6 



farmers' BULLETIN 702. 



of such natural enemies, rabbits, as well as rats and mice, often become 

 a menace to valuable crops. Indiscriminate slaughter of carnivorous 

 birds and mammals should be suppressed whenever rodent pests are 

 to be controlled. 



HUNTING. 



Hunting has been the most important factor in keeping down 

 the numbers of rabbits in America. In some parts of the country the 

 animals have been so reduced in numbers by shooting that sportsmen 

 have invoked legislation to prevent their extermination. Shooting is 

 undoubtedly the best method for hunting this animal. Ferreting is 

 often impracticable, since our native rabbits do not habitually bur- 

 row ; besides, the use of ferrets is forbidden by law in many States 

 that protect the rabbit. Coursing with gre}^hounds is popular in the 

 West, where the swifter jack rabbits are abundant. Cottontails are 

 often chased with foxhounds, but the beagle is rapidly taking prece- 

 dence as a favorite for hunting these animals, the gun being used to 

 secure the game. 



Where the country is sufficiently open for the purpose, the organ- 

 ized hunt, in which everyone who owns a gun is supposed to take 

 part, is a good means of reducing the number of rabbits. These 

 organized hunts are popular in the West, where they are also varied, 

 in the case of jack rabbits, by what is known as the "rabbit drive." 

 .V large territory is surrounded by men and the animals are driven 

 into a corral built of wire netting. While a few cottontails are some- 

 times included in the catch, these usually find refuge in open burrows 

 or under cover of rocks or brush, so that this method is hardly appli- 

 cable to them. 



TRAPPING. 



Eabbits are easily trapped or snared, and while these methods of 

 taking them are slow, they are always feasible when cottontails 

 infest woodlot, orchard, nursery, field, or garden. Many are caught in 

 old-fashioned box traps set with a figure-4 trigger with cord attached 

 to hold up the box lid. 



An improvement on this familiar trap, widely used in the Middle 

 West, and often called the Wellhouse 1 trap, is a box 21 inches long 

 and about 6 inches high and 4 inches wide (inside measurements) 

 made of 6-inch fence boards, preferably old ones. The box is closed 

 at the rear and has a wire door in front which swings inward from 

 the top, a cleat at the bottom preventing its opening outward. The 

 trap is set and the wire door kept open by a wire trigger-rod held in 

 place by two staples in the top of the box. The trigger-rod is bent 

 downward into a loop or figure 8 near the rear of the trap. As the 



1 After the late Mr. Fred Wellhouse, of Topeka, Kans. 



