Every few years my back couple of acres gets flooded with cute rabbits. They bolt or circle and follow my riding lawn mower. They like the new green grass left behind after my mower does its job.

At some point the very large owls around here start taking a few. The owls even get a few small dogs.

But the hawks are the biggest threat. When they migrate south, just before winter, I might have one trembling rabbit under heavy brush.

I doubt if any wild rabbit ever dies of old age.

With foxes all the rabbits must do is outrun the other rabbits. There always seems to be other rabbits to outrun.

But hawks fly deathly fast through rows of trees and down between brush. A scream n the dusk is not a Banshee. And it is illegal to shoot “raptors” in farming country. Easy to get negative on this issue.

But then another few summers comes and goes and you are up to your ankles in rabbits again.

Hawks are only good for the one really evil pest that tries to tunnel into your attic when over populated.
NPWRC :: Fox Squirrel

Do not look directly into its eyes or you will fall under its spell and your trigger finger will grow weak.