Anyone got any good ideas on how to repel the pesky wabbits from my
garden? Not so much because they eat stuff, 'cos we don't have that
kind of garden, but because they dig holes in *everything*, including a
(split) tonne bag of sharp sand, the 5 tonnes of chipped bark piled in
the orchard and various flower beds, banks and verges.

Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
..22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO isn't keen.

-- 
       "The road to Paradise is through Intercourse."
        [email me at huge [at] huge [dot] org [dot] uk]

Huge wrote:

> 
> Anyone got any good ideas on how to repel the pesky wabbits from my
> garden? Not so much because they eat stuff, 'cos we don't have that
> kind of garden, but because they dig holes in *everything*, including a
> (split) tonne bag of sharp sand, the 5 tonnes of chipped bark piled in
> the orchard and various flower beds, banks and verges.
> 
> Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
> .22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO isn't keen.
> 

Large, hungry cats?


Sheila

"Huge"  wrote in message 
news:d6qau4$hhp$1@anubis.demon.co.uk...


>
> Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
> .22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO 
> isn't keen.


Why?

Mary

>

Mary Fisher wrote:


> "Huge"  wrote in message 
> news:d6qau4$hhp$1@anubis.demon.co.uk...
> 
> 
>>Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
>>.22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO 
>>isn't keen.
> 
> 
> Why?
> 
> Mary
> 
> 
> 

If anyone knows I would be delighted.  I have a big problem, tried 
shooting and trapping, but they still come back.  Bring on the foxes! ;_)
The only cure I have found is fencing, it works, but it also keeps out 
all the other beneficials, such as toads, frogs, hedgehogs.  With nature 
I reckon you can't win, I netted my caulies last year against pigeons 
and cats, kept them off but was wonderful for mice!

"Broadback"  wrote in message 
news:3fbtitF6ulfqU1@individual.net...

> Mary Fisher wrote:
>
>> "Huge"  wrote in message 
>> news:d6qau4$hhp$1@anubis.demon.co.uk...
>>
>>
>>>Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
>>>.22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO 
>>>isn't keen.
>>
>>
>> Why?
>>
>> Mary
>>
>>
>>
> If anyone knows I would be delighted.


No, I wondered why the lady wife wasn't keen.


> I have a big problem, tried shooting and trapping, but they still come 
> back.


They will, Mother Nature knows best innit? That is, she would if rabbits 
were native here ...


> Bring on the foxes! ;_)


That won't work either.


> The only cure I have found is fencing, it works, but it also keeps out all 
> the other beneficials, such as toads, frogs, hedgehogs.  With nature I 
> reckon you can't win,


That's true. Just stop worrying about it and treat them as free meat. If it 
weren't rabbits it could be something worse. Like deer.


> I netted my caulies last year against pigeons and cats, kept them off but 
> was wonderful for mice!


LOL! Spouse made some chicken netting 'hurdle' modules for my veg plots, to 
keep off the hens. The unexpected benefit was that they also keep out cats 
and even wood pigeons, collar doves and rock doves (feral pigeons), the 
plots are small enough for larger birds not to get in or out easily. I 
wouldn't be without them.

Rats and mice don't seem interested but the hurdles don't keep out slugs and 
cabbage whites :-(

Mary

Mary

On 22 May 2005 16:10:44 GMT, huge@ukmisc.org.uk (Huge) wrote:


>Anyone got any good ideas on how to repel the pesky wabbits from my
>garden? Not so much because they eat stuff, 'cos we don't have that
>kind of garden, but because they dig holes in *everything*, including a
>(split) tonne bag of sharp sand, the 5 tonnes of chipped bark piled in
>the orchard and various flower beds, banks and verges.
>
>Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
>.22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO isn't keen.


My neighbour, the game keeper, feeds them to his dogs :-)


Rick

S Viemeister  writes:

>Huge wrote:
>> 
>> Anyone got any good ideas on how to repel the pesky wabbits from my
>> garden? Not so much because they eat stuff, 'cos we don't have that
>> kind of garden, but because they dig holes in *everything*, including a
>> (split) tonne bag of sharp sand, the 5 tonnes of chipped bark piled in
>> the orchard and various flower beds, banks and verges.
>> 
>> Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
>> .22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO isn't keen.
>> 
>Large, hungry cats?


They killed too many birds.


-- 
       "The road to Paradise is through Intercourse."
        [email me at huge [at] huge [dot] org [dot] uk]

"Huge"  wrote in message
news:d6qau4$hhp$1@anubis.demon.co.uk...

> Anyone got any good ideas on how to repel the pesky wabbits from my
> garden? Not so much because they eat stuff, 'cos we don't have that
> kind of garden, but because they dig holes in *everything*,
including a
> (split) tonne bag of sharp sand, the 5 tonnes of chipped bark piled
in
> the orchard and various flower beds, banks and verges.
>


Borrow a terrier dog or two of some bread or other, I know that West
Highland terriers will clear rabbits prompto, well ours did....

One dog entered some undergrowth, about 50 odd rabbits came out -
followed by said dog !


> Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
> .22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but

SWMBO isn't keen.

>


Nah, far to much like hard work, Terriers will love the chance to do
what come to them naturally, and even if they don't actually kill any
their sent-trail will scare off the rabbits for some time (although
you might need to borrow the dogs more than once to start with).

Huge wrote:

> 
> S Viemeister  writes:
> >Huge wrote:
> >>
> >> Anyone got any good ideas on how to repel the pesky wabbits from my
> >> garden? Not so much because they eat stuff, 'cos we don't have that
> >> kind of garden, but because they dig holes in *everything*, including a
> >> (split) tonne bag of sharp sand, the 5 tonnes of chipped bark piled in
> >> the orchard and various flower beds, banks and verges.
> >>
> >> Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
> >> .22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO isn't keen.
> >>
> >Large, hungry cats?
> 
> They killed too many birds.
> 

Too bad.  The cats around my place seem to have little, if any, interest in
birds - but they do a great job on furry things.

Sheila

On 22 May 2005 16:10:44 GMT, Huge wrote:


> Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
> ..22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but 
> SWMBO isn't keen.


Well in the case of the former it's not that nice having to pick shot 
out of your stew... Would you be doing the skinning and gutting or 
would you only do the "macho" shooty bit?

More to the ppoint unless you want to eat rabbit every day of the week 
you'll never keep 'em down by taking the odd one or two.

Physical barrier is the only real way to keep 'em out. Depending on 
how determined your rabbits are you might not have to go the whole hog 
of 2" galv wire mesh buried 18" down projecting 12" forward (out of 
the protected area) and 3' above the ground...

-- 
Cheers                                              new5pam@howhill.com
Dave.                                             pam is missing e-mail

"Dave Liquorice"  writes:

>On 22 May 2005 16:10:44 GMT, Huge wrote:
>
>> Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
>> ..22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but 
>> SWMBO isn't keen.
>
>Well in the case of the former it's not that nice having to pick shot 
>out of your stew... Would you be doing the skinning and gutting or 
>would you only do the "macho" shooty bit?


I used to be a biologist. Dissecting stuff is just like butchery, only
prettier.


>More to the ppoint unless you want to eat rabbit every day of the week 
>you'll never keep 'em down by taking the odd one or two.
>
>Physical barrier is the only real way to keep 'em out. Depending on 
>how determined your rabbits are you might not have to go the whole hog 
>of 2" galv wire mesh buried 18" down projecting 12" forward (out of 
>the protected area) and 3' above the ground...


Bugger. We'd need about 500 yards of that.

-- 
       "The road to Paradise is through Intercourse."
        [email me at huge [at] huge [dot] org [dot] uk]

On 22 May 2005 21:16:52 GMT, Huge wrote:


>> Physical barrier is the only real way to keep 'em out. Depending on 
>> how determined your rabbits are you might not have to go the whole 
>> hog of 2" galv wire mesh buried 18" down projecting 12" forward 
>> (out of the protected area) and 3' above the ground...
> 
> Bugger. We'd need about 500 yards of that.


Hopefully your rabbits won't be that determined to gain access. Do 
they already know that is is possible to dig under a fence for 
instance? If they don't just dropping the mesh and the bottom strainer 
wire a few inches below ground might suffice or backing the bottom 
with a row of bricks or blocks so they can't "nose under".

-- 
Cheers                                              new5pam@howhill.com
Dave.                                             pam is missing e-mail

Huge wrote:


> Anyone got any good ideas on how to repel the pesky wabbits from my
> garden? Not so much because they eat stuff, 'cos we don't have that
> kind of garden, but because they dig holes in *everything*, including a
> (split) tonne bag of sharp sand, the 5 tonnes of chipped bark piled in
> the orchard and various flower beds, banks and verges.
> 
> Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
> .22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO isn't keen.
> 

Fence it.

Mary Fisher wrote:


> "Broadback"  wrote in message 
> news:3fbtitF6ulfqU1@individual.net...
> 
>>Mary Fisher wrote:
>>
>>
>>>"Huge"  wrote in message 
>>>news:d6qau4$hhp$1@anubis.demon.co.uk...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
>>>>.22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO 
>>>>isn't keen.
>>>
>>>
>>>Why?
>>>
>>>Mary
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>If anyone knows I would be delighted.
> 
> 
> No, I wondered why the lady wife wasn't keen.
> 
> 
>>I have a big problem, tried shooting and trapping, but they still come 
>>back.
> 
> 
> They will, Mother Nature knows best innit? That is, she would if rabbits 
> were native here ...
>

Rabbits are as native as anything else.

The whle country was free of all organic life under a sheet of ice just 
10,000 years ago.

How the rest got here is by many means. Carried in cages by Normans 
being just one of the many..

Dave Liquorice wrote:


> On 22 May 2005 16:10:44 GMT, Huge wrote:
> 
> 
>>Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
>>..22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but 
>>SWMBO isn't keen.
> 
> 
> Well in the case of the former it's not that nice having to pick shot 
> out of your stew... 


..22 rim fire is not shot. Its one slug and generally passes right through.



>Would you be doing the skinning and gutting or 
> would you only do the "macho" shooty bit?
> 


Skinning and gutting is  a cinch compared with plucking and drawing a 
pheasant. One sharp knife, a quick tug and the skin is off. Slit up the 
belly and shake the squirmy bits out and its ready for jointing...



> More to the ppoint unless you want to eat rabbit every day of the week 
> you'll never keep 'em down by taking the odd one or two.


Make it a daily routine then.


> 
> Physical barrier is the only real way to keep 'em out. Depending on 
> how determined your rabbits are you might not have to go the whole hog 
> of 2" galv wire mesh buried 18" down projecting 12" forward (out of 
> the protected area) and 3' above the ground...
> 

standard rabbit wire. Not expensive, although the posts that you hold it 
to are... BTW froggs can hop through, and hedgehodgs should not be 
cleared from inisde.

Huge wrote:


> "Dave Liquorice"  writes:
> 
>>On 22 May 2005 16:10:44 GMT, Huge wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
>>>..22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but 
>>>SWMBO isn't keen.
>>
>>Well in the case of the former it's not that nice having to pick shot 
>>out of your stew... Would you be doing the skinning and gutting or 
>>would you only do the "macho" shooty bit?
> 
> 
> I used to be a biologist. Dissecting stuff is just like butchery, only
> prettier.
> 
> 
>>More to the ppoint unless you want to eat rabbit every day of the week 
>>you'll never keep 'em down by taking the odd one or two.
>>
>>Physical barrier is the only real way to keep 'em out. Depending on 
>>how determined your rabbits are you might not have to go the whole hog 
>>of 2" galv wire mesh buried 18" down projecting 12" forward (out of 
>>the protected area) and 3' above the ground...
> 
> 
> Bugger. We'd need about 500 yards of that.
> 


If you have that size of garden get a dog. The rabbits will be 
disinclined to come where he has pissed.

Dave Liquorice wrote:


> On 22 May 2005 21:16:52 GMT, Huge wrote:
> 
> 
>>>Physical barrier is the only real way to keep 'em out. Depending on 
>>>how determined your rabbits are you might not have to go the whole 
>>>hog of 2" galv wire mesh buried 18" down projecting 12" forward 
>>>(out of the protected area) and 3' above the ground...
>>
>>Bugger. We'd need about 500 yards of that.
> 
> 
> Hopefully your rabbits won't be that determined to gain access. Do 
> they already know that is is possible to dig under a fence for 
> instance? If they don't just dropping the mesh and the bottom strainer 
> wire a few inches below ground might suffice or backing the bottom 
> with a row of bricks or blocks so they can't "nose under".
> 


Although they can burrow under, mostly they don't, and the ones that do 
generally can be picked off with an air rifle.

A rabbit is not a creature with a well developed intellect: It mostly 
stays near a safe haven, and eats, only wandering further afield if it's 
hungry, or wants a locally unavailable shag.

Making an area a bit more difficult than the alternative is generally 
all it takes.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:


> Huge wrote:
> 
>> Anyone got any good ideas on how to repel the pesky wabbits from my
>> garden? Not so much because they eat stuff, 'cos we don't have that
>> kind of garden, but because they dig holes in *everything*, including a
>> (split) tonne bag of sharp sand, the 5 tonnes of chipped bark piled in
>> the orchard and various flower beds, banks and verges.
>>
>> Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
>> .22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but SWMBO 
>> isn't keen.
>>
> Fence it.

By the way it is not necessary to bury the wire, just install it in an L 
with the bottom 150mm simply resting on the ground.  Of course if your 
land is like mine that is not even necessary as the rabbits cannot dig 
into it, its so hard and stony! :-(

On Mon, 23 May 2005 00:49:58 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:


> A rabbit is not a creature with a well developed intellect: 


They aren't totally dumb though and do have a memory. Once a rabbit 
has found it can dig under things it will continue to do so. Of course 
it meets with high velocity lead shortly afterwards it won't remember 
but others may use the hole or follow the soft soil.

Rabbits aren't brain dead, pheasants are.

-- 
Cheers                                              new5pam@howhill.com
Dave.                                             pam is missing e-mail

On Mon, 23 May 2005 00:29:16 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:


>>> Personally, I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or
>>> ..22 rimfire, followed by appropriate preparation & stewing, but 
>>> SWMBO isn't keen.
>> 
>> 
>> Well in the case of the former it's not that nice having to pick 
>> shot  out of your stew... 
> 
> ..22 rim fire is not shot. Its one slug and generally passes right 
> through.


True but read wot is wrote:

"I suggested an ounce of lead shot doing 1000 fps or ..22 rim fire, 
...."

-- 
Cheers                                              new5pam@howhill.com
Dave.                                             pam is missing e-mail

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> A rabbit is not a creature with a well developed intellect: It mostly 
> stays near a safe haven, and eats, only wandering further afield if it's 
> hungry, or wants a locally unavailable shag.


Rather like me, really.

Owain