Lot of rabbits????

[Field King]

Me and an old fart known as sonofasailor on Ingo were ridin backroads yesterday and both agreed we have seen a lot of rabbits this spring, more so than I can ever remember. I have seen them in the city, streets, farms, woodlots and many places that I have not seen them for years if ever. We have seen them in the deer woods where we have not seen them in years. Looks like a big baby boom of cottontails! Any one else notice? For years I have heard "darn coyotes gettin em all" but even with all the yotes we have many rabbits?

 

[hooky]

I worked some ground this spring for the old man and my brother. Rabbits and more rabbits everywhere. I'm looking forward to busting some this fall and winter.

 

[Expat]

They are definitely up here in my yard.

 

[sonovasailor]

SHHHH, I can't wait to hunt wabbits!

 

[Jason R. Bruce]

I think raptor populations are the biggest factor in our ebb & flow of rabbit populations. Big swings in coyote populations seem to follow raptor populations inversely, meaning more raptors / less coyotes (because there are less small game to sustain high predator numbers through the winter & pup gestation/rearing). The coyotes don't starve to death, they simply compensate with smaller litter size or open up wider territories which reduces the population of coyotes per-square-mile until a sustainable food source returns.

Raptors are far more succesful and efficient killers than coyotes, and their populations can be incredibly overpowering on pockets of land (2-4 sq miles). On my coyote hunting trips I often count hawks & owls, which I see more than most due to the use of predator calls and extensive wintertime travel/hunting. I once eyeballed 29 red tails in a day of calling a county in SW Indiana. It's not uncommon to see 10-20 owls on night hunts, depending on the region. I often see 3-5 house cats per day as well, sometimes much more. All of these critters play a huge role in rabbit population.

Whitetail fawns are easier to catch and fairly abundant this time of year so coyotes are probably focusing on them right now. They also have a variety of easy frogs, grasshoppers and vegetation to hold them over. The rabbit numbers in every corner of the state will begin to drop hard again after the first frost, that's when furbearing predators focus on them again. Day in, day out, mice & voles are the most common meal of a coyote/fox/bobcat in Indiana.

 

[traderdan]

First of all let me say that I hope you old farts can make it to Martinsville Saturday morning...Then let me say that I hope the tightening economy encourages folks to stop mowing all the extra acreage that they do not really use! Driving through the southern counties,it is unbelievable to me,all of the homes that have massive yards instead of fields where wildlife can find some cover...

 

[rgrimm01]

In the morning and evening we are usually worked by 2-4 rabbits. We enjoy them and plan on planting a flower bed of clover for them.

I suspect that will make the owls happy. We can hear 1-3 of them on any given night.

 

[Jason R. Bruce]

traderdan, you bring up a good point. I have a 250 acre farm behind me, 125 acres in front of me. Two years ago the farmers out back dozed off the cedar & sage from 35 acres to increase their row-crop ground. I thought they were crazy for spending that much on escavators, it really screwed up a couple of my coon trails that I've been hammering with traps for years. Now this spring they came in and cleared off the remaining 25 acres AND took out a 1/4 mile worth of fencerow. I just shook my head and wondered how long the $8/bushel corn would sustain such effort to plant poor/floodable ground. I heard on NPR the other day that due to the record plantings and favorable growing conditions, corn is predicted to break under $4 by the first of the year. We'll see if that slows down the "progress" around here.

I'm all for capitalism but I hate to see these southern Indiana guys stretching their necks out (on government grants) to compete with the big boys out West. One of my friends from the western Agribusiness industry came in for a visit a few years ago and laughed at a combine coming down the highway, he said "He must be looking for a field big enough to turn around in!"

 

[weedsnager]

They are eating the flowers in my yard for sure !!

 

[K_W]

I've seen an unusual amount of roadkill rabbits in Carmel.

 

[sloughfoot]

I have seen lots 'o bunnies. Even getting complaints from the ladies in our suburban HOA.

 

[CountryBoy19]

traderdan, you bring up a good point. I have a 250 acre farm behind me, 125 acres in front of me. Two years ago the farmers out back dozed off the cedar & sage from 35 acres to increase their row-crop ground. I thought they were crazy for spending that much on escavators, it really screwed up a couple of my coon trails that I've been hammering with traps for years. Now this spring they came in and cleared off the remaining 25 acres AND took out a 1/4 mile worth of fencerow. I just shook my head and wondered how long the $8/bushel corn would sustain such effort to plant poor/floodable ground. I heard on NPR the other day that due to the record plantings and favorable growing conditions, corn is predicted to break under $4 by the first of the year. We'll see if that slows down the "progress" around here.

It may not make much sense to you but it's quite likely to still be profitable... either way, it's their land isn't it?

I'm all for capitalism but I hate to see these southern Indiana guys stretching their necks out (on government grants) to compete with the big boys out West. One of my friends from the western Agribusiness industry came in for a visit a few years ago and laughed at a combine coming down the highway, he said "He must be looking for a field big enough to turn around in!"

"on government grants" care to explain what grants they're using? The only common funds similar to "grants" I know farmers get would be for CRP, filter-strip etc which pays farmers NOT to plant crops on otherwise tillable land. If they're getting grants to clear land and grow more crops I'd like to know about it...

Also, I take offense to your comment "to compete with the big boys out west". That implies that Indiana farmers are small-timers... while the average farm-size may be smaller in Indiana, we're still the #4 soybean producing state, #5 corn producing state, & #5 Tomatoe producing state... I think thats a lot more than "small-time". To add to that, those numbers are figured on total harvest and don't factor state-size into the equation. Corrected for amount of tillable land per state Nebraska "Corn Huskers" and Minnesota (numbers 3 & 4, respectively) choke out and fall completely out of the top 5 and Indiana moves up to the 3rd largest producer of corn in the US, just slightly behind Iowa. Corrected for tillable land Indiana moves up to the #2 soybean producing state in the nation and nearly ties for #1 with IL (IL tops the list of both crops when corrected for tillable land area). So the "big boys out west comment" is rather comical. They may be the big boys when it comes to wheat production but the only reason they could even be considered "big boys" is because #1 a lot of the western farms are larger, more commercialize operations and #2 they have a larger state which skews the facts to make the average on-looker believe they produce "more profitable" or "higher yield" crops out west, which simply isn't the case.

Either way, in tough economic times, can you really fault a person for trying to keep the money coming in by planting more land? If the move to clear out and plant more land is as ridiculous as you claim it is then certainly they will allow it to grow back up in a few years and you'll be back to good hunting/trapping land in no-time...

/rant

P.S. Tell your buddy to visit northern IN next time he comes, he will see that IN varies in geography much more than he thinks. Northern IN is rather similar to the western states but southern IN has some real beauty in it's rolling hills and other geographic features that the "big boy states" can only dream about having...

 

[MCgrease08]

And here I haven't seen a rabbit all year except for a few stuffed bunnies at Easter. I guess I'm not getting out enough.

 

[longbarrel]

Rabbits are plentiful this year. It seems like mostly in urban areas to me. Lots of gardens are being ravaged by them, but I have yet to see a lot in the woods.

 

[dshaf]

I will loan u a lawnmower and the passel of rabbits inhabiting my mowed lawn

 

[trailrider]

I have definitely noticed a large increase in the rabbit population at my place this year. I've heard they peak in cycles. Don't know that to be fact though.

 

[Jason R. Bruce]

It may not make much sense to you but it's quite likely to still be profitable... either way, it's their land isn't it?



"on government grants" care to explain what grants they're using? The only common funds similar to "grants" I know farmers get would be for CRP, filter-strip etc which pays farmers NOT to plant crops on otherwise tillable land. If they're getting grants to clear land and grow more crops I'd like to know about it...

Also, I take offense to your comment "to compete with the big boys out west". That implies that Indiana farmers are small-timers... while the average farm-size may be smaller in Indiana, we're still the #4 soybean producing state, #5 corn producing state, & #5 Tomatoe producing state... I think thats a lot more than "small-time". To add to that, those numbers are figured on total harvest and don't factor state-size into the equation. Corrected for amount of tillable land per state Nebraska "Corn Huskers" and Minnesota (numbers 3 & 4, respectively) choke out and fall completely out of the top 5 and Indiana moves up to the 3rd largest producer of corn in the US, just slightly behind Iowa. Corrected for tillable land Indiana moves up to the #2 soybean producing state in the nation and nearly ties for #1 with IL (IL tops the list of both crops when corrected for tillable land area). So the "big boys out west comment" is rather comical. They may be the big boys when it comes to wheat production but the only reason they could even be considered "big boys" is because #1 a lot of the western farms are larger, more commercialize operations and #2 they have a larger state which skews the facts to make the average on-looker believe they produce "more profitable" or "higher yield" crops out west, which simply isn't the case.

Either way, in tough economic times, can you really fault a person for trying to keep the money coming in by planting more land? If the move to clear out and plant more land is as ridiculous as you claim it is then certainly they will allow it to grow back up in a few years and you'll be back to good hunting/trapping land in no-time...

/rant

P.S. Tell your buddy to visit northern IN next time he comes, he will see that IN varies in geography much more than he thinks. Northern IN is rather similar to the western states but southern IN has some real beauty in it's rolling hills and other geographic features that the "big boy states" can only dream about having...

I must’ve done a poor job communicating in my prior post; my train-of-thought was more on rabbits & habitat than national agriculture yields.

I cover the vast majority of this state each year. I was in over 30 states last year for work, hunted KS/NE/WY/CO/TX//KY/OK/NM/IL/AZ/MT in the past five years. I have access to about 90,000 acres of private ground across 55 counties in Indiana, most of my family and hunting partners are running livestock and/or rowcrops, so I know $hithole crop ground when I see it! In fact, I’ve trained my eye to look for it because it likely holds the coyote or bobcat I came there for.

When I spoke of the old rabbit patch in my back yard and its specific topography and potential for yield, I wasn't eluding to nationwide statistics or cornfields in Kokomo. Hell your Bedford area has FAR better ag-ground than my county; I'm through there twice a week during the winter dragging coyotes out of those big rolling fields and river bottoms. Trapping coon too, when the Amish genocide on coon allows a few to slip by.

Over the past two weeks, 20% of the "NEW GROUND" out back has flooded, a fair percentage more was knocked down by gale force winds. In many areas the large rocks in the field are once again shining in the sun because the corn is so stunted or laid over. There's a reason that particular swath has been in CRP programs since the cattle came off that farm decades ago. SOME guys around here are sticking their neck out to open up patches of trash ground and there’s a good chance they’ll regret it if/when corn comes back down. No skin off my teeth, my coyotes will still be around.

So, just so we're clear, I made a comment about a few acres behind my house and shared a joke from a friend about the 85% wooded regions of Hoosier National Forest, and you opened up a dialogue about national agriculture. Not my cup of tea. I hunt on some of the largest privately owned farms in this state, and some of the largest agri-business corporations in this country, I'm not cuttin' on sodbusters.


PS: And yes, a few pieces of ground here are in CRP and being farmed simultaneously.

 

[IndyDave1776]

I couldn't resist! Here you are! A bunch of rabbits!

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

I came upon five baby rabbits huddled together in my front lawn a few weeks ago. The mother was about twenty feet away perched on her hind feet eyeballing me.

I've never seen that many in one place before. I thought it was due to the lack of mowing the grass closest to the creek and letting the critters run wild.

 

[Jason R. Bruce]

I came upon five baby rabbits huddled together in my front lawn a few weeks ago. The mother was about twenty feet away perched on her hind feet eyeballing me.

I've never seen that many in one place before. I thought it was due to the lack of mowing the grass closest to the creek and letting the critters run wild.

Good thing you saw them when you did or you'd end up with rabbits like mine.