Poison for killing rabbits has been used in the West with considerable
success. Only in exceptional cases, however, is its use advisable in
States that protect rabbits. The most favorable season for using poison
is in winter or after a long drought in summer has made green food
scarce. In some localities summer poisoning is interfered with by
crickets or grasshoppers consuming the bait.
The following method is adapted for general use: Insert crystals of
strychnine or powdered strychnine in pieces of apple or melon rind and
place these baits at intervals along rabbit runs or paths. ~Take care to
put the poisoned baits where children and domestic animals can not get
them.~ Where no well-defined runs are visible in orchards, artificial
ones may be made with a narrow drag or scraper. Along such runs or the
dead furrows of plowed fields rabbits habitually travel. Baits may be
placed on the ground or elevated on short sticks along the path, and
should be looked after with care. ~Any baits left after poisoning
operations are finished should be destroyed.~
For poisoning rabbits in winter or during droughts the following formula
is recommended: Good oats, 12 quarts; powdered strychnine, 1 ounce;
laundry starch, 1 tablespoonful; soda (bicarbonate), 1 ounce;
saccharine, 1/8 ounce; water, 1 quart. Mix the starch with 1/2 pint of
cold water. Pour this into 1-1/2 pints of boiling water and continue the
boiling for a minute or two until the starch is clear. Mix the dry
strychnine and soda in a small pan and sift it over the hot starch,
stirring thoroughly to form a smooth paste. Add the saccharine and stir
again. Pour the mixture over the oats in a metal tub, mixing until all
the grain is wet. Allow the oats to dry before distributing. Not over a
tablespoonful of the grain should be put in a single bait and this
should be scattered considerably. A little alfalfa hay will help attract
rabbits to the poisoned grain. This poison is recommended for use when
snow covers the ground. It is effective against both cottontails and
large rabbits.
Partly ripened heads of barley or wheat soaked in a solution of
strychnine and saccharine or coated with the starch-strychnine solution
just described have also proved effective baits for rabbits, but ~great
care must be exercised~ in using them, as ~they are likely to be eaten by
live stock~.
Cottontail rabbits may be poisoned in winter by baiting them with twigs
cut from apple trees and dipped in or thinly coated with the
starch-strychnine poison. These twigs are scattered along rabbit trails
and are effective against both meadow mice and rabbits. They are less
dangerous to domestic animals than grain baits.