[cltyus1]

We always see guys talking bout how populations are dropping and it’s harder to find rabbits....

How would you feel if they dropped the limits?

I’m perfectly fine with people killing their limits. That’s their business, but I would also be fine if the limit dropped to 2-3 rabbits versus 6 in Missouri.

I enjoy the dogs more than anything.

 

[BigK]

Agree

 

[lp51]

The limit in South Carolina is 5 per day. In my 50 years of hunting I’ve never broken this law, not from a lack of trying.

 

[marshall dillon]

I don’t think limits change the numbers killed that much unless you hunt alone . I know people tag other peoples deer all the time . Shorting the season would make a bigger impact on the numbers killed . It sounds like the Wildlife Department in those states are not doing a good job managing wildlife . Hunters should report their concerns to their Wildlife Department , they see it firsthand .

 

[Jimlerminez]

Limit in Michigan is 5. In my younger years I would always strive to kill my limit, never went over but would often take my limit. Now I still have places that I can find rabbits but I try to limit myself to 1 or 2 each time out and since I hunt 5 days a week there are often times I do not shoot any. To answer your question I would not mind if the limit was dropped. It seems like the guys i know that jump shoot only and do not have dogs are more interested in killing their limit. I also believe that the state is managing more for deer and turkey and that has more impact on the rabbit population than hunters. Cats and other critters along with farming practices are not helping either.

 

[AJ Johnson]

I see people posting that they killed 20 and 30 rabbits in one hunt. I feel like that is overdoing it. I know sometimes there are big rabbit hunting parties, but that is an overkill in one location. I'm not knocking anyone who has done this, but I like to kill some, then take a break from that place. If I do kill a lot during the hunt, I am done there for the season. JMO. Great topic City!

 

[TomP]

In kentucky the bag limit is 6. Me and my brother had this same discussion today on a road trip to Illinois to pick up some new pups we got. We hunt mainley on WMA land around our area..the spots that are where you can pull up to and drop the tailgate and hunt will be totally bare this time of year. I do believe they need to lower the bag limit here.

 

[T.Hatcher]

The limit in South Carolina is 5 per day. In my 50 years of hunting I’ve never broken this law, not from a lack of trying.

5 per day per person. I also have never limited out be it me or 7 or 8 of us.

 

[marshall dillon]

We can kill 6 a day here . I have never done it . We do hunt one place that I could have done it last season , but I try and let others shoot one . The most that we have ever shot in one day is 12 or 13 and we did that in 3 different places . I ran 5 times last week and only carried a gun one of those times .

 

[benham]

Definitely don’t want to shorten the season , wouldn’t care if they change the limit .

 

[Curnel]

In kentucky the bag limit is 6. Me and my brother had this same discussion today on a road trip to Illinois to pick up some new pups we got. We hunt mainley on WMA land around our area..the spots that are where you can pull up to and drop the tailgate and hunt will be totally bare this time of year. I do believe they need to lower the bag limit here.

Unless they’ve changed it I think our bag limit in ky is 4 been that way as long as I remember .

 

[Huntsman]

Limit in Ohio is 4. I agree with Marshall that shortening the season would help preserve the population more than dropping the limit. I would like to see them drop February. Fat chance of it happening.....we still have seasons for grouse and quail even though they are gone for all practical purposes.

Not a lot of people rabbit hunt in Ohio anymore, relative to say 40 years ago. Too hard to find rabbits without a dog, and too much posted land now because of deer hunters who want to keep everyone else out. Deer leasing has ruined small game hunting in Ohio.

 

[marshall dillon]

We do hunt 5 places that are owned by deer hunters . They don’t care about rabbit hunting and let us hunt it after deer season is over . Four of those places are honey holes .

 

[singlebarrel]

I was taught to leave “seed”. I may kill a Very few or a bunch in one place, but we don't hunt the whole farm Or cut it short before we do. We do not hunt that again till next year.
In my experience, on my farm where I run my dogs I have tried for years to manage rabbits. It simply cannot be done consistently. The best you can do is make habitat. I have shot every predator, trapped, night vision and thermal——-every thing you can think of and the truth is a place will only hold as many rabbits as it’s habitat will allow. The predators find it and rape it if you got too many bunnies and then you start over. A balanced Population is best. Man is a predator and too many hunters work over the same places it just complicates an already complex problem.
I like 5 per person per day, but only because I get to do it once or twice a year.

 

[jeffro]

Where i live it would make absolutely no difference.Hunters have nothing to do with the rabbit population.No one here rabbit hunts anymore

 

[T.Hatcher]

Limit in Ohio is 4. I agree with Marshall that shortening the season would help preserve the population more than dropping the limit. I would like to see them drop February. Fat chance of it happening.....we still have seasons for grouse and quail even though they are gone for all practical purposes.

Not a lot of people rabbit hunt in Ohio anymore, relative to say 40 years ago. Too hard to find rabbits without a dog, and too much posted land now because of deer hunters who want to keep everyone else out. Deer leasing has ruined small game hunting in Ohio.
[/QUOTE
In SC we use to have 2 seasons for rabbit like deer. Growing up ours was from Thanksgiving till Feb. 15. But other part of the state was March 1st. Now whole state is Thanksgiving till March 1st. But now that deer leases are so big they don't want you hunt till after deer season so if shorten back up to Feb 15 you would only have 4 or 5 weekends (if that is only time you could hunt ) to kill rabbits.

 

[mattdog]

It’s an interesting topic but we have to remember that hunters , overall , only kill a small fraction of the rabbits that are killed each year. They claim rabbits make up the majority of a bobcats diet. They eat most days I would imagine. So if that one bobcat kills two rabbits a week that’s 104 rabbits for the year. Go down the list of critters that eat rabbits and it gets pretty long.
Having said that I’m on public ground a good bit. In the summer it’s easy to find rabbits and often near roads. As the hunting season progresses I usually hafta get farther from the roads to find fewer and fewer rabbits. Of course the later in the season it goes the longer it’s been since they were reproducing too.
On first thought I would say shortening the season would result in fewer rabbits shot by hunters. Shortening the season might also reduce the number of those really memorable days afield too. But I wonder if shortening seasons would result in more hunters per day during the season on the public land ?

 

[HQB]

Until the over population of predators is addressed it won’t matter what you do, rabbit hunters killing rabbits aren’t what’s causing the population to decrease it the fact that hardly anyone traps and predator numbers are out of control everywhere. We have a property we have hunted for years that was just a convenient place to go not a lot of rabbits but enough to have a few good races a guy moved in and started trapping and now it’s a honey hole full of rabbits every year had another large tract of land that was always trapped heavily for year we killed lots of rabbits there every year then the guys that trapped it got older and quit now you can hardly find a rabbit but you can sure find a million piles of coyote crap and tons of coyote and bobcat tracks everywhere. My running pen is 10 acres all wild rabbits the spot always had a couple of rabbits but not many i fenced it in and all i’m keeping out is the 4 legged predators ( there’s enough overhead cover to help keep damage from the flying kind to a minimum) and now the place is thriving with rabbits. I know that habitat loss plays a part to but there’s still a lot of ground that will hold rabbits if the predators were put back in check unfortunately i don’t know if that will ever happen

 

[Farm Boy]

I agree with Singlebarrel it is primarily about habitat if your talking about rabbits, deer or turkey. Habitat determines carrying capacity and makes it harder for predators as well.

 

[TJRANGER]

HQG had a great post! Predator Control, Predator Control, Predator Control, habitat, habitat, habitat are what controls rabbit populations. Shortening season wouldn’t accomplish much as most of our ground is tied up till after first week in January with deer seasons. Most of the guys I hunt with only take 2-3 apiece anyway. Even in the good spots.