a bit of black

jmcp

Even before I started hunting I would spend a lot of time walking through the mourne mountains and observing the wild life, where the mournes sweep down to the fishing village of Kilkeel, brent geese would migrate down from canada to winter, we are not alloud to shoot them even though there are about 40,000 of them streched along the coast. High up there are hares to be seen and their mastery of running over the rough terrain could leave grey hounds baffled. John Joe Power a ledgenary story teller and fiddler player, asked me one day if I have ever seen a lizzard, yes when I worked in Nigeria ther were plenty I said, no he said, here in the mournes there is a local lizzard and few have ever seen them, I only saw the one in my eighty years he said. Checking out a book on local wild life I found that there is a species in the mournes. Another species I have came across recently is black rabbits, some say they are rare in Ireland, in my area where I shoot I have found two, although I would not shoot them. So are they rare in your area or maybe you see them all over the place.

Deerspotter

Black rabbits used to be seen as a bad luck omen as when you saw one, it meant the rabbit population would soon be wiped out.
However, my theory is that they are a sign of over population and inbreeding. When the population reaches this number, they enter older and older warrens and eventualy get to the one that still holds the mexi virus, thus causing the population to be wiped out. I see this cycle every 10 to 15 years around my area.
Just a theory though!

landkeeper

black is a recessive gene in rabbits and they pop up in most warrens here there are quite a few black lads in the fields and the old lads say they have allways been about round here ds your theory is partially correct mxy is a virus spread by fleas when they bite the rabbits and contained in their saliva so it needs to remain alive in a host ie the flea or a rabbit
what happens is that as populations increase they spread out at the edges and are more likely to come into contact with other populations that have the active infection and it's passed back so to speak
of course there is the other more sinister way when landowners get fed up with rabbit damage and source a couple of infected rabbits and release them
or rabbit fleas on a ferret or such like 'hop'off

Bunny Buster

Bit of black you say!? How about a bit of ginger!! I was out shooting some rabbits last summer, and whilst taking a shot at one, I hit another that was covered by a small clump of rushes! When I went over to retrieve the one I had shot, I discovered the second one which turned out to have orange/ginger fur!! Needless to say, I was a bit shocked, as I had never seen one like it in the wild before! Mind you, they both tasted nice! I have a photo of it somewhere, I will post it here when I find it!

homerhop

There used to be a ginger one grazing beside the road on the way to work. I saw it first and thought it was a cat. That was a few years back and never seen one since.

Spunk84

There could be a possibility of a black pet rabbit being dumped in the field and bred with the wild ones. The next door neighbour threw his snow White rabbit out into the field a year ago and the thing is still running around along with very weird looking White/brown/black/Ginger hybrids surprised a fox hasn't lifted it yet! You can't get near it either, if it sees you it bolts into a hole.... Will have to get a pic the next time I see it.

Bunny Buster

Spunk84 wrote: »

very weird looking White/brown/black/Ginger hybrids

Don't let your local Chinese takeaway get wind of that one!!! :P

Feidhlim Dignan

i was asked to shoot rabbits on a farm last yeah and at least 20% of them were black, i just put it down to in breeding or something.

Bunny Buster

Here is Bugs Bunny's ginger cousin...

hrcbob

I remember a few gingers roaming around here when i was a kid.. There were a few darkies too and the story at the time was they originated from released pets.. Sadly the cats ended up wearing most of them as fur coats..

Birdnuts

For some reason black rabbits tend to be associated with sandy areas whether coastal dunes or inland quarries. I have no idea what the reason for this is

johnner1

The Common or green lizard is native to ireland, there is a small place near killiney in Dublin that used to hold a few;)

hrcbob

Birdnuts wrote: »

For some reason black rabbits tend to be associated with sandy areas whether coastal dunes or inland quarries. I have no idea what the reason for this is

We had a few black ones about and theres nothin but granite under the grass round here.. Maybe they got lost on their way to courtown or tramore??

johngalway

We've a few black rabbits in this area too. I see them in the sandy spots, but not in the other areas yet.

Half-cocked

Theres black rabbits on Dalkey Island, I've seen them from the boat while fishing. Apparently some one dumped some unwanted pets out there and the black genes have become dominant.

kildare.17hmr

seen 2 black rabbits in the field one evening, came back with the gun that night and shot one of them. havent seen the other since

thekevin4540

i got black rabbits ginger rabbit and rabbits with bits of white on them on the lamp with lurchers. and did any one see a black fox i heard of them but never seen one

J.R.

thekevin4540 wrote: »

i got black rabbits ginger rabbit and rabbits with bits of white on them on the lamp with lurchers. and did any one see a black fox i heard of them but never seen one

here's a blonde rabbit I shot




black fox shot in UK

kildare.17hmr

thats a nice rabbit JR when was it shot? the black fox looks more like a big cat than a fox or a dog, that would be a nice one to stuff!

J.R.

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

thats a nice rabbit JR when was it shot? the black fox looks more like a big cat than a fox or a dog, that would be a nice one to stuff!

BLONDE RABBIT

Blonde rabbit was shot in Carlow about 2 years ago.There was about 6 of them blonde rabbits there & 4 black rabbits among hundreds of 'ordinary' rabbits.

Farm was infested with rabbits and the farmer who was leasing the land wanted them controlled. They had some damage done....the headlands around the fields were eaten bare like a lawn about 80 yards out from the hedge.

Had some great shooting there with the .22 until the landowner told the farmer that he had leased him the land for grazing and not the shooting rights....he was an animal lover....we met the landowner....when he pointed out he didn't agree with killing anything..'live & let live' he said.......we accepted his viewpoint, explaining to him why we were shooting there ...then packed up.......shooting finished there and then.

We knew the land was leased and had asked the farmer if the landowner was okay with shooting....he said there was no problem shooting vermin but there would be no pheasant shooting. We took the farmers word at the time when we saw the damage that was being done.

BLACK FOX
I've never seen a totally black fox myself lkie that one in the photo. I've often shot what seemed to be a black fox in the distance but on closer examination he was red with lots of black hairs coming through.

That clip & photo of the fox was scanned by me from the 'Shooting Times' magazine.