The bunnies are at the top of the cycle this year in my part of the world (southwest Wyoming). I have even seen them living in an eagle nest, I wish I would have had a camera a nice c.t. sitting in the sun outside his hole in the lower level of the nest with the eaglets inside waiting for mom to bring back supper. I'm sure that in the next year or so we will see the decline in #'s but for now we are eyeball deep in rabbits. Rich
yeah mostly by the autopsies. I know that a few years ago the Fish and Game wanted all the rabbit carcases from hunters so they could research the rabbits from different areas of the state. They are doing it with deer now. As with the cycle i think we just had the big drop last year as it is now towards the end of summer and i have yet to see ANY rabbits around my area at all. As opposed to last fall when there would 10-15 on the edges of my back yard eating the grass and getting into my garden, in the mornings. It was pretty easy to get rid of them though. I used those fake owls that you set on fence posts, and move them around every day. As long as i had those out i would only see the young rabbits and only 1-2 at that... Oh, by the way i have a good i dea for trapping rabbits if you have a yard like mine where rabbits like to gather. Here goes... (remember it is just an idea...dont know if it will work though, sounds like it would) but anyway if you have a fenced in yard you could put chicken wire around the bottom all the way around and put one way gates on it in a few places so eventually they find the gates and get in but cant get out, well now you have them in your yard. Now you can do what you want with them. use your own method of "procuring" them. Like i said earlier may work may not so. I am going to try it this fall and see what happens.
I don't know if anyone is still having this problem with furring bunny butts, but something that might work is to use rabbit heads as tirings. Especially when stepping the bird off the kill. Obviously as fresh as you can get, previous kill, thawed out, or from someone elses kill earlyer in the day.
Seems if you let the bird mess with the head for a bit after a kill and then give it, its full days ration it will associate rabbit heads with a nice big meal... /shrug just an idea.
you could possibly retrain the bird on a rabbit lure but this time place the tid bit or meat closer to the neck or head of the lure. I had the same problem.
"You're a smart kid Johny, you really are, but as long as I'm around you'll only be second best." The Godfather
Post by Master Yarak on Aug 25, 2004 13:19:59 GMT -5
It has been my experience that the head shot needs little reinforcement. RTs are indiscriminate grabbers. The head is not always available first. They grab the closest part and worry about the head later. Now captive raised birds benefit from that training. Some CB Harris' will only take head shots. So it can be learned under certain conditions. Yarak
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away
Post by Master Yarak on Aug 28, 2004 12:26:33 GMT -5
Soar hawking or flying from a tallperch is advantageous. Yarak
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away
I don't do it but an apprentice I hunt with nearby soar hawks his bird.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
today was my best day for rabbits yet. we didnt make a kill though but we flushed 6 different rabbits and had 6 reflushes she missed them all but she was in really thick pines and brush, she gave her best and it was nice to see her get up 2 or 3 times in hot pursuit she chased 1 over 100 yards awesome flights even though no kills resulted.