Southwest WY rabbit explosion

1185 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by gdog, Sep 22, 2015

wyogoob

Discussion Starter · Sep 14, 2015 (Edited)

This is the best rabbit year I've seen ever in Southwest WY. Desert Cottontails have taken over the sagebrush steppe, Mountain Cottontail numbers are excellent and there's plenty of jackrabbits. I think I've seen more Pygmy Cottontails this week than I have in my entire lifetime. (The Game & Fish asks hunters not to shoot Pygmy rabbits)

All of our rabbits have fleas and are field dressed immediately. Too bad, I'd love to have a picture of a pile of 20 cottontails.

My brother and I have eaten a few and are trimming the meat off the bones for some sausage. We have a gunny sack-full of jacks and we're gonna try out some new recipes.

We musta seen 150 rabbits yesterday in less than two hours!!!

Desert Cottontail feeding on grass:

My brother shot 3 bunnies and 2 jacks in one spot:

Desert Cottontail above, Mountain Cottontail middle, Remington model 592 5mm mag with period Weaver 2.5x7 post reticle below:

Took a few rabbits over 175 yards with the ole 5mm Mag:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Come on up and get ya some.

.

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 5

1 - 10 of 10 Posts

Dunkem

· #2 · Sep 14, 2015

Wow that's a lot of wabbit there-8/-I seen more rabbits than Ive seen in years dove hunting.

Save

Reactions: 1

MuscleWhitefish

· #3 · Sep 14, 2015

They are absolutely everywhere.

Most traveled roads are littered with carcasses.

There really isn't a specific honey hole, just pick a road and you'll limit out easy.

Save

Reactions: 1

johnnycake

· #4 · Sep 14, 2015

We couldn't believe how many we saw while antelope hunting in 98 last thursday! it was pretty sweet and made me start thinking a bunny trip was in order

Save

Reactions: 1

wyogoob

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 22, 2015 (Edited)

This time of year grasses and forbs are a large part of a cottontail's diet making for some tasty bunnies. When the snow covers the sagebrush steppe, and the grass, cottontails will turn to sage and rabbit bush and their flavor will suffer.

.

Save

wyogoob

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 22, 2015

My grandsons, 10 and 12 years old, got into the action this weekend with their ole Remington Nylon Model 10Cs:

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 1

trackerputnam

· #7 · Sep 22, 2015

I used to eat lots of cottontails years ago but then my dad shot one that had a 6' long tape worm in it. Haven't been able to eat one since. Have some bunnies in the back yard we are raising and cant seem to eat them. Made the mistake of giving them names. Pretty hard to eat "bunny fu fu":mrgreen:

Save

Reactions: 2

Packfish

· #8 · Sep 22, 2015

5mm - the old Remington from about 72 ?- thought that ammo was obsolete? or is it a different caliber

Save

wyogoob

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 22, 2015 (Edited)

Packfish said:
5mm - the old Remington from about 72 ?- thought that ammo was obsolete? or is it a different caliber

Yeah, about 1972. I can't remember for sure, would have to look it up.

Aguila Centarion resurrected the 5mm Remington Magnum rimfire ammo and ran it for awhile. Aguila said they will run the 5mm Rem Mag ammo again. I have enough to get by for a long time. I bought a carload of it when they were cheap.

The Rem Model 592 in my picture has a rare (for the 5mm) factory mahogany stock.

Save

gdog

· #10 · Sep 22, 2015

Thats a cool little round...

See less See more

Save

1 - 10 of 10 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month