Thread: Rabbits and Hares close to houses

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

Originally Posted by gonetropo

use a bow.

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

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.

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

Originally Posted by flock

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

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.