Cottontail Rabbits Round Out The Hunting Season

[shrapnel]

I have always looked forward to January through March for hunting cottontail rabbits. I have done this for years and had great success. It appears that something has disrupted the life cycle of the cottontail, as they have been scarce the past 5 years.

I don’t know if it is disease or predation, but they aren’t as prolific as they were just a few years ago. It is still fun to get after them with old Colts, Winchesters, and Marlins.

This trip was with a Colt Bisley and a Marlin 1888 in 38-40…

 

[fulldraw]

I also like getting a few bunnies this time of the year. I love fried rabbit and bread and gravey.

 

[timberman56]

nice . that sure is a cool looking Marlin

 

[shrapnel]

nice . that sure is a cool looking Marlin

It is a model 1888, the only top eject Marlin made. It has a longer 28 inch barrel as well, it is quite scarce...

 

[TrumpkinTheDwarf]

I think YOU are the predation that disrupted their life cycle @shrapnel .
Seriously though, I do love seeing all the dead wabbit pictures with old firearms.

 

[MThuntr]

My experience with places I used to shoot cottontails is that dog walkers have started going to these spots in the winter. Lassie is let loose to harass and chase. I don't think they're catching them but certainly the number is reduced so that's my scapegoat.

 

[CorkyM]

I’ll probably take the Marlin .22 lr with the scope out to the state game lands one of these days. They seem to be fairly plentiful there with all kinds of good cover. A few guys bring their beagles and the other day I watched four of them working old wood piles as I was sitting on a stump. When the one came up on me he jumped right up into my lap, much to his owner’s dismay. Made me laugh. We can hunt them here until February 27th.

 

[Bigman58]

It’s the season now for sure. I’ve let a lot of rabbits live over the last couple years due to low population but this year I think it’s time to start harvesting them again. We ran out of rabbit in the freezer about 10 months ago. But there have been some mountain hares to fill the pot.

 

[Gr8bawana]

It’s the season now for sure. I’ve let a lot of rabbits live over the last couple years due to low population but this year I think it’s time to start harvesting them again. We ran out of rabbit in the freezer about 10 months ago. But there have been some mountain hares to fill the pot.

I hope I'm never hungry enough to eat a jack rabbit.

 

[Big Slick]

Nothing like making rabbit pot pie with the leftover rabbit and gravy. I highly recommend this.

 

[Bambistew]

Rabbit populations here are cyclical. 10-12 years between peaks. Lows are 10-20% of peaks. I believe it's similar with cottontails.

 

[Bigman58]

I hope I'm never hungry enough to eat a jack rabbit.

It’s not that I’m starving but rather that my dad told me if you’re gonna kill something you’d better eat it. And those big mountain hares go a long way in a stew.

 

[Don Fischer]

I hope I'm never hungry enough to eat a jack rabbit.

Wonder if he's taling about jacks or snow shoes? I've eaten both and only ate the younger jacks. Ran into a guy in S. Cal that was out hunting the jacks and had two with him that were huge. He said they would eat them. Actually I've never tried one of those old big one's, all I've read is they are no good but I don't know. Took some young one's and baked them with I think it was peach jam and they were great!

 

[Bambistew]

Came across this. I hadn't heard about this disease impacting rabbits. Maybe this has something to do with the lack of animals you found? I can't help but wonder what it will do to predator populations as well.

Highly Contagious, Fatal Rabbit Disease Detected In Montana

A virus threatening to wipe out entire populations of rabbits across multiple states was found for the first time in Montana recently.

www.mtpr.org

 

[shrapnel]

Came across this. I hadn't heard about this disease impacting rabbits. Maybe this has something to do with the lack of animals you found? I can't help but wonder what it will do to predator populations as well.

Highly Contagious, Fatal Rabbit Disease Detected In Montana

A virus threatening to wipe out entire populations of rabbits across multiple states was found for the first time in Montana recently.

www.mtpr.org

I haven’t bought the cycle theory for a long time. Hunting cottontails for decades, I have seen banner days and rabbit-less days within a week of each other. I have also seen years that were more rabbit prolific than others, but still not following any distinct cycle.

This area has always produced good rabbit hunting, but in all the years since, I haven’t even found a rabbit where there used to be dozens. Raptor predation is a contributing factor, but not to what appears to be extinction…

 

[HandgunHunter]

It’s a blast.

 

[Monroe110]

Population seems to be up in Wi this winter. lots of sign in the snow anywhere there’s good cover

 

[TheJason]

Came across this. I hadn't heard about this disease impacting rabbits. Maybe this has something to do with the lack of animals you found? I can't help but wonder what it will do to predator populations as well.

Highly Contagious, Fatal Rabbit Disease Detected In Montana

A virus threatening to wipe out entire populations of rabbits across multiple states was found for the first time in Montana recently.

www.mtpr.org

Yes, it has impacted rabbits across the west.

 

[Irrelevant]

I haven’t bought the cycle theory for a long time. Hunting cottontails for decades, I have seen banner days and rabbit-less days within a week of each other. I have also seen years that were more rabbit prolific than others, but still not following any distinct cycle.

This area has always produced good rabbit hunting, but in all the years since, I haven’t even found a rabbit where there used to be dozens. Raptor predation is a contributing factor, but not to what appears to be extinction…


View attachment 263311

The cool thing about science is that you don't have to buy into it for it to still be true.

Population cycles are highly correlated over long time series and large spatial scales in two unrelated species: greater sage-grouse and cottontail rabbits - PubMed

Animal species across multiple taxa demonstrate multi-annual population cycles, which have long been of interest to ecologists. Correlated population cycles between species that do not share a predator-prey relationship are particularly intriguing and challenging to explain. We investigated...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Elktrack]

I haven’t bought the cycle theory for a long time. Hunting cottontails for decades, I have seen banner days and rabbit-less days within a week of each other. I have also seen years that were more rabbit prolific than others, but still not following any distinct cycle.

This area has always produced good rabbit hunting, but in all the years since, I haven’t even found a rabbit where there used to be dozens. Raptor predation is a contributing factor, but not to what appears to be extinction…


View attachment 263311

Hmmm weird. Couldn’t possibly be the Shrapnel factor contributing to the lowered population could it???