Jack rabbits on rebound?

Michael_in_WA

New member

Hello;
Kinda new here even though I joined forum a while back. Seems I read on forum that jack rabbit population was down in AZ.and NV.
Is this still the case or is population on the rise?
Any response much appreciated.
Thank you
 
I'm not sure you can legally shoot Jack Rabbits in Wa state.

Down around Crane Oregon, I've never seen so many Jack Rabbits...
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotOriginally Posted By: B23I'm not sure you can legally shoot Jack Rabbits in Wa state.



he didnt ask about WA. lol

I didn't say they did but seeing that the OP is also from Washington State is why I said that.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogI can't remember the last Jack I saw. Been years ago

Many years ago, as a youngster, our family went to panhandle of Oklahoma to work the wheat harvest. After we came in and had our bath and supper we would take off in the old Chevy grain truck and drive over the just cut fields and shoot jack rabbits. Best count was 96 in one evening and with an old Remington 513T. Fun times, but haven't been there since 1958.
 
It was way before my time but they used to be thick in nebraska also. Dad talked about the 50 cent bounty and guys getting together to spotlight them at night.

I really couldn't say what killed them off, I doubt it was the shooting, but they're pretty scarce now. I did see one road killed a year or so ago.
 
Originally Posted By: 22magnum22Originally Posted By: pyscodogI can't remember the last Jack I saw. Been years ago

Many years ago, as a youngster, our family went to panhandle of Oklahoma to work the wheat harvest. After we came in and had our bath and supper we would take off in the old Chevy grain truck and drive over the just cut fields and shoot jack rabbits. Best count was 96 in one evening and with an old Remington 513T. Fun times, but haven't been there since 1958.

Were they paying a bounty on rabbit ears at that time? My Grandad had told me about when KS (he was 8 miles from OK) was paying crazy prices for rabbit ears.
 
Okay, so living here in Nevada, I have been out about 8 times and have seen Jack Rabbits on a regular basis, but less so in my small opinion. When I hunt at night, I usually always find like one or two in each stand. I suspect there have been more in the past, which I why we are seeing bigger coyotes getting killed but less young coyotes. By that is just my experience.
 
Originally Posted By: SubpaROriginally Posted By: 22magnum22Originally Posted By: pyscodogI can't remember the last Jack I saw. Been years ago

Many years ago, as a youngster, our family went to panhandle of Oklahoma to work the wheat harvest. After we came in and had our bath and supper we would take off in the old Chevy grain truck and drive over the just cut fields and shoot jack rabbits. Best count was 96 in one evening and with an old Remington 513T. Fun times, but haven't been there since 1958.
I was 14 yrs old the first year there, knew nothing of any bounty money. I do remember my uncle saying he would have to make a trip to Guymon for ammo if we continued to go every night.
Were they paying a bounty on rabbit ears at that time? My Grandad had told me about when KS (he was 8 miles from OK) was paying crazy prices for rabbit ears.
 
Originally Posted By: DAAThe good old days.

Rabbit Herd

- DAA



not that many, but i have seen them close to those numbers many years ago. it was only 1 or 2 boom years like that then they started dwindling. not many around now.

daa, do you have any guesses why the numbers tanked and never came back?

i know the drought aint helping, but we have had a few good wet years and the numbers still dont come back.
 
Guesses on why, yeah. Don't actually know though.

But I think the reasons vary with locality, too. Not just one answer for everywhere. For instance, there are big areas just out of town here, that were that thick with rabbits in the mid to late 70's. And old timers tell me they had been thick around those parts forever. Then they crashed in the 80's, and they have never come back nearly that strong in those areas since. A lot of that area, it's been kind of unusual to see a jackrabbit for almost 40 years now.

While in other areas, like where that video clip was taken, I've seen them come and go in varying waves of population density quite a few times in that same time period.

So, for one thing, I don't buy the seven year cycle thing, at all. I've never seen that hold up, anywhere. Yes I have many times seen populations get really high and then crash, then come back again. But not ever on any regular timeline. Sometimes they are back in only three or four years if conditions are just right, other times they don't come back for fifteen or twenty years before the right weather and habitat come together for a few years in a row.

The usual suspects, for crashes and rebounds - weather and disease. Jacks seem to be pretty susceptible to the weather. Heavy snow, especially. I've seen healthy populations disappear with one winter of heavy DEEP snow. I think their food is hard to get to, their breeding isn't very successful and they are easy pickings for predators. They also yard up really tight in heavy snow so any disease gets pass around quick.

Drought, I've seen them thrive the first few years of a drought. But a many years long one, like we are in now, the habitat just degrades so much, nothing can thrive in it. The exact spot where that video was shot, is a barren wasteland now. I don't see rabbits ever coming back strong in that area.

And of course, disease is a big deal with jackrabbit populations.

But, so, why they seemingly NEVER come back in a lot of areas, my guess, it's a variety of mixtures of all of the above. Combined with habitat loss, from whatever cause - development, farming, drought, fire, etc. Once they are really down, they need several consecutive years of just the right conditions to really bounce back. And it seems in many areas, there just hasn't been several years in a row of those conditions and maybe there never will be again.

- DAA
 
i am on board with every bit of that. and i suppose all the same reasons for the cottontails disappearing also.

how ya been dave? you all making it through this covid buIIshit alright? many coyotes around?

merry Christmas to you and the family.
 
Originally Posted By: steve garrettin many areas I feel like the seed to come back isn't even there. there needs to be at least a few to breed again.

i have given that a lot of thought also, and it may be where we are right now in my area.
 
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