r/CanadaHunting • u/gargonite • Jul 22 '26
Hunting Regulations I don't want to waste nuisance rabbits.
New homeowner in London, Ontario. Started gardening this spring and it's been interesting. My back deck has at least one rabbit den under it. On a good day I walk into my backyard and see a singular rabbit amongst my strawberries, planted them in April and have yet to get any of them. The worst I've seen was 5 rabbits in my yard (30'x100').
I can live catch and then release within 1km with the permission of the landowner, which is just going to give someone else a rabbit problem or dispose of them as nuisance pests for damaging property. However, I used to be a butcher and staunchly believe if you're going to kill an animal it should be used and this just seems wasteful. So I called the ministry of natural resources and they told me this morning I could:
- Obtain my hunting license with a small game permit and hunt rabbits in season from September 25 to the last day of February.
- South of the French and Mattawa river I can't use snares.
- Living inside the city limits of London I can not discharge any firearm/air rifle/spring-guns(no idea what a spring gun is) or any form of bow/crossbow inside the city limits unless its on agricultural land, and my lot is definitely not agricultural land.
- So I can't shoot them, and I can't trap them? Or do I have to live trap them and dispatch then process? Could I use a slingshot?
- Hire a someone to come trap and euthanize them as nuisances. Which is just paying someone to waste the animal when I could do it myself.
- Alternatively, get my trapping license.
- So I went over to the Ontario Fur Management Federation.
- Would require a 40 hour course and cost $350 and then maintain an annual trapping license.
- If I wanted to sell the pelt a fur dealers license.
So I called two instructors and inquired about when they were offering their next course. The first said yes I would need a trapper license and his course is running in September. The second said his course will be running at the end of November. Also, cottontails are not furbearing mammals for trapping license purposes and it wouldn't cover me as this is an unintended grey area.
Does anyone have any experience with this? I just want to eat my strawberries and not have to throw rabbits into the compost bin. If I could eat them and maybe make a set of mittens each year that seems far better than wasting them.
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u/nzhockeyfan Jul 22 '26
I'm pretty sure you can trap, kill and eat nuisance rabbits without a licence. https://oodmag.com/trapping-from-your-yard/
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u/waitwhatnothing 27d ago
I know someone who does this, he does have a hunting license but he captures nuisance rabbits in his garden outside the rabbit season and doesn’t waste them.
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u/bigb3nny Jul 22 '26
This is not rocket science. Live trap drive 7Km release into a field. Rinse and repeat.
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u/tmwildwood-3617 Jul 22 '26
Definitely check the laws/regs/bylaws that apply to where you are...not just the hunting regs. You might want to confer with the local bylaw office.
Where I am...a home owner would not need any outdoors/hunting/trapping/small game license to live trap a rabbit eating up their garden. At that point there are definitive regs to uphold re release/dispatch.
Rabbits can be very quickly and humanely dispatched manually. Definitely not for everyone and that's ok.
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u/awolbob Jul 22 '26
If you don't eat them, you can always use most of the rabbit for dog food if you have one or someone you know. Young rabbit pelt tears easy so I dehydrate that and use as dog treats, same with ears and the feet.
I am not familiar with cottontails, just snowshoe hare and domestic meat rabbits. For any animal being harvested for food it is important to inspect the organs and the pelt for any signs of illness or parasites.
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u/RelativeFox1 Jul 22 '26
I think first thing you need to do is get rid of the den. You can’t give them a place to live then expect them not to eat near by food sources.