BE the Bunny; Thinking like the Animal You Want to Trap.
In this fast paced world it’s easy to get caught up in the rush of life. People forget to stop, take a deep breath and really think. If you want to step off the
merry-go-round into the woods, you
must first learn to slow down. You
have to learn to not just look, but to see. Trapping and snaring are
about the details, not the 30,000 foot, big picture of it all. You must
learn to think like the animal you are after. For example…rabbits (the other white meat). Most people who trap think of a rabbit only as survival food; but they’re quite tasty! Well worth learning how to trap/snare. So, now that you have a good tasting target, how in the world do you think like a rabbit?
Rabbits have the same basic survival requirements as people: food, water, shelter and mates. Rabbits…breed. I know this will shock you as much as it did me, but it isn’t uncommon for a single female rabbit to have three litters of 4-6 kits in a year. Just on paper you’re now looking at an average of fifteen new rabbits per mating pair per year. Wow!
But this is where thinking like a rabbit begins. What are your predators? Hawks, owls, feral cats, weasels, mink, fox and coyotes. By the time the hunting season rolls around you will still have 30-50% of the new rabbits left to harvest. Predators are not perfect; they make mistakes like missing their prey. The prey animal that escapes then learns to protect itself better. If you understand the innate need for shelter you can use that information to your advantage.
I listed hawks and owls first
because they take a lot of rabbits – “Silent death from above.” One of
my most incredible hunting memories is of when I watched a great horned
owl take a rabbit. I’ll never forget it. With a wingspan over three
feet, the owl looks huge. Owls tend to sit high in the trees,
silently surveying their hunting ground. They sit motionless, moving
only their head. When a rabbit makes the critical mistake of moving
slow in the open, the owl swoops down, flaps his wings just before
impact and grabs the unsuspecting rabbit in its razor sharp talons.
When the rabbit is “hit,” it gives off its death squeal. I believe this
accomplishes two things: First it is an attempt to scare the predator.
And second, to warn the other rabbits there is a predator in the area. When you witness such an event first-hand, you get a clear sense of just how cruel nature can be. I have seen an owl hold down a struggling rabbit, ripping the flesh from its body and eating it. Remember, the rabbit is still alive at this point. It’s hard to watch. The rabbit dies very slowly. The owl may take his prey up into a tree or stay on the ground to finish his meal. Another interesting fact is that owls don’t come back to a kill after the first night. As far as I can tell is it’s a survival trait. The fresh blood attracts other predators; and an owl sitting on the ground would make a good meal for a bobcat, coyote or fox.
If you own private property, one thing you can do to increase the small game population is to leave brush piles. (Author’s note: be careful in dry climates due to forest fires.) When you harvest trees for firewood, make stacks out of the remaining small branches. Make a lot of brush piles across your property, as this gives rabbits more protection. More protection equals more rabbits.
You can also plant “rabbit favorites” like raspberry bushes, crab apple trees, hawthorn bushes and Russian olives. If you are planting food for your family to eat you want to keep them separate: plantings towards the back part of the property for the wild game, and the fruit trees and berry bushes close to the house for you and your family. The rabbits learn to stay out of the open, to use cover and to hide in something with overhead protection.
Some like to build 6” x 6” x 24” boxes out of scrap wood instead; increasing the size to 8” x 8” will attract the larger Snowshoe Hare in Northern climates. Place the boxes out before you use them as traps; this allows the rabbits to find them, get used to them and begin to use them. Then simply place a 110 on both ends of the box or a snare and you are in business.
Other options are to use old culvert or other pipes up to two feet around; just narrow the entrance with brush down to 5-6 inches. If you want to increase the attraction, you can feed them a little corn now and then. Place the boxes or pipes in the edge of the brush piles. Now if you were paying attention I also just gave you a big tip for set location. Culverts-both dry and wet-are used by animals all the time. But realize you will often have a variety of animals all using the same culvert for shelter. You may set a rabbit snare in front of one and come back to find a torn up snare with no catch. You just ran into a raccoon.
And just because there is a culvert under a road doesn't automatically mean that animals are using it. You still have to have the rest of what an animal needs in area for the culvert to attract game. A culvert in an open area may not have a single animal using it; whereas a culvert near a stream, woods, or crops may be used by several animals. One of the hardest things for people to understand about trapping and snaring is that there are no hard and fast rules. You have to be flexible and learn to adapt to your area just as the animals do.
Trapping the other predators-fox, raccoons, coyotes, weasel and mink-will also increase your rabbit count. But remember: owls and hawks are protected species and cannot be hunted, trapped or snared!
Once you start to think like a rabbit you will begin to notice rabbit trails through the grass, heading towards the thicker brushy areas. These trails make great set locations; especially under a branch with two narrow down sides. An issue that often comes up is, “I can't find a spot like that in the woods.” The answer is simple: make it. Add sticks on both sides of the trail and an overhead branch that sits 7-8 inches off the ground. Set your snare two inches off the ground with a 4-5 inch loop.
Rabbits live most of their lives
in a one square mile area. They’ll have literally hundreds of trails
within that one square mile. How do you know which trail they use every
night? Figuring that out takes knowledge; and knowledge comes from
practice. You could spend a lifetime just studying the rabbits in that
one square mile, and still not be right every time. That is why I say
traps & snares are a percentage game. The more you have out the
better your chances of success. So, what goes wrong with snares? Lots of things. Other animals come through knocking them over. You didn't work the snare (loosen it up) enough and it didn’t close properly leaving you with a partially closed snare. The rest of the snare moved because you didn’t secure the support collar correctly and the animal backed out of it. The rabbit jumped the snare because you didn’t have a branch or other overhead cover or the overhead cover wasn’t thick enough to block his way and force the animal through your snare. What equipment should I use? The 110 is by far the best trap for rabbits, but don't miss your chance at practicing your snaring too. Every animal you catch will teach you something.
So I caught a rabbit…now what? Rabbit: the other white meat. Because they are wild rabbits have little to no fat. My favorite recipe is baking them. Clean the rabbit-making sure to wash all the fur off. Season with whatever you like (I like lemon pepper, salt garlic, and I add a can of stewed tomatoes-making sure some stays in contact with the meat.) Bake at 350 degrees for two hours; check every half hour and baste with tomato juice from the pan. Man I’m getting hungry! You can also cook rabbit like fried chicken with flour and seasoning; cook in a nice stew, or slowly roast on the BBQ.
Have Fun; and “be the bunny!”
Buckshot
*20 August, 2009 is the date that Buckshot's Articles were migrated from the Trapping Section to his own sub domain on RuralSurvivial.info
