Rabbit numbers on the increase?

[MR. WINCHESTER]

Over the last little while, I've been talking to a few keen hunters.

It would seem that the number of rabbits out and about ( in the upper hunter valley ) is on the increase.

Those who keep a close eye on such things, say the calicivirus is losing its effect.

Am interested to hear comments from fellow members, re: rabbit numbers ....

P.S. Just recently bought a WINCHESTER .220 Swift and wanna get 'in action'.

[happyhunter]

There's a lot of them around but nothing unusual with that. They run on a two year cycle around here and it has to do with developing temporary immunity to mixo. Every second summer I see a lot of mixo effected rabbits and numbers drop then the next year the population booms.

This year I haven't seen one that is effected by mixo and that's after shooting and trapping a hell of a lot of the buggers ,A new strain of RHD is being let loose in north central victoria very soon so it will be interesting to what effect it has on the rabbit population.

[Norton]

Those who keep a close eye on such things, say the calicivirus is losing its effect.

Same as with any virus, in any population there is a percentage that are resistant/immune to it and over time/generations more become immune and less effected, or effected with non-fatal effects.

You'd have to do your own further research on this but the basics of RHD (rabbit calicivirus) as I know it are that it effects older rabbits, and for whatever reason young and recently born rabbits are unaffected or resistant.

If the RHD is introduced to a herd of adult rabbits it's highly effective, if it's introduced during birthing season the resistance of the young that pull through it is bolstered.

The same happened for Myxomatosis. When it was released in the 50's fatality rate was something like 95%, after 40 years it was something like 40%. That's when they introduced RHD.

[Usurper]

I thought birthing season was pretty much every time it rains for a while?

As soon as the plants get a boost the rabbits get on it.

[Wobble]

I thought they pretty much went around the year too.

A litter every 2 months or something.

[bigpete]

Numbers are really low where I am

[on_one_wheel]

Numbers are low out my way to.

Sometimes people mistake rabbits getting more active as the weather warms up for the numbers increasing.

I'm seeing more activity tgan 2 months ago but the numbers ard well down on a couple of years ago.

The new Calicivirus, RHDV-K5 should have spread a bit by now.

[bladeracer]

Starting to see occasional singles the past couple weeks, hopefully they're coming back in numbers. Foxes have been destroying the native wildlife here since the rabbits went away.

[tom604]

not much on my patch and no young ones that ive seen a herd of rabbits? is that what you call it?

[p3seven]

SA has a mutant strain of the old Calisi virus that was spreading through the Hills when l was there in Autumn. The new strain will be released next year hopefully, in the part of the breeding cycle where it will be most effective

[bladeracer]

SA has a mutant strain of the old Calisi virus that was spreading through the Hills when l was there in Autumn. The new strain will be released next year hopefully, in the part of the breeding cycle where it will be most effective

Maybe worth noting wildlife sightings beforehand so you can see after the release how heavily the foxes get stuck into the natives.

[petemacsydney]

mild increase in volume

[Gwion]

Bugger all bunnies around here but have seen a few little ones recently.

[Gun-nut]

I've read multiple articles which state that numbers are increasing...hopefully the government will wake up and give us back our semi .22s to balance things out a little bit .

[happyhunter]

Starting to see lots more on the morning run so numbers are on the way up around here.

[Die Judicii]

I can't remember the % count, but the simple basic numbers always tell you when they are on the increase.
In the wild, there is a colored rabbit born per 100 or whatever the actual number may be.

So the rule of thumb is,, the more colored rabbits you see, the greater the general population.
So when the overall population is low, colored rabbits are very scarce or non existent.

Maybe some of you who thirst for knowledge can google the actual percentage numbers. I couldn't be f*cked at the moment.

[bladeracer]

I can't remember the % count, but the simple basic numbers always tell you when they are on the increase.
In the wild, there is a colored rabbit born per 100 or whatever the actual number may be.

So the rule of thumb is,, the more colored rabbits you see, the greater the general population.
So when the overall population is low, colored rabbits are very scarce or non existent.

Maybe some of you who thirst for knowledge can google the actual percentage numbers. I couldn't be f*cked at the moment.

I've shot thousands of rabbits and the only ones that weren't the standard dirty brown were some pets that had escaped into the wild.
What colour are these coloured wild rabbits?

[tom604]

ginger,black part white or full white,i have a ginger and white skin in my freezer waiting to be tanned , seen a few black ones but yet to get one

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[Gamerancher]

Yeah, I've shot thousands of rabbits too and I've seen plenty of coloured ones and a long way out in the scrub so unlikely they were "escaped" pets.

[Gwion]

Always lots of black rabbit around here and i've seen a white one a few times... same bunny, i think.

[YoungBuck]

I thought they pretty much went around the year too.

A litter every 2 months or something.

I've read that was the case too, but I only ever seem to see little bunnies during spring. My usual patch of dirt has got a couple of dozen little bunnies hopping around the warrens. They are no fun to shoot though They are just too easy to stalk up on and dont seem to have that sense of danger alertness the adults have, last weekend I had a little bunny hop out from behind the tree I was standing next to and start feeding on grass 1.5m in front of me...

[happyhunter]

I can't remember the % count, but the simple basic numbers always tell you when they are on the increase.
In the wild, there is a colored rabbit born per 100 or whatever the actual number may be.

So the rule of thumb is,, the more colored rabbits you see, the greater the general population.
So when the overall population is low, colored rabbits are very scarce or non existent.

Maybe some of you who thirst for knowledge can google the actual percentage numbers. I couldn't be f*cked at the moment.

I've shot thousands of rabbits and the only ones that weren't the standard dirty brown were some pets that had escaped into the wild.
What colour are these coloured wild rabbits?

The colored ones are wild and start appearing when numbers are high. Anybody who has shot "thousands" of bunnies would know that.

[Gwion]

I thought they pretty much went around the year too.

A litter every 2 months or something.

I've read that was the case too, but I only ever seem to see little bunnies during spring. My usual patch of dirt has got a couple of dozen little bunnies hopping around the warrens. They are no fun to shoot though They are just too easy to stalk up on and dont seem to have that sense of danger alertness the adults have, last weekend I had a little bunny hop out from behind the tree I was standing next to and start feeding on grass 1.5m in front of me...

Little bunnies are yum... fry up the hind legs like chicken drumsticks...

PS: you will see a bunch of youngsters in autumn months as well.

[Gamerancher]

Sort of the point I was making. Oh did I forget the "sarcasm" emotive again?

[bladeracer]

The colored ones are wild and start appearing when numbers are high. Anybody who has shot "thousands" of bunnies would know that.

So you're suggesting I haven't shot thousands of rabbits just because I've never seen these coloured ones?

[Gamerancher]

As a teenager I lived on a farm near Bega that was totally covered with rabbits when I moved there. I kept each empty shell from my .22mag that I shot a rabbit with. After filling two "sock" drawers with empties I gave up keeping that "tally". In all of that I never saw a coloured rabbit on that place. I have however seen plenty elsewhere. Even get the odd black one here on the farm now. (western NSW)

[bladeracer]

As a teenager I lived on a farm near Bega that was totally covered with rabbits when I moved there. I kept each empty shell from my .22mag that I shot a rabbit with. After filling two "sock" drawers with empties I gave up keeping that "tally". In all of that I never saw a coloured rabbit on that place. I have however seen plenty elsewhere. Even get the odd black one here on the farm now. (western NSW)

Similar to myself, except we lived on a property in SA that hadn't been lived on for a few years. Swarming with rabbits.

[Oldbloke]

"After filling two "sock" drawers with empties I gave up keeping that "tally".

Faaaark. That's a lot of bunnies.

[Gamerancher]

Yes it was .Early '80's, I bought a bolt action Marlin after spending a couple of nights using one at a friends place near Cooma. The first afternoon I had it I shot 19 rabbits at the fist warren I came to. Empty mag ,reload, empty mag ,reload,empty mag, reload, walk 100m to next warren, repeat,....It actually wore the spring inside the bolt out through the side of the bolt, F#ck knows how many rounds I put through it. Good gun, cost me $240 at the time. Shot everything with it, Rabbits. goats, 'roo's, foxes and even got a fallow with it. "Beware the man who only owns one gun" certainly applied back then.