WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?

[Robinson446]

Never have i gone out and not seen rabbit tracks, The last 2 weekends i havent seen a single rabbit or a rabbit track. Where I hunt i almost always see a rabbit and if i dont see a rabbit i see lots of signs. Anyone else have this happening this year?

[bkln]

Same here, haven't seen a rabbit in a while, last time it was last summer while he munching on something on the front lawn.....do you have lots of yotes and foxes in your area? That could be the explanation....I saw a few last season on some state land in Northern Dutchess, nothing really this year.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I have now idea if it is an ole' wives tail or not but I have always been told the rabbits run in 7 year cycles. It has been quite a few years since I hunted them but when I did there always seemed to be a few bad years followed byt a couple alright then a couple great and back down again. I know it is showing my age but that even was noticed before the predator expolsion of recent years.

[growalot]

were sick with them....the food plots and all the brush piles have helped to increase their #'s big time...also a decline in raptors

[the blur]

the coyotes ate them all. I have not seen 1 track with 2" of snow on the ground.

[NYDeere]

I have not seen any rabbit tracks lately either. Most years we have about 4 cotton tails in the back yard but none this year.

We have seen fox tracks in the snow in the lot behind our house. When I was a kid there were quite a few snowshoe rabbits but none now.

I think we all need to hunt the wild dogs.

[Lawdwaz]

Funny this should come up.

We have had a few rabbits hanging around our yard all year. At night, when I take my dog for a walk around the 'hood we would see all kinds of bunnies.

For the last month or so all of a sudden, ZIP. Not a bunny any where. If we can get a couple inches of snow that would let me know if I'm nuts or not.

I just mentioned it to my wife and a neighbor friend yesterday. I've seen a couple hawks cruising around but that is fairly normal.

Beats me..........................

Edited December 30, 2011 by Lawdwaz

[13BVET]

Scoured the DEP properties down here a couple times already. Can't find a rabbit at all. Went through the briars, tearing myself to pieces, hoping to kick something out. Nothing. These are spots where I usually kick at least some out. Can't find any.

[GrouseHunter]

How about grouse, have you seen any of them. Started hunting them last week so far nothing.

[Single_shot]

were sick with them....the food plots and all the brush piles have helped to increase their #'s big time...also a decline in raptors

When the wife and I were trimming trees around the cabin,she was going to burn all the limbs (Mrs.Clean anti clutter LOL)....I told here no way,pile them up for the critters.She did burn some,but we did make a few good size piles as well.I think that really helps the critters.

As far as rabbits,I have only seen 1 set of tracks at the cabin in 6K so far. Grouse,I have one over on the stone wall by the apple trees all the time.He drums alot.His mate was killed down by the gate,found her feather ball. He did have another move in over the late summer,and he has been quiet. I won't shoot him or her ever. If I had alot of them,yes...

[Lawdwaz]

How about grouse, have you seen any of them. Started hunting them last week so far nothing.

What's a grouse?

Extinct aren't they?

[Doewhacker]

How about grouse, have you seen any of them. Started hunting them last week so far nothing.

I put up 5 at our mountain in Schoharie, that was with me covering a few miles and I was deer hunting that day. So far I haven't found any with the dogs but I haven't made it back to the mountain yet, deffinitely not like it was say 15 years ago.

[GrouseHunter]

I have been hunting up by Berne, NY with my dog. I only went once so far and did not see anything. I plan on going this weekend in the same area. I just would like the dog to see some birds I dont care if I shoot them.

[Guides ForHire]

the spring rains took a high toll on the grouse chicks and first few litters of rabbits, unlike Massachusetts NY doesn't managed much land for rabbits and grouse specifially so a ton of land is simply too open for maximum rabbit and grouse numbers.

in 23 years of trapping cottontails as part of the ongoing new england cottontail survey I've never trapped so few rabbits as last year, which was the low of the 10 year cycle, this year we did better but all older rabbits, the young simply didn't live with the high rain and cold, and the August flooding took an even heavier toll on cottontail, remember they have warrens that easily cave in, and they dont pick good drainage like woodchucks and marmots do when they burrow.

when evaluating a piece of land for management of hare and rabbits we use a visual board meter 8 feet high painted in alternating one foot blocks of white and black, you set this up at 15 meters, in winter, and to measure suitable habitat (lineal visual obstruction) you simply stand there witht eh naked eye and mark down how much (%) of each block you can see clearly.

suitable hare cover is a minimum of 90% coverage, less than 40% coverage the hare will simply not use it and grouse and rabbits will use cover that thin only for small periods of summer,

to get an idea of how THICK that cover in WINTER msut be you can easily have your buddy wear hunter orange and stand 15 m away and see how much of him you can clearly see, if you can see only 10% of his entire body, its liekly good cover for establishing rabbit and hare and grouse, if you see half of him, its much too open,

Habitat is the key to all population management.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

were sick with them....the food plots and all the brush piles have helped to increase their #'s big time...also a decline in raptors

Holler any time and I am sure there are any number of folks that would be willing to rid you of those pesky critters.....simmered in italian stewed tomatoes until it falls off the bone and served over rice.....mmmmmm

[kentrodngun]

My brother & I hunted at Stewart yesterday and never saw a bunny nor a track. Since the roads were still open (until Dec 31) we drove my little Jeep to many locations and brushed out a lot of areas. Just the two of us - no dog - no results.

We lamented as we recalled hunting so many times in the 60s & 70s and never went home without something. Nowadays, we only come home with clean guns :>(

We both grew up with small game hunting as our first loves. We think we probably lived through the premier years long ago. Our sons tried small game with us but not even getting a shot after going out a few times discouraged them. Gone are the days when fathers returned home from the wars, were not afraid of guns and headed out to the woods with their sons to indoctrinate them into hunting. We will be eternally grateful to our father. I know he's hunting those bunnies in heaven. Save some for us Dad.

[ELMER J. FUDD]

Elmer strikes again! Nah, just kidding. I didn't do it this time!

[NYDeere]

I saw one grouse while deere hunting this fall in the Northern Tier, but not 1 rabbit.

[13BVET]

My brother & I hunted at Stewart yesterday and never saw a bunny nor a track. Since the roads were still open (until Dec 31) we drove my little Jeep to many locations and brushed out a lot of areas. Just the two of us - no dog - no results.

We lamented as we recalled hunting so many times in the 60s & 70s and never went home without something. Nowadays, we only come home with clean guns :>(

We both grew up with small game hunting as our first loves. We think we probably lived through the premier years long ago. Our sons tried small game with us but not even getting a shot after going out a few times discouraged them. Gone are the days when fathers returned home from the wars, were not afraid of guns and headed out to the woods with their sons to indoctrinate them into hunting. We will be eternally grateful to our father. I know he's hunting those bunnies in heaven. Save some for us Dad.

Stewart is run rampant with dogs. My experience has been that any place that has been run with dogs, you've got about a snowballs chance in hell of finding any rabbits. I've gone to Lafayetteville 2 days in a row, kicking what should be prime cover, to come up completely empty. You've got to get away from where the dogs are run. I usually find some under downfalls in wooded areas over there. Forget about the fields-the dogs have pushed those way too much.

[Robinson446]

Ive kicked up a few grouse this year. They are really spooky this year, cant get anywhere near them without them taking off. But yeah went out again and not a single track, squirrels all over though. Talked to the neighboring house next to the land i care take a few houses down from me, she didnt want me hunting her land so i said okay no problem just figured i would ask. Well i went out the next day and was hunting the land i care take, and she was outside, and i was a good 700 yards from her house on our land, shot a few squirrels, got on the 4wheeler, started heading down to the road to go back home, she flagged me over to her, so i drove over, and boy did she give me hell. Dont you think your a little close to the house i have dogs and cats around here. I was like no ma'am i was a good 700 yards up the hill on my land. I dont give a shit she says. I was like uhmmmm okay then. I was hunting MY land (i call it my land). She goes i dont give a damn your too close to my house. I just started the 4wheeler up and said have a nice day ma'am. People are really looking down on hunting now days and its reeally starting to piss me off. But i might go out this weekend and see if i cant try my luck with some bunnys. we'll see.

[Early]

Much of our local rabitat is overgrown with multiflora rose. Coyotes can't get rabbits out of those thickets; it is even hard for foxes. Fishers...all members of the weasel family....different story: They really take a toll on our local rabbit populations. I think the price for fisher is up right now....Maybe trappers will thin them out a bit.

[Doc]

HAWKS!!! They're everywhere, and they are very efficient at getting rabbits and other small game. With universal blanket protection everywhere, they literally are a growing population with absolutely no checks.

I have watched them patiently sitting up in a huge old cherry tree down in a small green-field that I own. The rabbits are naturally drawn out into that field to feed, and the hawk has easy pickins. I've got little rabbit-fur piles all around the field.

[sits in trees]

here in lower ulster we havent had bunnies or pheasants in decades. the yotes ate em all up.

[sits in trees]

yea and all this over protection of hawks and eagles, my god we have turned these birds into saints??? years ago if a farmer saw an eagle sitting in a tree he would blast it....as Teddy Roosevelt said and i quote, the bald eagle is nothing more than a danified vulture..

[ny hunter]

I hunt the border of Ulster and Sullivan county for the last 12 years and I have only seen 1 pheasant a hen.Never see a rabbit.