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Rabbit numbers in your area?


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It depends on your view I guess, I have plenty enough to shoot, but I'm getting bags of about five every trip. (about two hour visits, twice a week) Others might expect much bigger numbers.

 

The evidence is there in every field though, holes and scrapes everywhere, damage to crops very obvious.

Edited by Major Sharpe
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26 minutes ago, Major Sharpe said:

It depends on your view I guess, I have plenty enough to shoot, but I'm getting bags of about five every trip. (about two hour visits, twice a week) Others might expect much bigger numbers.

 

The evidence is there in every field though, holes and scrapes everywhere, damage to crops very obvious.

I’d be happy to even see signs of them right now! A large bank once littered with warrens and rabbit activity over 600 yards is devoid of any sign, it’s been a total collapse of rabbit populations that I am seeing!

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There are virtually none here in my part of mid Norfolk, has been the same for about 5 years. They did show signs of rallying last year with increased digging activity but that ended in the autumn. A bit further afield, during the season out beating I saw the odd one or two pushed out of cover but no where near what you used to see.

On one of my permissions on the border with Suffolk, he reckons he's never seen so many and is out lamping them himself most nights. I might go ferreting there next weekend.

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10+ years ago some of the farms I shoot on used to have big numbers, you could go out midday and work the hedgerows with the dog and come back with half a dozen or more if you wished, on a couple of the farms if you took the rifle you could fill the back of the motor with rabbits, about 10+ years ago we had a really bad outbreak of mixy that swept through the area, it virtually wiped them out, they stared to recover about 5-6 years ago but about 3 years ago they seemed to disappear overnight, there were no signs of mixy rabbits above ground so I can only assume it’s the dreaded RHD.

Will be interesting to see if I can see a few young rabbits running around the hedgerows come May/June.

 

Cut and pasted from a veterinary website.

Viral Haemorrhagic Disease (VHD)  has evolved to survive outside of a host for over 200 days and can survive cold temperatures. The virus can live on pretty much any surface at all, this includes shoes, clothes, dogs, cats, hay, the feet of wild rodents and birds, grass, dandelion leaves etc. 

Viral haemorrhagic disease is caused by a virus, the incubation period is up to three days, although some may die suddenly without any clinical signs.

Symptoms can include anorexia, fever, loss of interest and lethargy.

There may be a mucoid foaming at the mouth or a bloody nasal discharge, difficulty breathing, convulsions and finally coma, very few rabbits survive this acute phase but die a few weeks later of liver disease and jaundice.

VHD has two strains, RHD1 and RHD2.

RHD1 has long been established in the UK, kills quickly and has a 100 per cent mortality rate, whereas RHD2 is an emerging strain that kills slowly, has a mortality rate between 20 and 50 per cent and also kills baby rabbits. Over the past year there has been an increased number of RHD2 outbreaks in the UK.

RHD2- The virus appears to have mutated into a strain which kills the host more slowly. This means that the virus is present in a single rabbit for a longer period of time increasing the rate of infection between animals. 

While RHD2 does appear to a have a lower mortality rate than RHD1 it is no less dangerous and needs to be vaccinated against.  Many vets are still not aware of this new strain of RHD2. 

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East Yorkshire very few, they are still there but in much lower numbers than even five or six years ago. There are some hot spots but they can be there one year and all gone the next. 

 

Hares are doing well,  but a lot are rifled to keep the dog men away, mainly due to their habit of driving 4x4's all over arable fields and their general disregard for the law.

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