sproulman

well, i had time last month to research my killers of rabbits in my yard .i was blaming owls a lot for it.lately i hardly hear owl in yard,cant figure where they went.

anyhow i now come to conclusion that 2 biggest killers are HAWK/FOX.i saw hawk kill 3 rabbits,i could not believe it right in front of me.you wont believe this but i saw a turkey vulger kill 1 too and in very heavy brush,i could not believe how that vulger got so deep in that brush,but he did.

last year it was recorded 18 kills,this winter it was 12 kills ,so it is down i think because i removed the female fox,only male here now.

so, i was wrong on OWL .

pats102862

We used to keep Guinea chickens at the farm for tick control years ago. the hawks and foxes wiped them out. The hawks did the most damage. When I was a kid a hawk would see you they were gone, today they are right there with you when you rake hay picking off those big fat moles in the field.

bawanajim

I think crows are the most overlooked predator on all small game. They should be killed on every given opportunity.

bluebird2

I disagree. When we had good small game hunting we had a lot more crows than we have now that small game hunting is terrible. Crows have their niche in the environment and eat a lot more insects ,grubs and carrion than small game.

blkpowder

AMERICAN CROWS

Food Habits
Crows are omnivorous, eating almost anything, and they readily adapt food habits to changing seasons and available food supply. They belong to a select group of birds that appear equally adept at live hunting, pirating, and scavenging. Studies show that crows consume over 600 different food items.

Crows cause a variety of damage problems.Crows may damage seedling corn plants by pulling the sprouts and consuming the kernels. Crows at times damage ripening corn during the milk and dough stages of development. Such damage, however, is more commonly caused by blackbirds; for further information, see Blackbirds. Crows consume peanuts when they are windrowed in fields to dry, but other birds, especially grackles, cause the greatest portion of this damage. Crows may also damage other crops, including ripening grain sorghum, commercial sunflowers, pecans, various fruits, and watermelons. In rare situations, crows may attack very young calves, pigs, goats, and lambs, particularly during or shortly after birth. This problem, is most likely to happen where livestock births occur in unprotected open fields near large concentrations of crows.

Another complaint about crows is that they consume the eggs and sometimes the young of waterfowl, pheasants, and other birds during the nesting season. Overall, such crow depredation probably has little effect on the numbers of these birds. However, it can be a problem of concern locally, particularly where breeding waterfowl are concentrated and where there is too little habitat cover to conceal nests. For example, nests are more easily found by crows, as well as by other predators, when located in a narrow fence row or at the edge of a prairie pothole that has little surrounding cover.
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Windwalker7

The one way to tell if it is an owl kill is to examine the body of the victim.


An owl almost always eats the brain of its victim first.

Whether its a chicken, rabbit or whatever, usually you will find the victim without a head or its head torn apart.

Found a headless rabbit in the yard just the other day.

sproulman

what i found most of time is stomach of rabbit or just fur and no rabbit.i think now its FOX and HAWK that are big killers of GROUSE/RABBITS.we are sseing a lot more rabbits this year, so far.i think because i killed female fox and male, i dont see around.

most of rabbit hair is in areas that are not near homes,near our homes we dont see to much hair ,so it could be hawk during daybut i think its a FOX at night that is doing bigtime damage.

i still cant figure what happened to owls,i dont hear 1 owl anymore,last year as high as 8.

Champlain Islander

I agree with windwalker. An owl will usually take the head and often leaves the rest of the kill.

sproulman

What animal would pull stomach out and leave it with some rabbit hair.we think most of killings are at night by our log books,we walk this area of about 1 mile each day.7 days a week.most of hair/stomach kills are away from our homes,only 4 was near homes and that elimantes the HAWK.only 2 at night we see is OWL/FOX .

i know FOX is big killer as i have 2 foxes on camera hiding behind my alfalfa trying to ambush a rabbit.

Windwalker7

Most likely I think it would be some sorta bird of prey. They pick apart their prey, while a fox would probably eat liver heart and stuff.


Were the guts found under a tree with posibly a horizontal limb above?