Keeping the bunny rabbits out is a constant battle. I used chicken wire over the panel fence when I put my garden in. The weed whacker and mower deck have opened some bunny-size holes in it over the years. Hardware cloth probably would have held up a bit better. Most summers a momma bunny will find her way in and raise a litter in there, but for the most part, I don’t have a lot of trouble with them.
We have three inside-outside cats, and one barn cat that are all savage hunters, and my nine month old Aussie pup is turning into quite a hunter too. She’s killed and eaten three half-grown cottontails in the last ten days. Two weeks ago she snuck up on a squirrel and then ran him down before he could get to a tree.
Good deal on your hunting “pets”! I saw the picture of your Aussie in your machine shed.
My daughters Cat is a house cat, neutered and totally useless for vermin protection. when I can get him out he watches chipmunks and squirrels without moving He does occasionally chase birds. Inside he sniffs bugs. Useless.
I have chicken wire on the inside of the picket fence in the garden section of my back yard. I think they sneak in on the street side fence side under the fence. The ones I find in the garden are the small ones rather than big ones. I put up some more around the perimeter of this particular raised bed. Except for the peppers I do not think they will bother anything else (tomatoes okra, squash.) When the compost heap was outside the fence I would just about always find a rabbit litter when I was turning it.