MISSOURI RABBIT COUNT DOWN; SEASON OPENS TODAY

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- This past spring's cool and extremely wet weather has put a damper on Missouri's rabbit population. But Wildlife Research Biologist Thomas Dailey says most hunters who go afield won't be disappointed.

MDC's 1995 Wildlife Harvest and Population Status Report on cottontail rabbits showed their population is down for the third consecutive year. Total rabbit numbers in Missouri dropped 12 percent from 1994.

Missouri's rabbit season opens today and runs through Feb. 15.

The status report reflects the number of cottontails counted by conservation agents in July. Rabbits were counted along 20-mile routes in all the state's 114 counties except St. Louis and St. Charles.

"Despite the overall low number of rabbits statewide, there are areas where rabbit hunters will do well," says Dailey, who works at the Missouri Department of Conservation research center in Columbia. Rabbit numbers increased or held their own in only two of eight regions around the state. However, pockets of good rabbit populations can be found in all parts of the state where habitat is favorable.

In north-central Missouri, conservation agents reported seeing an average 1.4 rabbits per mile on their survey routes. That is up from 1.2 rabbits per mile last year and the same as the average over the past 10 years. In Northwest Missouri, conservation agents reported eight-tenths of a rabbit per mile.

That equals the number last year and the average for the past 10 years.

The decline in rabbit numbers in recent years has had little effect on some hunters' success rates. Dailey says that as the number of rabbits has declined, so has the number of rabbit hunters. That leaves more rabbits for the remaining hunters.

In Northeast Missouri, conservation agents found one rabbit per mile, down from 1.3 last year and over the previous 10 years.

In the western Ozark border and the Mississippi lowland region of Southeast Missouri, conservation agents reported seven-tenths of a rabbit per mile of route surveyed. That is the same number seen in the Mississippi lowland last year and a decrease from the 10-year average of one rabbit per mile there.

Statewide, the rabbit survey turned up seven-tenths of a rabbit per mile compared to eight-tenths last year and one rabbit per mile over the past 10 years.

Rabbit season opens Oct. 1 and runs through Feb. 15. The daily limit is six, and the possession limit is 12. However, hunters in southern Missouri should remember that only two swamp rabbits may be included in the daily limit and only four in the possession limit.