I grew up in SE Wisconsin and I, too, very much enjoyed hunting cottontails with a shotgun. (.22's tended to be used less because, even then, my chosen hunting grounds were pretty thickly settled and were beginning to be "built up".) I also understand that coyotes have pretty much destroyed rabbit hunting, there. The same has happened here in Western New York.
This is really too bad because "bunny busting" has been an excellent introduction to hunting for many young people. Even now, if I had a choice, and I could only hunt one "critter", it would be "Molly Cottontail". (In fact,if, after I die, I find myself kicking brushpiles and I have an old single-shot 12 gauge loaded with #6s in my hands, I may not have to ask where I ended up!)
