Quinte Fishing

Just wondering if anyone has been hunting the Wascally wabbits this year and what they are seeing.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

My son and I have been giving it a go without much luck. We see the odd track and blood patches where they were eatten. There is one that lives in the fence line close to the house but shes a breader to get the population back. It's nice to see them hopping around the yard in the spring and eatting the wife's flower garden. It's not what it used to be for hunting though.

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Hey Hutchy i have not been hunting ,but i been seeing lots of rabbits behind my house.There a big farm just down the road about a mile This guy has every kind of animal i can think of.He hunt the coyotes around here ,there is always some hanging in the tree by his house.That is more than likely why less coyotes more rabbits.I lost my best hunting buddy 3 years ago ,kinda lost interest in hunting after that.I used to hunt as much as i fish Charlie

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Charlie

Yes, I have plenty of Yotes and very little anything else, a definate connection there. Nobody else hunts them in my area, they just complain about them. My son and I have been working on building up our yote hunting equipment but it is an expensive sport for callers and decoys. I have shot a few but they are getting skiddish now. I hope to blance them out over the next couple years.

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Sorry to hear about your hunting buddy Charlie.

I asked about the rabbits as I noticed there were no tracks around my house in the snow we got before Christmas where usually there are quite a few. It sounds like the snow has pretty much gone now. Makes for some good snowshoe hunting when that happens in January.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

i live just north of belleville and have seen more rabbits this year then the last 2 or 3 years have only got out once so far and ended the afternoon with 2 lots of tracks. i have been thinking about trying a a snare or 2 since there are some really good rabbit trails just a few yards from mmy back door. i also have seen less yotes this year and less tracks

fish tales

Hello you are still hunting for snowshoes,I live near the big apple in Colborne,i used hunt them north of here in the northumberland forest 30 years ago ,didn't think they were around any more .i used to hunt Jack rabbits too ,last one i seen was north out by Norwood,going to the fair about 8 years ago

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Charlie

I hunted both snowshoes and jacks between Peterborough and Norwood a few years back with good success. The conservation authority has a few parcels of land around there. Three years ago we were moose hunting around Gilmour\Gunter and were tripping over the snowshoes. I'm sure if we had been hunting snowshoes, we would have been tripping over the moose

I still see jacks in the Stirling- Campbellford area. On our way duck hunting to Point Petre in Deember I saw a jack in the county. I'm not sure if there is many down there or not.

I found the yote population around my place has balanced out well over the last couple of years. Like Hutchy said, there is a definite cycle between them and small game in general. I think I am in the transitional stage where there doesn't seem to be an abundance of either but with the yote population going down, I hope to see the rabbits go up again. Heard many times times before about the seven year cycle. It seems the cycle isn't broad and can be very localized. A few miles can make a big difference.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

There are no Hares or Jacks in my area. The last Jack I saw here was a shot one 30+ years ago, it must have been the last one. A buddy in the County says there are still a few there but again, not like it used to be. They can out run a coyote so at least they have a chance. Finding a place (permission) to hunt is another thing, it is just easier to say no.

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I just got in from a slippery walk out back and I did see a cottontail track in my 10 acre piece of woods between the feilds so he/she is still alive. I saw a few squirels, maybe I will give them a go. I can't see eating their brains though like Kate off Duck Dynasty.

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Yeah, brains probably not so good. I have eaten a few squirrels over the years but find them tough and stringy just frying them up. Maybe I'll try slow cooking them or make a goulash some day. I guess the season closed December 15th though, you'll have to wait until fall.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

I hadn't got desperate enough to look up the season, thanks for letting me know. I would have thought it would be open same as rabbit.

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i remember reading a really cool artical years back on the life cycle of rabbits it was pretty amazing really talked alot about the food chain and natures way, a thing to remember is a rabbit is on the main menue for most apex preditors yotes fox, hawks, owles lets not forget ferral cats yet still they always manage to servive. sometimes they get so far out of ballance even desease takes over apparently once they over populate TB ( teberculosis) sets in and whipes out alot of them. but usually thats only when the preditor population is way down.
what was really intresting was they showed a table on the reproductive cycle of a rabbit and it was almost amazing . a rabbit born today and have its own ltter of babies in less than 3 months. and under the right conditions usually good dry weather, one rabbit can have up to 6 Yes 6 litters in a year of between 6 to 8 so when you start to do the math thinking that a baby of less than a year old can actually be a great grand parent at the end of a year and i think they said a rabbit can or will live up to a few years if it can manage to run the gauntlet of preditors ........ I for one think hunting rabbits is alot of fun when the weather is just right and a great way to get a young lad into the hunting game I have always owned beagles and have hunted them as far back as I can remember, used to even bow hunt them behind dogs when you find that perfect brush patch teaming with bunnies ...... onother fun way was just walking hedrows and kicking brush piles .
Saying that you can inprove a good piece of land by building brush piles thus giving rabbits a good hide brite sunny days in the dead of winter is always a great time to hunt them as they seem to like to sit out and warm in the sun,,,, im basically only speaking about cotton tails area i grew up in thats all there was so i know nothing about snowshoes or jacks......... I really miss hunting sometimes . i dont miss the killing so much as i miss the experiance of just being out there .
if you guys do get into a bunch here is something to try.
Boil down a bunch of bunnies then cool the meat down and dice them up add breadcrumbs and an egg or two some italian seasonings salt and pepper form little nuggets then roll in bredcrumbs and freeze them up come hockey night drop some in hot oil serve with sweat n soure sause and you have bunnie mcnuggets to die for! great finger foods

Sounds tasty Grizz. When we used to have a lot more around, I used to shoot them with my bow as well. Judo points always worked great for me and walking down the old railbeds would always show a rabbit or two.

Our longer winters would limit the number of litters they could have. Snowshoes are typically further north than Quinte and they would only be able to have 1-2 litters at best. Quinte cottontails would likely get 2-3 litters. I'm not sure how many litters a jack can have. I do know there's not as many jacks around as there used to be.

One thing I do see a lot more of is redtail hawks. One hawk took two of our free range chickens this year right off our front lawn. I saw him fly off the one when I walked out the door. He disappeared by the time I got the shotgun out, Dang locked cabinet laws.

I guess everything likes chicken and rabbit.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

This is what Adventure does after his trip from WAYDA is over.

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Choppy waters and grey skies,
BluePickerel