Upstate, that was good , lol

That's what I do tell myself , if times get hard, and I need some food...that's my story and I'm stickin to it !

Pet, pet pet......

That is why I don't shoot the Grouse in the apple trees here at the house. It isn't because I would rather watch them instead of shoot them, it is because they are an emergency food source.............

Food on the hoof,,so to speak.

Is Miss Lisa's rabbit Nuttal's cottontail not what everyone down past over the 100 meridian calls cotton tails -Eastern variety

auto-correct

my daughter had a lion's mane, rabbit, it was loose to run and mate with cotton tails, which it did right in front of the window, but it would get just covered in fleas it was terrible, we would dust it but in two weeks it would be covered in fleas again, Sharon do yours get fleas.

never saw any mix breeds , have you?

Ha, North50, I saw that “auto correction “ !

TD, lions mane rabbits are neat little things. I really like Rex rabbits, their fur is like velvet.

Mine aren’t Rex, not sure what breed or cross they are. They just showed up from somewhere down the road , there’s only about a handful of neighbors, all a good distance apart, so these first ones had traveled a distance before they found their paradise, my place …

They all become so tame with me, I can pet them, look in their fur to the skin, even inspect the inside of their ears. They are as clean as can be. I’ve spent time doing this every so often . I haven’t seen one flea, not one tick. Seriously. I do keep a clean estate, ground squirrels and tree squirrels are kept out , every one I see. Those can spread fleas , but they never have chance to live here. So that helps my rabbits. I feel those things would also kill baby rabbits that mine produce, and I don’t allow that nonsense, either .

I always wondered if these would cross with my snowshoe hares that also travel in here. Time will tell , I suppose.

All I know is that I’m having fun, petting my rabbits. And watching how fast they can bolt from standstill, how they make me smile when they do zoomies in circles around the place.

sounds great

It is, TD, I am really having fun with these "tribbles" ( trekkies get that name )

I and my grandkids would love to have rabbits loose, but the predators would have them in a day or two.

Yes that's the worry. I too have taken my share of predators out of the equation. I won't take no mess. I feel bad about this, that my rabbits have to be every bit as wild and fast to survive. Along with the winters.

I just don't want to go to the effort, time and expense, to have built a "coop" set up for them, with a wire run , windows, heat , etc. This has been a nice surprise for me since they've been here. If I went to the expense to keep them contained, I may as well have my chooks again.

They really seem to do well in a semi wild state here. With my help and my firepower. I just take things as they come with this.

Thanks for all the excellent picture and artwork (Sharon) Plus the exchange of info .Rabbits are e a prolific prey species in the predator/prey food chain .And when it comes to the population of rabbits cover is the number 1 reason for the quantity of them being available there for the predators to catch and eat .Every predator animal that is able to catch a rabbit will try to catch them One of the most amazing things I ever witnessed with my own eyes was the time I as walking along a small streambank in a pasture the stream was about 3feet wide and about just a few inches to a foot to so deep There was some heavy patches of brush along the water the deer would often times bed in So I was walking along and working the cover in hopes of jumping a deer I stopped to check out a patch f multiflora rose and other weeds I noticed motion in the water and saw a small mink swimming towards me It had a cottontail rabbit in it's mouth The rabbit was floating on top of the water Even though the rabbit was 2 to 3 times bigger than the mink the mink was moving along without any problems As it as taking that rabbit to a safe place to hole up and have a heartly rabbit stew for the next several days Just like the photos and artwork shown in this thread I can see in my minds eye the very small mink providing transportation the it's next few days food supply .The thing about wildlife is it is a never ending source of entertainment

Props for using " leverette"!!!

We used to raise hundreds.
Now, just a handful for personal.consumption.

Dave, all my fun aside, I absolutely love rabbit meat. There used to be a retired man who raised the big ones , butchered and sold them himself. I can't recall the pounds I bought from him. Nice older man. This was years ago. He retired the rabbit business and I have not found anyone since , within commutable miles that does this as he did.

4H probably has touch with any local folks selling , I should just find a local club and contact them.

WS151, interesting info, and thank you. I saw video of a marten chasing a hare in winter. It was tenacious until it caught the hare.

Come now, Hoss, isn't that what the stuff of life and fun is all about ? Making sure your heart is beating up to par with a sudden jumpstart ?

When they spook like that, you can actually hear their muscles as they contract into that jump. And feel those large muscle masses gather and pop right through the saddle. The sound those muscles make, only in those times of explosive reaction, I can't even describe. It is a sound in a realm of its own. It is a split second in duration, and if there is other noise around, you can't hear it .

Life is fun !

I see ppl trying to evaluate a young horse for a hunter / jumper and acting like it's rocket science. It's not! Lay a yellow hose accross a sandy alley and use a Walmart bag on a sortin rod to drive a horse across it. You will see every bit of his potential I promise!