where are all the rabbits gone?

triggerpull

hi all new to boards but been reading you threads for a few weeks.
my question is i started shooting about 5 months ago after 8 years with only a fishing rod
since i have started again i have not seen many rabbits. i could walk for up to 3 hours and only see one, and at night lamping only the odd warren being active. is this due to weather or just location? i am in meath. do rabbits go into a semi-hibernation or less active in the winter months?

flanum

dont think they are any less active, maybe ur lookin in wrong fields
i think somebody here said they are fairly plentiful round the slane area?

meathstevie

They're all in Cadbury's at the moment doing a week of Easter bunny training. They told me they'll be back in the fields from Easter Monday on.

dresden8

Ivan has probably shot them with his 30mm chain gun.

revan23

slane is full of them, never have any problems finding them out that direction, nice fat clean ones too.

bitemybanger

No shortage of the little buggers near me:D

ivanthehunter

bitemybanger wrote: »

No shortage of the little buggers near me:D

Where is near me? Dresden8 want me to bring my 30mm chain gun.. but i only use laser weapons on the sundays..:D

In truth rabbits a not as plenty full as they were only 15years ago..
I blame mink and people wiping out summer populations!!!:mad:

pestshooter7

triggerpull wrote: »

hi all new to boards but been reading you threads for a few weeks.
my question is i started shooting about 5 months ago after 8 years with only a fishing rod
since i have started again i have not seen many rabbits. i could walk for up to 3 hours and only see one, and at night lamping only the odd warren being active. is this due to weather or just location? i am in meath. do rabbits go into a semi-hibernation or less active in the winter months?

Are you looking in the right places!
They are definatly less active in winter and dont like windy weather!
Watch for sunny?sheltered areas with good soil!
If you want to eat your rabbits then its to late to shoot them!
October on is eating time!

pullandbang

pestshooter7 wrote: »

Are you looking in the right places!
They are definatly less active in winter and dont like windy weather!
Watch for sunny?sheltered areas with good soil!

Just driven back the N9 from clay shoot in Bishops Mountain. Between Timolin and the start of the dual carriageway, passed a long stretch with a gorse covered bank on my right. The sun was shining on to it and it was positively heavng with bunnies. Impossible to count but must have been hundreds of them.

triggerpull

i went out this morning
drove for half an hour and bingo the place was walking with rabbits.
Each field had about 6 big bunnies in each corner.
to be honest I got very excited sad I know but hay big kid at heart.
I took six and called it a day couldn't carry any more, on the down side I seem to have lost the mag on my .22 after the last shot.
any one know where I can get a replacement?
its a cz. Bruno .22 lr and how much it will cost?
why don't you eat them this time of year? I have already
put them in the freezer quatered.

ivanthehunter

as far as rabbits go most people would not eat them or catch them at this time of the year because:-

1/ Rabbit Doe's(females) are either pregnant or are in the middle of feeding their young, either way their meat looses condition and body at this time of the year due to the strain on their body in a bid to produce milk for their young. Experienced Rabbit men refer to these does as "milky does".

2/ hunting rabbits at this time of year causes a loss to the numbers of young which make it to adult hood. So to put it plainly, if your hunting now(late March) you're killing next years fair.

3/ In my neck of the woods there is an old saying which says that you should only hunt rabbits in a month which contains the letter R in it. So thats Sept to April, but most experienced hunters will tell you that April is way too late. The April thing in the old phrase/poem was probably OK in a colder World which might have existed years age before Global Warming:D:D

clivej

triggerpull wrote: »

..................any more, on the down side I seem to have lost the mag on my .22 after the last shot.
any one know where I can get a replacement?
its a cz. Bruno .22 lr and how much it will cost?................
quote]
Duffy's have them @ €40 10 round mag Stakumlems Urlingford, Sean said he had some not sure if 5 or 10 round about the same $$$$$.
CZ have them 5 round metal €14 or plastic at €10 but post is €60 :mad: but if you can get friend to order with you for some stuff then the post isn't so bad.

http://www.shop-cz.com/objects/1057015686.html

wallyhering

thanks lads

Ronan Raver77

Saw 2 big rabbits on the m50 at 3.20am heading southbound a couple of hundred metres before the Ballymun exit.Never see rabbits on my way home at that time of night but plenty of foxes.

mallards

Try looking over the hedges as you come of the M50 Northbound towards the airport at the M1 there is some rough ground at the bend and it's hiving with rabbits! On a side note anyone know where I can pick up a krico mag for a 22hornet?

Mallards.

clivej

I drive from Kilkenny City to Clonmel every day since last September and have yet to see any rabbits. Not even roadkill. Thats not for the want of looking. I saw 2 fox's but not in the fields but by the main road just going into Clonmel. And some roadkill about 4.

Mellor

I've seen rabbits, foxes and squirrels on the N4 out of dublin,


Ivan, regarding it being no longer good to shoot rabbits it april due to global warming and all, early breeding, does this mean that augest is now ok

triggerpull

i went back and had a look for my missing clip and there it was waiting for me to bring it home. so i took out the rest of my rifle and bagged two more bunnies:)

IDon'tKnow!

[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Phil/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG]

I think this person knows were all the rabbits are!

whitser

think your just looking in the wrong places or possibly going out at the wrong times. last or first light is the time for rabbits or at night with the lamp. just keep walking the fields and you'll come acrosss a spot that holds them.