What? Jackrabbits in GEORGIA?!!!

tom turner

tom turner

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Last night I was visiting my son at his trailer outside of Dublin, GA when I spied a couple of JACKRABBITS in a nearby field.

Naturally I checked 'em out but really . . . I didn't know we had jackrabbits in Georgia at all.

Can anyone share any light on what I saw?

Thanks,

Tom
 
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Maybe some were released and popped out more??? I thought they were only out West though. It wouldn't be a shocker to find they are moving around though.
 
After armored rats (armadillos) showed up in Tn. I am not surprised at anything.
 
We've basically got two types of rabbits in Miss. The smaller rabbit is called a hillbilly or cottontail and the larger rabbit (I think it's actually a hare) is referred to as a swamp rabbit or cane cutter. The smaller rabbits prefer the high ground and the bigger rabbits prefer the lower wet areas. The cane cutter resembles the jack rabbit, but I haven't seen any jack rabbits around here. You'de think they'de at least stop off here on their way east. You never know. I can remember when we didn't have coyotes or armadillos but now they're everywhere.
 
As I understand it, the hare the we call a jackrabbit here in Texas has to have dry vegitation to eat. They have a problem getting enough nourishment eating green grass in a wet year, but thrive on dry grass.

It is really dry in the hill country this year. My rancher friend asked me to come out and shoot a bunch of jackrabbits because they compete with the cattle for what little there is to eat.
 
charlie sherrill said:
We've basically got two types of rabbits in Miss. The smaller rabbit is called a hillbilly or cottontail and the larger rabbit (I think it's actually a hare) is referred to as a swamp rabbit or cane cutter. The smaller rabbits prefer the high ground and the bigger rabbits prefer the lower wet areas. The cane cutter resembles the jack rabbit, but I haven't seen any jack rabbits around here. You'de think they'de at least stop off here on their way east. You never know. I can remember when we didn't have coyotes or armadillos but now they're everywhere.
Click to expand...
Charlie nailed it.
I have only seen one about twice in my life. They were huge compared to cottontails- 2 or 3 times the size of one. They don't have ears as big as jackrabbits. They were in swamps, and old folks always called them cane cutters.
Quite rare to see them.
 
My vote would be "cane cutter' also. Few and far between in SC. Real Texas Jacks are huge. Waiting on the B-52s to start coming in (B-36s phased out) at Carswell (Fort Worth) we spent time "policing" everywhere and chasing jack rabbits. Believe one guy actually got one saddled up, but used a snaffel rather than a standard bit. Nearly killed him after about 3 hops.
 
Last edited:
Animals travel and miagrate.
If you want some armadillos I can box up a few and UPS 'em---will take just a minute or two-----
Blessings
 
I saw a program on the History Channel about the dust bowl. Jack rabbit populations grew out of control so much that people would just club them to death. I saw in the program where they just swarmed.

Is this Country ready for a Great Depression and a Dust Bowl now? It is coming, but I do not think we are half the men our forefathers were. They fought for survival. I think we would just curl up and die. I am including myself, not knocking anyone in general.
 
I'm north of Dublin, but we had a big swamp rabbit living on our farm. He's a lot bigger than the jack rabbits we had in Texas, but the ears weren't as tall.

Munster
 
I think you guys are onto something with the cane cutter. I see them fairly regularly when I'm woodcock hunting down here. They are big.

I've also seen jack rabbits out west and the ears are noticeably taller.

Tom, have you ever seen a jack rabbit out west? If the ears on the critter you saw did not seem to be out of proportion to the rest of the animal, it was probably a cane cutter. Once you see a jack rabbit, there's no mistaking it.
 
My old partner and I would go fishing down on Clarks Hill and we would see a rabbit he called a "cane cutter" as well...never saw many, just a few, but larger than cottontails, but no where near a jackrabbit....so "cane cutter" it is....
 
I saw an armadillo in Batesville georgia today. I heard they were in a neighboring county now, but Batesville is up in the mountains. Whats next alligators in the Chatahoochee?
 
The first armadillo I saw I was 17. I had been in the woods a lot and never saw one until then. In my mid 20's coyotes started showing up here. It was rumored they were brought in to stock fox pens and escaped. They now breed with domestic dogs and are pretty much a feral nuisance. Wild and feral hogs are here but not the problem they are in Louisiana and Texas because thousands of them are slaughtered each deer season. I killed a big one and felt as good as if I had killed a ten point buck. Mixed with venison they make a darn good sausage. Alligators, which were almost nonexistant here a few decades ago have made a good comeback. They are tasty also so the problem, when it pops up, is quickly taken care of. We're seeing bald eagles here now. We don't eat them. Chipmunks have moved south and we're now seeing a few of them around. Too small to eat. Nutria are now moving northeast from the Louisiana swamps to this area. My neighbor has a lake he uses to water his cotton crop and some of them are in it although not as many since the gator moved in. Anybody got a good nutria recipe?
 
Armadillos have migrated way past Tennessee. I live about an hour south of St. Louis and there was a dead one on the highway this weekend. I've been seeing dead ones pretty regularly for about seven years.
 
Cooter Brown said:
I think you guys are onto something with the cane cutter. I see them fairly regularly when I'm woodcock hunting down here. They are big.

I've also seen jack rabbits out west and the ears are noticeably taller.

Tom, have you ever seen a jack rabbit out west? If the ears on the critter you saw did not seem to be out of proportion to the rest of the animal, it was probably a cane cutter. Once you see a jack rabbit, there's no mistaking it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies everyone! I've been out of town and I'm just getting back to reply.

Yes, I've been out west on several occasions, and saw tons of jack rabbits out there, and these Georgia rabbits had much taller ears than the cottontails.

However . . . after reading about the swamp rabbits and cane cutters, and going to Google images to look at photos of them, this MUST be what I saw here. I'll try to get photos of the pair the next time I'm out visiting those folks north of Dublin!

I've lived and hunted in central Georgia for well over 20 years now but have never encountered rabbits like this. They must be pretty rare . . . or simply live in areas where not many folks go.

Thanks again for writing, Tom
 
They're not rare at all over here. At one time I owned 14 rabbit dogs and hunted several days a week during the season. Rabbits usually run in a circle when hunted with dogs. The little ones make a short circle and a short run, but sometimes the big ones will take the dogs out of hearing before they turn and come back. The area I live in is a lot hillier than most folks think that have never been here. Whenever we hunt rabbits there is usually high ground that produce the smaller cottontail/hillbilly and the lower wetter ground where the much larger cane cutter/swamp rabbits hang. On most rabbit hunts around here when the hunt is over you usually have several of each. I would guess maximun weight on a cottontail is probably 2-3 lbs. while a big cane cutter can go over 6 lbs. If you kill more than three of them you hang them in a tree and pick them up on the way back or take them to the truck if it is close enough. The weight in your hunting bag adds up real quick. I've eaten jackrabbits brought back here by a friend but I've never hunted them. I do know how to get them tender when cooking them. In the next year or so I might find someone who has too many of them and make a trip out west.
 
red14 said:
The center?
Click to expand...

No.
Imagine Tennessee divided into three sections. East, west and middle and imagine the Tn. river being what separates the three. I would be on the extreme eastern side of the western division.
 
Rabbit population

27145 said:
I saw a program on the History Channel about the dust bowl. Jack rabbit populations grew out of control so much that people would just club them to death. I saw in the program where they just swarmed.

Is this Country ready for a Great Depression and a Dust Bowl now? It is coming, but I do not think we are half the men our forefathers were. They fought for survival. I think we would just curl up and die. I am including myself, not knocking anyone in general.
Click to expand...

When we moved here to Central KS, my wife thought the bunnies running around in the yard were cute...right up until they started eating the garden. I cant say how many I shot (lost track) before I fenced the garden in. A while back I was in the town library, and they had a picture of a rabbit roundup in about 1930. I dont know about jacks but there's a **** load of cottontails this year.
 
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