Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game is small game hunting dying?

I've got a slim little fixed-blade Buck knife that I've owned for years.

Yep, I stumbled across that site about 3 or 4 years ago and I found it interesting and inspiring.
DAL357

Yea, but how's your prospect for rabbit hunting without beagles/dogs???

I actually do fairly well, although a dog or two would be nice. But in the area I hunt there are many cacti plants and I fear any dog(s) would spend a fair amount of time at the vet. Actually, walking through and kicking up cottontails is the only type of rabbit hunting I know.
DAL357

In western Oregon, there is still a fair amount of small game to be hunted, upland birds and waterfowl in addition to the big game species.
Varmints like nutria, coyotes and crows as well for those who like to hunt them.

We usually combine squirrel, grouse other small game hunting
( and fishing) when we are afield for elk, deer, bear or lion..

Young folks these days seem to spend more of their time playing with electronic gadgets and don't spend as much time in the field and forests as we did 50 years ago in rural America.

Shucks, many folks wouldn't know how to clean and prepare small game for the pot or skillet these days...and back when, eating squirrel, groundhog, doves, quail, grouse or waterfowl was a big part of why we hunted small game and birds.

We don't have a large cottontail pop in western Oregon apart from the farmlands in the Willamette Valley.The jackrabbits all seem to be out east of the Cascades..
Squirrel hunting is still one of my favorites tho..With bow & arrow mostly as it is quiet and can be done while still hunting elk or blacktail..Jim

I have no facts to back this statement up..........but I think fur prices may be to blame. As a kid I would never see a bobcat or coon..........a track was a big thing. Now it seems that I see cat tracks, and coyote tracks everywhere. As I said i have no facts to back it up..............but i think they may be part of the problem.

Funny this question right now - I just got called by a buddy today who is wanting to get a group together to rabbit hunt this coming Saturday morning. I am 52 now - the last time I went rabbit hunting (went with my Dad and uncle) I was 12 years old. That is a long time to go between small game hunts, but I am going - might just be my new thing! Odessa

"Young folks these days seem to spend more of their time playing with electronic gadgets and don't spend as much time in the field and forests as we did 50 years ago in rural America."

I think you hit the nail on the head there! I am 45 and when we were kids we hunted, now kids are more interested in all the modern gadgets. Here in MO only deer season is serious business w/hunters, I live on a small farm and rarely see anyone hunting small game anymore.

I still hunt for Rabbit over beagles in North Eastern Ohio and North Western Pennsylvania on weekends. We go out with three to five guys in a group. However, it has been only on rare occasions that we run into another small game hunter and if we do it is an old timer with an old dog still holding on. For Squirrel, I hunt with a guy that is in his late 70's, no one else seems to be interested.

cur dog

While it's true there seem to be very few small game hunters now, I do enjoy small game hunting and here in GA, there are MANY squirrels to be hunted and our rabbit populations rise and fall as they do everywhere else.

I learned to hunt by hunting squirrels, and, I find that leaving the deer rifle home and going after the little critters is much more relaxing.

I think the biggest thing hurting small game hunting here in Michigan is deer hunting....I have to admit that I am guilty of that as well. I grew up killing squirrel's and rabbit's. Grew up with a beagle and ran rabbit's as a boy until I started chasing deer. I still chase small game but don't own a beagle anymore, and only start chasing them when deer season ends. I think it's that way for alot of guys.

Chaser1 - I think your or right on about the feral cats. Paralleling that is the cast reduction in trappers that reduce the amount of small game, eating baby animals, birds eggs etc. My area is overrun with skunks, possums, feral cats, raccoons and especially coyotes. These things coupled with the lose of habitat and the expense of driving for hours someplace is reducing the population of small game hunters. I remember living on the edge of town in Kansas and walking 5 minutes out my back door into several hundred acres of mixed hardwood forests. That area is 100% houses and condo's now. `

Yes he is. I bet you can't wait to teach about hunting, fishing and the rule of the rifle.

Doesn't that make you sick?

I would agree that lack of time is a big factor. Around my parents (western MN farm country), you hardly ever saw deer when I was younger. Now, there are lots of deer and these are the good old days in regards to pheasant hunting in MN and the Dakotas. Turkeys have been introduced and there are both spring and fall seasons on them. There are still plenty of waterfowl hunters, and although the populations of rabbits and squirrels appear to be doing well, it's tough finding the time to hunt everything, so you have to choose your favorites.

The increase in predators has greatly decreased the populations of squirrels, rabbits and quail. Hawks are protected, where there used to be lots of small farms with chicken houses that had to shoot a hawk or owl every few years.

Every Friday night, we used to hear coon or fox hunters running dogs. No more.

And we used to keep some cattle herding dogs that would run down and kill any fox or coyote. With those big farms being turned into housing developments, the dogs are gone and the coyotes moved in. Not to mention every homeowner having cats that roam around killing birds and rabbits all day and night.

All the preceding opinions are 90% right about small game hunting. The biggest difference I see is with quail hunting. They are mighty scarce anymore.

There's still plenty of squirrels here in Ok. but the biggest prejudice I run across is so many people who don't seem to originate in this part of the country. They usually say something like. "Ugh, you really eat those things?" I always say. "Nothing better than a young fried squirrel." My brother died a few years ago. His requested last meal was some young fried squirrels and gravy. Neighbor went out and killed some and his request was granted.

I'd have to agree on the predator situation, especially since birds of prey have been protected. There was a guy in my hometown that killed and displayed hawks on his fence (back in the late 50's). Many a time he would have over a 100 strung up. Needless to say, the rabbit and squirrel hunting on his property was fantastic.

We still have a good amount of coon hunting, but the rabbit and squirrel populations in many areas have dropped to almost nothing. No one manages for small game (other than quail). Sad, very sad..

As several have mentioned, small game hunting was a 'country boy' sport. Not many farm boys left anymore.
The Squirrel population in North Florida is booming. We had a great acorn crop this year. Rabbits are in abundance, and I have had a 'field day' with quail this year.
What IS missing, is folks that have any woods skills, that know the animals, and how to hunt them.
Most of the guys I hunt with and discuss hunting with, either eschew small game entirely, or have no skills in that area.
I took one friend rabbit hunting in December. He was saying how there were no rabbits left, and that he had not been in years.
We hunted a farm north of Gainesville, and cleaned house on the bunnies. My friend was simply amazed.