JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri's rabbit population showed a decline again this year. The good news for rabbit hunters is that more than a dozen counties still have strong rabbit numbers, and isolated pockets of habitat provide good rabbit hunting in nearly every part of the state.

July surveys conducted in 112 of Missouri's 114 counties showed rabbit numbers down 15 percent statewide compared to last year.

The surveys showed declines in all counties except St. Charles and St. Louis, which are not included in the survey. Statewide rabbit numbers also were 34 percent lower than the average annual figure for 1983 through 1995.

The good news is that the average daily bag for rabbit hunters has changed very little over the years. From 1967 through 1993, Missourians killed an average of 1.49 rabbits per hunter per day. The average daily bag in 1994 was 1.37, just 8 percent less than the long-term average.

Research Biologist Dr. Tom Dailey, who is in charge of rabbit management for the Missouri Department of Conservation, says hunter's continued success in spite of declining overall rabbit numbers is due to several factors. One is the fact that Missouri has about 100,000 fewer hunters today than it did in the 1970s. The continued success is due partly because fewer hunters are competing for existing rabbit populations, says Dailey, and partly due to the fact that those who still hunt rabbits tend to be the more dedicated and experienced. Finally, he says, Missouri continues to have high-quality rabbit hunting in pockets scattered throughout the state.

"The cottontail rabbit's reproductive capacity enables it to respond very rapidly in places that have good rabbit habitat," says Dailey. "Those places have good hunting, and the dedicated rabbit hunters work very hard at finding them."

Dailey attributes the decline of Missouri's rabbit population to changes in land use. "Heavy grazing is not conducive to quail or rabbits," he says. "With the increase in size of the average farm, we have seen a progressive loss of wooded fence rows that once were our quail and rabbit havens. We even have some programs that encourage landowners to tear out woody draws and convert them to grass. That's devastating to rabbit and quail populations."

He says the same trends and accompanying decline in rabbit and quail numbers can be found in neighboring states. Weather plays a tremendous role in short-term rabbit population trends, as with the decline in rabbit numbers following the harsh winter of 1983. But rabbits' legendary reproductive ability allows them to recover quickly from these short-term setbacks. Counties with the strongest rabbit numbers were in northern and western Missouri. The highest counts were Barton, Dade, St. Clair, Andrew, DeKalb, Gentry, Daviess, Grundy, Mercer, Putnam,Sullivan, Schuyler, Scotland, Knox, Lewis, Randolph, Pike and Butlercounties.

Rabbit season opens Tuesday and runs through Feb. 15. The dailylimit is six, and the possession limit is 12. However, hunters in southernMissouri should remember that only two swamp rabbits may be included inthe daily limit and only four in the possession limit.