Rabbits are delicious in a pie! Simply shoot them, even an air rifle will do it. They are very nutritious indeed.
Regards.
Neil.

Not to someone who has the domestic ones as pets.

My dear Marilyn, no not domestic ones as they have fat on them. Wild rabbits have nearly no fat at all, are organic and are very good for you!
A good large cooking apple is what you meed! For rabbit inside one of them is totally delicious!
Regards.
Neil.

Wild rabbits are so cute!

We don't like them killed no matter how and where.

My sister is having problems with rabbits destroying her yard. She said she would shoot them, but they are so cute. Another animal lover! I'll pass on the rabbit. Good for me or not I'm not about to eat a rabbit, unless I was starving and then I wonder.........

I've heard of folks planting clover in their yard, away from the garden. The rabbits eat the clover and leave the veggies alone.

I can neither confirm nor deny this story.

Dear Marilyn, i know people like wild Rabbits and to some people they are a nice sight! However we do not have a choice on the matter! Under the 1970 and 1971 pest act and the 1981 Wildlife & Countryside Act and as amended i985 Wildlife & Countryside Act They are deemed as an Agricultural and Horticultural pest! So if you own a farm or are into Horticulture and you do not control the wild Rabbits, M.A.F.F. (Ministry of Food and Fisheries), count how many per Acre and if the number is too high and the damage too great, they control them for you. Then they send the landowner a massive bill, for their work. As you can imagine a massive bill (in the thousands of pounds), is not welcome by most farmers or plant growers.
Wild rabbits if cooked right taste like Chicken anyway, with no fat and are organic.

Neil.

Neil,what kind of rabbits are you speaking of? I was really amazed that yall have so many!! I can see how they could be a problem to people who depend on their crops for food or money.I grew up on a farm and have eaten rabbit as well as squirrel when i was younger.Now i still live in the country but no longer eat them because i don't have to.I have a pair that come in my front yard and sometimes see them them on the side of country roads but nothing like your talking about.I was just curious what kind of rabbit or how big are these rabbits?Is it 1 type of rabbit,the big jack rabbits,i don't remember the last time i seen a big one. Just curious!!

One year when I lost my job I lived the entire summer eating wild rabbits and squirrels. Leanest meat you can get! I was never so healthy. Wouldn't kill one now unless I was hungry.

Dear jojoe, there are i believe 80 species of wild Rabbits in the world! Our ones are a pest especially to dairy farmers, as they produce Rabbit rings. These are the rings they eat the grass from and put saliva on. The grass is then too short for cattle, and they will not eat where Rabbits have been! So we have to get rid of them as there are thousands of them and Squirrels.
We barter them as shooting etiquette states you must always offer the farmer some, although he/she is glad to see the back of them. Most farmers, as we need permission to shoot on any land, will swap you some bacon or vegetables for a couple of Rabbits!
When I was at University I had no money and lived on Rabbits, Squirrels, Pheasant, Guinea fowl, Partridge, Quail, Deer and anything the farmers would let me have. Never been as well, no fat totally organic and lovely!
Believe me the things are everywhere as it rains here a lot so there is always plenty of stuff for Rabbits to eat and the Deer! One of the local parks in London is teeming with Rabbits and Deer!
They are in some places out of control, so MAFF have to sort them out and the Railways as they collapse embankments! You would not like to be on a train and a landslide stops it rather quickly due to Rabbits!
We are but a small island and they are everywhere! There is even a song about them!
Regards.
Neil.
p.s. I do hope you understand.

I thought the bun-buns were cute, too, until I was overrun by cottontails here. Not a day goes by that I don't see at least a dozen of them in my front yard alone. I no longer think they are cute given how destructive they really are; however, shooting is not legal where I live.

A nursery suggested bloodmeal to me years ago but, after a month or so, the rabbits ignored it no matter how heavy I spread it (perhaps because the population is so high??). I now grow a "Mini-hedge" of society garlic around the garden beds and that is working well (at least for now). But I do have bare dirt where I once had nice lawn grass

Use ferrets or pole cats, that is not shooting them and they like to sort them out.
Regards.
Neil.

We recently discovered a weasel (baby) down in our vege garden and are hopeful that he/she and the rest of the family will thin out the population.

I love weasels, but with ferrets you can eat the rabbits afterwards! You can't with weasels!
Regards
Neil.

I don't know a great deal about ferrets (other than not believing someone when they tell you their "pet" ferret doesn't bite, has never bitten, is an absolute love, etc, etc, etc.... - it bit me in under 3 seconds) but I don't believe that it is legal to purchase them or keep them where I live - though many people do.

I do remember that about 25 or 30 years ago, one of our major grocery chains carried rabbit at the meat counter but I believe that they dropped it within a year or so. From what I understand, when cooked properly, it can pass as veal as well as chicken.

I totally understand!! We have a lot of coyotes so i'm guessing they must keep the rabbit population down.The squirrels are another story they have become such a "pain" I'm tired of replanting my semp's in the rock garden,the squirrels don't eat them but they dig them up while digging for acorns.Other than digging holes they really don't bother anything.There's a stream down back and we see deer from time to time back there but not a whole lot.My hubby does hunt deer,turkey etc... He said the other day it looked like it was time to thin out the squirrel population,but it's young small ones doing all the digging,the older,bigger ones stay out of the yard.

I had no idea that rabbits could cause so many problems.We have coyotes to deal with.They are dangerous at least i don't let my grandbabies play outside at night unless they are in the middle of the yard and in well lit area's.They hunt in packs and can take down young calf's,fawn's,small dogs.I wouldn't be surprised if they would go after a small child if hungry!!

Good luck to you & yours Neil !!

My previous cat brought the babies to me...
They're not so cute when they're having babies inside of the garden fence!
I just posted an article on home-made repellents.

OldGardener said:

A nursery suggested bloodmeal to me years ago but, after a month or so, the rabbits ignored it no matter how heavy I spread it (perhaps because the population is so high??).

Update: I tried blood meal again after being over-run by rabbits in a newly scaped section of yard (no society garlic in this area). This time, it has been extremely effective in driving the rabbits away. We used a different brand and purchased from a different vendor so may be that is the reason (ie., fresher or more potent?). Regardless, there is no longer any bunny traffic or damage.