Rabbit Brush Piles

The sudden breaking of brush and the scream bark of a beagle soon rang in the crisp winter air. “Coming your way” a fellow hunter yelled out to the outside posters along the brier patch. A sudden brown blur came out of the thicket, offering a shot at twenty yards. I quickly raised my shotgun, placing the bead a foot ahead of the racing cottontail. “BOOM” A cloud of fresh snow rose up just, just behind the rabbit. The rabbit was into the next thicket before I could let a second shot ring. The beagles ran past, tearing through the thicket letting out those deep barks and anxious whines in attempt to catch back up with the rabbit. The sounds of those dogs chasing bunnies all day was the only thing I could hear that night in my head when I closed my eyes.

I was probably ten years old then, hunting with some neighbor’s, on their property, built to serve as their little slice of rabbit heaven. The property consisted of stands of younger evergreens, taller CRP grasses, and thick ground cover in mix hardwoods. I bet I saw over fifteen rabbits that day compared to my parents property, where we were lucky to see three rabbits per hunt, at that time. My parents property consisted of mature red pine forest that lacked ground cover such as briar thickets, that rabbits need to thrive. If I was going to experience good rabbit hunting, I felt that I needed to give the woods a big make over. Making brush piles out of random medium and small sized branches was one of my quick solutions. These brush piles offered cover for a few years but after a while collapsed on themselves, becoming to dense for rabbits to get into them. These Red Pines had reached their maximum size because they were planted a little too tight by my Grandpa Jack Rewa fifty some years ago, and were starting to die off. As they died off, suddenly there was more available sunlight for under growth. Young growth and the briars soon began to offer the ground cover needed. It clicked it my head that these dying pines also offered just what I needed for my piles, strength.

I soon started cutting the dying pines down and sectioning them into four foot logs. Placing two logs parallel to each other at about three feet, then placing other four foot logs on top of them. This creates a tight roof and offers a way to escape wind and snow. Taking small chunks of logs to narrow down the entrances on each end, prevents predators from belly carling in and grabbing rabbits. Then I would throw brush on top of the base structure to give it a halo safety zone to add to predator protection. I would estimate that each pile should last close to ten years before the logs become too rioted and the pile collapses. Its is wise to alter the direction of your first two logs so there are different piles that offer protection for different winds.

It has now been five years since we perfected our brush piles and you can definitely see the impact it has had on the rabbit population on my parents property. Just this past weekend, a group of hunters and myself shot eleven rabbits and had a handful get away. There are now beat down rabbit trails going to each structure and paths going from different thickets of the woods. These structures also benefit deer as well, creating a wind block and cover to hide against. There has been an explosion of buck sign around these areas as well. So if your looking to increase Whitetail/Cottontail cover on your property, try out this system and I am sure you will see results as well.