We have so many rabbits in the spring and not one to be found by October 1 opener.
....kinda the definition of a "Prey" animal.
Growing up as a kid in the 50s, 60s and 70s in rural Wisconsin, hunting rabbits was the mainstay of weekend entertainment after the gun deer season. There were plenty of them, mainly because we had eliminated the majority of their predators besides us, by hunting or by accident. Every hawk was considered a "chicken hawk" and was shot on sight. Same could be said for owls, even if they were supposed to be protected. Coyotes had not yet become common and fox were heavily hunted with dogs and by trappers. Seeing one of them was considered "rare". The bounty on wolves was lifted, because there were no more. Seeing a eagle was limited to the far North, and even then considered a real treat to see one. While poaching has something to do with it, as we learned later, the main culprit was DDT. Add to that, farming practices were different. Folks didn't farm right up to the fence, there were brushy fencelines and ditches that harbored not only rabbits, but pheasants and quail. Most farmers(only folks that owned rural land back then) burned wood and had multiple brushpiles. Cleared land had huge brushpiles at the end of the new field. Habitat was abundant and predators(besides us kids) were non-existent.
I wished that I lived close to you , with a few hunters and my dogs we could take care of some of your rabbits .
Sorry, but your trip would be short and probably not worth it. There are multiple reasons for this. Used to be, hunting land was owned by farmers who did not have the time to hunt, or only hunted deer during the nine day deer season. Back the the main way to hunt deer was to drive them, so spooking deer before the season was not a "thing". Rabbit hunters were appreciated and welcomed. Nowadays, those 200 acre farms have been split up into multiple 40 and 80s and folks have them for the sole purpose of deer hunting. Since deer hunting here now runs from the beginning of September till mid-late January, very few, if any(me included) are going to let multiple hunters with multiple dogs push the deer they have worked hard to keep on their property, to be driven over to the neighbors. Foxes don't do that. Rabbits, like deer and other wildlife that one time avoided humans and their habitation, have come to grips with living in town and next to developed housing. Not only is it safer there that the woods, many times the food is more abundant. Birds feeders and ornamental vegetation is high on their food list. So while there is a lot of rabbits in toen, not a lot of hunting goes on there. Probably why it is pretty common in my sub-division to see foxes and coyotes, along with hawks in our backyards.......and thank the Lord they are there.
