Rabbit tracks

[jungleboy]

I have seen rabbit tracks where I hunt literally everywhere in the bush along the edges yet I haven't seen a single rabbit this year or last year for that matter seems odd.

[Sooner]

Originally Posted by jungleboy

I have seen rabbit tracks where I hunt literally everywhere in the bush along the edges yet I haven't seen a single rabbit this year or last year for that matter seems odd.

I'm hunting some private land that's all bush for moose, the rabbit trails are everywhere and I haven't seen one yet either. You would think you would see some scurrying off while just sneaking along doing a slow walk. They must be back off the trails further into the tangle of willows.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by jungleboy

I have seen rabbit tracks where I hunt literally everywhere in the bush along the edges yet I haven't seen a single rabbit this year or last year for that matter seems odd.

If there is human activity in the area they have most likely gone completely nocturnal.

I was up in the territories this summer, a couple of times.
At times I was seeing twenty to thirty bunnies per mile driven.

Here, I haven't seen one in years, but I see tracks pretty much every day.

[Speckle55]

Seeing lots of tracks too

seeing lots of rabbits (Hare)

getting lots of rabbits (last time out saw 11 got 4 mentee)

you are seeing the rabbit tracks in transition areas(feeding & traveling)

you need too find bedding areas(thick bush) resting areas

we are getting most of ours in bedding areas

the areas with the most poop is where you want too be

we have got 36 so far this fall (seen lol lots more )

as always the weather will be a factor (track them down fresh snow)

here is a read (https://www.realtree.com/small-game-...tontail-rabbit)

David

[Red Bullets]

If you are seeing lots of rabbit tracks look for the brushiest ground cover close by and just sit down. Lots of times I have just sat down near and 20 or so minutes later the rabbits will start moving around. Just sitting sometimes the bush comes alive. Where I thought I might see one or two move around... half hour of sitting and I have seen several.

[philintheblank]

i see lots after i set snares out

[jungleboy]

Good info ,thanks gentlemen, I haven't necessarily been hunting rabbits but will take a closer look next time I am out . Haven't had a rabbit stew in a long time.

[Newfie Lad]

Hello. This is my first post to this forum, so I'm not quite sure of the etiquette. I'm going to visit my daughter in the Hat next week and was wondering if there are any good hare/rabbit hunting grounds in the vicinity of the city.

Thanks

[jeffreys 21234]

Lots of jack rabbits around the hat An cotton tails that’s forsure along the river bottoms

[johnbransfield]

Could be they're at the bottom of their cycle in your area. They can be a lot like ruffed grouse in that way.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by johnbransfield

Could be they're at the bottom of their cycle in your area. They can be a lot like ruffed grouse in that way.

Not if they are making lots of tracks.

From what I have read, it does seem as though you are correct about present day cycles being a lot like Grouse cycles.

I remember rabbits cycles from the 1960s and 70s. Not many people today would believe how plentiful they could get or how completely they would disappear in a die off.

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

Not if they are making lots of tracks.

From what I have read, it does seem as though you are correct about present day cycles being a lot like Grouse cycles.

I remember rabbits cycles from the 1960s and 70s. Not many people today would believe how plentiful they could get or how completely they would disappear in a die off.

Yup. Last big and I mean big cycle around manning area was early 80’s. I remember driving down the sunny valley hill down to the flat. Seen no less than 50 on the way down.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Yup. Last big and I mean big cycle around manning area was early 80’s. I remember driving down the sunny valley hill down to the flat. Seen no less than 50 on the way down.

I was working Seismic back then. I remember driving home for Christmas that winter and seeing a dead rabbit every hundred yards or so on hwy 35 north of Manning. And every now and then we'd come across one or more live bunnies eating on the road killed ones.

We were working east of Codotte. By February we were finding dead bunnies all along our lines. The jug crew loaded a bunch on a pickup and tossed them in a pile just outside of camp. I have no idea way, but they did it and we got in a lot of hot water over that. That pile must have been at least eight feet tall.

Some news crew found out about it and splashed photos of that pile all over the province with headlines about Seismic workers killing all the rabbits.

It was total BS but we couldn't prove they were already dead when our guys found them so we had to endure a storm of protest from the local sustenance hunters.

[OpenSights]

Is there a particular time that best for rabbits??

Day break, afternoon or does it matter?

I have the same issue lots of sign but no sightings...

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by OpenSights

Is there a particular time that best for rabbits??

Day break, afternoon or does it matter?

I have the same issue lots of sign but no sightings...

First and last light of the day are best.

Depending on how much predation they are facing, they may not move until well after dark or you might see them out and about well into daylight hours.

The smaller the species the more nocturnal it is likely to be. I've seen Jackrabbits in Edmonton in the middle of the day but I've only seen one Cottontail during daylight hours in my whole life.

Up here, the more predators there are, the less Snowshoe Hare I see.
When there are a lot of big Owls and lots of Coyote, I only see Snowshoes well after dark.
Where there are few Coyote Fox and Owls I see them out in the open well into daylight hours.

I used to hunt and snare them a lot when I was young. I'd find them in the heaviest tangles mid day only when they were white and the ground free of snow. Otherwise I'd see them just at dusk, or dead in one of my snares.

Even when they were so plentiful that they were eating the seats in the old outhouse, I still wasn't seeing them during daylight hours.
But go out to the barn after dark and it was like flies on a dead carcass.