Thread: VIDEO - Rabbit control in the Orchard with the 17 Hornet

I know why rabbits are pests. But what makes them bad in an orchard? Do they have a tendency of burrowing near the roots of the trees?

Or just one of those things that it's good to keep on top of regardless of whether they affect you or not.

Clean head and torso shots and passing on bum shots. Good work.

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

I know why rabbits are pests. But what makes them bad in an orchard? Do they have a tendency of burrowing near the roots of the trees? Or just one of those things that it's good to keep on top of regardless of whether they affect you or not.

They eat bark of trees, can even ring bark them and kill them completely. In winters if snow is high they'll also reach to eat the buds of the trees. Numbers just explode as there are no predators taking them apart from shooters, would never get that bad in the UK etc where they have foxes.

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

I know why rabbits are pests. But what makes them bad in an orchard? Do they have a tendency of burrowing near the roots of the trees?

Or just one of those things that it's good to keep on top of regardless of whether they affect you or not.

The holes are bad enough. Driving over them, or hurting yourself standing in them, and there just holes.

Important to be a good neighbor too. Many orchards in Otago back onto sheep farms.

Great stuff, a nice shooting gun and certainly gets the job done, but makes a mess of the meat. As now I can't go deer hunting anymore would love to have a few days like that with my .22 and parked up in my self-contained caravan. But my idea would be to shoot them for the pot, I was bought up on stewed, roasted. curried rabbit in the 50 ti`s , under ground chicken.

Originally Posted by homebrew.357

Great stuff, a nice shooting gun and certainly gets the job done, but makes a mess of the meat. As now I can't go deer hunting anymore would love to have a few days like that with my .22 and parked up in my self-contained caravan. But my idea would be to shoot them for the pot, I was bought up on stewed, roasted. curried rabbit in the 50 ti`s , under ground chicken.

Itching to take this baby out rabbiting at night. Should allow me to get in pretty close so got to watch that wind (-:

Good video quality. Bit of a rabbit problem on that orchard. Excellent shooting, really nice package there, that hornet sure makes a mess of them. 215 yards, cracking shot. What is the scope youre using?

Thanks Kiwi Greg
Just watched with my daughter, both enjoyed it. Trying to convince her to come hunt rabbits with me... What camera you using to film?

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Cordite

Itching to take this baby out rabbiting at night. Should allow me to get in pretty close so got to watch that wind (-:

Attachment 115378

So you got it mounted . Was it a big deal to do?

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

I know why rabbits are pests. But what makes them bad in an orchard? Do they have a tendency of burrowing near the roots of the trees?

Or just one of those things that it's good to keep on top of regardless of whether they affect you or not.

Holes, ring barking and hammer water systems.

Personally we body shoot everything, main reason is the bullet stops right there.

Originally Posted by Mr Browning

Good video quality. Bit of a rabbit problem on that orchard. Excellent shooting, really nice package there, that hornet sure makes a mess of them. 215 yards, cracking shot. What is the scope youre using?

Thanks, yes a major problem there, i have pics of some of the other holes from a couple of weeks ago. Scope is a 4.5-14 Weaver Grandslam, i havnt spent much time getting the drop all fully dialed in and the ballistic app bang on yet, best i do that.

Originally Posted by chopsuey

Thanks Kiwi Greg
Just watched with my daughter, both enjoyed it. Trying to convince her to come hunt rabbits with me... What camera you using to film?

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

Thanks, yes it can be hard getting the kids out at times, i tried to take my 8 year old daughter out for that shoot i filmed (she wasnt keen, she can shoot very well at the range, but i dont think shes that keen on shooting animals). I wont force it, but hopefully one day that'll change. Camera was a Canon Powershot SX50.

Originally Posted by Wirehunt

Holes, ring barking and hammer water systems.

Personally we body shoot everything, main reason is the bullet stops right there.

The holes are many and massive. Certainly evidence of bark off trees too. The previous trips there a couple of weeks ago, i shot the majority of the 50 in the body, but did try to challenge myself a bit more this time with the head shots to a degree, but you do make a very valid point about no bullet pass thru's.

Do they climb the trees and eat the apples?

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Do they climb the trees and eat the apples?

No but the rats seem to love all the rotting apples on the ground, I saw a few in the torch the other night and bumped into a lady setting traps there yesterday, reckons she's caught 41 in last few weeks.

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

So you got it mounted . Was it a big deal to do?

No, I was lucky. As you know I bought the JW rifle at the show in Riversdale and then noticed the Nikko Stirling scope it came with it had a narrow dovetail mount. Hey, my Russki 1st Gen has stupid narrow mount on it, and it fit! The NV sight is rated for up to .300 Win Mag so it should cope with a .22LR. Unfortunately the sight had to be placed quite far forwards due to its controls interfering with the bolt knob otherwise, so need a cheek riser (grey foam pipe insulator piece) to get the right eye level. It's got a 2.5x magnification built into it so should be fine up to 50-75m for rabbits, especially with the IR illuminator on the right side making their cute bunny eyes light up. They're for the table.

The sporterised Arisaka hull I bought also has similar dovetails vandalised into its receiver but it has a way to go before it is shootable, will need to bend the bolt handle (read: grind deep "V", bend, weld) to allow me to mount the Nikko scope (fairly light recoil 6.5 Jap has), but other option is a scout forward sight. Would be great if the NV sight fits it too, but that has less utility there than on the .22LR as you can't do night hunting on DOC land.

Great shooting there. Loved the 280 yard tag and release at 5.50ish.