rabbits

[andrew_shooter53]

just wondering guys, have you seen vast numbers of rabbits disappearing in your areas as i have in s wales and hereford i shoot on over 60 farms and have seen a big decline in rabbits,these are farms where 50-100 could be shot in a nights shooting now you would work hard for 6 and unlike Myxomatosis they are not bouncing back, some farms are totaly rabbit free anyone else seeing this and what area oh happy new year guys

 

[willowbank]

I look after two large vineyards which a year ago were suffering damage but lately I am seeing very few and hardly worth the legwork.

Willowbank

 

[andrew_shooter53]

I look after two large vineyards which a year ago were suffering damage but lately I am seeing very few and hardly worth the legwork.

Willowbank

hi willowbank what area are you talking about andy

 

[willowbank]

hi willowbank what area are you talking about andy

Check avatar mid kent TN26.

WB

 

[AN DU RU FOX]

used to do 5/6 perms in cheshire and a couple shap/yorkshire i dont even go now at all. waste of time all gone.

 

[pux]

I shoot on a couple of golf courses...I can stay put for hours at night and not see anything! See the odd hare that’s it.

 

[old keeper]

So bad down here for the first time in seventy years I haven't got any ferrets.

 

[FrenchieBoy]

There's barely been a rabbit to be seen in this area (In the Rossendale Valley where I used to shoot) for a couple of years now. I used to be able to go out at just about any time of the day and see rabbits in the fields but now alas there isn't one to be seen. I believe that it is down to this RVD where it wipes out rabbits in no time and they struggle to recover.

 

[kes]

For me - Monmouth, on our small patch, I see rabbits everyday I reckon we have maybe 50+ on 20 acres.

 

[foxhunter]

RHD is the culprit, wiping out I think over 60% of wild rabbits in the UK. I am lucky that we still have a healthy population up here, I shot 708 last year and hopeful will be the same this year.

 

[kes]

I must have shot 50-100 just on my patch - all to protect fruit trees.

 

[Broadarrow]

Butcher in OTLEY West Yorkshire selling rabbits at £5.99 each !!! I haven't seen many on my bit of land for a while..

 

[andrew_shooter53]

For me - Monmouth, on our small patch, I see rabbits everyday I reckon we have maybe 50+ on 20 acres.

most of hereford has been hit hard by it i dont think it will be long getting to monmouth andy

 

[Cottis]

The "plague" has been spreading for a few years.

On the family farm, I used to knock over a handful with either the air rifle or rimfire just by going for a non stealthy walk for an hour in the evenings in daylight. Then it got harder and less were seen, so a few were taken at night. Then that started to become sparse and I have not shot many up there for a good while now. They are still there but you would have to sit and wait for an hour to see the odd one. I just leave them to it now unless I want to eat one. They certainly are not currently a nuisance.

Have also seen similar tales on other patches and those where friends shoot.

The only exception is the golf course I shoot where they seem either immune to it or RHD has for some reason given it a wide. No idea why as the surrounding locality has been hammered by it. Most areas feel it and then odd patches seem immune which is random.

 

[Drum123]

Wensleydale is still heaving with the bloody things.Cant begin to make a dent in the numbers.

 

[Grannysmith]

Sadly My area of somerset is devoid of bunnies

 

[SimpleSimon]

I've just started to see a few more around here and I'm hoping it may be the beginning of a small recovery. I have some pest control permission with a couple of other people on a farm not far away which seemed, like Cottis said, to have missed it somehow and sustained a healthy population. I bought a HMR a few years ago and I haven't taken a single rabbit with it, I often think I'd love to get some ferrets but for the fact there's nowhere to work them!

 

[Ade8mm]

Yes indeed. They are still around but numbers have plummeted over the last year or so. (Worcs and Warwickshire) Still seeing new buries here and there but a paucity of visible bunnies.
So much so that I have asked a young lad I have given permission to shoot over some of my own land to not shoot bunnies for the forseeable. (He is fully on board and now he has recently been granted a .243 is keen to get onto the munties with me.)
No obvious sign as to why, mixy or heamorrhagic disease etc.
Most odd.

 

[Ade8mm]

Yes indeed. They are still around but numbers have plummeted over the last year or so. (Worcs and Warwickshire) Still seeing new buries here and there but a paucity of visible bunnies.
So much so that I have asked a young lad I have given permission to shoot over some of my own land to not shoot bunnies for the forseeable. (He is fully on board and now he has recently been granted a .243 is keen to get onto the munties with me.)
No obvious sign as to why, mixy or heamorrhagic disease etc.
Most odd.

 

[Craigsaun]

We used to have a good number of rabbits on our farm and our neighbouring farms up until 3 years ago . The rimy was quite busy , now it's used for paper , very said sa15 area