# Will rabbits ever rebound?



## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

seems like this cycle thing is hogwash. Will we ever see bumper crops of bunnies again?


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## Fishrmn (Sep 14, 2007)

utahgolf said:


> seems like this cycle thing is hogwash. Will we ever see bumper crops of bunnies again?


No. The boom and bust cycles of the late 70s and 80s were the result of an imbalance of predators. DDT had nearly eliminated hawks, owls, falcons, and eagles. Now they're back and always keep the peaks from ever forming. Add to that the sheer number of year round hunters and you have just enough rabbits to keep a few around.


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

yeah, I can't believe how many birds of prey I see out there.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Fishrmn brings up some good points.

We still have good populations of cottontails here in Southwest Wyoming. Not many upland game hunters anymore. Bunnies are still cyclic here, but I can't figure out the pattern; whether it correlates to moisture, grazing practices, predators, or maybe weather during spring nesting periods; or a combination of all those things. I just don't know; but I could ask my biologist friends.

I have been involved in the annual Christmas Bird Count north of Evanston since 1982. For a week every winter we count birds over a 15-mile diameter circle; same place and same time of year, every year. Half of the circle is in Utah, most of which is Deseret Land & Livestock. The Bear River runs thru the circle as does a busy highway. There's some really good rabbit country within the circle, lots of raptors, coyotes and fox. So we get to see the population go up and down. We also spend a considerable amount of time hunting the Wyoming side of the circle for rabbits, along with big game, waterfowl and gamebirds.

Also every year I try to do an annual pigmy rabbit count out in the Cumberland Flats in Uinta County Wyoming, prime rabbit country. My pigmy rabbit sightings are turned into the Wyoming Wildlife Diversity Data Bank at the U of Wyoming.

For 14 years my family had a maintenance contract with the Game & Fish and the facilities we took care of have great rabbit habitat and are popular hunting spots, especially for road hunters.

For years I worked out in the boonies and drove back and forth to work all in cottontail country.

So, I think I have a feel, some background, for how cottontails, jack rabbits too I guess, come and go around here. This is what I have observed:

> This year is below average; two years ago was top of the cycle. This year the drought and some over-grazing by antelope have cut our rabbit numbers in many drainages; other drainages are normal.

> Our rabbits key on Badgers - no Badger holes no rabbits. There's just too many predators for rabbits to be sitting out in the open. I find a lot of dead badgers out in the steppe or along the Bear River. For some reason people kill them. Dumb, and hard on the rabbit population.

> Good coyote years follow or coincide with a good rabbit year.

> Mice, weasel, and rabbit numbers kind of swing together. This year numbers for all three are down.

> There are a lot of eagles, both Bald and Golden, but the numbers tend to parallel deer populations. The eagles live off of road-killed deer; easy pickings. Naturally the eagles will do rabbits while they are here, but they aren't here solely for bunnies. Other prey birds like Ferruginous Hawk and Great Horned Owl key on rabbits and those two species of raptors are down this year same as the rabbit population.

> With the exception of some night time road hunting hot spots I see little difference in private land vs public land as far as rabbit populations go around southwest Wyoming.

> Mature stands of Big Sagebrush, _Artemisia tridentata _, are the best, rocky south-facing juniper slopes are second best.

> It's interesting, but if you work around a natural gas facility out in the boonies you can follow rabbit populations. The bunnies will use a fenced-in facility as an island of safety. There's always a cyclone fence surrounding the place and all kinds of pipes and structures the rabbits can get into that predators can't. But that doesn't mean there's a static number of rabbits there year after year. The numbers ebb and flow same as outside the protected fenced-in areas.

> Flaming Gorge has good numbers of cottontails and if you do a lot of boating and especially boat camping up on the northern end of the reservoir you can watch the bunny populations go up and down over time. It is a great place for rabbits and doesn't get hunted very hard, by humans anyway.

Random thoughts, boring I suppose.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Criminy Goob. I just got a great edumacation on rabbits right there. Thank you. Very good post.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

I don't think the seven year cycle theory is bunk but misunderstood. I look at it as a bell curves whose whole length represents the seven year period in time. As the slope increases, population is on the rise, and as the slope decreases, the population declines. This means that there is only ONE time that the population reaches its maximum at only one point and immediately goes into decline because the environment cannot support the population (due to food supply, increased disease spreading due to higher population, and predation). Now this bell curve in my eyes is entirely dependent upon one vitally important factor: NATURAL progression. But the problem we see is that man creates the unnatural factor that causes problems with this theory. We are not natural predators in the sense that we just harvest one animal and call it good. When we go rabbit hunting, we tend to shoot a ton of rabbits given the chance.... 

So, in areas that I know to hold rabbits and are rarely frequented by hunters, I see the seven year cycle in full effect. But in places like Vernon where every turd with a gun visits, the cycle cannot naturally take effect due to unnatural predation of man.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

It's all about having good rabitat....


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Kevin D said:


> It's all about having good rabitat....


I agree. A few weeks ago I was out in some good rabitat and busted out my e-caller and called in several large jacks within a matter of minutes


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Bax* said:


> [quote="Kevin D":29r3v8wi]It's all about having good rabitat....


I agree. *A few weeks ago I was out in some good rabitat and busted out my e-caller and called in several large jacks within a matter of minutes*[/quote:29r3v8wi]

What sound did you use? a dying carrot? :?


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

It all depends on what you are after. I have given up hunting jacks and concentrate on cotton tails. I know a few areas in Utah that you can limit out in a couple of hours and have done so. But these areas while known by other hunters is guarded like the best fishing or trophy deer areas.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

sawsman said:


> Bax* said:
> 
> 
> > [quote="Kevin D":16zyfeec]It's all about having good rabitat....
> ...


What sound did you use? a dying carrot? :?[/quote:16zyfeec]

Yessir! :mrgreen:


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