Crazy small game hunting question.

John W
[subject]
Thursday, February 04, 2021, 04:45 (2018 days ago)

How is the small game hunting in your area?

To be blunt, the small game hunting in my area of New England is rather poor. I have yet to shoot a cottontail in my home state or any nearby states. We do have a big issue with predators and most of all loss of habitat.

Ages ago I did shoot a lot of cottontails while boar hunting in Florida. I would take a 22 pistol and take a number as the sun set.

Up here? No way it seems. At least without a pack of beagles.

Just curious. Thanks

We have plenty of cottontails and squirrels here in Texas.

Sean Harper
[subject]
Thursday, February 04, 2021, 05:30 (2018 days ago) @ John W

I don't take the time to hunt them anymore ,probably should.

Sean

Cottontail rabbits here in New Mexico

steve todd
[subject]
Thursday, February 04, 2021, 08:17 (2018 days ago) @ Sean Harper

Are still around. They outnumber the jackrabbits. No license required for residents of New Mexico, and no closed season for “non-game animals” which includes coyotes, rabbits, and skunks.
A little over a year ago the jackrabbits started dying. I thought they were poisoned, but they have their own virus that is killing them. The “Jackrabbit Virus” has not had any effect on the cottontails, however hunting cottontail rabbits here in the desert is not productive without dogs.

small game

Mark
[subject]
Thursday, February 04, 2021, 08:00 (2018 days ago) @ John W

I live in southwest PA.
I started hunting in the early eighties and we had lots of rabbits,grouse,pheasant and squirrel.The hunting was excellent till around 2000. Thats when the housing developments started to buy up the small farms.
I havent flushed a grouse or ringneck pheasant in years and the only rabbits i see are near the houses.
In the 70's and early 80's The opening day of small game was a big deal in this area and you couldn't pass an overgrown field without seeing blaze orange. Now, you never see a small game hunter.

Cottontails in ks pretty sparse due to predators.

SPB
[subject]
Thursday, February 04, 2021, 08:27 (2018 days ago) @ John W

- No text -

With the fall of Coyote pelts in the late 80s

Amede
[subject]
Thursday, February 04, 2021, 11:22 (2018 days ago) @ John W

people stopped hunting them and keeping the population down. Now here in MT farmers help sponsor coyote hunts with some serious money going to the top hunters. Last year here with the local hunt over 500 were shot and there are still plenty out there.

What I am getting at is that its hit and miss here in MT

Amede
[subject]
Thursday, February 04, 2021, 11:48 (2018 days ago) @ Amede

for some small game. plenty of squirrels in the mountains and rabbits are here and there. When they are up the gophers are the #1 small game for shooting and people come from far away to shoot them things.

Georgia has good populations of cottontail,

Blake
[subject]
Thursday, February 04, 2021, 11:36 (2018 days ago) @ John W

Squirrel, coon, opossum, Fox, song dogs. We have both gray and Fox squirrels. There is plenty of small game here

in Arizona all rabbits are considered varmints

Gary Reeder
[subject]
Thursday, February 04, 2021, 12:05 (2018 days ago) @ John W

cottontail and jack rabbits. Shoot as many as you like.

Lots of Red Squirrels, some Gray. Not as

WB
[subject]
Thursday, February 04, 2021, 12:50 (2018 days ago) @ John W

man Cottontails as when I was a boy, nor Quail but they are beginning to come back. I read that Fescue grass is a big factor from the 1970s.

Last Cottontail I shot was with a traditional recurve bow, about 30 yrs. ago.

https://www.kait8.com/story/19855265/dont-use-fescue-for-wildlife-habitat/

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