Rabbit KO but then stands up and disappears

[louisvanhovell]

Tonight I went hunting on my permission. I've shot many rabbits there recently; the farmer has planted kale and wants me to control the kale munchers.

 

I shot one tonight with my FAC BSA S10, a headshot at 30 meters. Unfortunately I also wounded one. I hate that, spent a long time searching in the hedge (the thorns punished me) to no effect.

 

This is what happened. After having spotted it at 60 meters, I crawled through the field and decided to take the shot at 44 meters (using a rangefinder ;-), as the bunny had spotted me. I put the crosshairs of the MTC Viper at the base of the ear, and in the heat of the moment forgot to give it an inch higher. Damn. The pellet hit the rabbit, it fell over, stayed there for about five seconds, and then I noticed that it was trying to lift its head, not in a headshot twitchy way. Before I knew it was on its feet, running in a druk way and disappearing in the hedge. I might have hit in the lower jaw, or in the nose. Although I think that the impact/shock would have been lethal anywhere on the head? Any experiences/thoughts on this? It is of course also possible that I hit a front leg, even though I know that my pellet drop at 44 metres wouldn't be more than an inch. I must learn from mistakes like this. Damn. Well unfortunately wounding will always happen with hunting, but as little as possible.

[Hamster]

Unless your shot went astray sideways it's unlikely you shot it in the jaw and I doubt that would cause it to collapse for five seconds in any case, much more likely is that the shot went low and grazed the neck or shoulder area although you can't rule out that it was head shot but missed the brain or even grazed it. I once had a rabbit do similar but luckily it was far enough from the hedge and with me chasing after it it eventually keeled over, it's likely yours died fairly quickly afterwards.

 

Difficult subject I'm afraid, with the best will in the world even head shots aren't 100% guaranteed - unless you write for a living.

[washerboy]

Neck shot

Seen it happen a few times

[Mice!]

I would say neck or body if you had hit the nose or jaw it would probably have been making a proper racket. Even with headshots if they are aware of something the flight response can get them into cover or down a hole.

 

What range is your rifle zeroed, at are you saying 30mtrs? Might be better to zero at 35 or 40 as your using a fac and see what kind of drop you get between 20 to your zero might give you a bit more room for error.

 

Wounding can and does happen you just have to try your best to make sure its a rare thing not regular.

Edited May 5, 2017 by Mice!

[louisvanhovell]

Thank you for the replies Hamster, washerboy and Mice. That makes sense; a neck shot that didn't hit the spine, or a bodyshot. Mice, I've indeed zeroed the S10 at 30 meters and it's a good advice to change it to 40, as most of my rabbit opportunities are at that distance.

Many thanks

[Mice!]

Your welcome and it was a good write up you did.

[Prospero]

I had this once with my old springer at about 25 yards. Went over perfectly with what I thought was a head shot, after about 5 seconds jumped back up and down the hole next to it.

[Bobba]

Weird shots can happen. My weirdest so far is I had an easy 25 yd shot (AA S410) at a bunny only to see it leap up in the air and rush off at a rate of knots with me wondering how the hell I missed it. Some days later, same spot, I saw a bunny and dropped it neatly with a head shot. On inspection I found a neat hole through one of its ears about the size of a .22 pellet. I can only but assume that it was the same bunny from the previous outing and that it may have slightly lowered its head while munching and when I took the shot.

[manthing]

This is the problem I've found with live quarry. The blummin things move...

It's all well an good having perfect shot placement on a target but live is different again.

Prefer to take small mammals hand on, not sure why but, well there you go.

[ShootingEgg]

Had this last nigg, ended up crawling into the hedge to pick up the then dead rabbit. And looking at it I had hit it in the head, but it had done some ****** up dance back into the hedge. Just glad it was dead and not suffering out of my reach.

[psycho]

They move and also stop time so you miss..the fairys thought them

 

This is what happens

You go to pull the trigger on a 25 yards sitting rabbit .it right in the crosshairs....then

They stop time

Run up to you

They Jump nudging your barral high

You pull trigger

They go back to there normal sitting position

They start time

You then think how did I miss that

When I have been hitting longer target shots all day..

 

They have also been known to stop time and mess with your scope. Just before you leave your permission..

how else would you explain leaving your permission. Putting gun in safe..then on using again the gun fires 8 inches off center

[bruno22rf]

Have mentioned this situation before - clean head shot and the (in my case Squirrel) is still very much alive and conscious. I also had the "you must have missed the brain" or "the pellet must have glanced of its head" but the fact of the matter is that ,on at least 3 occasions, I have dropped a Squirrel off a feeder with no more than a twitch so not bothered to collect it for fear of scaring of any others in the area, only to find the wretched creature still very much alive a while later when clearing up. In my defence (and I hate this kind of thing) the Squirrels were shot clean thru the head with clear entry and exit wounds but were still conscious and responsive to my approach. After the first couple of occasions I switched from my S410 .177 and bought a .22 version in the hope that the larger pellet would have a greater shock and for a couple of weeks the plan seemed to work - all shot squirrels were very much dead on hitting the deck but then just last week the same thing happened again (my very last Squirrels of the season) clean thru the head with a side on shot, perfect pellet placement, but Nutty was simply not ready to expire and was found ,fully conscious again, sitting bolt upright with a hole clean thru its head.

[Mice!]

I always used to use bisley superfield because of the above comments found they didn't go straight through without giving up there energy due to the hollow point, but they don't load well in the Rapid mag.

 

If I knew I was shooting at a set range I would use the heaviest pellet available for max shock that I could shoot accurately. Doesn't always help though if you mooching about with a massive drop at longer ranges

[Zetter]

Hi Bruno

 

I had the same experience on squirrels with would you believe a .25cal fac air punting out about 48 ft/lb. Hit nutty straight through the bonce at about 30 yards and he dropped like a stone to the deck and didnt move, as he didnt appear to be moving I didnt collect it for 10 mins to see if any others would show up. When it quieted down I went to pick it up and stretch my legs and his lungs were still going and there was eye reaction despite the thing having a huge hole right through his bonce.

A quick shot and it all stopped but I wondered if he was brain dead but the autonomic system was still going I cant see how he was feeling anything with the mess the .25 made of his head

[Guest]

Tbh this is why I prefer the heart shot if I can choose.

[louisvanhovell]

Very interesting comments/experiences. And some psycho thoughts as well ;-)

As a vet I sometimes have to shoot a cow with a captive bolt. Zetter, it's right that the heart carries on after the brain has been smashed to put it blunt. We then cut the throat so that the body loses its blood and the heart stops (it's also important for the quality of the meat as too much blood in meat will affect flavour and "shelf life"), As in a slaughter house. Luckily most animals are still shot/made brain dead (chickens and pigs by electrocution) before cutting the throat (although I don't want to start a debate on religious customs here...). But in my (limited) hunting experience, most animals will die soon after a head shot. Probably also due to the bleeding in the head. Perhaps if the pellet doesn't cause significant hemorrhage, the animal will still "live" clinically, but it'll probably be brain dead. Or just paralysed, as in bruno22rf's experience. I've even contacted HuntersVermin about the whole wounding issue. It does help to talk/write about it, it leads to new insights and tips to improve. This sounds like I'm in a rehab talking group circle discussion haha.

Cheers

[Daveo26]

Have mentioned this situation before - clean head shot and the (in my case Squirrel) is still very much alive and conscious. I also had the "you must have missed the brain" or "the pellet must have glanced of its head" but the fact of the matter is that ,on at least 3 occasions, I have dropped a Squirrel off a feeder with no more than a twitch so not bothered to collect it for fear of scaring of any others in the area, only to find the wretched creature still very much alive a while later when clearing up. In my defence (and I hate this kind of thing) the Squirrels were shot clean thru the head with clear entry and exit wounds but were still conscious and responsive to my approach. After the first couple of occasions I switched from my S410 .177 and bought a .22 version in the hope that the larger pellet would have a greater shock and for a couple of weeks the plan seemed to work - all shot squirrels were very much dead on hitting the deck but then just last week the same thing happened again (my very last Squirrels of the season) clean thru the head with a side on shot, perfect pellet placement, but Nutty was simply not ready to expire and was found ,fully conscious again, sitting bolt upright with a hole clean thru its head.

Iv had this exact thing quite a few times, never with a rabbit only squirrels.

They tend to be eyes open, and responsive to touch (the eyes) and breathing but do very little else.

I've had my dog retrieve several without being bitten but it is weird, there must be enough brain remaining to just survive.

Most of mine have been with FAC air so 30-40 ftlb, and what I would think were perfect head shots.

[Daveo26]

I shot a rabbit last night at 25 yards with my .22lr zeroed at 60.

I shot the rabbit and heard the WHACK indicating a good head shot and saw the bunnie roll over back legs outstretched.

It was motionless for 20 secs then staggered to its feet, did the drunken run you described and dropped again.

I put down the gun and caught up with the rabbit, I had misjudged the hold under and removed the rabbits bottom jaw entirely.

fortunately I was able to dispatch him.

I felt terrible about it but if we kill animals regularly these things will happen occasionally.

[Guest]

I have noticed that sometimes with a near miss a rabbit might roll onto its back for a second before running off. I thought that was rather an odd thing to do.