Did a little search, but could not find what i was looking for.
Does anyone make a bait with rabbit as the base?
A couple studies i read showed rabbit was hands down the preferred food(like 3x higher than other food)

I use rabbit quarters for bait in big dirt holes. Was by far the most productive bait in these sets last year. Use a back leg or the front half (Head and front legs). I eat most rabbits I kill, but some get thrown in a hole. Never tried making a bait base, but fresh is what I was working with.

I just cut up the meat and the fur then mixed them together with some sodium benzoate and it worked pretty good.

I grind everything but the head guts and the easy fur to get off. Mix in a little dobbins bait solution and it makes pretty good bait

To answer the original question: Yes, I do. I have for 15-20 years. Your research was correct in areas of rabbit (cottontail, snowshoe and jack) habitat it is the predominant food source in the canine droppings examined by biologist during certain times of the year.

Preferred and predominant are too different things. Personally I've seen studies were rabbit are their main food at times but I haven't seen a study that found it was their preferred food. But I haven't seen every study.

I tried domestic rabbit and it did not work well. I would think wild rabbit would be better. Domestic rabbit bedding and urine makes a great attractor however.

Yes Sir, you are right but in Ma Nature's Kitchen a preferred meal may not come to pass very often during trapping season. It may be short lived like deer gut piles (for 2 weeks out of the year), or a 1000 lb. steer belly up in the cattle grave yard.. If trying to mimic another canine's buried "stash" A.K.A. the dirt hole set, a rabbit probably fits the bill as good as any other if they (rabbits) are common prey species. I've watched my dogs bury a preferred "treat" many times around the place here so I know there are preferred (better tasting) foods for animals. I've watched from the combine as I approached the end rows while a coyote sat and waited for a rabbit or mouse or a pheasant as it tried to exit the end only to become dinner. Seen coyotes parallel the moving combine doing the same thing when the machine acted as the driver and any prey trying to side step the header was "toast if they ducked back into the standing crop. Since we have started using more narrow row spacing (15-20") in corn - beans this activity is not as frequent anymore (or maybe I can't see as good as I used to - Ha). I still see a few yotes picking mice but it seems its more calorie output than they want to expend to catch bigger prey as it darts between narrow rows. Really with No-Till farming there is an "Ocean of mice" and voles for canines to eat here until deeper snows put them under and are harder to get. Rabbits still have to come out and are vulnerable to predation during those times even in deep snow. I make bait out of rabbit and try something new just like you younger guys every year. Most natural meat type prey has worked for me and can't say one is "preferred" over some of the 3 or 4 others I use. Look at the droppings and see what is being eaten (right now its lots of grasshoppers here). Just my take.

shane that's a bummer I just ground up a huge domestic last week! My dog found it before its owner did! lol but she was nice enough to bring it to me before mauling it to badly! I was in high hopes of it making a decent yote bait!The deeds done it will get used.

It may work just fine for you. I just mix mine with pork and make it into sausage now lol.

One thing that does work much better is stillborn or deceased domestic rabbit kits ground up into a paste untainted. I have made small quantities (about a quart) of that on a couple occasions and it worked well on fox and cats. I just added sodium benzonate to preserve it. I think I still have about a half a quart in the lure fridge.

INTERESTING! I think mine will work its 60/40 with leftover bto chunks ground to a paste.

This.

Chunked rabbit with tuffs of hide/fur down the hole .

I use jackrabbit's most of the time here they are everywhere. I tant and mix's with Dobbins bate mix works great everywhere I go even where they aren't

I just got my license about a week ago,so all this is new to me. When you say you grind up the rabbits,how do you do it? Do you throw the whole thing in a meat grinder,or do you gut and skin first? Could I butcher it for consumption and just use the leftovers?

Nefru, welcome!

For me i plan to use what i dont eat.
I will cut off head and use for one set. The rest will go through a hand crank grinder and then bagged and frozen

Does anyone use rabbit fur to soak up lures, I've done it with opossum skin to make the lure last longer and a visual attractant

I made some bait this summer with tainted rabbit meat, Reuwsaat's Bait Solution, and SB but it soured on me!