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Here is what has worked for me that causes no harm to anyone and hopefully should make the rabbits vacate the premises permanently.
All small prey animals like rabbits, squirrels, groundhogs, possoms, etc. and birds that get into the garden and trash it - they all instinctively recognize the shapes, movements and silhouettes of predatory birds that will capture and eat them - like hawks, owls, eagles, vultures, crows, ravens and so on.
You purchase or make some lifesized black kites in the shapes of predatory birds with wings outspread and mount them on poles or hang them in trees or off roof overhangs. The breeze will make them flutter a bit and the rabbits, squirrels etc. will see the movement of the black silhouettes above them. They will think it is a bird of prey ready to swoop down on them and kill them and it will frighten them away.
You can also purchase ready-made lifesized plastic statues of horned owls and other predatory birds that are realistically coloured to look like the real thing. They are designed specifically for the purpose of mounting on poles or fence posts, chimneys and roof tops and in trees to frighten away small prey animals and birds that get into gardens and crops. The statues do need to be moved around and relocated from time to time so the prey animals don't catch on that it's not the real thing.
There is one other little trick you can try every time you see your rabbits that should eventually frighten them away permanently but you will have to do it several times. Every time you see the rabbits you run at them with a big black umbrella and flap it at them. Open and close it rapidly several times at them as you approach them so that it makes a flapping sound and looks like a huge black bird flapping it's wings and coming after them.
What colour are the rabbits? Are they wild brown rabbits of nature or are they domestic rabbits that may have been somebody's pets?
If they are stray domestic pets that got loose (or got delilberately left behind by previous resident) they probably have no natural wild survival instincts as that has been bred out of the domestics and your property may be the only place they know as home and that is a safe place for them. If they are chased away from your property they will probably get killed by other animals or cars or people. If you want to spare them that, you might want to consider humanely capturing and retaming them for pets or take them to your local animal shelter to be adopted out. Or ask around to find out if they are the escaped pets of some family with children in your neighbourhood and maybe you can re-home them.
If they are natural wild rabbits they should have their natural survival instincts to help them get by if you chase them away.
I recently moved into a home with a deck in the back yard. I learned that we have two rabbits who live under the deck. I plan on planting a nice garden with veggies and flowers next spring. I need to get the rabbits out of my yard. Any suggestions? I have two small dogs, so poison is out of the question.
tI dont try to get rid of them. I know they do eat our gardens but we have a chain link fence surrounding our garden. It helps some and I have to admit i love watching them in the morning. I feel the same about the squirrels. That is the price we pay for living in a region with wild life.
After reading, and participating in, this thread I've decided to go rabbit hunting instead of out for goose tomorrow. I also have new shotgun which hasn't yet been used.
And that's supposed to "hurt" us and our feelings somehow with this announcement?
I find the squirrels worse. Although the rabbits and woodchucks and deer and raccoons will all help themselves.
I had warned about moving wild animals before. There is one other problem for those that want to eliminate problem animals themselves - drones. They were one of the hot ticket Xmas items this year. People that thought they had privacy before; might not have privacy now. If somebody would take a picture of somebody shooting these animals and then disposing of them; it could end up with very hefty fines and they
You can HEAR the things 200 feet away, I think a homeowner would be able to tell if one was hovering over their house spying on and taking videos.
Cottontails are intelligent mammals like coyotes and, to make matters much worse is that we have killed off all the dumb rabbits and coyotes leaving only the smart ones.
My experience with cottontails here on the Texas South Plains is that they can loosen the foundation blocks under a house resulting in shaky interior floors and they can dig out and weaken storm cellar walls by digging around the outsides.
I controlled our rabbits with a .22 rifle and have gotten rid of most of them. Although it has taken several years to do so, I believe the rabbits kept returning each year because the old homeplace, which was once abandoned for several years, was their place of birth.
For the rabbits I killed, I fed them to my barn cats who very quickly learned to come running whenever they saw me outside with my Henry lever-action rifle. The cats loved the rabbits I gave them and I gave them MANY over the past several years. The best part of controlling the rabbits is that I also have seemed to have greatly lessened the number of local coyotes who were once killing most of my pets.
Now as far as our blacktailed jackrabbits, I leave them along whenever I am lucky enough to see one.
Last edited by High_Plains_Retired; 03-13-2017 at 02:46 PM..
When a mommy bunny and a daddy bunny love each other very much... you get as many as 10 hungry baby bunnies. And then about 3 months later, the brothers will fight each other (often to the death) for the right to breed the females.
Bobcats in my area take care of the bunnies before they get out of control. When a bobcat is hanging out nearby, the rabbit population plummets. Then it picks back up and plummets again. You see the bobcat around and also bobcat scat and footprints when you start noticing fewer bunnies.
Plus the owls and hawks and bald eagles and fox and coyotes like to eat the rabbits too. They are a good food supply for lots of wild animals.
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