Lots of rabbits.....lack of predators?

[sdLBLhunter]

I'm back home for a few weeks since school let out, and since I've aquired a new hobby in predator hunting I decided to hunt for predators in my rabbit and quail stomping grounds!  When I arrived, I was extremely please to spook up 2 huge covies of quail (I've left them unpressured for two years), and countless numbers of rabbit. I hunted both farms, but didn't get any responses.  I found two sets of coyote prints and one set of cat prints on one farm (the one w/ quail), and no sign on the other.  Could the abundance of prey mean that there just isn't much predation, and therefore few coyotes and cats?  I've hunted both farms multiple times in the past few days using the rabbit squawls that I was so successful with in LBL, but so far I havn't had any response here.  What do you guys think?

[RagnCajn]

What di I think? I think I would be rabbit hunting. They taste better than Coyotes anyway.

[slagmaker]

I agree with RC!! I like the tase of fresh rabbit.

But I would lean towards the lack of predators as well. we have very few rabbits or quail around here from both the yotes adn feral cats and I belive the cats are the bigger part of the problem.

Consider yourself lucky that you have quail and rabbit to hunt.

[Hawks Feather]

I have to agree that there probably is a lack of predators, but I would also quickly add - enjoy the fact that you are the main predator!  The predators will find your area soon enough.  The quail were killed off here in the blizzard of 1978 and haven't made much of a return.  I don't think I have shot over a dozen quail, but my memory of them was that they were fun to hunt and better to eat.

Jerry

[Jimmie in Ky]

Lets not forget the habitats conditions. We did loose a great deal of our small game back in 78 due to that blizzard and the weather that followed it. But at that time we were also loosing habitat in huge chunks due to the price of beans. Farmers went to cropping fence row to fence row at that time.

I have been watching the work they are doing in t LBL and am quite surprised at what I am seeing there. Where they have gone in and replaced the junk brush and sage with warm season grasses and a mowing program, there is once again sign that small game is thriving in those areas. Even with the coyote population there. Not to mention the cat population took a big upswing in the last year or two as well.

On my dads farm, just leaving the brush piles near fence rows in clearing operations have increased the quail numbers tremendously. Of course these fields are also being converted to non fescue pastures. This proves to me we can make a diference ourselves with a bit of thought and a bit of luck.Jimmie

[Hawks Feather]

Jimmie,

I would have to agree.  The DDT and lack of cover had started to take a toll on the pheasants and quail prior to the blizzard.  But the blizzard pretty well wiped the quail out around here.  I have seen one small covey (about 10 birds) at a farm where I hunt squirrels.  The guy that lives there has been releasing about 50 every year.  They are "pen birds" which doesn't help their chances, but you would think that out of over the 500 he has released that there would be more than one small covey.  I am glad to hear that some of the farmers there are starting to help provide some cover for critters.  There is not much cover around here other than the woods.  I hunted fence lines as a kid, but not much grass grows under an electric fence and those are about the only fences left around here.

Jerry

[Jimmie in Ky]

I remember that winter very well. What we lost due to the weather that year, there is no replacing. Folks still complain about the small subspecies of birds that survived and the loss of the northern bobwhite we had before that. We had thirty covies in th area around our farm and now you would be hard put to find five in that same area.

I have tried many of the things that are supposed to aid in recovery myself. But living near a refuge with a large coon population isn't helping and I cannot trap enough coons by myself to make a dent in the numbers. Even with the upswing in prices for raw fur we still can't get enough interested in trapping because of fuel prices. Most folks don't believe the numbers I kill each year when the sweet corn ripens. I have to raise nearly an acre just to get enough for my famileis needs for the year, that is rediculous! Fur needs to become a part of the rural economy again.

Somehow we need to convince farmers and land owners to leave those marginal areas in the fields once more. Maybe with the rise in fuel and herbicides we can do that. Jimmie

[sdLBLhunter]

Well, the farms that I hunt are owned by a couple brothers, and they're both real good guys.  They take exceptional care of their land, and as far as I know, me and two of their sons are the only people that hunt there couple thousand acres of land.  I live in Henderson, KY and I've noticed that we have an exceptional number of small game around here.  I don't know what it was like back before 78 and the DDT, but I've hunted a lot of different areas in the state, and none quite compare to my home town, especially for rabbits.

And for those two farms I was tellin ya'll about.....I take good care of them and manage the populations to the best of my ability.  I only rabbit hunt them twice a year on each and take about 20 rabbits off of one, and around 40 off the other on an average year.  I don't even shoot half the rabbits I jump because the pops are so large that I can afford to choose my shots.  Also, we don't have a feral cat problem...thats taken care of in ways which won't be mentioned for all you *cough* cat lovers out there.  I guess I'm lucky having this land to hunt, but even when I hunt public land I do very good on rabbits...quail are a little harder to come by.

[Hawks Feather]

sdlBLhunter,

My girls got me a button years ago, that I still wear.  It says

I Love Cats

and the fine print under that says

Dead Ones

It is fun when someone starts reading it and tells me they love cats too.  I then ask them to read the fine print.

Jerry