I have lots of Rabbits around but they seldom do any harm as long as I keep the vegetable garden gate closed. Well we've had an exceptional amount of snow this year (for our area) so since the little bastids can't get to the ground feed they've taken to eating my shrubs.
I hadn't been out back for a few days and when I went out to haul some wood into the breezeway this is what I discovered..



Took this pic a couple of years ago....they were about a foot taller until a few days ago....



I bought those little junipers when they were about a foot high...been nursing em along for about five years now....dammit..

They've also stripped the bark off of all my rose bushes out front so I'm sure they're goners too....dammit....

rabbits? Goners......

That sucks Charlie!


I've been feeding jack rabbits around here. Leave a handful of barley cake by a gate and every morning it's gone.

Have had to put rabbit type fencing up around the flower beds and garden before because they would eat anything with any green to.

Tried killing them, but they'd come in after dark and go to work on my stuff.

This is the first time in 13yrs that I've had any significant Rabbit damage....they got me good though....seven 4' Junipers and ten fully grown producing Rose bushes....

I hate putting up Chicken wire....it looks so tacky....but I might have to...

I shoot one for eating now and then but mostly I leave em alone....that might have to change....

Set some traps.

Yeah, it looked like schidt. But I had lots of peppers and tomatoes...

Those damn rabbits would eat ANYTHING that was green. Even cactus and century plants and sage I had in the yard.

They were evil bunnies!

Charlie, seeing that makes me glad I put some wire mesh around most of the small trees I have. The snow is making every critter earn its bread this winter.

I'm gonna check my un-meshed trees tomorrow though in case the rabbits been gnawing on them.

I noticed where the cottontails around my place started eating the grain I throw out for the quail and other birds.

Look at the brightside though Charlie, you could live in some hell-hole of a city where you have to worry about some drug addict stealing your stuff.

I'll take the rabbits!

Last fall, they kept getting into my high tunnel and eating my new planted strawberries. I just knew I had it rabbit-proofed, but they still got in. They even ate the outside berry plants down to the roots. I lost count of how many I shot....at night, with a light. They damaged a lot of them to the point that the plants are probably not going to bear any berries. It's amazing how much damage a rabbit can do to such things as veggies, shrubs, and small trees.

Damn! Those little junipers are gonna affect how those rabbits taste.....

Vermouth hasenpfeffer?

You need to be more kind to your fine fury friends.

If they're hungry, you should feed them. I say a 20 grn diet of .17 HMR is in order...

Looks like a good try out that CZ 22 you just picked up.

We have to take great care of our new trees, gardens and raspberry plants, or suffer heavy losses from rabbits.

The cotton tails in my suburban yard fall regularly to my CZ 452 loaded with Aguiila super colibiri. The neighbors don't hear a thing, and are cool about it anyways.

To concentrate them for harvest after things have died out in late fall/early winter, I leave the gate open in my large garden overnight, stroll out before sunrise, shut the gate behind me, and shoot them in the "pen."

I like to add them to my annual garden canning repertoire for the pantry. They are great in winter stews. I typically shoot 4-8 of them a year, which seems to keep them in check, while maintaining a harvestable population.

A friend of mine uses a live trap and says they are an easy catch.

That sucks, FG. Don't know how rabbits don't get any bigger than they do, the way they eat.

Sounds like you may need more rabbit in your diet for a while.

I'll bet dimes to dollars that new 452 of yours will keep them in check.

BTW- haven't got mine back yet from CZ Custom Shop yet. Back next week, I hope.

While I do eat one now and again....the truth is...I'm probably soft in the head but since the damage is already done and I know they're just trying to survive I've actually started putting out some Deer corn for em.....


Barry.....I have Rabbit wire around my vegetable garden too but I'd prefer not to have it in my planters....I'd hate to loose another crop of Rose bushes though so I'll probably try and come up with something when I replant in the spring....

Lonny.....I was in town yesterday....we have a lot more snow than I saw and it ain't going anywhere with these single digit temps.....got another 2-3 inches last night to add to the glacier that's covering my property.....
The weatherman promise's it's gonna start warming but he's lied to me for so long now I'm not holding my breath....

Saw two bald eagles sitting in a tree on my way to the bank in Windsor (CO) this AM; they are usually there during daylight. They just sit in a tree right next to the road for hours looking for fish in the lake. We live on a golf course that is over-run with rabbits; I just wish those 2 (and the other breeding pairs in the area) would look up the hill and decide to enjoy hossenfeffer!

Kill them

The cotton tails in our Ct area are scarce since coyotes are here now!

The woodchucks are gone also.