Fisherman Mike Posted December 15, 2013 Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 Where are they all.. ? Anyone else noticed a general decline in Rabbit numbers in the last 10 or so years ? Certainly around my shooting grounds they are, dare I say it, getting scarce and are no where near the numbers of the 80's & 90's. I think many colonies have bred in an immunity to myxy to some extent, but burgeoning fox and buzzard numbers are certainly keeping populations in check. Am I alone in these findings. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin lad Posted December 15, 2013 Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 no your not alone numbers are certainly down not sure i can type my thoughts but i think a lot of them round this way are going the same way a lot of our fish populations are going, colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowmonster Posted December 15, 2013 Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 no your not alone numbers are certainly down not sure i can type my thoughts but i think a lot of them round this way are going the same way a lot of our fish populations are going, colin Does one mean down the necks of our eastern European cousins by chance . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
station Posted December 15, 2013 Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 People keep shooting them - what do you expect ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted December 15, 2013 Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 I shot several hundred 3yrs ago but since can almost count the number on my hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted December 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 People keep shooting them - what do you expect ! True enough but since I've been shooting aged 15..in 40 years rabbit numbers were always sustainable...I probably shot or netted 500 a year between 1980 and 2000 and really never scratched the surface of numbers on the land I shoot...these days though I'm lucky to see 2 or 3 a night..let alone shoot them. you don't even see road kill on the roads either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnFreeman1310 Posted December 15, 2013 Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 We have a lot that live on a large grass roundabout close to the motorway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aled Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 I've seen 2 loc;ally in the last 8 months, the second one had myxi! Aled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 Hi Mike. To be fair I haven't been out on the rabbits since the summer but I was seeing a lot, and as I can't sit still for five minutes I was mainly doing walk-around shooting. Fewer than half a dozen in a couple of hours stroll would have been a disappointment. This is on grazing land bordered by woodland. Couple with mixy but mostly healthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCat Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 Seen hundreds at night on the way home in lincs. Have also seen a silly amount of crows, bagged a few on a mates farm yesterday as there was so many. 5 years ago you'd be lucky to see one there and now there are literally a few hundred flapping about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 Have also seen a silly amount of crows Actually so have I. Loads round here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smig4373 Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 Literally 100's of thousands down here in Cornwall...no decline here..probably getting more infested if anything...I drive a lorry around the country lanes to countless farms in my working day...there everywhere I go..1000's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrawny40 Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 plenty on my perms, had 14 in two hours last weekend. im back out on wed with ferrets, should be a good day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chacotawas Posted December 17, 2013 Report Share Posted December 17, 2013 They'd reached plague proportions round here (central Scotland) prior to the two severe winters a couple of years ago. Those seemed to do for them, and now we're seeing only a handful here and there. I think the Myx has caused the evolution of a strain that no longer dig the deep burrows they used to dig. I think the shallow burrows make them vulnerable to both cold and predators. I presume the deep burrows of old tended, with their close atmosphere, to promote the spread of the disease. Just a theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo33 Posted December 20, 2013 Report Share Posted December 20, 2013 http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/258006-rabbits-are-numbers-updown-in-your-area/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenj Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 I had eight permissions covering South Bucks and Berkshire, until a couple of months ago and would have said that numbers were down, but I think that was because I kept shooting them. I restarted an old permission and got another three this autumn and have been averaging six, or seven a visit on these new areas, only shooting during the afternoon. This was last week during the afternoon, following a two hour stake out on a hill overlooking a farm, shooting out to 120 yards with my CZ452 .17HMR. If you check out my blog post http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/cz452-17-hmr-excells-at-long-range-sniping/ . In the photo of the farm, you can see a small paddock. I shot a dozen rabbits in there at close range using my Magtech 7022 .22lr semi auto, when I first started on this permission. Now I have to use the HMR. In the blog I show some of the damage the rabbits have done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activeviii Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 When lamping i thought the numbers where down but since out with NV i am finding a lot more than first thought. im thinking that the rabbit is getting ise to the lamp and running as soon as they see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Galore! Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 i can't speak for years ago, but i find the numbers fluctuate from year to year, maybe the meat is getting more popular? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salop Matt Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 Round here numbers are down, I have only one permition with rabbits on and I only get to shoot that twice a year although do have goo bag numbers (61&34 this year) The other 3 oermitions have none around ! ATB Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Galore! Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 i remember watching a program last year which brought this very subject up. apparently some estates were so overrun with them it was like having carpet on the lawns the numbers were well into the thousands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildfowler.250 Posted December 27, 2013 Report Share Posted December 27, 2013 Very little my way in north of Scotland. Going to have to do a big search for them next summer. Miss not going out for a walk with the .17 on a nice day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddog546 Posted December 29, 2013 Report Share Posted December 29, 2013 smig4373 I also cover most of Cornwall and they are a bit patchy in places,but some are heavin and abit of mixy still about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin lad Posted December 30, 2013 Report Share Posted December 30, 2013 Does one mean down the necks of our eastern European cousins by chance . oh hush we can't say things like that hehe you know what i mean then colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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