drove half that last year and saw alot more.

we were out last weekend near maryport and theres not a rabbit in sight out there there was a fox witch just disapeared and a badger (dead when we found it) but there seems to be a cuple ov bunnies in places like school fields or little patches of grass by the road ..... we went out in workington last night seen a cuple but all close to the dyke but walking home we cut thru a old park and there must of been around 30 rabbits there the groun was only about 150 yards square and very boggy tooo

[Guest Countryboyo]

yeah defo not alot about i was out with a mate last wk and drove nearly mile, saw 4 fox 1 hare and had a few runs on rabbits terrible from carlisle to maryport.cud ave drove half that last year and saw alot more.

we were out last weekend near maryport and theres not a rabbit in sight out there there was a fox witch just disapeared and a badger (dead when we found it) but there seems to be a cuple ov bunnies in places like school fields or little patches of grass by the road ..... we went out in workington last night seen a cuple but all close to the dyke but walking home we cut thru a old park and there must of been around 30 rabbits there the groun was only about 150 yards square and very boggy tooo

 

So what you are more or less saying is that the rabbits are in the places that people dont or cant hunt?

[reddog70 236]

its suprising just how quick numbers can go down in a area i keep a book of how many ive taken in any given area and it can soon tallys up... you go out a few times ferreting and you might get lucky and into double figures.. back out on the good nights with the lamp.. if you carry on like this through the season in a small well popullated area they can soon become depleted within a short time specially when they are not breeding this happened to me a few years ago got some new land no one known to the land owner had ever ferreted.. went to look around thought i was in heaven must of been 40 odd rabbits sat out in the day i found where all the sets were and i hammerd it hard ferreting and took some good numbers that year think was about 60 also lamped a bit.. the last 2 years yrs your lucky to see 2 or three not worth the bother

[reddog70 236]

That sounds about the same as over here Red dog..

It would be great to have a place like Woodga's, never ending rabbits..

 

Frank.

yeah hes a jammy devil