Jack Rabbit Cottontail Census Southern California

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ND4OM

ND4OM

Member
Feb 22, 2020
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CA, United States
Hello everyone, with the price of fuel ( and a second bout of the wuhan flu, I haven't been vaxed and plan on staying that way) I haven't been out in the desert hunting for some time, but I plan to do so through the rest of the year. As long as the fire hazard stays low. Cotton tail season is coming up, and Jacks are always fair game so I want to get out and get some game in the freezer.

I'm just wondering if anyone has been out in the desert in Socal and has an idea of the jack rabbit and cotton tail populations this year. We had another limited rainy season this
spring so I'm not too optimistic. But I was just wondering what you are seeing in your areas. I usually hunt east Hwy 111 towards Palm Springs and Hwy 62 north on of course BLM land.

I'm just heading out to test out some home made arrows for my Benjamin Bulldog, I got tired of waiting on the Air Venturi airbolts and I wanted to go a more affordable route, I'll let you know if they look promising.

NDFOM
 
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JohnL57 said:
I live on the central coast-in the 2021 season the cottontail population took a dip after the 2019-2020 population explosion. I'm seeing the cottontails in all the usual locations, but the numbers seem to be low and everything I see is extra wary this season, even the juvenile ground squirrels.
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Thanks JohnL57

I appreciate the feed back, yeah 2020 was a good year for the cotton tails but it has bottomed out.
 
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qball said:
2021 was exceptionally dry which is likely the cause for low numbers(I’ve also seen) like @JohnL57 said. I’m hoping this year after the increased rain the rabbit population will rebound. Sadly I moved out of socal 5 years ago so not much help but good luck hunting!

I might get out for the rabbits this year again also.
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Thanks qball, I'm guessing your a baldy like me from your handle. I might try to get out early this weekend to check things out. Anyone from Redlands Inland Empire area, the two areas that I have have been to in the past are the west side of Snow Creek road, you'll need a four wheel drive to get in. To get there take I-10 eastbound and get off on the Hwy 111 exit to Palm Springs, look for the first turn off on the right, that is snow creek road, you'll see a high voltage power line bisects the BLM land on the right side of Snow Creek road. I usually follow the powerline up towards the base of the mountain where the the BLM boundary ends.

The other area that I have limited hunting was 2020 off of Devils Garden Road. Again take I-10 east bound and exit onto Hwy 62 (29 Palms Hwy) north and turn left onto Kolbe Road, I usually take the second road on the right past the Devils Garden Road.

I'll include OnX map screen shots of both areas as I might not make it out there so other folks can scope it out.

Devils Garden BLM land area.png


Snow Creek Road.png
 
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Up at our local shooting range (Central Coast) I'm seeing a lot more cottontails and jacks this year, but we don't shoot them there. And we just saw a big jack on our afternoon bike ride, in a housing development on a golf course - first time we've seen one there.

Ground squirrel population seemed to go down last year with the drought. Picked back up in the early Spring, but as said above they have gotten really wary. I used to be able to set up and get them with a short wait. But now I can't get to the same spots any more before they have bolted. More off hand body shots from longer distances. Although just last weekend I saw a lot more juvenile ground squirrels, who are no longer around to get fat and wary. ;) It was the first blood for the new Jager Evo XP, and that rifle is going to be a great little hunter at the longer distances I now have to shoot.
 
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TMH said:
Up at our local shooting range (Central Coast) I'm seeing a lot more cottontails and jacks this year, but we don't shoot them there. And we just saw a big jack on our afternoon bike ride, in a housing development on a golf course - first time we've seen one there.

Ground squirrel population seemed to go down last year with the drought. Picked back up in the early Spring, but as said above they have gotten really wary. I used to be able to set up and get them with a short wait. But now I can't get to the same spots any more before they have bolted. More off hand body shots from longer distances. Although just last weekend I saw a lot more juvenile ground squirrels, who are no longer around to get fat and wary. ;) It was the first blood for the new Jager Evo XP, and that rifle is going to be a great little hunter at the longer distances I now have to shoot.
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Howdy TMH, I can imagine that the golf course would be eager to remove those Jacks, as the cotton tails will be sure to follow, maybe there is a hunting permission option for someone in the area, before they become a nuisance. Kind of funny I live in Redlands very close to the city border of Loma Linda, almost any empty lot is full of ground squirrels, today while out for a drive I saw two coyote pups, against a 500 foot dirt wall, the base of a residential housing on San Mateo Road. About a month ago while walking I saw an adult coyote running towards this den. I only saw 2 coyote pups but there could be
more. Last year in our area there were quite a few Missing Cat Wanted posters up so I think the coyote's are eating good. I'll include a map where I saw the pups head into a well hidden den. The yellow square box is where I saw the coyote pups head into the den.

coyote den map.png
 
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My experience with jackrabbits are they generally don't dwindle much, they move to a more habitable area. Dry months the animals such as birds of prey, predators such as coyote, fox and bobcats become more desperate and tend to work themselves out of regular territory to hunt. Jackrabbits are equipped to inhabit and survive extreme conditions getting water from a variety of plants. I've found them thriving in one of the hottest parts of Death Valley, places you would never think to believe an animal could survive. The best advice for them is to find boxed canyon areas that tend to have slightly greener vegetation. When hunting them with an airgun I like to work as to flush them where they have to move up a hill, that gives a good opportunity for a reasonable shot. Starting early or late in the day are the best times although you can find them hanging out in the middle of the day under base of sagebrush or Joshua Trees. Cottontails, unlike Jackrabbits are heavily affected by lack of rainfall and tend to always move to higher elevations, something to think about when hunting them in natural wilderness environments during hot months. Gas prices don't make anything easier but we still do what we do at any price.
 
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lbc_PSI said:
DFG put out a memo last year that cottontail were hit with a virus that had a 80-90% fatality rate. That was evident near my location in SoCal. I’ve see a few this year but no where near the numbers of 2 years ago.
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Yikes! I looked up and there seems to be a few cases reported this year also! I hope it doesn’t get out of hand.
 
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Crosman999 said:
My experience with jackrabbits are they generally don't dwindle much, they move to a more habitable area. Dry months the animals such as birds of prey, predators such as coyote, fox and bobcats become more desperate and tend to work themselves out of regular territory to hunt. Jackrabbits are equipped to inhabit and survive extreme conditions getting water from a variety of plants. I've found them thriving in one of the hottest parts of Death Valley, places you would never think to believe an animal could survive. The best advice for them is to find boxed canyon areas that tend to have slightly greener vegetation. When hunting them with an airgun I like to work as to flush them where they have to move up a hill, that gives a good opportunity for a reasonable shot. Starting early or late in the day are the best times although you can find them hanging out in the middle of the day under base of sagebrush or Joshua Trees. Cottontails, unlike Jackrabbits are heavily affected by lack of rainfall and tend to always move to higher elevations, something to think about when hunting them in natural wilderness environments during hot months. Gas prices don't make anything easier but we still do what we do at any price.
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Great information, I'm kind of an old fart 66 soon, I was thinking of using my blind, with camo shade and a jack rabbit distress call to get the varmints closer for a good clean shot. I know that they are very curious when other jacks are in trouble, what are your thoughts?
 
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ND4OM said:
Great information, I'm kind of an old fart 66 soon, I was thinking of using my blind, with camo shade and a jack rabbit distress call to get the varmints closer for a good clean shot. I know that they are very curious when other jacks are in trouble, what are your thoughts?
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Sometimes that can work in Spring, I've only been successful with calling them a few times.
 
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Yearly cycles of high and low numbers is the norm. You can offset that by making protein ( intended of deer in most cases ) avaliable to rabbits in the area you like to hunt. When stressed they breed far less when they have high quality food and accessible water they breed like ya know rabbits. Of course you must also do all you can to control predators as well. If you set up a feed station for rabbits you will see their numbers increase.
 
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