Damn rabbits!

I keep my pellet gun at the ready, but now I never see him. He’s coming at night I guess.

Rabbits can be very active at night.

So are coyotes. :slight_smile:

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It’s just about too much nitrogen. Too much isn’t a death sentence even if it causes excess growth but that’s my concern. I’ve over fertilized apple trees in the past on soil that held nitrogen very well. I had to resort to letting the Bermuda grow close to the trees to slow them back down.

Glad to hear it!

Cats seem to find a preferred prey - the rabbit hunter, alas, gave up the ghost about 10 years ago. His replacement, a smaller cat, went in for chipmunks and voles - not to be despised, but the coyote got him a couple of years ago.

Our oldest was a crackerjack mouser, but she’s been retired for a while, and the only active cat now just isn’t up to the job.

What I’d give for a squirrel cat!

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Very active… but once in a while i’ll see one run through the yard during the day. I 'd say in summer i see them out during the day more…but maybe its because of the longer days… Mine have done a lot of damage, but i haven’t lost anything that will make me cry.

The best thing to do is just to feed them. Buy big bags of rabbit food at the farm store. Fresh apples…maybe get one of those heated water baths and put it on the ground so they can take a bath and get a drink of water. Maybe put some old Christmas trees down so they have somewhere to hide… :wink:

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Your Brittany was happier! Nice gun.

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Don’t eat rabbits in months that don’t end in ‘r’. Liver flukes.

When I see them in the daytime, likely they’ve just been flushed from hiding

I flush them out myself quite often - from under evergreens is common, especially in winter

I hope to make them feel insecure, but it doesn’t work much

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I just placed two traps out yesterday. No luck yet. Rabbits have chiseled some of my 1-2 year old blueberry bushes down to 2-3 inches. Ugh!!!

I certainly feel everyone’s pain here dealing with rabbits and all.

When I first started growing berries I had rabbit problems so what I do now is put chicken wire all the way around the bottoms of all my individual plantings then install bird netting on the tops. I also sit out in my doghouse camo tent blind with a cigar and a vodka and oj and take them out when I can.

A good trail camera will give you the exact times that they are visiting. It’s actually pretty easy but never ending.

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The blind sounds awesome, lol, except for the cigar, I can’t do them since I quit smoking.

You see the nice buds on it from this morning

and the damn rabbit didn’t even eat it. He just bit it off. Have two traps going now. Hopefully fresh cut apples will sucker him into the trap.

Well the last snow storm I tracked the rabbit back to its hole. And followed its most used trail following its footprints. Luckily it went under a fallen tree and I hooked up some snares that finally worked. They are here to stay so I’ll have to protect my gardens better in the future. It’s amazing the amount of chewing they do.

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Thankfully, rabbits are the one thing we don’t have a problem with here. Can’t believe the damage that some of you have to put up with!

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I’m just thankful I don’t have porcupines here because they climb the trees they chew on! See this old garden web thread it’s an eye opener http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1466552/porcupine-im-looking-for-you. The cottontail stay on the ground which is a comforting. Less than 100 miles from here they have porcupine!

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As of now all three trees seem to be holding a crop of apples. I thought by now they would of aborted the apples. I’ve never seen so many rabbits now around my area. I had three babies in my vegetable garden, obviously they wiggled through the green fencing. I haven’t gotten around to it, but I’ll have to put cloth fencing around it to keep them out. I have a motion light in my open orchard and shot one at night.

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You’ll need to shoot more!!:slight_smile:

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I’ll get my veggie and fruit surrounded, but my flowers may be the future problem.

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i put 3-4in of hardwood chips around all my trees and bushes every spring as well as my raspberries. works great and feeds the plants when it breaks down.

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