Do cottontails burrow? Or do they live above ground in ...

[Questor]

Do cottontails burrow? or do they live above ground in thickets?

[Graybeard]

They definitely burrow deep enough to dig up and eat Faye's lily bulbs.  :eek:

I think the ground would have to be pretty darn soft for them to burrow deep enough to live there. But they will readily take over a burrow or hole big enough for them and likely do minor modifications to it. They raise their young above ground at least here in the south. They love brush piles to nest under and many of our blueberry bushes have places they rest and nest when we let the limbs hang low and especially when the berries are gone and we let the weeds grow up until fall.

[Lawdog]

Graybeard has the right skinny on Cottontails.  Out west we have the kissing cousin to the Cottontail, The Brush Bunny.  Like the Cottontail the Brush Bunny doesn't dig a burrow but they will take over and en-large a burrow that was dug by another critter(such as a Ground Squirrel).  My preferred way to hunt these tasty little bunnies is to bushwhack them.  Set up about 25 yards from brush piles and snipe as they come to feed in the early mornings or late evenings.  They are number 1 on my list for hunting with air rifles.  Lawdog
 

[Questor]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm currently in the hunting for places to hunt stage. I take Quester to a different place every week, looking for places with lots of thorns. We'll figure it out, it's just going to take time.

[WD45]

Another place they love to get in is large rock piles. They get in little cave like pockets between the rocks. We have these rock piles all over the place from the old time farmers clearing the fields to plant.