I managed for bunnies on our old farm for over 15 years.....had LOTS of them too! Here's what I did....pretty much on my own, no advice from game agencies.
We also raised beef. I had about 8 acres I kept in alfalfa or a grain crop, wheat or milo, on a rotation. When the alfalfa was on its last legs I'd overseed with red clover and get a couple more years out of it before I needed to plow it under. Next to that was 8 or so acres of cedars so thick you could barely walk thru them. On the east side of the alfalfa field/cedar patch was a little wet weather creek. I fenced the pasture side of that about 15 yards from the creek and let it grow up. That area was probably 250-300 yards long next to the pasture and went that far into the woods. On the alfalfa field side I let it grow up too. On the west side was a fence row that had a fairly thick stand of sumac, sassafrass, blackberries and other such stuff. It was probably 10 yards wide and a couple hundred feet long. I just let it go as neither my neighbor nor I ran cattle against that fence. Twice a year, spring and fall, the hired boy, (more like a third son), and I would spend a Saturday building brushpiles in the cedar thicket. I also killed every stray cat that showed up on the place and took the coyotes whenever possible. At that time in that area foxes were almost non-existant.
I had provided PLENTY of cover, water was no problem and with the neighbors crop field next to my alfalfa field food was never a problem. Rabbits, being as prolific as they are, soon populated that 20 or so acres.
A bunny doesn't need a lot...a little food, water, (in fact, I've read that a bunny can survive merely off the moisture it gets from green plants), and a LOT of cover. It doesn't take a coyote, fox or feral cat long to hunt a clean fence row and if the bunnies have no place to run and hide they don't stand much of a chance. Raptors can't very well catch what they can't see or get to so overhead cover is equally important.
There was no scientific methods put to use on our old place, just plain ol' common sense. And it appeared to work just fine! Back when I was keeping records of such things we took an average of 30 bunnies a year off that 20 acres and never seemed to hurt the population.
Vic
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