Runners? or always a clean kill?

[Curly87]

I just wanted to see what sort of % on here have or will admit to having runners? Im talking about vermin here, as I think something like deer stalking is a different matter but I realise even with this it does happen.

 

But ive read on here a few times now people saying that never in there lives have they ever had vermin running or badly wounded when shot, I find this very hard to believe. No, its not because im a **** shot, I just think that if you shoot enough then this is bound to happen. Be it with a shotgun or rifle, so its either people are lying out of the backside or they shoot 2 rabbits a year each one taking six months of preparation and stalking!

 

I fully respect the vermin that I am shooting, but fully admit that ive had runners. If ive been out lamping and shot 100 rabbits, im not going to loose sleep if 4 of those didn’t die on the spot. At the end of the day they are only rabbits...... maybe I am just a harsh cold hearted person, but if a farmer wants rid of x mount of rabbits then ill do by best to get rid of them, im not going to spend half an hour on each shot with a bead of sweat running down my forehead fighting my morels and waiting until im a 100% sure of a clean kill. As in all honesty when can you be 100% sure?

 

Now im not quite as bad as ive made out and hate seeing animals injured so of course will always dispatch them as soon as possible, but I just think people sometimes get far to caught up in it all. When at the end of the day I feel they wouldn’t care so much if it were a rat, or where do you draw the line? Slugs are living creatures, yet no one cares when slowly kill them with poison, why should something fury be any different?

 

Anyhow, just want these % are and peoples opinions on the matter

Edited December 5, 2008 by Curly87

[Greenhunter]

Any shooter worth his/her salt will always aim(pun) to kill cleanly and despatch ASAP if not successful

No-one should take a shot if they know its only going to injure and cause undue suffering!

[al4x]

it does happen particularly with shotgun shooting, no one I have ever heard could confess to not injuring anything and not finding it. You aim for it not to happen but it does. Must say its why I like the HMR for rabbit shooting as its very rare to hit and not pick a rabbit

[Hodmedod.one]

I was beating yesterday out on the Fens.

The walking gun on the edge of a block of Maize shot a really good cock pheasant. It was at least 40 yards away and was a nice high bird. He hit it cleanly with the first barrel and it was a classic head thrown back, wings folded close to body, head first into the ground job. We all heard the thump as it landed.

 

It got up and ran like hell He wasn't quite as quick as a Black Lab though!

 

Anyone who says they have never wounded anything with a shotgun is a liar and a fool.

[JohnGalway]

It's a close run poll, 100% for option B, me included

 

No one never misses/screws up a shot.

[southernlad]

Noone gets 100% clean kills but the point is to do your level best to avoid injuries, whatever the species. Don't take overly long shots with shotguns, don't bodyshot rabbits with an air rifle etc. If your skills are at the level they should be, you shouldn't be getting many runners!

 

SL

[cubix]

You are correct regarding deer. You do expect a correctly shot deer to run, but it should be down within 30 seconds and dead very soon afterwards. They may drop dead on the spot, but that is the exception and due to pressure shock depending on whether you hit the heart, and at what stage in the beat cycle the heart is at.

 

The commonest cause of H/L shot deer dropping on the spot is where the shot has been too high and had shocked the spine -you can expect these deer to get back up!

 

A bullet throuhg the brain r neck will kill immediately, but they are low percentage shots and tend to be used in very specific circumstances.

[Ozzy Fudd]

i still get runners, last day i went shooting i had to hit a pigeon 3 times with a 12 bore using no 6's. first one at 50ft took a load of feathers off and left it fluttering about over my head, fighting to stay airborne, 2nd shot right over my head took more feathers off and forced it to land in a tree about 20 feet away at eye level; 3rd shot knocked it out of the tree (while taking yet more feathers off), but i still had to try and wring its neck, he refused to give up the fight. didnt take him home, id scuffed a hole in the dirt under the tree and put him it it before covering him, sounds daft i know but a bird that put upthat much of a fight deserved a decent burial

[lewis]

Any shooter that says he has never had a runner is a liar

[pigeon master]

Hello all,

 

I agree with nearly all the posts especially about runners when using a shotgun, its not a precision weapon although very lethal in good hands, however the rifle is a precision weapon and I can categorically say that I do not get runners.

 

Reasons for this are as follows, I only shoot through the day, I don’t have to clear hundreds of rabbits so I can be very selective in my shooting, I place the bullet a few millimetres behind the eye, resulting in an instant kill…oh and I’m a fabulous shot with a rifle!!!

 

I dont like comments that they are only rabbits, I know we all have different views but if you make every effort to kill clean then you have my respect.

 

The PM

 

P.s I have voted no runners but with the rifle only...shotgun...it feels like i dont have shot in the cratridge sometimes!

[CharlieT]

Whatever the musket, be it rifle or shotgun.

Whatever the quarry, be it rabbit, pheasant, pigeon or deer.

Anyone who says they do not get the odd runner aint shot much. I'm afraid it's the name of the game as much as we try to avoid it.

[pigeon master]

I'm talking about Rabbits with a .22LR....I shoot about 200-400 a year and never get runners...

 

We all shoot for different reasons, I just enjoy being out in the countryside and making sure every shot I take is perfect. I have drilled this into my two boys, and I hope they follow me on what I ask of them. Shoot how you would like to be shot!!

 

The PM

[southernlad]

"Shoot how you would like to be shot!!"

 

 

I'm going for grazes and minor flesh wounds from now on then! Jus foolin...

 

 

SL

[pigeon master]

HAHAHA I was thinking...wowsers we have one sick cookie here!!!

 

Thought you were maybe a politician, they seem to like that sort of stuff dont they...you know getting trampled on by woman in high heels...

 

The PM

[mikee]

shot 73 woodies today and about 8 were runners, mostly i ran from the hide in a cheetah like fashion and quickly dispatched them, but two were the other side of a big ditch so they got a second barrel and were collected at the end, i think we all know runners are part and parcel of live bird shooting, its how you deal with them that counts, there was a pheasant shoot on the next farm today with 1 drive just the other side of the hedge about 100yds away and 2 birds came over with legs down yet no picker up followed, luckily 1 laid dead on the farm drive so ive got him for dinner sadly the other one is still out there somewhere.

 

mikee

[ozzy518]

Like most other people I too get the odd runner, its something you try to avoid but is impossible to do, like paying taxes!! I will always leave the hide to dispatch any wounded bird regardless of whether I will spook any incomers... At the end of the shoot when we pick up the empties etc we always walk the field subject to the crop just to make sure there arent any pricked birds that have come down unoticed. Even with the HMR and rabbits, there have been occasions where the rabbit has moved just as the trigger is pulled and instead of the head shot that was aimed at, the rabbit gets wounded. I personally hate the squeals of a wounded rabbit . Any that are not killed outright are followed up and quickly despatched. Respect for your quarry is the keyword.

Edited December 8, 2008 by ozzy518