First kill all of the Coyotes, and foxes. Then somehow get rid of the fishers. Then wait for any semblance of a breeding population to stabilize, then hunt them.
When I was growing up, I could see them every single day in the woods while hunting. I think the ones i remember shooting were New England cottontails. I don't know if I ever saw an eastern.
Now, in the last ten years, I have only seen one NE cottontail and one snowshoe (from the stocking of the local beagle clubs years ago) on my property.
Damn idiots on Bacon hill passing laws that they don't understand. Now coyotes are attacking kids, never mind decimating the population of rabbits and squirrels.