I never have seen a wabbit eat a hot pepper. Deer and GroundHogs will eat them though. My guess would be a groundhog. Night time hunting will do no good. Midday on cloudy days are your best bet for getting them. I have never been able to figure out their time schedule or I would have climbed trees and sniped them all. Lucky for me the dog has killed two in the last month or so and that is about 1/2 of what I have seen this year.