RABBITS AFTER RAIN
Rabbit control features on my calendar through the year. Although recent disease outbreaks have made these burrowing rodents quite scarce in some parts of the country, they are still abundant where I live. Most landowners don’t regard the presence of bunnies as positively as I do, which is why many of them appreciate the help of an airgun shooter when it comes to keeping their numbers in check.
Where rabbits thrive, their numbers can rapidly spiral and be surprisingly destructive. Their appetite for grass, cereal and vegetable crops can prove extremely costly to farmers, and they can also kill newly-planted tree saplings by nibbling away the bark just above the root collar. Anyone involved in the management of sports fields and golf courses will know how damaging rabbits’ habit of burrowing and scraping can be, but it can also prove to be extremely dangerous. Holes dug by rabbits pose a serious hazard to livestock, including horses and ponies, which can end up with a broken leg if they put a hoof down a burrow.
It’s their grass-gobbling and burrowing which is making the rabbits unpopular on the farm where I’m shooting today. I’ve been keeping
