Rabbits and Hares close to houses

I volunteer with trapping rats and hedgehogs/stoats etc in reserves where I live. Have been asked by someone from local Pony Club if we can deal with the rabbits and hares on the property they use/lease , Crown land, managed by Council, grassy farmland on outskirts of residential area.
I'm wondering about technicalities shooting these critters and not starting ww3 with locals/Police.
I've looked online and am guessing the following will be needed.

Keep as far away from the houses as possible.
Notify Police before hand.
Notify people in houses adjoining the farmland shooting on.

Does this sound right? What am I missing?

Cheers all.

If you are shooting near residential, ideally get hold of the local police and ask them.

use a bow.

Even if you notify and meet all requirements don't be surprised for some naft headed mollycoddler to raise an issue even when you haven't been shooting. Had a local outfit bracket a few nights for similar activities and due to weather/timing with external happenings in the area they didn't start to the 2nd night they listed. Sure enough, some idiot 'my opinion outweighs yours' type got a few of her (assuming it was a her) friends together and made several complaints on the first night.

It was a bit embarrassing when the outfit wasn't even working that night! But that's an illustration of the level of retarded fools that you have to deal with.

The best option, is first up a very good survey of the area to identify fire lines, angles, areas of richochet danger and where people might wander through without permission and work out if the area can actually be shot in without excessive risk to the people shooting. That will tell you if it's worth going any further.

Consider air rifle. Triple check firing zone and backstops. Subsonic .22lr seldom exit with chest shots so don't miss. Or go other way and super fragibles/explody supersonic. But noise is issue with that. Whatever you do...cover your arse with coppers beforehand and write down names n times of any communications.

@Hugh Shields?

very good advice from no 3 you hit nail on head neighbours police bit of a map HSE plan all good air rifle good idea but needs to be a powerful especially for hares bow well just playing really

Submit a work plan with local cops and notify when actually shooting. Saves embarrassment and/or meeting up with armed police. When planning on doing pest control near residential areas I ring Ch-Ch central station and they send a work order through to Blenheim and/or Picton station. Bugger all problems so far. You gotta be fucking sure of your shots and firing zone though. If you’re dealing with cats leave no evidence, that can turn into a shit show.
Bye the bye, a good day to be out and about looking for goats,hares etc.
Attachment 265619

You will probably need permission from the landowner, which is very unlikely of that means the council, unless you tick all sorts of boxes. Liability insurance, H&S plans, etc.

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Originally Posted by woods223

Submit a work plan with local cops and notify when actually shooting. Saves embarrassment and/or meeting up with armed police. When planning on doing pest control near residential areas I ring Ch-Ch central station and they send a work order through to Blenheim and/or Picton station. Bugger all problems so far. You gotta be fucking sure of your shots and firing zone though. If you’re dealing with cats leave no evidence, that can turn into a shit show.
Bye the bye, a good day to be out and about looking for goats,hares etc.
Attachment 265619

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excellent!

I,m shooting Hares a bit further out of town so tree huggers not so much of a worry.

Using a low end inferay thermal to find them, with the colour menu I get a red glow to 60M which is the shoot able limit for my PCP air rifle. Shooting jsb18g pellets at 35flbs or 920fps, with pard night vision scope sighted in a 50M this rig shoots half inch. Shooting off homemade shooting sticks as where I shoot is flat & often has longer grass. Head shots are a must, puts them down no worries, Quiet & at night I'm not shining a torch all over the place.

I do them in a slow cooker with a Maggi slow cooker sashay, onions & parsnips, bacon & whatever takes your fancy. Lot of meat on a hare, well worth eating.

agree flock underrated by kiwi hunters hares are great eating when done right and a lot of meat on them as good as venison

@ANTSMAN, you’re on the right track.

It’s pretty much been said but here’s my 2c on how to cover your bases well.

Check Satellite picture first.

Door knock the neighbours, this works better if the person you are shooting for, gives them a heads up that you will be doing so. When you speak to neighbours, it presents as professional and reassuring if you offer to give them a courtesy text prior to shooting activities. Often they will request your services as well.

Advise police via 105 each time you are shooting, (Don’t forget to advise them when you are finished)

Operate during darkness using thermal or NV sights, a small head torch for walking around doesn’t tend to ruffle feathers but a spotlight can. As an aside, any lighting device can upset the horses, so keep that in mind.

Using firearms/equipment that are suitable for the situation is a given.

Be prepared for the activities to be labour intensive as you are often limited in what you can shoot. As often as not, it’s a case of setting up with a safe angle and letting the rabbits come to you.
As woods223 says, you gotta be fucking sure of your shots, this actually applies at all times but in these situations it is less often that you can be and harder to boot.


Finally… if working in construction affords you access to a cherry picker/scissor lift, these can be used to effect. The easier but less effective option is gaining height from on top of a vehicle if you can.

Ummm if I remember correctly, law says firearm may not be discharged within 100m of a residence. True?

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Originally Posted by Jhon

Ummm if I remember correctly, law says firearm may not be discharged within 100m of a residence. True?

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As long as residents/general public are notified you’re reasonably safe.
From: Arms Legislation Act 2020
Section 48 replaced (Discharging firearm, airgun, pistol, or restricted weapon in or near dwellinghouse or public place)
Replace section 48 with:
48 Discharging firearm, airgun, pistol, or restricted weapon in or near dwellinghouse or public place
A person commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or to a fine not exceeding $10,000, if the person, without reasonable excuse, discharges a firearm, airgun, pistol, or restricted weapon in or near a dwellinghouse or a public place so as to—
(a)
endanger property; or
(b)
endanger, annoy, or frighten any person.

Nor a public road, it all gets to hard, Ok back to my knitting.

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Originally Posted by gonetropo

use a bow.

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Or air rifle.

Pindone for the rabbits may be the easiest answer, the pony club could do that themselves and depending on where they are the regional council may consider supplying it. Not the best answer in a hunting forum but possibly the most practical in the circumstances.
Not sure about the hares but horsey people don't like rabbit burrows as horses have been known to break an axle in them.

gas is better than pindone and easy to use - pindone to get a good kill needs to be used correctly otherwise failure - its not just lay it out once - needs very carefull preefeeding of non toxic bait first - liquid pindone can be very successfull when used with chopped carrot but not sure of availability of liquid pindone to public - honestly dont get to hung up with rules and regulations and neighbours until you go down the track of shooting and come up blank- if you do your homework as set out here by many you should be right - if in doubt use an air rifle - but combine that with gas - rabbits are hard to get rid of - quickly become damn shy bloody little survivors - I had to do a 10 acre reserve at Kaitaia to control likely 80-100 rabbits shooting was fun but gas did the job

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Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Pindone for the rabbits may be the easiest answer, the pony club could do that themselves and depending on where they are the regional council may consider supplying it. Not the best answer in a hunting forum but possibly the most practical in the circumstances.
Not sure about the hares but horsey people don't like rabbit burrows as horses have been known to break an axle in them.

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Yep that's what the lady said- broken horse ankles. Yeah I hear ya about the poison- thankyou for the response- if anyone dosnt like the chat, they can "read on" :)

Thank you everyone- there is a lot of info here, and I've learnt a lot, so thanks!

no glad to give you info from those who have had the job of getting rid of bunnies' don't play if you are serious of getting rid of Mr rabbit - you face a difficult foe believe me they are survivors very adept at avoiding you

PCP air rifle vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCBWj1_r18k&t=7s

.22 subs often pass through rabbits , can bounce and end up hitting the side of buildings 100 meters away. Happens a lot. Keep that in mind and you'll not piss anyone off even it you have informed them before shooting. Communication is key/ Ive shot camping grounds and using the principle of driving round late afternoon and talking to all the campers at home , and putting up signage a few hours before a shoot works wonders. If you have access to a PCP and a thermal use that off a tripod as your walking. If you driving similar rules apply In other words pay particular attention as to where you start and where you finish so to always be shooting away from tents, caravans , houses.

Always be prepared to pass up shooting a rabbit or groups if there is any chance a miss could end up disturbing or harming dwellings or people.. Youll get those rabbits on the next shoot and pick times of year when there are not many tourists or residents around. It amazing just how many people can be out and about after dark.

I have sold many of my fully suppressed 410s for this situation, similar sound to a suppressed 22, good for 20-25 mtrs, just about zero chance of ricochet.

Light and short so easy to handle

Get in touch if you want more info

Cheers

now they sound like the bees knees be fun to

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Originally Posted by flock

PCP air rifle vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCBWj1_r18k&t=7s

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Hah- that's blardy brilliant!

I have done a bit of rabbit work in urban settings.
Notify the police, sometimes they get rung and end up coming out anyway.
Wouldn't bother door knocking neighbors unless there are very few. Reason being as often nowadays if dealing with numbers there will be a few that completely object and can make things rather complicated. Just do a flier type thing.
Put signs at each main entry point, sometimes people think they own the place and just walk on through.
Operate in darkness.
If need be walk around during the day and gps each good shooting location and in the notes you can write safe shooting directions etc.
.22s ricochet like fark. If you can find some of the cci segmented rounds these ricochet a bit less and the fragments will likely do a lot less damage if the do end up hitting something.

Pcp's are made for this work. Expensive to setup but absolutely perfect for the job. I'm happy shooting some of mine out to 120m or more in the right conditions, I also have some set to low power use for around buildings etc and they are seriously quiet!

In terms of the admin side of things if it's near people or likely to get attention I call police comms and log a job with them and I usually have signs out at all entrances to the property. I also work in total darkness with NV and Thermal etc. and haven't had a single eyebrow raised by neighbors working like this. Last night I was 2 hours (and many Rabbits) into a job and walked past 3 dudes in the neighbors back yard chatting around a fire pit, yelled out to them so as to not surprise them and had a bit of a chat to them, they had no idea I'd been there working at all.

As Mintie, points out with a decent PCP you can adjust the power & pellet to suit whatever you are doing which is very handy.
NV scope has 5 different settings, different reticles, the rifle has 7 power settings. ex - one of mine is set to 8 metres (Pigeons) with reduced power with a quick to use reticle, in a empty horse stable, at dusk or just after, snap shooting is very effective & minimises blowing holes threw the iron roof.
They are a great Tool.

I’m quite interested in an affordable night scope, just for rabbit pest control around a lifestyle block. Do you have any recommendations for where to start?

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Originally Posted by flock

I,m shooting Hares a bit further out of town so tree huggers not so much of a worry.

Using a low end inferay thermal to find them, with the colour menu I get a red glow to 60M which is the shoot able limit for my PCP air rifle. Shooting jsb18g pellets at 35flbs or 920fps, with pard night vision scope sighted in a 50M this rig shoots half inch. Shooting off homemade shooting sticks as where I shoot is flat & often has longer grass. Head shots are a must, puts them down no worries, Quiet & at night I'm not shining a torch all over the place.

I do them in a slow cooker with a Maggi slow cooker sashay, onions & parsnips, bacon & whatever takes your fancy. Lot of meat on a hare, well worth eating.

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Sorry I was meaning to reply to you flock above. I’m keen to try out some night shooting and wondering where to start, either a dedicated cheap night vision scope, a clip on night vision that attaches to a normal scope, or a dedicated cheap thermal scope. Rabbits will be <100m away, using a 22lr.

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Originally Posted by Jesse1122

Sorry I was meaning to reply to you flock above. I’m keen to try out some night shooting and wondering where to start, either a dedicated cheap night vision scope, a clip on night vision that attaches to a normal scope, or a dedicated cheap thermal scope. Rabbits will be <100m away, using a 22lr.

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If you have a spare .22 that can accommodate the NV/Thermal scope full time, that is the best option. Thermal scopes are good but not much good without a thermal handheld as well. Once you already have the handheld, a good NV scope isn’t far behind the thermal unless you get a really good thermal, then it’s in a different class.

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Originally Posted by Jesse1122

I’m quite interested in an affordable night scope, just for rabbit pest control around a lifestyle block. Do you have any recommendations for where to start?

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This is in the buy/sell section if you can see that
https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....t-more-110945/

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Originally Posted by Jesse1122

I’m quite interested in an affordable night scope, just for rabbit pest control around a lifestyle block. Do you have any recommendations for where to start?

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You want to take a look at nightvisionnz https://nightvision.co.nz/product/dn...nd-ballistics/

The DNT Zulus is perfect for rabbits. I use mine for both close range pigeons and rabbits, so it's quite a versatile unit.

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Originally Posted by longshot

If you have a spare .22 that can accommodate the NV/Thermal scope full time, that is the best option. Thermal scopes are good but not much good without a thermal handheld as well. Once you already have the handheld, a good NV scope isn’t far behind the thermal unless you get a really good thermal, then it’s in a different class.

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Thanks longshot, @No good names left and @Pauly5, since I posted that I decided to go for a dedicated night vision/day scope (pard FD Compact), and just finished up my first shoot.

Took a while to get a scanning system going, as no handheld thermal to help with scanning, but came home with 6 rabbits all at 40-60yards in the dark, so not a bad start.