What little pesties did you bowl over today?

hey guys question for all the rabbiters on here.
the other night we had a bloody good ol North Canty Nor'wester
I was working night shift and I noticed on the way home at just before dawn there were rabbits and hares out and about everywhere (more than I would usually see).
Is this just a coincidence or does the Nor'wester really stir them up and make them more active ???
Also of note there were a lot of Black birds just sitting on the road near suicidally launching themselves at my car as the headlights picked them up (must've cleaned up 4 or 5 on the way home too).

lots of the little young rabbits shot . . . plenty of them around

Attachment 102353

my first attempt at one thousand yards with the .243 using the 87grn VMax . . . probably not the best bullet for the job, its only doing 1100fps by the time its reached the target 1.7 seconds later & dropped 370 inches hitting with 240bs of energy . . not sure if i will do it again but it sure was a buzz when the disk ( 21 inch ) was hit

Attachment 102354

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Originally Posted by rossi.45

my first attempt at one thousand yards with the .243 using the 87grn VMax . . . probably not the best bullet for the job, its only doing 1100fps by the time its reached the target 1.7 seconds later & dropped 370 inches hitting with 240bs of energy . . not sure if i will do it again but it sure was a buzz when the disk ( 21 inch ) was hit.

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No shit! I would have been doing my Saturday Night Fever moves, the full routine!

New Ruger and I getting into the groove together.Attachment 102625 , 41 shot this evening.

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Originally Posted by berg243

are you seeing lower numbers since the new virus was released. @viper

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@berg243 , no not on the farms that I shoot. I keep a shooting dairy for the farmers to let them know numbers shot and I am up from last year. I had a PB with 182 shot n an afternoon about 6 weeks ago.
We have had a really big spring flush of young ones which are for the most part half to three quarter grown and will now do what rabbits do so well..........eat and breed.

Some farms I understand did get a noticeable result but really mate the whole thing by most farmers consider it a flop.
So all they have done is probably add further resistance to the rabbit. I have heard that they are talking about re - releasing it ( last virus ) once they understand it better and how it works ?????? !!!!!!
Great to know that they are releasing this shit into our environment but don't know how it works.
I also read in the Otago Daily Times that there has been a third virus in the North Island and that has now reached us down here adding further resistance to current and any future strains .

Funny how despite science and millions of dollars thrown at the problem the mighty Rabbit keeps on trucking but has never developed resistance to small pieces of lead fired at high speed .

Funny how despite science and millions of dollars thrown at the problem the mighty Rabbit keeps on trucking but has never developed resistance to small pieces of lead fired at high speed .[/QUOTE] @viper bit like that two legged species :wtfsmilie: and I’m not talking duck as you can now only shoot em with high speed steel:wtfsmilie::XD:;):thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by viper

@berg243 , no not on the farms that I shoot. I keep a shooting dairy for the farmers to let them know numbers shot and I am up from last year. I had a PB with 182 shot n an afternoon about 6 weeks ago.
We have had a really big spring flush of young ones which are for the most part half to three quarter grown and will now do what rabbits do so well..........eat and breed.

Some farms I understand did get a noticeable result but really mate the whole thing by most farmers consider it a flop.
So all they have done is probably add further resistance to the rabbit. I have heard that they are talking about re - releasing it ( last virus ) once they understand it better and how it works ?????? !!!!!!
Great to know that they are releasing this shit into our environment but don't know how it works.
I also read in the Otago Daily Times that there has been a third virus in the North Island and that has now reached us down here adding further resistance to current and any future strains .

Funny how despite science and millions of dollars thrown at the problem the mighty Rabbit keeps on trucking but has never developed resistance to small pieces of lead fired at high speed .

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@viper the station I hunt on down south in the Marlborough high country had the new strain released last year. It's been a huge success, the rabbiter used to take 10 000 a year (gutted and processed) now you'd struggle to see 20 during the magic couple of hours in evening if you went for a decent drive. He's out of a job, and has now gone onto the deer. Will be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming seasons, if they do like you say, become resistant.
Was quite interesting actually, every year around tailing time in October a wave of the old virus would come through and kill off hundreds, the place reeked.

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Originally Posted by McNotty

@viper the station I hunt on down south in the Marlborough high country had the new strain released last year. It's been a huge success, the rabbiter used to take 10 000 a year (gutted and processed) now you'd struggle to see 20 during the magic couple of hours in evening if you went for a decent drive. He's out of a job, and has now gone onto the deer. Will be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming seasons, if they do like you say, become resistant.
Was quite interesting actually, every year around tailing time in October a wave of the old virus would come through and kill off hundreds, the place reeked.

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@McNotty Interesting how random it is. I have heard of a farm down here that also got a great result from the last virus but the farm next door looks no different in rabbit numbers.
The rabbits have shown they seem to build resistance over successive generations and although the virus will continue to work the kill ratio declines.
I always find it strange how it suddenly flares up like you mentioned then drops away .

Have seen that here in the uk with myxomatosis viper. You will see a Warren that looks healthy and seems to be getting bigger then whamm and there's sick ones all over the place. Seems to take two years for them to start coming back again.

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Originally Posted by viper

@McNotty Interesting how random it is. I have heard of a farm down here that also got a great result from the last virus but the farm next door looks no different in rabbit numbers.
The rabbits have shown they seem to build resistance over successive generations and although the virus will continue to work the kill ratio declines.
I always find it strange how it suddenly flares up like you mentioned then drops away .

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The rabbits will be back.

Somewhere I've got a UK report on myxo and calicivirus, will see if I can find it. Very interesting reading. The conclusion is that virus releases are a temporary solution, that affords the land owner the opportunity to get onto the survivors. It specifically identifies the lack of landowner follow up action as the primary reason rabbit populations can bounce back so fast, as virus efficacy is weakened so quickly. Successive generations have considerably less mortality rates than the initial outbreak.

Basically the report says that virus releases are a lazy and ineffectual way to try and control rabbits unless there is serious grunt work.

In the mid 80s in Sussex and Surrey where I grew up, on the dairy farms as a youngster I was obsessed with shooting rabbits as it was a great income and great fun, but also quite a serious business. At the peak of their population the damage was extraordinary. But then in the late 80s mixy went through the bunnies and they were staggering around the dairies, we'd hit them with baseball bats. They disappeared almost overnight it seemed.

I left the UK in 89 but went back in 92 and couldn't believe it, the bunnies were back and in higher numbers than before!

The only way to remove rabbits from a particular area was to deal to the warrens, with ferrets and dogs, then gas, then a JCB back hoe. The problem was many of the warrens were in old copses and hedgerows that defined field boundaries, going way back to the 12th and 13th centuries. So you had to be really careful not to damage the history, it was a serious business maintaining these ancient boundaries. But also a lot of the warrens were under old derelict farm buildings and so on and it was down to the cocky to manage his own problem by tidying up after himself, and previous generations. Something that many cockies simply aren't very good at.

Rabbits are like gorse.
It isn't just one thing that gets rid of them and it takes perseverance to finish off and vigilance to stop it coming back

Attachment 102869

Shot these guys last night, the Mrs has been losing duckings so this should help

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Originally Posted by Kaneo76

Attachment 102869

Shot these guys last night, the Mrs has been losing duckings so this should help

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That's good shooting. I always thought they didn't stay still very long

There were four of them, shot two and the other two took off. One of them didn't go to far and poked his head up which gave me enough time to shoot him too.

I've caught one in a leg hold trap before but never seen them in a group like that, they weren't full grown and looked to be play fighting each other

I have set a Doc trap there to see if I can get the other one.

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Originally Posted by berg243

are you seeing lower numbers since the new virus was released. @viper

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No, the opposite here in Hawkes Bay. There are more than ever, and plenty of new little ones appearing.

There is a jet black one at the end of your road and that is at least 2yrs old which tells you the virus is ineffective. That latest strain release has done nothing I can spot.