Mowing Rabbits

[woodlandfarms]

So I am spending my summer working in Vancouver BC and saw this little PSA on Rabbit Nests. As most of us mow, maybe it will save someone from that awful feeling I know I have had for someone else....


A Baby Rabbits' Nest Could Be Hiding In That Patch Of Dead Grass On Your Lawn

 

[Texasmark]

I have seen them and best I know, never butchered one but they are there and it's part of doing the job so you just have to either live with it or quit. I provide a lot of ground cover so for any I may have butchered unknowingly, I have made it possible for many replacements to occur.

 

[nybirdman]

Lots of nature's little creatures about this time of year.I don't bush-hog my own property until August because of this.The local farmers kill many fawns and I am sure rabbits and birds this time of year.First cut is about June 15 which is also peak fawning time.

 

[rd_macgregor]

When I mow the fields, the hawks, ravens and foxes follow me around the fields to snap up the casualties...mostly mice and voles...(we have no deer here, so fawns aren't among the injured).

 

[Bird]

When I mow the fields, the hawks, ravens and foxes follow me around the fields to snap up the casualties...mostly mice and voles...(we have no deer here, so fawns aren't among the injured).

I had hawks and coyotes following me to pick up the casualties when I was cutting hay. And I once hit a young cottontail rabbit with the string trimmer when trimming around the barn. He was old enough that he'd left the nest, but that string trimmer killed him instantly and pretty well tore him up in the process. I hated that.

 

[RSKY]

If you have land signed up in a government program, land set aside, you cannot mow until October. You must mow it in strips every other year but not too soon so animals can raise their young.

I had forgotten this until this post. I have to disk half of it and mow the other half this fall.

RSKY

 

[rustydollar]

I had hawks and coyotes following me to pick up the casualties when I was cutting hay. And I once hit a young cottontail rabbit with the string trimmer when trimming around the barn. He was old enough that he'd left the nest, but that string trimmer killed him instantly and pretty well tore him up in the process. I hated that.

Slugs are always a treat when using a string trimmer.

 

[Bird]

Slugs are always a treat when using a string trimmer.

Might be a little messy.:laughing:

 

[mddorange]

When I mow the fields, the hawks, ravens and foxes follow me around the fields to snap up the casualties...mostly mice and voles...(we have no deer here, so fawns aren't among the injured).

I know what you mean there.

When rototilling, my oldest granddaughters like to see who can stomp to death the most field mice. I encourage it with a prize to the winner.

 

[Deere Dude]

I have seen snapping turtles, possums, skunks, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons etc and all of them are a nuisance. They eat garden vegetables, grub and make holes in the lawn, chew on wiring and attract buzzards.

Does any one here just blast away at them indiscriminately even when young because young ones will grow up to be nuisances?

 

[rustydollar]

I have seen snapping turtles, possums, skunks, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons etc and all of them are a nuisance. They eat garden vegetables, grub and make holes in the lawn, chew on wiring and attract buzzards.

Does any one here just blast away at them indiscriminately even when young because young ones will grow up to be nuisances?

Kill off the buzzards and the possums then you'll have to clean up your own mess of carrion or create some creative culinary skills.

 

[PJSprog]

I have seen snapping turtles, possums, skunks, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons etc and all of them are a nuisance. They eat garden vegetables, grub and make holes in the lawn, chew on wiring and attract buzzards.

Does any one here just blast away at them indiscriminately even when young because young ones will grow up to be nuisances?

Um, no. I don't see the point in wiping all living creatures from the area. If I'm not going to eat it, then I'm not going to shoot it. The sole exception is if it becomes a threat. A 'yote trotting across the field is a living animal looking for food. Part of the natural ecosystem. However, that same 'yote trotting across my yard towards my cat is a target looking for ventilation. Big difference.

 

[CajunRider]

I got rabbits all around me but has never gotten one with my rotary cutter. Even the babies are fast enough to get away. The hawks however got a couple of them. Last evening I was mowing in a cloud of purple martins going after the mosquitoes I stirred up from the grass.

 

[SteveM70]

Um, no. I don't see the point in wiping all living creatures from the area. If I'm not going to eat it, then I'm not going to shoot it. The sole exception is if it becomes a threat. A 'yote trotting across the field is a living animal looking for food. Part of the natural ecosystem. However, that same 'yote trotting across my yard towards my cat is a target looking for ventilation. Big difference.

:thumbsup:

 

[theg]

:drink:

 

[wdchyd]

Um, no. I don't see the point in wiping all living creatures from the area. If I'm not going to eat it, then I'm not going to shoot it. The sole exception is if it becomes a threat. A 'yote trotting across the field is a living animal looking for food. Part of the natural ecosystem. However, that same 'yote trotting across my yard towards my cat is a target looking for ventilation. Big difference.

:thumbsup:........My mutley furbuddies would love to chase a few bunnies on this thread though ( Christmas Pass 2010 - YouTube )

 

[WM75Guy]

I hate to run over them. I was mowing the horse paddocks the other night and my wife asked why I was stopping and honking the horn. I explained the rabbits would run in the grass and stop in front of me. I was scaring them off. She just laughed.

 

[Ortimber]

Every year, we end up mowing a fawn when cutting hay. It sucks. The birds get a good meal out of it though.

 

[TheMan419]

I am sure I have gotten birds when mowing the paddocks. Sad.

Now mice and raccoons are a different story. Open season as they are bad around horses.

 

[ovrszd]

If you have land signed up in a government program, land set aside, you cannot mow until October. You must mow it in strips every other year but not too soon so animals can raise their young.

I had forgotten this until this post. I have to disk half of it and mow the other half this fall.

RSKY

Totally dependent on the program. They all vary.