Rabbit shortage

shootemall

Has anyone noticed a drop in rabbit numbers this year.

Birdnuts

Rabbit numbers go in cycles - some years good, some not so good. Disease in the major factor in such cycles with the likes of mixi and rhd hitting many populations hard in recent years. The cold snowy spring probably knocked back the breeding season a fair bit too. Having said that locally where I'm based for work atm (Naas area) rabbits appear to be doing well enough with first youngsters of the year emerging over the last few days

sniperman

full of em again down here,got 8 lovely ones today with the .22 lr,only went for an hour

Eddie B

Populations decimated around here the last number of years with RHD/VHD virus. Cant even renember the last time i seen one killed on the road.

sniperman

dont think i have ever come across RHD/VHD virus,just mixi,these ones were all healthy.

Eddie B

sniperman wrote: »

dont think i have ever come across RHD/VHD virus,just mixi,these ones were all healthy.

Its not like mixi, where signs are easy to see, and affected rabbits are falling around the place, blind and dying. RHD kills quickly. Most rabbits die in the burrows, you just notice a lack of rabbits, and its already too late. Also, ferrets, dogs, and people are carriers of the virus, therefore unknowingly spreading the virus from one area to another.

shootemall

Iv noticed the number of rabbits go up and down over the years, but last year and this year the numbers seem to have plummeted.
A lot of burrows that would normally be teaming have started to overgrow , there is a very healthy buzzard population in the area that may be scaring them off or at least keeping them below ground during the day.

Eddie B

shootemall wrote: »

Iv noticed the number of rabbits go up and down over the years, but last year and this year the numbers seem to have plummeted.
A lot of burrows that would normally be teaming have started to overgrow , there is a very healthy buzzard population in the area that may be scaring them off or at least keeping them below ground during the day.

Yes a lot of people think its because of buzzards, but in fairness, you'd need a lot of buzzards to decimate large area's of rabbits. Its said that buzzards wont or are incapable of taking rabbits. Now i personally dont believe that that is true, but i also dont believe rabbits are a major part of a buzzards diet, or that buzzards are responsible for the decline in rabbits.

As you mentioned, i too have area's with loads of empty burrows with grass now growing around the entrances. One quarry hill is totally void of rabbits. Been hunting/snaring that place since a kid and always had rabbits. Mixi came around almost every year and the rabbits always bounced back. Now there's nothing.

Gravelly

I've loads of foxes in my area, but almost no rabbits at all. 3 miles down the road in my brothers place, he has loads of rabbits and no foxes - I can't figure out why the foxes don't move to where the rabbits are, and I can't figure out what the foxes are eating where I am!

Eddie B

Gravelly wrote: »

I've loads of foxes in my area, but almost no rabbits at all. 3 miles down the road in my brothers place, he has loads of rabbits and no foxes - I can't figure out why the foxes don't move to where the rabbits are, and I can't figure out what the foxes are eating where I am!

Fox's are very adaptable. Still plenty of fox's where i hunt, even though rabbit numbers are so low.

cookimonster

I commented before that we used to get big bags of rabbits every year even when the mixie would turn up, and we never put a dent into the population.
Then one year after the game season was over, that's when we would start to hunt the land, there was a marked decline in the rabbit population and it never came back to the previous numbers. There were large areas where they disappeared completely, the keepers reckoned it was the hemeragic that did the damage.

knipex

5 or 6 years ago going to work in the morning was a game of dodge the rabbit. I could sit inside my patio door and count 10 to 12 rabbits in my back lawn..

3 years ago they disappeared. You could count on 1 hand the number of rabbits you woudl see in a month.

Last year numbers started to grow back and this year every gardener is the place is think about applying for a gun license or buying a ferret.

I gave it 2 more years and the mixi will be back and we will be back down to a handful of rabbits.

Nekarsulm

Here in South Cavan they have disappeared.
It's got so bad, the pine martens are now raiding the dustbin outside the kitchen door most nights.

Hunter456

was out the other night after foxes the place is walking with them all over the neighbors lawn aswell last week,:D:D:D:D:D:D

Ultimanemo

In Galway for the last two years, I could hardly see a rabbit, but I see more foxes and pine martens

German pointer

Hunter456 wrote:

was out the other night after foxes the place is walking with them all over the neighbors lawn aswell last week,

Why didn't you give me a shout?

We'll have to get out soon.

Hunter456

German pointer wrote: »

Why didn't you give me a shout?

We'll have to get out soon.

it was late GP absolutely covered in rabbits where we seen that fox, you off this week.

Visconti

I am seeing very few around Meath...... and Dublin / Kildare border with Meath. I couldent hit them anyway but I used to see loads about 3-4 years ago. Anyone know why ?

tabby aspreme

Very few rabbits around here this year, and the fox cubs are suffering and thin looking, the few I do see are out in the fields hiding in clumps of grass or nettles, and regularly, there's a big feral Ginger cat out in the middle of the fields hunting them.

Birdnuts

Visconti wrote: »

I am seeing very few around Meath...... and Dublin / Kildare border with Meath. I couldent hit them anyway but I used to see loads about 3-4 years ago. Anyone know why ?

Currently working in the Naas/Kill area and there seems to be reasonable numbers about. Though in one area you could tell one or 2 had Mixi - this and RHD are usually the reason for sudden drops in population.

knipex

My Gravel yard is getting destroyed with rabbits digging holes and leaving little pellets for me.

Was looking out the kitchen window at 5:30 this morning and there were 6 fat adults and 8 juveniles munching away on my lawn..

Visconti

knipex wrote: »

My Gravel yard is getting destroyed with rabbits digging holes and leaving little pellets for me.

Was looking out the kitchen window at 5:30 this morning and there were 6 fat adults and 8 juveniles munching away on my lawn..

Where are you based ?

knipex

Visconti wrote: »

Where are you based ?

Limerick..

Uinseann_16

Just out of curiosity whats the legal situation around releasing rabbits, is it legal? they've been completely wiped out around me theres a large population of feral cats and mixy hit them.I was thinking it might be a way to get the population back?

dodderangler

Uinseann_16 wrote: »

Just out of curiosity whats the legal situation around releasing rabbits, is it legal? they've been completely wiped out around me theres a large population of feral cats and mixy hit them.I was thinking it might be a way to get the population back?

Ya gotta take out the two problems mate. Foxes, feral cats and mixxy just decimate the population of them. I'm lucky in a sense that all my permissions are crawling with rabbits. Every 3 years mixxy hits but once you take out the mixxy the numbers come back again for another 3 years or so. Strange.

Uinseann_16

dodderangler wrote: »

Ya gotta take out the two problems mate. Foxes, feral cats and mixxy just decimate the population of them. I'm lucky in a sense that all my permissions are crawling with rabbits. Every 3 years mixxy hits but once you take out the mixxy the numbers come back again for another 3 years or so. Strange.

The cats wont be much of a problem anymore id say and ive hit the foxes fairly hard too the last while and ive seen a good increase in the hare population so i think the predator situation isnt too bad at the moment theres just no rabbits left around for them to reestablish themselves, the last time i saw a rabbit around where i am is 3-4 years ago....:eek: .

Hunter456

rabbits all over peoples lawns around here bastards are laughing at me headed to a small permission i have for foxes the other night absolutely covered with them, there is pro's and cons to predator control if you hammer the foxes hard the rabbit numbers increase.

ligertigon

Beside me in Louth, very low numbers. But I have noticed bigger populations on winter barley fields. The young shoots are very nutritious during Jan Feb Mar, so might help them ward off disease etc Also noticed negative correlation with fox numbers, and where there are pylons etc for buzzards to perch ( I use trail cameras to survey). I'd say the buzzard population increase has to get its biomass from somewhere.

Eddie B

dodderangler wrote: »

Ya gotta take out the two problems mate. Foxes, feral cats and mixxy just decimate the population of them. I'm lucky in a sense that all my permissions are crawling with rabbits. Every 3 years mixxy hits but once you take out the mixxy the numbers come back again for another 3 years or so. Strange.

Your area is obviously not affected by RHD, YET!!! Predators wont decimate any healthy rabbit population. Disease will. Mixi can hit them hard, but there is recovery. RHD is a different story. And if or when it hits your area, you will know.

Uinseann_16

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/0424/696418-aran-islands-rabbit-plague/
Oh if only it was like this around here:P
I wonder is there still large rabbit populations on the aran islands etc. or any of the many uninhabited islands?

Croohur

There was a bumper crop of rabbits on the family farm this year starting in late spring, they were back in fields and burrows that had been empty for a few years. I was shooting a fair few regularly for the pot and it felt like the summer would never end......
Fast forward to a few weeks ago and I noticed a lot less rabbits hopping about. Then over the past few weeks I have found about 6 dead rabbits just panned out dead in the fields. I had a look and there was no damage to them at all, except that 2 of them had dried blood around their noses.
I am guessing this is the dreaded RHD finally coming to my area??? Bit gutted by this, mixi wiped them out three years ago and there has been very few around since, now this:mad::mad::mad:

Eddie B

Could be RHD. It doesn't affect young rabbits. Once they mature, they are susceptible to the virus.