Anyone else have an absence of rabbits this year?

[TaperPin]

Normally, there are consistently a handful of rabbits around the in-laws house at any given time and coyotes are common, but this year it seems both are missing from the entire valley. Rumor says it was an outbreak of rabbit hemorrhagic disease, but nothing official has come out other than wildlife biologists are only interested if 3 or more dead rabbits are found. There don’t appear to be any rabbits at all. Lol

How common is this? I can’t ever remember not having bunnies around.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I always understood that rabbit populations were cyclical. I guess that's not the case if you never remember fluctuations in the past?

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Like clockwork, right after I get the garden started they show up in herds. This year, no different. Western WA.

 

[Warmsy]

Last 2 years I didn't see any rabbits in places I'd be trying over them in prior years. Haven't gone to those places yet this year, so didn't know the situation. I, too, have read that they are cyclical, and the hemorrhagic disease.

 

[Jpsmith1]

Western PA. When we bought this house, there were bunches of rabbits.

Over the following couple years, neighbors were feeding and putting out housing for feral cats and the rabbit population dropped to zero.

A new neighbor showed up and did some work on the local colony, reducing it significantly and magically all the rabbits are back

 

[Hnthrdr]

Below average year in town, from some winter excursions I saw a boon of snow shoe hares in the hills… like others said cyclical

 

[mt terry d]

Around here they go in cycles.

Even before climate change.

Kinda miss those Idaho rabbit roundups though they were a bit barbaric.

 

[Lvthntitall]

Lots here in Illinois

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Can I buy some of the hemorrhagic disease?

 

[Randle]

I can send ya some, everywhere here

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Last night I went to retrieve one that somehow just died, and there's 2 more sitting within 10 feet of the deceased. They somehow died too.

 

[TaperPin]

I’m sure we’ll be over run with bunnies any day now. lol

 

[Jason Snyder]

We use jackrabbits for hunt dog testing. The last few years have been pretty sporadic for finding good jackrabbit numbers. Hemorrhagic disease has hit rabbit populations hard.

 

[HunterHawk]

I have seen tons this year in Michigan and Colorado.

 

[5MilesBack]

I left the house before first light the other morning and saw probably a dozen rabbits in the next mile, every one of them hanging out on the road. But haven't seen a rabbit on my place in over a year. Word must be getting out to stay away from here.

 

[Weldor]

We are pretty normal for desert bunnies, but I have a group of 4 Harris hawks putting a dent in the population. They love to roost in the front pine tree and glass for bunnies.

 

[S.Clancy]

We're the opposite in MT. I'm seeing rabbits in places I've never seen them. Freaking everywhere

 

[Agross]

Tons of em in Michigan. Feel like I’ve been seeing them all over

 

[Honyock]

Not a shortage in SW Oklahoma. They run in cycles. Not a lot of coyotes, lots of rabbits. Not a lot of rabbits, lots of coyotes. Seems like when the rabbits get thinned out the coyotes move and vice versa.

 

[RockSlip]

No coyotes this year, no rabbits either. Lots of healthy-looking fox though. New England.