Thread: Rabbit City

Have been to the Tekapo area chasing wallaby (we shot a couple of hundred), but for a change and to help the cockie we gave the bunnies a blast too.

My first go was mid morning for a couple of hours using my T-Bolt .17HMR. Bit of a safe queen and not much work but it excelled itself. Its sighted in for 100 yards and around 90-110 yards seemed to be its sweet spot. Managed one at 176 yards holding on its head but more misses than hits at that range. 'Scope is a 3-9 Z3. It was great fun. 31 for the .17

Then for the last evening when I was feeling a bit stuffed from chasing wallabies I took the .223 after rabbits. Left at about 1pm and back at 7pm. I sidled a creek and shot into the creek and up the side gullies. It was dead quiet until about 2-30pm and then they started to appear. At one spot I shot 22 without moving.

Overall with the .223 I guess the average range was about 150 yards with some out to around the 275 mark. One at 286 yards. Walking back (out of ammo) it looked like mayhem had been created - white bellies and bits of rabbit all over the show. I had shot 64. If I had had the ammo and stayed to dark I guess I would have got into the hundreds. Great fun but a bit expensive shooting 55 grain Gameking handholds. Will load a heap of cheap projectiles for next time.

This is the only pic I took but it shows that going by the damage there were a few bunnies around (and saw a few deer).

Thanks for that Tahr. I had heard of the damage that the rabbits do but seeing that photograph provides a great deal of perspective. We in the north have no idea really.

I fear by the number of rabbit holes/warrens there you havnt even touched the tip of a very large iceberg.

Great fun shooting in a very target-rich environment like that. My 17 Hornet would have been in heaven there

Couple of years ago I approached a station that was suggested by a workmate who shoots there and said it's overrun and the manager did the old yeah nah recreational shooters stuff up the pest control contractors plans.

great stuff and yip a heck of a lot of fun..... fmj works fine in the .223 on bunnies so keep eye out for bulk bargain rounds...heck even the geko stuff you were using would work fine..there is a definate difference in terminal effect using varmit pills in explosiveness but fmj into shoulders leaves no prisoners .that red fella looks in primo condition.lovely to see.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

great stuff and yip a heck of a lot of fun..... fmj works fine in the .223 on bunnies so keep eye out for bulk bargain rounds...heck even the geko stuff you were using would work fine..there is a definate difference in terminal effect using varmit pills in explosiveness but fmj into shoulders leaves no prisoners .that red fella looks in primo condition.lovely to see.

@Micky Duck I let them be...

Originally Posted by RUMPY

Couple of years ago I approached a station that was suggested by a workmate who shoots there and said it's overrun and the manager did the old yeah nah recreational shooters stuff up the pest control contractors plans.

Not surprised. We work in with a pest contractor and the station owner and that seems to be how they like it.

Originally Posted by GWH

I fear by the number of rabbit holes/warrens there you havnt even touched the tip of a very large iceberg.

Great fun shooting in a very target-rich environment like that. My 17 Hornet would have been in heaven there

We shot 450 altogether. As you say, could get thousands. The contractor got 350 off a lucerne paddock in 2 nights.

It is amazing what you don't see. I damn near rolled a ute on one little hill that had been completely undercut into a huge rabbit warren - in the process scattering a few hundred out of that one warren. Before that possibly 20 visible around holes on guard duty? That one little paddock probably had a thousand in it on those odds - this was in a lake area Nth Is. Actually scary how much damage and how quickly they can produce. Also scary how much earthwork the little bastards can do, out of sight out of mind.

I love the looks the reds are giving that fallow.

450 is a good visit - Tekapo a great area to shoot. We do quite a bit of shooting there for the bunnies, deer, wallabies.

One limitation these days is ammo cost when you're shooting hundreds - esp with 17HMR, 223 etc. Cost per outing can really start to mount up. Less and less high volume 22 shooting terrain now, though we do find blocks from time to time. Second limitation is when an area has been shot by everybody - often inaccurately - and they leave alot of missed and very spooky bunnies. On some blocks these run 4-500 meters on seeing a man. Makes it harder, though we hold them and nail them at night with maxtochs and 223s.

Good to see you left some deer - freezer now on empty and its very hard to beat nice fallow spiker as in pic.. Will be down there in 3 weeks or so.

850 bunnies was my best result in a weekend.
Using ferrets and purse nets in a far away place

Our best came when we made a bit of an effort few years back and shot 2034 in two evenings - albeit two weeks apart. All with very accurate 22s at average range of 70m. We're rather lazy but on this occasion the boys stayed out and shot from 6.30 to about 1am. Alot of fun and plenty of smiles back in the shearer's quarters with cold pizza and beers afterwards. Personally though I rarely bother shooting beyond 150 or so - I just get bored..

Any time you shoot hundreds is special, memorable, but as you know you can also have alot of enjoyment taking the rifle for a walk in an evening and popping 3-4 here and there.

Have forgotten what this is like we use to shoot 150 odd for a weekend round here now we might shoot 5 or 6

In the mid 90’s I was fortunate enough to be invited on a annual rabbit shoot up the Molesworth ( brother-in-laws family adventure)
We stayed at Red Gate hut and shot until our barrels nearly melted.
We mainly used Shotguns and I remember one occasion where I fired Two boxes of Falcon 36 gram loads and never moved more than two paces .
I just stood on the top of a bank and shot down into a creek bed .
We never took a true talley , but their way of assessing the day was by counting the Black rabbits shot .
I have no idea if it was accurate or not but they reconned that there was a Black rabbit for every 100 normal ones .
So at the end of each day sitting around the fire there was a talley up of Black skins ( if you shot a Black one you had to skin it )
It was a normal night to have maybe 5-8 black skins counted.
Those couple of years that I went on those hunts are probably my best hunting memory’s I’ve ever had .