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Rabbit population.

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    #16
    Cyclical as stated. When I was a kid in the Scouts we were camping in a field next to heavy woods in the Spring time. The mammas had a bumper crop of babies that year. There were so many you could just reach down and snatch em up. Must have been thousands in a 100 acre field.

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      #17
      My son watched this bobcat catch one and then we got this pic about 2 weeks later of him catching another.
      Attached Files

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        #18
        Originally posted by canny View Post
        Small mammal populations are historically cyclical with the local predator population. Predators go up, small mammals go down. Eventually predator numbers go down allowing the small mammal population to rise back up.


        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
        Yep—this is what I remember from my Wildlife Management classes—

        One of my feeder sites has several on camera every night—-the others seldom have any little critters other than ‘coons and squirrels.
        Last edited by dustoffer; 01-27-2023, 04:15 PM.

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          #19
          Originally posted by bugleboy View Post
          I see plenty around Young county in north Texas.
          Don't know that I've ever seen more than one or two in Young County where we hunt
          Last edited by TxxAgg; 01-27-2023, 04:20 PM.

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            #20
            Much less where I live compared to years ago

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              #21
              We have plenty

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                #22
                Cottontail populations have been decimated in south Louisiana, especially the river parishes where we hunted with beagles all my life. Coyotes definitely took over as there were none when i was a kid. Also, the raptor population has quadrupled. We see eagles all the time, I had never seen one as a kid in the late 70s and early 80s.

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                  #23
                  Originally posted by Landrover View Post
                  Cottontail populations have been decimated in south Louisiana, especially the river parishes where we hunted with beagles all my life. Coyotes definitely took over as there were none when i was a kid. Also, the raptor population has quadrupled. We see eagles all the time, I had never seen one as a kid in the late 70s and early 80s.
                  Not so much with eagles but falcons, kestrels and hawks up here. We have more of those than we know what to do with. They're hell on quail and pheasants too. Personally I hate 'em. If they'd open a season on them I'd start a contest to see who could shoot the most. There'd still be too many.

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                    #24
                    My buddy has been talking about eating rabbits because we haven't in years. I ain't shootin none of those son of a guns. Not right now.

                    That feral cat hanging around better leave my rabbit alone too.
                    Last edited by okrattler; 01-27-2023, 06:12 PM.

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                      #25
                      Jackrabbits & Cotton tails in West Texas are way down. In the 80's you could count 200 in the bar ditch at night on a trip from Rankin to Midland and only 2 or 3 cars. Now it's 300 cars/trucks and no rabbits.

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                        #26
                        I had cottontails everywhere, until a couple years ago. Now I see none. Did find a piece of fur in the yard the other day, so guess the cats are thinning them out.

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                          #27
                          Originally posted by PYBUCK View Post
                          Jackrabbits & Cotton tails in West Texas are way down. In the 80's you could count 200 in the bar ditch at night on a trip from Rankin to Midland and only 2 or 3 cars. Now it's 300 cars/trucks and no rabbits.
                          This might lead some of us to believe the rabbits are now driving





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                            #28
                            Originally posted by okrattler View Post
                            Have y'all noticed a big decrease in the rabbit population where you're at? I have a Cottontail that stays under my shed but other than that I ain't seen very many rabbits. Cottontails or Jackrabbits either one. A few here and there but nothing like there used to be.

                            I don't know if it's from disease or predators or both but something sure wiped a bunch out.
                            It's a natural cycle, rabbit populations go up and down like that everywhere. Their numbers will steadily increase, then the predators numbers will increase, unless there are not enough predators in the area to reproduce and start increasing their numbers at a rate to keep up with the rabbits. If that happens the rabbit population will skyrocket, then they will over graze and area, then they will and other animals will die of starvation and disease. That will usually almost completely wipe out the rabbit population and do the same to other animals that also graze on the same grasses. It's happened in Texas many years ago. It is the reason you don't ever want to completely eradicate predators, such as bobcats and coyotes. Keep their numbers in control, but never try to wipe them out. Always remember don't F with mother nature, it will wind up biting you in the rear, at some point.

                            Don't let the predator numbers take off and get out of control, which coyotes can increase their numbers a lot in three to five years. Then they start hunting in packs and killing things they should not be. There is a balance in nature that should be maintained, but often humans who don't understand that balance, decide it's their place to do as they choose and they F up that balance.

                            Where I used to live, when I first moved there, there were close to zero rabbits. Then after some years, probably with me shooting coyotes, I started seeing more rabbits. Then within a couple of years, I would see a lot of rabbits around. That did not last long, then the bobcat numbers went up, and I started seeing bobcats quite often. Where I had previously only seen one over about a five year time period. Once the bobcat population increased, the number of rabbits I would see, very quickly dropped off. Then after a couple of years of not seeing hardly any rabbits, I quit seeing bobcats.

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                              #29
                              I have noticed an increase in jackrabbits.
                              Been killing a lot of coyotes.
                              Cottontail pop is unimpressive

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                                #30
                                The numbers are way down from what I've seen.

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