# How to keep out rabbits?



## Jimbo777 (Jun 21, 2014)

I'm not a gardener but I have some friends who are...

So how do you guys keep rabbits out of your garden's?

J


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

Jimbo777 said:


> I'm not a gardener but I have some friends who are...
> 
> So how do you guys keep rabbits out of your garden's?
> 
> J


A good dog.

No joke. I have never had unwanted wild rabbits in my garden or yard as long as I have had a good dog.

My other suggestion is to live trap them and start a wild bunny breeding program. They make good eats. I raised wild rabbits for years. After a few generations they tame up a bit. And adding new genetics is as easy as catching another garden visitor.


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## chigger digger (Apr 9, 2009)

Go to the garden center and get some blood meal( organic nitrogen ) and sprinkle on the plants you want the bunnies to leave alone


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

We put up rabbit proof fences. Our entire orchard/vineyard, 9 acres, is surrounded with rabbit netting as well as our vegetable garden. We also run dogs in these areas, Maremmas and Lurchers.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

chigger digger said:


> Go to the garden center and get some blood meal( organic nitrogen ) and sprinkle on the plants you want the bunnies to leave alone


Good ideal, will this stop deer too??


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## chigger digger (Apr 9, 2009)

I don't know about deer, but I did read once that deer were repelled by chicken eggs , read where the forest serv would run eggs and water through a blender and spray on small pine trees to keep tham away( might be worth a try )


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

I have not had any rabbit problems since I put a 4 foot fence around the garden with 2 foot tall chicken wire fencing along the bottom. Before this I always had rabbits in the garden.

BTW we have rabbit every where now (except in the garden)

Yes I have dogs and they chase the rabbits around the yard but my dogs are not always up at the garden.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

crabapple said:


> Good ideal, will this stop deer too??


Bars of Irish Spring soap. Tie bars along your fence line and the deer will stay away.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

Grimm said:


> Bars of Irish Spring soap. Tie bars along your fence line and the deer will stay away.


All the state parks here drill holes through the soap and then run a rope through the Irish Spring soap and hang it on trees. When I first saw the soap, I asked the rangers what it was for and they said to keep the deer from damaging the trees.


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## bugoutbob (Nov 11, 2012)

Snares set inside a small opening in the fence will soon eliminate your rabbit problem and they are delicious to boot.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

When I first put in my garden about 10 years ago I put several posts up with motion sensing lights with radios plugged into them tuned to talk radio.

When the critters would come through they would trip the lights and get a blast of Art Bell, guess they didn't like Coast to Coast because all the garden damage stopped, haven't had to plug the lights in for a number of years now. Good thing because I cant find a station that carries Coast to Coast anymore! lol


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## lilmissy0740 (Mar 7, 2011)

I tear apart an old VHS tape and string the tape along the fence, trees or whatever. Pull tight but not over tight. The constant vibration will keep deer and rabbits out. We have used this with great success, even keeps birds away. Now it will stretch over a week but just go tighten it back up.


Sent from my iPad using Survival Forum


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

Haven't seen a rabbit since the Wife started feeding every stray cat within a 3 state area.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

TheLazyL said:


> Haven't seen a rabbit since the Wife started feeding every stray cat within a 3 state area.


Very strange you should mention that, considering what I found this morning

No shortage of rabbits around here but they don't cause too many problems.

Hope nobody on here is squeamish but if you are you might want to avoid the following photo.
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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

cowboyhermit said:


> Very strange you should mention that, considering what I found this morning
> 
> No shortage of rabbits around here but they don't cause too many problems.
> 
> ...


Now you got me wondering. I wake up at 2 AM to find one of the house cats sitting on my chest, staring at me. What is the cat is thinking, breakfast?


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

cowboyhermit said:


> Very strange you should mention that, considering what I found this morning
> 
> No shortage of rabbits around here but they don't cause too many problems.
> 
> ...


What cute little kittens! I want one!


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Grimm said:


> What cute little kittens! I want one!


Their dad is at least as good of a hunter as well, he wandered here a while back (just like she did) but he almost never takes any food at all. So, am hoping they have good genes but still, we don't really need sooo many furballs around here Will be giving some away I am sure but I don't think Canada post ships kittens


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## prairiewolf2005 (May 29, 2014)

Jimbo777 said:


> I'm not a gardener but I have some friends who are...
> 
> So how do you guys keep rabbits out of your garden's?
> 
> J


My husband told me human hair, when we shave his head for summer comfort i sprinkle the hair between the roads, without sounding creepy ask friends and family for hair after hair cuts lol! , we also put up a fence around the garden, i think dog hair might work too!


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## PurpleHeartJarhead (Mar 23, 2014)

I find these work well!!

:laugh:


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## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

Stop taking care of your lawn.

Seriously. We do nothing other than mow... and even then only parts of it. There are patches (large) of clover, plus dandelions and plantain growing all over it. As the clover flowers we stop mowing those areas.

Rabbits? We have at least four living more or less in our suburban 1/3 acre lot. They eat their native foods (mentioned above). I've repeatedly witnessed them hop from one patch of clover through our garden right past our veggies just to get to some clover on the other side of the garden. Most gardeners we talk to with problems happen to have pristine monoculture grass lawns.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

CulexPipiens said:


> Stop taking care of your lawn.
> 
> Seriously. We do nothing other than mow... and even then only parts of it. There are patches (large) of clover, plus dandelions and plantain growing all over it. As the clover flowers we stop mowing those areas.
> 
> Rabbits? We have at least four living more or less in our suburban 1/3 acre lot. They eat their native foods (mentioned above). I've repeatedly witnessed them hop from one patch of clover through our garden right past our veggies just to get to some clover on the other side of the garden. Most gardeners we talk to with problems happen to have pristine monoculture grass lawns.


I will be planting a food plot under the power lines to keep the deer away from my garden next Spring.


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

Tweto said:


> All the state parks here drill holes through the soap and then run a rope through the Irish Spring soap and hang it on trees. When I first saw the soap, I asked the rangers what it was for and they said to keep the deer from damaging the trees.


here's the thing I dont get... trees are nature. deer are nature. Why... WHY ON GODS GREEN EARTH are we stopping deer on tree violence? That's what they do. Were the deer artificially put there? (I doubt that)

It's none of our business what deer do to trees!

just sayin...


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

Dakine said:


> here's the thing I dont get... trees are nature. deer are nature. Why... WHY ON GODS GREEN EARTH are we stopping deer on tree violence? That's what they do. Were the deer artificially put there? (I doubt that)
> 
> It's none of our business what deer do to trees!
> 
> just sayin...


Man manages the deer & the trees.
Deer has eaten the last of some wild plants & they are no more.
If we can not hunt them into extinction, why should the deer eat plants into extinction?


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## RevWC (Mar 28, 2011)

Grimm said:


> Bars of Irish Spring soap. Tie bars along your fence line and the deer will stay away.


I did not know it worked on deer!


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

crabapple said:


> Man manages the deer & the trees.
> Deer has eaten the last of some wild plants & they are no more.
> If we can not hunt them into extinction, why should the deer eat plants into extinction?


man manages harvesting of deer because if we didnt in one years cycle the entire herd would be gone in some states. in other states it's kill everything you can find, with renewable tags because there's that doggone many of them.

it's not our job to watch out for some plant or tree that some other element of nature is interacting with. that we assume it is, is a sign of the arrogance that mankind has become.

we're not talking about striped bass being an aggressive NON-native fish in a lake and eating everything in sight, and therefore Game and Fish wants the stripers killed no matter what, no daily or bag limit, no size limit, you catch a striper, kill it! we love you long time kthxbai!!!!

this is the woods... what happens in the woods stays in the woods :teehee:

if the deer want to go ripshit wild on trees... so be it.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

Dakine said:


> man manages harvesting of deer because if we didnt in one years cycle the entire herd would be gone in some states. in other states it's kill everything you can find, with renewable tags because there's that doggone many of them.
> 
> it's not our job to watch out for some plant or tree that some other element of nature is interacting with. that we assume it is, is a sign of the arrogance that mankind has become.
> 
> ...


Once we step in & interfere with the deer or any wild life we have to take responsible for every reaction that that interfere causes.

It is arrogance to think we can manage part of the wild & not be responsible for the changes that we made.
IMHI, it is foolish too.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

I agree with crabapple, just because the deer is native and the trees are native doesn't mean the situation is "natural". Even if you go back to pre-columbian times, humans were shaping the continent in ways still unclear to science. Anyways, humans are inextricably linked to the ecosystem whether we like it or not (I love it personally and endeavor to find the best role for myself). 

It doesn't mean you can't have areas where human interference is kept to a minimum but that doesn't necessarily mean those spaces are any more "natural" than ones where humans play a role. 

A place where humans work to control invasive pests, balance ecosystems, perform controlled burns, etc may be much more close to the "natural" state of the place over the millennia.


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