This year's rabbit hunter cooperator report is a compilation of 2 surveys done annually by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) on rabbit production, hunter effort, and success. The first, the rabbit hunting log, is a diary-type hunting log which asks for information including date of hunt, county hunted, hours hunted, number of hunters, number of dogs, number of eastern cottontail rabbits, swamp rabbits, and Appalachian cottontail rabbits (jumped, harvested, wounded). Hunting log instructions asked hunters to keep the log up to date as the hunting season progressed. Over the years we get trend data on hunter effort, pressure over the course of the season, and jump and harvest rates. Harvest rates for different rabbit species were calculated using the total number of hunts and total number of hours in those hunts a rabbit species was jumped. If Appalachian cottontails or swamp rabbits were jumped, it was assumed Appalachian or swamp rabbits were being hunted. If eastern cottontails were jumped and an Appalachian cottontail or swamp rabbit was jumped, it was assumed the Appalachian cottontail or swamp rabbit was being hunted. If no rabbits were jumped, it was assumed the hunter was hunting eastern cottontail rabbits (strictly because eastern cottontails are far more common than the other 2 species and generally make up 98% of the annual harvest). Data were grouped into weekly and monthly subsets of information from the opening of hunting season through the end of hunting season. These subsets were utilized to look at changes in various statistics over the length of the hunting season. The hunters were asked to return the logs at the end of the season. Hunters were assured the logs would be returned with a copy of the resulting report and a small gift as incentive to participate. Hunting logs were available in the hunting and trapping guide, on the KDFWR web site (www.kdfwr.state.ky.us), or through KDFWR wildlife biologists, area managers, and conservation officers. KDFWR employees were asked to distribute the hunting logs to all known rabbit hunters and other interested individuals. Cooperators from last year’s survey were automatically sent a new hunting log for the next season and numerous hunting logs were mailed to individuals who contacted the reporting specialist.

The second survey, the mail carrier survey, gives us a look at the 2002 production of rabbits across thestate and an outlook as the 2002-03 season. Volunteer rural mail carriers recorded all observations of rabbits as they traveled 240,769 miles in the normal course of delivering mail. Individual observations were tabulated on census cards provided by the KDFWR. A free subscription to the department's "Kentucky Afield" magazine was offered to cooperating mail carriers. The blank survey cards were sent to postmasters in rural areas 1 week prior to the census period. The census was conducted the last full week (6 delivery days) of July. The cards provided space for a separate record of young and adult rabbits for each of the 6 survey dates. Each observer also recorded the number of days surveyed, the length of the route, and the total miles driven.

Rabbit observation data were collected and tabulated by county according to 8 physiographic regions of the state. These divisions have been utilized consistently throughout the 42 years of the survey and are illustrated in Appendix A.

1. 2001-02 Rabbit Hunting Log Survey Results

Hunting logs were received from 117 hunters who averaged 16 hunting trips for the season and provided data from 1,870 hunts. Average hunt length was 3.7 hours. These hunts occurred in 103 counties of the state (Appendix A). Hunters used an average of 4 dogs per hunt, with dogs being used on 96.7% of recorded hunts.

Total rabbits jumped averaged 7.4/hunt (2.0/hr.). Rabbits harvested averaged 3.0/hunt (0.8/hr). Figures 1 and 2 show jump and harvest rates by week and month of the season, respectively. These jump and harvest rates reflect a 1.3% decrease over the 2000-01 season. You can see that the rates were relatively steady when spread out over the weeks of season and, with the exception of the February drop off, were pretty consistent by month also.



Hunters harvested 6,198 (45.1%) of rabbits jumped. Hunters wounded but did not retrieve 318 (2.3%) of rabbits jumped. Assuming wounded rabbits do not survive, the total hunting mortality is 47.4% of rabbits jumped. Totals from the rabbit logs survey for the past 3 season are presented in below.

Data from the "Rabbit Hunting Log" Survey.

STATISTICS	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02
# of Cooperators	47	94	117
# of Hunts	526	1396	1870
# of Counties	69	98	103
Avg. # of Hunts/Hntr	11	15	16
Total # Hours Hntd	1977	5495	6857
Total # of Dogs Used	2180	5703	7396
Total# Eastern Jmpd	3029	10300	13509
Total # Eastern Hvstd	1116	4162	6081
Total # Eastern Wnd	61	257	316
Total # Swamp Jmpd	46	140	238
Total # Swamp Hvstd	10	43	111
Total # Swamp Wnd	0	5	1
Total # Appal Jmpd	40	74	11
Total # Appal Hvsdt	9	19	6
Total # Appal Wnd	1	3	1
% Hunting Mortality	38	40	47

Eastern cottontails jumped per hunting trip averaged 7.4. Swamp rabbits jumped per hunting trip averaged 4.9; while Appalachian cottontails jumped per hunting trip averaged 2.8. Averages for eastern, swamp, and Appalachian rabbits jumped, killed, and wounded/hunt and wounded/hour are presented below. Eastern cottontails made up 98.1% of the harvest.

Kentucky Rabbit Species Jump and Harvest Rates for the past 3 seasons.

	Eastern			Swamp			Appalachian
Year	99-00	00-01	01-02	99-00	00-01	01-02	99-00	00-01	01-02
Total # of Hunts	501	1345	1818	12	31	240	13	19	4
Jumped/Hunt	6.02	7.50	7.36	3.83	4.52	4.86	3.08	0.93	0.69
Jumped/Hour	1.60	1.93	2.02	1.02	0.78	0.99	0.82	3.89	2.75
Harvested/Hunt	2.22	3.02	3.31	0.83	1.39	2.27	0.69	0.24	0.38
Harvested/Hour	0.59	0.78	0.91	0.22	0.24	0.46	0.18	1.00	1.50
Wounded/Hunt	0.12	0.18	0.17	0.00	0.16	0.02	0.08	0.04	0.06
Wounded/Hour	0.03	0.05	0.05	0.00	0.03	0.00	0.02	0.16	0.25

 

Data from this year's hunting logs show that Appalachian cottontails were jumped 11 times this past season, with 6 being harvested. Reports of Appalachian cottontails are down over those from the past three years. Reports this season came from Rowan, McCreary, and Lewis counties.

Swamp rabbit harvests were reported from Rowan, Graves, Marshall, Union, Ohio, Henderson, McLean, Hopkins, Christian, and Muhlenberg counties this season. With the exception of Rowan county, each of these counties have previous records for this species (Sole 1994). It is most likely the reports from Rowan county are actually eastern cottontail or Appalachian cottontail reports which where entered into the database incorrectly. Further investigation including looking at records and possibly contacting hunters may be needed.

The highest jump rates for the state were found in the Inner Bluegrass Region. Rabbits jumped in that region averaged 9.9/hunt (2.4/hr.). The highest harvest rates were also found in the Inner Bluegrass Region, averaging 4.2/hunt (1.0/hr). The next highest jump rates came from Outer Bluegrass region with 8.6/hunt (2.4/hr). The lowest rates were found in the Jackson purchase region. Figure 3 shows rabbits jumped per hunt and hour as well as rabbits harvested per hunt and hour for each region of the state for the 2001-02 season.



Figures 4 and 5 show the hunts/available day broken down by week and month of the season. Peak weeks for rabbit hunting included the opening weekend, Thanksgiving Holiday and the weeks of the Christmas and New Year holidays. November and December had almost equal participation among hunters this past season. December received the most hunting pressure during the course of the season. February is less hunted with approximately one-third of the hunts/available day as the rest of the season.



During the 2001-02 season rabbit hunters averaged 16 trips/season with a 3.7-hour average hunt length. The number of hunts is up from the 2000-01 season average of 15 trips per season while the hunt length is down from last year's 3.9-hour average hunt. Rabbits jumped/hunt were down 1.3% this season over last year. Rabbits harvested/hunt rose 10% compared to last year (3.0-3.3). Hunting mortality for rabbits increased by 11%. The average Kentucky rabbit hunt this year consisted of 2.5 hunters with 4 dogs hunting 3.7 hours, jumping 7.4 rabbits and harvesting 3.3 rabbits.

2. Mail Carrier Survey Results

The mail carrier survey results give us a forecast on the upcoming rabbit season.

Mail carriers returned 752 of the approximately 1,100 survey cards issued for a response rate of 68.4%. A total of 4,381 rabbits (1.82 rabbits/100 miles) were observed statewide during the last week of July 2002 as the mail carriers drove 240,769 miles on rural roads. Juvenile rabbits comprised 58% of the rabbit observations as compared to 57.1% juveniles for the same sample period in 2001.

Observations of rabbits/100 miles by physiographic region and statewide are shown in Table 2. The statewide index was 1.82 rabbits/100 miles, a decrease of 12.5% over last year's observations. The 2002 index was 18.4% lower than the mean of 2.23 rabbits/100 miles observed for the years of 1961-2002.

*No data available for 1964.

Figure 6 shows the total rabbits observed/100 miles on a statewide basis throughout the last 42 years of this survey. The severe drop in population levels following the winters of 1977 and 1978 was plainly evident. The trend line shows an average rate of decline of 1.0 % per year over the life of the survey. The overall drop in rabbit numbers since the late 1960’s can be generally attributed to habitat losses due to land use changes. This is the first year of a lower statewide index after two years of increases.

The 2002 indices ranged from 2.59 rabbits/100 miles in the Eastern PennyroyalPhysiographic Region to 0.86 rabbits/100miles in the Jackson Purchase Physiographic Region. Increases in rabbit observations occurred in the Western Coalfield, Eastern Pennyroyal, and Inner Bluegrass physiographic regions. Decreases in rabbit observations occurred in the Jackson Purchase, Western Pennyroyal, Hills of the Bluegrass, Eastern Coalfield, and Knobs-Outer Bluegrass physiographic regions. The percent change in the index from last year to this year can be found in Table 2 (above). On a statewide basis, rabbit sightings were down 12.5% over last year's index. Figures 7 through 10 depict the rabbit population indices by physiographic region throughout the survey’s history.

Overall the 2001-02 Rabbit season jump and harvest numbers were down 1.3 % over last season. This season looks like the numbers will be slightly lower. The mail carrier results varied regionally this year so hunters in a few regions may see slight increases in rabbit numbers while the rest of the state will see slightly lower numbers. Please encourage your hunting partners to participate in next year's survey. The more participants we have the more accurate picture we have of our rabbit populations. Thank you to all of our cooperators from this past season and good hunting this year.