Slingshots

[Suffolkboy]

You won't have to kill as many as you think, self preservation and the herd instinct kick in quite quickly and they'll move on.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/11556224..._TECSIwRW6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

No. That's not true.

 

[Fergie 307]

I did a fair bit of rabbit shooting as a lad growing up in Scotland but it was for the pot. No way you will make much of a dent in the population whatever you shoot them with. They do taste nice and the odd couple for the pot is some consolation. If you are going to shoot some then aim to be as humane as you can and you will have to put some wounded ones out of their misery. Thats just a fact of hunting. Even with a .22 or a shotgun the kill is often not as quick as desired. An airgun would just be sheer cruelty and not very effective. I knew some bow hunters and rabbits and small game are shot with blunt arrow heads known as blunts. Archery shops sell them but some used steel hex nuts on wood shafts. Anyhow however hunting is done there is a responsibility on the hunter to do it right.
Regards
John

Have hunted rabbits for over forty years using air rifles, starting off with the old spring powered ones and more recently hpa. Never want to use anything powered by CO2 for hunting as the pressure varies too much with temperature to ensure consistemcy. Plenty powerful enough in 22 calibre. But you need to know what you are doing and practice. If you cannot guarantee to hit the animal in the head then you shouldnt be doing it. Effective range is whatever range you can be confident of being able to do that. With a modern hpa rifle that can be up to about 45m, assuming the British power limit of 12flb. And in my experience, provided there is adequate food abailable elsewhere, then they do eventually learn to avoid areas where their mates have been shot. If you have a smallish garden then of course a siutable fence is probably the better long term solution, not going to work for the OP though.

 

[Fergie 307]

Yes, I take your point.
I've been in abbatoirs too - I used to send my bobby calves there and I'm pretty certain that cattle, wide eyed and bellowing in the race awaiting their turn for the captive bolt gun know exactly what's about to happen to them. In my seafaring days I sailed briefly on ships which, in the lyrics of the shanty, go a-fishing for the whale.
My conclusion from these events is that there is no nice way to kill anything.
Rabbit control in NZ is in the hands of government and its appointed exterminators and to achieve this they use the calicivirus and mixamatosis. These induced diseases are highly transmissable within rabbit populations and the symptoms before inevitable death are days of lethargy, loss of appetite, organ failure and bleeding out via the nose, mouth and eyes.
By comparison, I want to shoot a few rabbits with a catapult, assuming of course after practising that I can hit the target with a degree of certainty. As Keith66 pointed out, trying to control a rabbit population by roaming the hills with a rifle is futile but evidence suggests that protecting a small area will result in rabbits keeping clear, preferring greener (safer) pastures.
I imagine that two weeks protecting my patch will tell me if this is true. If, during this time I pinged 100 rabbits with a 50% kill rate, this leaves 50 injured rabbits that will either recover or die.
I'm sorry if this 'does your head in' but I think 50 possibly maimed vermin is preferable to an entire population sentenced to a horrific lingering death at the hands of the professionals.
View attachment 146073
In the garden now..

If you use a rifle rather than a catapult, and become proficient enough to shoot them in the head, then you will not have any walkimg wounded. From your photo the range looks to be pretty short. Get yourself a catcher amd some paper targets to practice, you may even find you enjoy target shooting. At least then when its time for Mr Bunny to say goodnight you can make a proper job of it.

 

[ptturner]

Im not sure about Rabbit control, however if you can get hold of Stoats or Pine Martins they are great predators of Grey Squirrels. Plus the native red squirrels are too fast or can travel out to the lighter branches and escape the Pine Martins and Stoats.

 

[JimJay]

Straying a bit off topic but air rifles have certainly come a long way since the old days - I have a collection of old and new ones. Over here there's no limit on how powerful an air weapon you can buy; you just waltz into the shop and stroll out with whatever takes your fancy, provided you can afford it. You're supposed to register it with the local Old Bill but they couldn't care less if you do or don't and anyway you can buy them online from other EU countries if you're over 18.

I haven't gone above a 9mm (.357 in old money) Benjamin Bulldog, mainly because ammo gets seriously expensive at the larger calibres, but I am very tempted by the Zeus .50". I can't imagine what I'd do with it in normal times but these days, and in this neck of the woods, it's always possible that some vermin in Russian uniforms might turn up in the garden.....

 

[Kittyhawk]

We have no predators at all in nz that would deal to rabbits.
To acquire a .22 I would need a gun licence but in any event shooting on a public reserve is prohibited. Air rifles up to a certain velocity don't need a licence but are also banned from public places. Viral control of rabbits is in the hands of government and they won't do anything on local council land, so my bum's out the window with all the above which is why I began with the catapult idea and progressed to the longbow for which there are no restrictions.
Not really interested in the wholesale slaughter of rabbits but the premise that eliminating the few within my immediate vicinity will make the others keep away. This is what I am told so prepared to shoot anything within my immediate vicinity for a couple of weeks to see if it's true. If not then on to Plan B, but there isn't one.
I take on board Triton and others comments about the necessity of a clean kill which is the reason for abandoning the catapult idea as I've never even held one. As mentioned with the longbow my 4-arrow grouping was 18cm over 60 metres which equates to reliably hitting a tennis ball sized target at the anticipated range of 12m, but that was 60 years ago. There are a few hard and fasts in archery- the stance, top of the longbow at one-o-clock, ascertaining the correct nock point on the bowstring etc. For the rest, you don't really aim a longbow, shooting is intuitive so hoping it's like riding a bicycle, you don't forget. On the plus side I've only shot with traditional wooden bows which have a few in- built vagaries and are subject to climatic conditions, so about to order a very nice French built composite recurve longbow, 60inch, 26lb draw weight which won't have these issues and will shoot reliably. Practice, and if any good, onto rabbits.

 

[fenhayman]

Well if anyone likes squirrel stew and wants to catch their own I’ve got a couple of acres with them running riot. I’ve got a .22 air rifle but thats not a lot of use whe they can run out of range vertically up a tree in no time. any ideas?

Set up a bird table with a couple of hanging pea nut holders. Position it in a easy line from a bedroom window. Keep the window open a crack so noise of opening doesn't scare them off.

 

[mikej460]

Just buy yourself a Maine Coon cat, it'll be better than a scarecrow as long as you can put up with the occasional 'present' appearing in your house

 

[John Brown]

I believe the rabbit population has plunged recently. Not myxomatosis, but some other disease.

 

[Tris]

That figures, the local vets had posters up recommending rabbits be vaccinated against haemorrhagic virus, as well as myxy, recently

 

[John Brown]

That figures, the local vets had posters up recommending rabbits be vaccinated against haemorrhagic virus, as well as myxy, recently

Thanks, yes. Couldn't remember the name.
I think it was mentioned way back in this thread by another name, calci something virus...

 

[Suffolkboy]

We have no predators at all in nz that would deal to rabbits.
To acquire a .22 I would need a gun licence but in any event shooting on a public reserve is prohibited. Air rifles up to a certain velocity don't need a licence but are also banned from public places. Viral control of rabbits is in the hands of government and they won't do anything on local council land, so my bum's out the window with all the above which is why I began with the catapult idea and progressed to the longbow for which there are no restrictions.
Not really interested in the wholesale slaughter of rabbits but the premise that eliminating the few within my immediate vicinity will make the others keep away. This is what I am told so prepared to shoot anything within my immediate vicinity for a couple of weeks to see if it's true. If not then on to Plan B, but there isn't one.
I take on board Triton and others comments about the necessity of a clean kill which is the reason for abandoning the catapult idea as I've never even held one. As mentioned with the longbow my 4-arrow grouping was 18cm over 60 metres which equates to reliably hitting a tennis ball sized target at the anticipated range of 12m, but that was 60 years ago. There are a few hard and fasts in archery- the stance, top of the longbow at one-o-clock, ascertaining the correct nock point on the bowstring etc. For the rest, you don't really aim a longbow, shooting is intuitive so hoping it's like riding a bicycle, you don't forget. On the plus side I've only shot with traditional wooden bows which have a few in- built vagaries and are subject to climatic conditions, so about to order a very nice French built composite recurve longbow, 60inch, 26lb draw weight which won't have these issues and will shoot reliably. Practice, and if any good, onto rabbits.

I cull rabbits professionally. Amongst other things.

The idea that shooting a few will somehow make the others "move on" is nonsense.

What is more likely is that as/if you reduce the population in the immediate area it will be recolonised from the surroundings.

I don't know what your population density is, or what the status of mixymatosis or VHD in NZ is so it's difficult to comment but, I would manage your expectations of what you can achieve by picking off the odd rabbit here or there with a bow, catapult, airgun or even rimfire centerfire rifle or a shotgun. Personally I doubt you will see a meaningful difference at all.

I have two farms over here, in the presence of myxy and VHD that I shoot and trap hundreds of rabbits annually on and have done for the last six years. The population has reduced, quite dramatically but there will always be rabbits there. All ypu can do is keep the pressure on and try to keep the population supressed to a point that crop damage is acceptable.

That said, good luck. google some rabbit recipes because they can be good eating.

 

[Kittyhawk]

An update.
Starting to think that the rabbits around here are pretty cunning and that they've been secretly reading UKW and not liking the content of this post, have decided to make themselves scarce.
There used to be a dozen or so in the immediate vicinity, yesterday at dusk there were four, today one.
And I've gone and ordered a new recurve bow to deal to them.
But never mind, I've been thinking about taking up archery again for a while. I have a few hobbies and one more won't hurt - another string to my bow as you might say.
But no stick shooters club in Whangamata. Might have to start one.

 

[Kittyhawk]

I've had my new recurve bow for a couple of weeks now and a beautiful thing it is, too. In an unfrequented part of a reserve I have set up a target - a 30cm square double layer piece of carpet and have been going there each morning at 6:30 (when it's not raining) to practise and slowly the art of intuitive shooting is coming back to me. Currently at the point where I can get a good grouping on the target, four arrows in 30 seconds at a 30 metre range. Good enough for rabbits.
Just this evening, a couple of hours ago there was a rabbit in the garden, a big fellow. A beautiful clear shot, range about 12metres, a bank beyond to catch the arrow in case of a miss - perfect! From the comfort of my deck I nocked a 700 spine, 125 grain carbon arrow, went to full draw.... and when it came to let fly, I just couldn't do it.
200 bucks I paid for that bow so that was a waste of money. Bloody rabbits..!

 

[Inspector]

Maybe you can convince the rabbits to wear some carpet squares.

Pete

 

[JimJay]

 

[clogs]

I was like that in the begining ......
but that changed after having my own small hoding for 17 years......
coz there was nobody else to do it....
hang the bow in the workshop/office as it's a thing of beauty.........

 

[D_W]

Just buy yourself a Maine Coon cat, it'll be better than a scarecrow as long as you can put up with the occasional 'present' appearing in your house

View attachment 146175

My mother's favorite type. Only cat type I've seen that will seek water, but ours was a "outside during the day and kill it if it moves" kind of cat, too.

to the OP's original comment - we have a rabbit problem here, too. but about a year ago, a killer cat showed up at our door from a street over and eventually the owner gave up on her and gave us her papers. Street over has four other cats and five dogs, and "killer cat" doesn't care for other animals of any type at all.

two small animals a day. I haven't seen her get a large rabbit, but she gets the little ones....and everything else. Only static so far is someone down the street who feeds birds.

We also had a groundhog problem in the yard behind us, but the owner is turkish and got some kind of outdoor dog (pleasant disposition, doesn't bark) and I haven't seen a ground hog in a long time.

if there's pressure nearby (more rabbits who will move in) then killing them is a never ending battle. having an animal that kills them is pretty effortless.

 

[Flynnwood]

From the comfort of my deck I nocked a 700 spine, 125 grain carbon arrow, went to full draw.... and when it came to let fly, I just couldn't do it.

That reminds me of a TV scene where that English Chef/Cook had a wild deer in the sights but then couldn't pull the trigger:
(1 minute vid)

 

[mikej460]

We had 8 maine coons at the peak as my wife breeds and shows them. The two oldest were allowed out but after we lost one my wife kept the youngest 6 in and I built a huge run for them. The two old 'uns have since died of old age.

Here is her website if you're interested in seeing them Coonspiracy Maine Coons – Maine Coon Cats and Kittens

Before they died the two old 'uns brought in rabbits, pheasants, squirrels and countless mice/voles oh and once a Water Rail ffs!