bunny hunting learning curve

[assasin]

Hi Guys. Had my first trip to my new shooting patch last night. 12 acres of rough land encorperating fishery water ways. Probabley not the best night to go as the Arundel festival was on with an open air concert blasting out!

 

The evidence of bunnies was everywhere and we couldn't wait for the light to dim. At the start of the evening we set up on a high point that gave good all round viewing for a considerable distance and decided to sit and wait. We waited and waited and but for one lone bunny at distance, nothing happened. We changed tactics and went walk about and found that certain areas seemed more popular than others but still couldn't get a clean shot. We were best way through the evening and still hadn't had a kill and so changed tactics again - we walked the opposite way round. Almost immediately I got my first kill, 25 yds with pellet right between the eyes. It was almost as if they were expecting us to come from the other direction and when we didn't, just stood there and looked at us!

 

We'd already decided at this point to call it a night and walked back to the car park. As we got to the car park I could see another pair of eyes, but there was a mesh fence between me and the bunny. I decided to take the shot, and probabley more through luck than anything else bagged bunny number2

 

Not an over exciting night, but the knowledge gained from this one trip will save a lot of wated time on the next one.

 

As an inexperienced bunny hunter I'd appreciate any words of wisdom from you more experience hunters.

[Ferret Master]

Nice one. What gun and callibre were you using?

 

FM

[assasin]

Nice one. What gun and callibre were you using?

 

FM

 

Logun S16 Mrk 2, .22. Seems to attract a lot of critisism, but other than the weight, I've found it to be a lovely gun to use.

 

Would be interested to know if a 1.77 is as effective as I'm looking to buy another Daystate and don't know which callibre to get.

[pin]

Some random tips in the order my brain decided to throw them out.

 

Stay downwind, so they can't hear you as well and can't smell you. Try not splashing on loads of tommy before you go out. Wearing cammo gear isn't really necessary as bunnies are colourblind, it helps break up your shape though. Wear clothes which don't make a noise as you walk, stash keys and tins of pellets and pocket change - anything that makes a clanking noise (yes SS that does mean my silencer bouncing off the back of the landy too

 

Watch your footsteps, bunnies can "hear" through their back feet (vibrations) this is why they stamp when they are annoyed or frightened, heavy footseps can be felt before they can be heard (sound travels faster through ground than it does through air). Bunnies have eyes on either side of their heads, and so can't see well directly in front of them - they can from the sides though.

 

Approaching a lone bunny from the front often works very well, if there are many they will have the angles covered. Bunnies eye work differently to ours and they see things by movement well (from a long way away) but if you don't move at all they really can't see you that well. If you seem to have spooked them, stay very still even if you are out of cover and apparently in plain sight.

 

If you see ears in the tall grass and need a clearer shot, try "squeaking" (the noise a distressed rabbit makes) - purse your lips and suck in, vary the tone with your finger. This will often make them sit up to see whats happening and can afford you a nice headshot

 

Best of all, keep it safe and enjoy

[king ratcatcher]

Good shooting, ive got an s16 mk2 .22, it is a brilliant gun

 

What pelelts you using through it

[Vulcha]

I use a .177 single shot hornet and it works great with AA fields. I would like a .177 bolt action though and I think I may have found a good 'un.

[assasin]

Good shooting, ive got an s16 mk2 .22, it is a brilliant gun

 

What pelelts you using through it

 

I use Air Arms and find them to be fairly consistant. I did try some cheaper makes when I was on the firing range but found them to be very inconsistant. I don't know if it was the pellet or the S16 being pellet fussy, but Air Arms certainly works for me.

 

How about you?

[assasin]

Some random tips in the order my brain decided to throw them out.

 

Stay downwind, so they can't hear you as well and can't smell you. Try not splashing on loads of tommy before you go out. Wearing cammo gear isn't really necessary as bunnies are colourblind, it helps break up your shape though. Wear clothes which don't make a noise as you walk, stash keys and tins of pellets and pocket change - anything that makes a clanking noise (yes SS that does mean my silencer bouncing off the back of the landy too

 

Watch your footsteps, bunnies can "hear" through their back feet (vibrations) this is why they stamp when they are annoyed or frightened, heavy footseps can be felt before they can be heard (sound travels faster through ground than it does through air). Bunnies have eyes on either side of their heads, and so can't see well directly in front of them - they can from the sides though.

 

Approaching a lone bunny from the front often works very well, if there are many they will have the angles covered. Bunnies eye work differently to ours and they see things by movement well (from a long way away) but if you don't move at all they really can't see you that well. If you seem to have spooked them, stay very still even if you are out of cover and apparently in plain sight.

 

If you see ears in the tall grass and need a clearer shot, try "squeaking" (the noise a distressed rabbit makes) - purse your lips and suck in, vary the tone with your finger. This will often make them sit up to see whats happening and can afford you a nice headshot

 

Best of all, keep it safe and enjoy

 

Thanks for all the advice - the only bit that I choose to ignore is the squeaking part. In the dark my partner in crime is likely to think I'm the rabbit and shoot me instead!!