After the snow is gone, rabbit damages appear allover the yard. Branches under 3’ are all gone. Apple tree trunk is stripped. Pears new branches are gone and trunk stripped…rabbits standing on 3’ tall snow pile can do quite damage.
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Wow 
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Sorry to see this, Annie. Reminded me of similar damage of my trees by bunnies a few years ago when we had over 2 feet of snow on the ground for days. It enabled bunnies to reach higher up areas where I did not think to protect my trees that high.
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Walking the plants today; and our plants got rabbitted. Including the Apples. Put fresh batteries in the mag light. And .22 shorts out for the rabbit gun.
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We can’t shot wild animals in suburb.I bought a slingshot, but I am not sure I can hit one. There’s laser guided version, does anyone have experience on it? I would like to have some feedbacks to determine if it’s worthwhile to buy one
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I’d check if the slingshot or shooting rabbits with it is legal too.
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I would eat their flesh and livers, keto fried with a nice chianti !!!
That is awefull.
We have rabbits here but it is rare for them to do any damage to fruit trees (not once since 2001 at my location).
But we dont get snow like that… the deep accumulation of snow that remains for months… must be what turns them into ravenous eat tree wood monsters.
Good luck with recovering from that.
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It is legal to trap them?
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Here you apply for a nuisance wildlife permit. It is easy to get.
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Surly you can use wire cage type box traps to control pest in your garden.
Carrots and apples, celery slices will get them in.
A good air rifle/pellet gun for a more direct approach.
The last half hour of daylight… or first 30 minutes of daylight… good times to hide (in a blind) and wait for them.
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I recommend the heat seeking version! You guys need more fisher cats. cottontails have been basically extirpated from upland areas here since they were reintroduced. friends in the valley grumble about them. We have seen some snowshoe hare but they dont mess with trees.
it looks like your trees may not be eaten down to wood, theres still cambium there. Ive had that happen from voles, including the last two winters with container trees in my basement. I still can’t figure out if they were hiding in pots when I brought them in or if they have tunneled under the foundation and found an entry point. They ate the entire root ball of a nice M26 graft of ‘Bastian Crab’ from last year. I repotted, and In guessing itll throw down new roots. Last year, it was mulberries. This year almost every apple munched…
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Actually, can’t. There are federal laws, also village/township regulations. Years ago, before the rabbits problem, I had raccoons run around in the neighborhood looking for
garbage. Of course, my fruits on the trees are their supplement food. I put wired cage in the yard to trap raccoons. one trap in the side yard was saw by someone and I got a ordinances violation ticket from the village.
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i hate nosey neighbors! can you disguise the trap or put it in a secluded place?
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What bait works for rabbits? I’ve had very spotty luck trapping them.
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I have caught them using celery scraps and carrots in my garden.
Saw a guy on youtube this morning using apple slices… he caught 2.
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I had same thing happened last year. My newly grafted potted apple trees were filled down, only left few inches of rootstock. I am planning to regraft the rootstock this coming spring. But some apple rootstocks are bark stripped too.
Ever since my cat passed away, I started having rabbits problem. Someone may suggest me having another cat. Be honest, we are not allowed to have outdoor cats neither per village ordinance. My previous cat was found in a woods so we let him kept outdoor habit, let him in and out house freely. Strictly speaking, the village can fine me for not keeping the pet indoor.
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Snares are silent and work well on rabbits and lots of other critters…
Work very well if you can find where they are entering or leaving your yard, or any trails, or paths (rabbit runs).
From a distance pretty much impossible to spot.
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Im going to take a little scion off of each just in case, but Im fairly sure the trees are fine. It looks ugly, but they preferentially eat the outer bark, leaving the cambium. I know this from experience as a few trees have been seemingly badly girdled but continued growing without a hitch.
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I’ve had nearly half my trees killed one year when I was away from home and did not protect my trees. Rabbits will absolutely girdle and kill an entire young tree given the opportunity.
Nowadays I protect my trees better but still see lots of damage.
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This is interesting and looks workable. Next time I am in menards, I will get some cable and try. Thanks