Attracting rabbits

Varminting and vertebrate pest control. Small game, hunting feral goats, foxes, dogs, cats, rabbits etc.

Attracting rabbits

Post by Roo farmer » 04 Apr 2020, 5:07 pm

When trapping rabbits, it's easy to put a trap at the entrance to the burrow and it's there waiting for them to come in and out.

But what about when they don't live in burrows?

I have rabbits living in lignum bushes, and they don't have any actual burrows. I know vague areas where they are living, but it's difficult to tell which bush they are actually frequenting.

Does anyone have any sure fire lures to attract them to a trap set nearby?
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by Blr243 » 04 Apr 2020, 5:37 pm

Only caught rabbits with ferrets. Never trapped rabbits but may I suggest something /anything that smell foreign to them that they would never usually encounter , to arouse their curiosity
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by marksman » 04 Apr 2020, 5:41 pm

you should be able to see there runs along the lignum (where they come in and out) set them there
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by TassieTiger » 04 Apr 2020, 6:41 pm

Lettuce and rabbit / cat traps worked for my ole granddad.
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by Blr243 » 04 Apr 2020, 6:47 pm

Whenever I start walking thru lignum I’m so busy thinking about 700 kilo boars rushing out so I’m not thinking about rabbits
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by Stix » 04 Apr 2020, 7:48 pm

Yep...assuming you have easy access to the lignum, marksman is right...trap where they run just like you do your dogs n foxes...

My old man is an old school bunny trapper & he always traps in runs under fences etc. with great success.
Only prob with lignum is there are so many options for them to go a diff direction so you get a little more hit n miss than on a warren.

You wont attract them unless they're not under any environmental pressures, or severe drought in plague & desperate for a green leaf...

If times were different id be love to come sit in wait & shoot em from a far.
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by bigpete » 04 Apr 2020, 8:19 pm

Find where they s**t.
Or scrape a run of fresh earth and set it in there. They like to run up and down freshly disturbed earth
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by Blr243 » 04 Apr 2020, 8:31 pm

Being upright tall two legged animals ourselves we don’t give any or much thought to the way another animal sees certain vegetation , but if you are a rabbit or wallaby or anything max three feet high and running around on four legs lignum must be the bees knees of cover and accomodation and shade on a hot day , generally sticking to the tunnels but burying right into the real thick of it when any sort of danger presents , or if your a pig getting threatened by dogs backing into it to protect your rear end And being mostly a watercourse vegetation ( close to the drinking and wallowing )
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by womble » 05 Apr 2020, 1:23 am

Don’t know if it’s legal here, but terriers were invented for this s**t.
Just as a caution I’d not use dogs that fit down holes, because warrens run deep and dogs get lost.
And I’d want at least three dogs to work as a team, which they quickly learn to do.
I have no idea if there’s working/hunting lines of terriers in WA, but would be surprised if not.

As for a lure, i guess you could try a carrot and a fishing rod mounted on a shotgun. J/k
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by Ziege » 05 Apr 2020, 2:57 pm

Rabbits are absolute suckers for Nasturtium flowers, if you can get any of these fresh they will more than attract nearby bun rabs
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by animalpest » 13 Apr 2020, 3:55 pm

Setting traps on rabbit runs is a great way to trap rabbits.
Also set your traps on their dung hills (buck heaps). I will guarantee you will catch rabbits there.
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Re: Attracting rabbits

Post by John » 13 Apr 2020, 4:45 pm

Very rarely set traps at burrow entry’s look for there feeding grounds at set traps where you find there dun piles they or ways go to the same spot to crap for some reason
If you set burrows you will only get one the rest wont come out of the burrow set there feeding grounds where they crap and you will catch many more rabbits I grow up with a professional trapper and got dragged all over the hills setting hundreds of them

In more recent times I’m finding rabbits aren’t burrowing any more and tend to be living above ground in timber piles black berry bushes any where there’s cover all the old burrows Around here have had no sign of activity in a few years but still good numbers of rabbits around I can’t work it out maybe some one here knows I’d like to hear them out of curiosity me and my friends haven’t came up with a answer or reason????
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