Where Cottontails Live in the Piedmont

Lesson 4 of 35 · Module 1, lesson 4

Assumes the Hunting Primer. New here? Start there first.

Your objective

By the end, you'll be able to explain why the SC Piedmont holds strong cottontail populations and identify the specific cover types that concentrate rabbits in upstate country.

Concept ~7 min

Two hunters, two counties apart in South Carolina. One is walking a broomsedge old field edged by a cutover pine thicket in Newberry County. The other is pushing through a coastal-plain pocosin in Colleton County. Both are hunting cottontails. One of them is in far better country — and it’s not the one near the coast.

Why edge is everything

The eastern cottontail is an edge animal. It needs two things within a short distance of each other: food (open grassy or weedy areas) and escape cover (dense, low woody vegetation that a rabbit can bolt into and a predator can’t easily follow). Where those two things meet — a brushy fencerow alongside a grass field, a briar patch at the corner of a clearcut, an overgrown ditch between a crop field and a pine stand — rabbits concentrate.

The Piedmont is loaded with this kind of edge. Decades of timber rotation, old farm abandonment, and utility-corridor maintenance have created a patchwork landscape of open areas transitioning to young woody growth. That patchwork is rabbit country.

The why What do cottontails actually eat in the Piedmont?

Cottontails eat a wide variety of vegetation. In spring and summer they favor grasses, clover, blackberries, and forbs (broad-leafed plants). In fall and winter they shift to dried grass stems, woody browse (bark and twigs from dogwood, maple, sumac), and agricultural spill grain near field edges. A Piedmont old field in January offers dried broomsedge, honeysuckle, and briars — enough to carry rabbits through a mild SC winter without the concentrated food resources that other game animals require.

The Piedmont’s best rabbit cover types

Young pine cutovers (2–10 years old)

When a timber company cuts a pine plantation, the slash (leftover tops and brush) and the first flush of broomsedge, briars, and woody sprouts create near-ideal rabbit habitat. The cover is dense, low, and difficult for larger predators to navigate efficiently. Rabbits move in quickly and stay until the replanted pines grow tall enough to shade out the understory — typically 10–15 years after cutting. A 3- to 7-year-old cutover is usually peak rabbit ground.

What changes it: canopy closure. Once the pines get tall enough to shade the briar understory, the ground cover thins and rabbits thin with it. The same stand that held five rabbits per acre at age 5 may hold nearly none at age 15.

Broomsedge old fields

Abandoned pastures and old agricultural fields that have grown up in broomsedge (Andropogon spp.) and mixed briars are classic cottontail habitat. The tall, clumping broom sedge provides thick visual cover at ground level; briar tangles at the margins provide escape routes. These fields are common across the SC Piedmont where small farming has declined.

Brushy fencerows and field edges

Old wire fences with their accompanying shrub and briar growth along the margins of any open area are essentially rabbit highways. Rabbits use these linear features for both travel and escape. Even a 10-foot-wide overgrown fencerow between two open fields is worth working.

Utility corridors and right-of-ways

Power line and pipeline right-of-ways that cross the Piedmont are regularly mowed or herbicided but between maintenance cycles grow up in exactly the kind of low weedy and briar growth rabbits need. These corridors cross multiple land types and ownership, but where they cross public land they can be productive.

Why the coastal plain is different

The SC coastal plain grows heavier, wetter vegetation than the upstate. Dense longleaf pine regeneration, palmetto understory, and swamp-edge vegetation offer less of the specific briar-and-broomsedge edge structure that concentrates cottontails. The coastal-plain rabbit population is lower per acre than the upstate, which is why most SC rabbit hunting tradition centers on the Piedmont and upstate — specifically Sumter National Forest country and the private farm and timber lands of Newberry, Laurens, and Union counties.

That’s not to say coastal-plain rabbits don’t exist — they do, and the Sylvilagus floridanus range covers the entire state. But if you want reliable numbers, the upstate is your best ground.

Diagram comparing four Piedmont habitat types from left to right: broomsedge old field (high rabbit value), brushy fencerow (high), young cutover (high), and mature closed-canopy pine (low rabbit value). Rabbit icons are shown in the three high-value habitats. — Diagram (not a photo). Rabbit value across Piedmont cover types. Broomsedge fields, brushy fencerows, and young cutovers concentrate cottontails; closed-canopy mature pine shades out the understory and holds few rabbits.

Read the cover

Knowledge check

You have two hunting options: (A) a 5-year-old pine cutover with thick briars and broomsedge, or (B) a mature 20-year pine plantation with a closed canopy. Which do you choose for cottontails, and why?

Option A — the young cutover. Thick low cover plus the edge structure cottontails need. Option B — the mature pine. More consistent cover year to year.

Show answer

Correct: Option A — the young cutover. Thick low cover plus the edge structure cottontails need. — Right. The 5-year cutover has dense briar and broomsedge cover close to the ground — exactly what cottontails need for escape and loafing. The mature pine has a closed canopy that shades out understory, leaving little habitat.
Not quite: Option B — the mature pine. More consistent cover year to year. — Mature closed-canopy pines actually shade out the briar and low ground cover cottontails depend on. The consistent cover is consistently poor rabbit habitat. Always choose the younger, denser, brushier option.

Knowledge check

Why do cottontail populations in young cutovers decline over time even without hunting pressure?

The pine canopy closes, shading out the briar and broomsedge understory rabbits need Predators build up over time as they learn where rabbits are Disease cycles deplete the population every few years

Show answer

Correct: The pine canopy closes, shading out the briar and broomsedge understory rabbits need — Correct. This is habitat succession at work. As the pine plantation matures, the canopy closes and outcompetes the low brush and briars, removing the dense escape cover that made the cutover prime rabbit ground.
Not quite: Predators build up over time as they learn where rabbits are — Predators are present in any habitat, but the main driver of cottontail abundance in cutovers is habitat quality — specifically the loss of thick understory as the pines mature.
Not quite: Disease cycles deplete the population every few years — Disease cycles (like tularemia) do affect rabbit populations, but the predictable decline in young-cutover rabbit numbers is driven by canopy closure and understory loss, not disease.

Knowledge check

A hunter asks why the SC coastal plain generally holds fewer cottontails per acre than the upstate. Which answer is most accurate?

The coastal plain has less of the briar-and-broomsedge edge structure that concentrates cottontails The coastal plain is warmer and rabbits avoid heat More hunting pressure depletes coastal populations

Show answer

Correct: The coastal plain has less of the briar-and-broomsedge edge structure that concentrates cottontails — Right. Coastal-plain vegetation tends toward denser longleaf pine regeneration and palmetto understory rather than the brushy-field edge structure that makes Piedmont upstate country so productive for cottontails.
Not quite: The coastal plain is warmer and rabbits avoid heat — Cottontails are statewide and handle SC's climate well. The difference is habitat structure, not temperature.
Not quite: More hunting pressure depletes coastal populations — Actually the opposite tends to be true — more hunting tradition and pressure in the upstate. The underlying driver is habitat quality, not harvest.

Take it to the woods

Find the best cover near you before season opens

0/5

Open Google Maps or onX and find the upstate/Piedmont county you plan to hunt. Toggle to satellite view.
Identify at least two cover-type candidates: a brushy field edge or old field, and a possible recent cutover (look for brown textured areas adjacent to darker mature timber).
Check if the parcel is on the Sumter National Forest or another accessible public land. Enoree District (Newberry/Laurens/Union counties), Long Cane (McCormick/Abbeville), Andrew Pickens (Oconee/Pickens) all have huntable ground.
Note when the cutovers were likely cut — a stand that looks 5–8 years old is better than one that looks 15+. Timber company websites sometimes publish harvest records.
Walk one of your identified pieces before the season and confirm it has the briar and broomsedge density you're looking for.

Sources

Carolina Sportsman, “Bust Upstate Bunnies”: https://www.carolinasportsman.com/content/bust-upstate-bunnies-south-carolinas-upstate-is-home-to-a-lot-of-good-habitat-and-great-rabbit-hunting/
SCDNR Wildlife Species Gallery — Eastern Cottontail: https://dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/acechar/speciesgallery/Mammals/EasternCottontailRabbit/index.html
Animal Diversity Web, Sylvilagus floridanus: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Sylvilagus_floridanus/
Dive Bomb Industries, Rabbit Hunting in South Carolina: https://www.divebombindustries.com/blogs/news/rabbit-hunting-in-south-carolina-cottontail-essentials
USDA NRCO, Eastern Cottontail (Piedmont habitat context): https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/SC/Eastern_Cottontail.pdf

If you remember nothing else

Cottontails thrive in edge habitat — the brushy, broken transition zone where open feeding areas meet thick escape cover.
The SC Piedmont's young timber cutovers (2–10 years old), broomsedge old fields, and overgrown fencerows are near-perfect cottontail habitat.
Coastal plain soils grow dense longleaf pine and palmetto understory that offers less of the low-briar edge cover cottontails prefer.
As a planted pine stand matures and the canopy closes, it shades out the understory and rabbits move on — a 5-year cutover beats a 15-year stand every time.
Public land in the Sumter National Forest (Enoree, Long Cane, and Andrew Pickens districts) offers 290,000+ acres of managed forest with rotating cutovers — productive and accessible.

How ready do you feel?

How ready are you to drive to a new piece of Piedmont ground and identify the cover types most likely to hold rabbits?

Before you go — a quick look back

Distributed practice: one fast recall from an earlier lesson keeps it from fading.

Quick recall

From Cottontail vs. Swamp & Marsh Rabbit — what is the fastest way to distinguish the swamp rabbit from the eastern cottontail in the field before you examine the marks closely?

Show me the answer

Show answer

Correct: Show me the answer — Habitat. An upland old-field rabbit is almost certainly a cottontail. A rabbit jumping from bottomland swamp or floodplain habitat in the western Piedmont could be a swamp rabbit — then check for the larger size and cinnamon eye ring.

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