Lets hunt a species for which we have no data for

[nccatfisher]

I have a better one, say after 5 years of a license being issued if you haven't harvested at least one animal for the tags you have you loose privileges for those animals. Fair enough? If the state has to do all these surveys then the hunters should have to take some responsibilities on their end also.

 

[Ldsoldier]

This is simply an occupancy study.

Are there appalachian cottontails here.

No more or less.

Some biologist wants more data, they can get it.

Heck biologist don't want any data now.

If they didn't want data they wouldn't be doing the current study. Maybe they just don't want YOUR convoluted data…

 

[darkthirty]

CRC, I try to stay somewhat civil with all your posts, but dammit man, do you not understand that there are wildlife professionals on this forum that have already forgotten more about management than you could dig up on the Internet in a year!!! Research takes money and a lot of it. Everything sounds simple to those who have no clue, but it's not.
Ok, let's get a MS student and a PhD candidate to do a study, BAM, there's an instant $750k-1 million that needs to come from somewhere. Do you have it?? If so call NC state or UT and they will gladly take your money to research Peter freaking cottontail. What you fail to realize is that with every comment you make, you show your complete ignorance and lack of understanding of how research takes place. Therefore no one takes anything you post with any concern.
It pisses me the $&)@ off every time someone starts criticizing a wildlife or fisheries professionals. Those same people busted there asses on research while getting there degrees that were meant to help people like you. But just because some research doesn't fit your agenda, you think it doesn't matter. As a fishery professional, it's people like you that make our jobs difficult. I try to be nice to you and everyone else on here, but when you start criticizing "professionals", it f'ing pisses me the he!! off. If you don't like what this state does then get the hell back to wherever you came from. I apologize for the rant, but freaking educate yourself brother on how the system works!!

 

[Ldsoldier]

Darkthirty, he thinks you do it just like his middle school science fair project. Go set a few box traps, maybe take some pictures, and voila, write it up… <shakes head>

 

[Justin]

Why would you "go back where you came from" if you live at home while Daddy keeps you up?


I wouldn't either if my dad told me I could live with him and pay my way..... After I was grown enough to do so.

 

[Frostcat]

A few thoughts from an old rabbit hunter. I started hunting rabbits in the late 70's and had a pack of beagles for over thirty years so I know a little about mountain rabbits. First to say that wildlife biologists do not want to study something is hardly true, after all that's what they do. I have seen them do studies on things from northern flying squirrels to salamanders. They put nesting boxes in some very remote areas for flying squirrels, and used metal flashing as a barrier to direct salamanders into a 5 gallon bucket buried down to the rim to trap them. So probably the only reason that the Appalachian Cottontail has not been studied is, as some have pointed out,the lack of funding. If they have been collecting heads from hunters then I would say they are on their radar screen. As a mountain rabbit hunter, we know that there is a difference in the rabbits at the higher elevations. I've hunted a lot at Sam's Knob in the Shining Rock Wilderness and other high elevation areas. South facing ridges that are thick with mountain laurel will hold a lot of rabbits in winter. You might not kill many, but these rabbits will run the legs of a beagle. I've had some unbelievably long races on these rabbits, unlike the field rabbits at lower elevations. They would make a beeline for a hole after being jumped, especially after coyotes became plentiful. I always hated a cowardly lazy rabbit Also environmentalists and animal rights groups can use a species like this as a poster child to further there agenda. The red wolf in eastern North Carolina or the spotted owl out west come to mind.

 

[ellwoodjake]

A few thoughts from an old rabbit hunter. I started hunting rabbits in the late 70's and had a pack of beagles for over thirty years so I know a little about mountain rabbits. First to say that wildlife biologists do not want to study something is hardly true, after all that's what they do. I have seen them do studies on things from northern flying squirrels to salamanders. They put nesting boxes in some very remote areas for flying squirrels, and used metal flashing as a barrier to direct salamanders into a 5 gallon bucket buried down to the rim to trap them. So probably the only reason that the Appalachian Cottontail has not been studied is, as some have pointed out,the lack of funding. If they have been collecting heads from hunters then I would say they are on their radar screen. As a mountain rabbit hunter, we know that there is a difference in the rabbits at the higher elevations. I've hunted a lot at Sam's Knob in the Shining Rock Wilderness and other high elevation areas. South facing ridges that are thick with mountain laurel will hold a lot of rabbits in winter. You might not kill many, but these rabbits will run the legs of a beagle. I've had some unbelievably long races on these rabbits, unlike the field rabbits at lower elevations. They would make a beeline for a hole after being jumped, especially after coyotes became plentiful. I always hated a cowardly lazy rabbit Also environmentalists and animal rights groups can use a species like this as a poster child to further there agenda. The red wolf in eastern North Carolina or the spotted owl out west come to mind.

You talkin' about the "small-eared" rabbits around Graveyard fields? Always hated getting on them as well. Better get them on the first loop, or they go underground. Are those the appalachian cottontails? They also seem to be a little tougher than your run of the mill "hayfield rabbit". We have fur, and blood trailed quite a few of these parkway bunnies straight into a hole after a few low-brass hits. On the plus side, there seems to be plenty of them, once you get up high.

 

[Frostcat]

I have been out of the beagle business for a long time and have not hunted up there even longer than that. I remember them being larger in body than cottontails from the lower elevations. The ones around Sam's Knob could take the dogs on a really long run and did not seem to want to go in the holes quickly. I heard that there is a whole lot more rabbit hunting going on up there now that when I hunted it.

 

[Ldsoldier]

I have been out of the beagle business for a long time and have not hunted up there even longer than that. I remember them being larger in body than cottontails from the lower elevations. The ones around Sam's Knob could take the dogs on a really long run and did not seem to want to go in the holes quickly. I heard that there is a whole lot more rabbit hunting going on up there now that when I hunted it.

The only definitive way to ID an Appalachian from an eastern is to clean the skull and examine it. That’s why the WRC was collecting the heads. I don’t know if they still are. The biologist that started the study eventually left and works as a Iineman for Duke Power now, and there’s a new curator of mammals at the museum where they were cleaning the skulls, as well. I don’t know if this fell through the cracks during the transitions or not. It would be good to know, though.

 

[Downeast]

https://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Learning/documents/Profiles/Mammals/Appalachian_Cottontail_WildlifeProfile.pdf