I'd like some advice from you veteran rabbit hunters. Since I was a kid I would spend the winter months tromping on brush piles in areas that had lots of rabbit tracks. Unfortunately I only rarely flushed a cottontail. I spent today doing the same in a promising area without any luck. Conditions were: 26 deg, sunny with 2 in. of fresh snow, and lots of tracks. My big question is "Where are all the rabbits ". Thanks for the input.

Rabbits come and go in cycles
When they populate, not only does it bring out the rabbkt hunters but also the predators, coyotes and such, when their population drops again, the hunters and predators move on till they repopulate again.
If pop is low, can keep trying there or look elsewhere, and come back to that spot early next season.

Probably went nocturnal on you. Hunt as early in the am as you can. If they made tracks in two inches of fresh snow they are still around.

I'm just wondering if they are in the holes.

Might could be underground in holes, although brush piles are a good place to look. Same w/ super thick briar/honeysuckle patches. Here in VA, snowy days mean great rabbit hunts on farms, but in lg. tracts of cutovers & pine thickets, rabbits will be holed deep in lap (log) piles. The worse the weather, the harder they are to find as they seek refuge in tight places.

I would have said in the predators and birds of prey's bellies, but you saw tracks, so they must be holed up. If it was sunny and not windy, I would think they'd be sunning themselves though.

i live in west tennessee and very to little snow. i hunt with dogs but the colder it gets the harder it is to flush a rabbit. i have seen swamp rabbits sit so still when its cold you almost had to kick him to get him to run.

a hunter doesn't like to find.