Thread: Rabbit City

Originally Posted by Tahr

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).

Bloody hell it looks like it's been hit with pint size artillery. I remember seeing massive numbers in the central south island during a visit some 20 years ago, hills seemed to move in the headlights.
Up north I just get them as an occasional bonus during possum shoots!

I see that in a couple of areas in the Nth Is - got to be the right night though (usually not too hot, fine during the day leading into a little afternoon/early evening night rain followed by dry but overcast night). In those conditions it seems that the little jumpers all come out, and you can literally see the entire hillside move as one. It's something that takes a while to get your head around as most shooters just can't shoot accurately the first time or two. You struggle to actually pick one rabbit to aim at, wait for it to stop and then shoot at the right time in those conditions, too many moving targets! That's how you end up with shot-shy frightened and/or lightly wounded bunnies which is what gives rec. shooters such a bad rep with the landowners and pro hunters.

@Tahr You can get 500 55g Hornady for about $170 still I think. Cheaper than the primers.

Originally Posted by charliehorse

@Tahr You can get 500 55g Hornady for about $170 still I think. Cheaper than the primers.

Yeah. The best deal seems to be Reloaders Supplies. $30/100. Ive got 250 and will get some more. I think my mate @Brian has about a thousand. They are what he and our other wallaby mate use solely on wallaby and bunnies and the odd deer and they are just fine. Good cheap option.

Originally Posted by No.3

I see that in a couple of areas in the Nth Is - got to be the right night though (usually not too hot, fine during the day leading into a little afternoon/early evening night rain followed by dry but overcast night). In those conditions it seems that the little jumpers all come out, and you can literally see the entire hillside move as one. It's something that takes a while to get your head around as most shooters just can't shoot accurately the first time or two. You struggle to actually pick one rabbit to aim at, wait for it to stop and then shoot at the right time in those conditions, too many moving targets! That's how you end up with shot-shy frightened and/or lightly wounded bunnies which is what gives rec. shooters such a bad rep with the landowners and pro hunters.

Yes. You need to be calm and systematic. I can be both sometimes and neither too often But they seem to appreciate our consistent and concensous
approach which is a bonus for us.

Haven't been down South for over 25 years. Jeeze that sounds like fun Tahr what a tally to knock off. My mate took me on tour after a hunt in the hunter hills and we drove through the Mackenzie basin it sounded like flat tyres popping but it was rabbits being road killed.

Tahr's pic with the mass of rabbit holes tells a story - but it can actually be worse. Untold acres with thousands of burrows, and zero vegetation left. All gone. Barren like a lunar landscape - and yet somehow rabbits live in even those environments. Some low hills were so completely holed they looked like a big pumice block - like some kind of geological formation. As a farmer's son I could only shake my head - its no longer a matter of stock units per acre, or acres per stock unit - there are square miles there where you wouldn't put an animal.

Real pleasure to help and shoot the little bastards. I also dropped the back end of the 4x4 into a big warren that collapsed - driving along and next thing you're headlights are pointing at the sky... Got out alright.

North Canterbury's bunny heyday 8-15 years ago was different. Millions of them but they had not had the chance to eat out the grass - and here its much less marginal land, well grassed downs and higher country terrain. This pic is from a big farm where we shot tens of thousands in total. At bottom of hill is small flat scrubby paddock where I nailed 105 in 95 minutes - just moving quietly from spot to spot with bipod and JW15. Rimfire heaven. At other end of that flat @gadgetman popped 100 in about 43 minutes. Lucky sod - I think that was the quickest 100. But the farm terrain here was still ok - they got stuck into the bunnies in time, poisoned heaps, we shot heaps, and the virus had huge effect. Legend shooting for us - and they prevented that pasture ruin you see further south..

That sounds like a better way to drop into a warren, back end first. I was travelling along the tip of a little rise with a sharp drop off to the left and the little bastards had excavated into the face where I couldn't see. Dropped the left side of the ute and damn near rolled me. Luckily I bounced out of it and pinballed along for a few meters before my head stopped bouncing off the inside of the window. I was fortunate enough to have brought spare gruts.

It was an eye opener, I've never seen that sort of damage before. The landowner's rep didn't give a sh1t either. A mix of iwi and commercial land left to go fallow...

Originally Posted by charliehorse

@Tahr You can get 500 55g Hornady for about $170 still I think. Cheaper than the primers.

I got 1000 for $26/100 delivered from Rusa Reloading Components. Great service and as cheap as chips.

the deer dont like those bulk hornady loads either...is your lot reloadable brass or steel case???? the brass stuff is awesome.
at that price its tempting to not reload at all!!!

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

the deer dont like those bulk hornady loads either...is your lot reloadable brass or steel case???? the brass stuff is awesome.
at that price its tempting to not reload at all!!!

$260/1000 - $26/100. 55 grn Projectiles. Not loaded ammo.

Originally Posted by Tahr

$260/1000 - $26/100. 55 grn Projectiles. Not loaded ammo.

What powder you using with the 55grn

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

the deer dont like those bulk hornady loads either...is your lot reloadable brass or steel case???? the brass stuff is awesome.
at that price its tempting to not reload at all!!!

Belmont black in 1000 round cans makes reloading 223 a very marginal exercise even though it's now gone to $800 a can. The other bonus is you don't have to worry about dropped brass.

Originally Posted by 25/08 IMP

What powder you using with the 55grn

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2206 or W748

Has anyone got any spots/contacts they're willing to pass on to me for rabbit shooting please? Keen to get some runs on the board with the new Ruger. Just moved to Lincoln for uni, so I don't have any contacts or much experience in the area.

Cheers, Sean