Kansas' rabbit population saw a slight decline, a survey shows. What's saving the species?

It's tough to be a rabbit.

Four out of five cottontail rabbits living wild in Kansas die within a year, said Jeff Prendergast, small game specialist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

Yet that species survives because it multiples so rapidly, Prendergast told the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commission as it discussed state rabbit hunting laws on March 31.

"All the jokes are true," he said. "They are very prolific."

'Just about everything eats rabbits'

When KDWP officials talk about rabbits, they're talking about cottontails, Prendergast told The Capital-Journal.

Though jackrabbits live in Kansas, jackrabbits are technically hares, which are larger than rabbits, he said.

The term "rabbit" refers to the genus Sylvilagus, which consists of 17 species, three of which exist in Kansas, Prendergast said.

He said the three Kansas species are as follows:

• The desert cottontail, which lives only in the western third of the state, is smaller than most cottontails and has longer ears to help disperse heat.

• The swamp rabbit, which is darker and larger than other cottontails and has only been found in strip pits in the state's southeast corner. Kansas hasn't had a documented sighting of a swamp rabbit in several decades.

• The eastern cottontail, Kansas' most common rabbit, which is "probably one that you've seen in your yards."

Eastern cottontails are found statewide, Prendergast said.

They are an important prey species, as "just about everything eats rabbits," he said.

Eastern cottontails are also susceptible to dying from various diseases and such environmental events as snowstorms and droughts, Prendergast said.

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Where do wild rabbits live?

Rabbits need three main habitat components in which to live, Prendergast said.

• Nesting cover, primarily made up of fallow-type, weedy fields and native grasslands.

• Protective cover to protect them from predators. That cover can include briars, brush piles and brushy fence lines.

• Food, such as fresh grass or in the winter bark off of trees.

Rabbits have a better chance to survive when all those components are available within a space of two to four acres, though they can travel up to 15 acres if they have to, Prendergast said.

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How fast can rabbits here multiply?

An individual female cottontail rabbit can produce 35 to 40 offspring in a year, Prendergast said.

On average, he said, a cottontail female here gives birth to six to eight litters per year, consisting of four to six infants per litter.

The breeding season for eastern cottontails in Kansas lasts about seven months, from late February through September, Prendergast said.

Those rabbits have a 28-day period between conception and birth and are capable of conceiving again as soon as their young are born, he said.

"They reach sexually maturity within 80 days, which means mom's first litter of the year are actually producing young at the end of the year," Prendergast said.

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How are rabbit populations doing in Kansas?

KDWP is seeing a general slight decline in population of rabbits, according to results of an annual spring survey conducted by the state's mail carriers, Prendergast said.

He said Kansas rabbit populations since the 1960s:

• Have been stable in the central part of the state.

• Have increased slightly in southwest Kansas, due to the introduction of native grasses and an expansion of trees, shrubs and woody protective cover.

• Have seen a decline in eastern Kansas, which has historically seen the most rabbits, because of the reduced availability of small farms and protective cover.

"A lot of it amounts to landscape changes and changes in how we use the land," he said.

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What are the laws on hunting rabbits?

Cottontail rabbits and jackrabbits may be hunted year-round in Kansas, with the daily bag limit being 10 and the possession limit being 40.

"This is similar to what we see across the west, and Kansas tends to be on the eastern portion of that line," Prendergast said. "States to the east are more conservative."

Kansas last year raised the possession limit for rabbits to 40 from 30 in an effort to maintain consistency with its rules regarding pheasant and quail, which have similar habitat requirements, Prendergast said.

He acknowledged that prompted some constituents to question why KDWP appeared to be trying to increase the number of rabbits harvested when some Kansans thought the state was already allowing too many to be harvested.

"While that wasn’t the intent of the regulation — it was more for consistency — we didn’t expect it to impact our harvest," he said.

The state requires rabbit hunters ages 16 to 74 to possess a valid Kansas hunting license, unless they're hunting on their own land. More information about acquiring such licenses can be found on the KDWP website.

Most cottontail hunters use a .22-caliber rifle, though small-gauge shotguns are also used, according to an article on the KDWP website.

Rabbit hunting is "a good way to put tasty wild meat on the table," that article said.

An average of about 15,000 people per year hunt rabbits in Kansas, Prendergast told the wildlife and parks commission.

About 10% of those live out of state, with out-of-state hunters killing about 10% of the rabbits harvested, he said.

Wildlife and parks commissioners on March 31 discussed potentially lowering rabbit harvest limits but decided, without taking a vote, to simply keep  monitoring the situation.

"Like fish, reducing the limit isn’t going to make any difference on the resource as a whole," said Commission Chairman Gerald Lauber. "I see nothing that screams out that we need to do anything other than continue to monitor."

Tim Hrenchir can be reached at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas mulled lowering rabbit hunting possession limit, chose not to