rabbit population

F

foxhunter1

Active member
just wondering how your jack population is? i am in eastern new mexico and there are almost none. about 5 years ago the population was out of control and nature does what it does best. hemorrhagic fever came thru and just about wiped them out. oddly enough the pigmy rabbit seems to be flourishing.
 
Over here on the West side it seems to be getting an up swing after seemingly extinction in my area. Last season coyote numbers plummeted also. I have seen a couple dead jacks on the road so it must be picking up. Where I used to see 10-20 dead coyotes on a fifty mile stretch of highway now I'm lucky to see one.
 
Rarely saw cottontails the past 3 years, I even quit using those sounds when calling. This spring I began to notice an increase in numbers, all across my hunting areas. Swamp rabbits have been virtually non-existent for several years and we have no jacks in this area of Oklahoma.
 
I see a few jack rabbits every year, but way down from twenty years ago. I'd say, unscientifically, that the population is down 90%.
The ground squirrel population plummeted about 4 years ago. It went from bazillions (scientific word for lots of) to dozens. They are still around and hopefully will bounce back. They tend to go through phases of having the plague.
Cottontails seem to be holding steady, but nothing to yell about.
All said, the numbers of coyotes that I see has dropped as well. That's partly because of food supply and partly because they came through and shotgunned them from helicopters. Instead of driving across the street I have to go an hour or two to get into better coyote numbers.
SW Idaho.
 
my understanding it started in Texas and spread across n.m Arizona , California and up the coast to Washington and then somehow skipped to New York. i'm guessing new york was thru domestic rabbits.
 
I think it hit northern NV a few years ago. The first convention there jacks were everywhere. The second one nary a jack, we even found one valley that was covered with jack skeletons to the point if you didn't look down they crunched under foot. Hardly any coyotes out in the sage flats, most were in the trees.
 
Plenty of Cottontail here in the east this year. My Grandfather used to say they run in a 7 year cycle. I don't know about Jacks
 
Our population in southern Nevada has been struggling for years. Use to see a bunch each time out. Lucky to see even one nowadays.
 
Here in SC we have cottontails and swamp/marsh rabbits. It's pretty much year by year here. This year we may have a bumper crop then next year take a hit. I haven't seen or heard of a significant decline.
 


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