Hunting bunnies (american style)

[macka]

About 80m from my bedroom window i have a warren or bunnies. I have made a treestand and put it in a tree near the holes and planted a patch of lucerne and oats about 10m away from my stand. When it gets a bit taller i will take the fence down and let the rabbits on it. Because it is so close to my house i will be able to go over and clumb up there on evenings and pot off a few bunnies hopfully. It is really dry now and i think this will work a charm.

Anyone else tried this or got any better ideas?

Will post some pics when i get around to it.

Macka

[woodstoka]

sounds awsome macka good luck 8)

[brian]

carefull mate - with that kinda food the bunnies might start growing big racks - just like the american whitetails do. :lol:

[bobzila]

carefull mate - with that kinda food the bunnies might start growing big racks - just like the american whitetails do. :lol:

it called a jackalope :shock: just my 1 cent

[macka]

Haha yeah they might aye. I know the feeds doing somthing too them because i have a pure white one running around over there. I refuse to shoot him tho.. plenty of grey ones to shoot and its somthing to look at. I hope to get some pics of it on my little plot soon.

Macka

[jindydiver]

If you have white rabbits there then you have had calici virus through recently. The same part of the genes of the rabbit that offer immunity to some also codes for white fur. If two rabbits with the immunity mate after the virus has passed through they throw approx’ 50% white rabbits. I have seen whole warrens of white rabbits after it has passed through. By the end of the summer they will all be back to normal as the white rabbits get eaten because they can’t hide and only the dun colour guys are left to breed.

[macka]

Jindy WOW have learnt somthing today! yeah it went through a year or so but hasnt come back since. We get a few white ones would see about 40 a year maybe. I always thought someone had let one go but that explains a lot. What about black ones> we get heaps and heaps of them too.

Macka

[woodstoka]

yer i get heps of black ones were i go after them

[jindydiver]

Black rabbits are fairly common. I have no knowledge of whether there presence in greater numbers can be linked to calici, but I have seen plenty of warrens with black through them well before calici arrived so I don't think they are connected.
I am sure there are papers written about the colouring of wild rabbits in Australia, but I haven't read one so I can't really say.

And out where you are in the dry you would have low levels of calici infection in the fleas all year around

[woodstoka]

so if u shot a white rabbit could u still eat it?

[jindydiver]

You bet :D
rabbit calicivirus has no effect on humans and it works rather rapidly on rabbits. If the rabbit is running around doing rabbit stuff when you shot it it is good to go :D

[woodstoka]

any of you guys shot rabbits with mixo to put them out of there misery

[macka]

Bobzila last year we were down at Bamera on a school camp (waterskiing and knee boarding) and where we stayed we caught and destroyed 37 rabbits the the week we were there. They all had early stages of mixo and we caught them with a torch and by hand lol. Was a bit of fun but i think it is a pretty cruel way to die. I would much rather an arrow i recon.

I dont shoot the coloured rabbits around my place so there are getting more and more of them. I Spose its not really the right thing to do but i like having them a bit different.

Macka :wink:

[bobzila]

can any one tell me is mixo harmful to humans :?: :D

[benhohnke]

the biggest rabbit i shot my second rabbit had early stages of mixo

[jindydiver]

You can eat a rabbit with myxo. The myxo wont hurt you, and I am sure there are plenty of rabbits eaten in Australia each year that have an early stage myxo infection. I wouldn't eat one that was obviously sick though, because the rabbit is crook it's systems aren't working right and there would be all sorts of metabolites in the meat and organs that I am sure would be better off feeding maggots rather than me.

[nature24]

Hi all and mackadelegend, you stated that killing a rabbit by hand is more cruel than killing it with an arrow, well I disagree (If in fact you did it properly that is?).

They are both the same, many ferret runners would be pissed off with your statements. rabbits like a fish can be humanly killed with a swift snap of the neck, an arrow can also be humane as you said.

Anyway, don't get the trappers and ferreters off side.

Learn to do something right and all is fine!

Peace, all hunting is equal as long as you know what you are doing and do whats right!

[nature24]

Hi all and mackadelegend, you stated that killing a rabbit by hand is more cruel than killing it with an arrow, well I disagree (If in fact you did it properly that is?).

They are both the same, many ferret runners would be pissed off with your statements. rabbits like a fish can be humanly killed with a swift snap of the neck, an arrow can also be humane as you said.

Anyway, don't get the trappers and ferreters off side.

Learn to do something right and all is fine!

Peace, all hunting is equal as long as you know what you are doing and do whats right!

[nature24]

Sorry for the double post all :D

[adam]

yes Nature I would have to agree, a quick stretch of the neck on its all over very peacefully.

p.s I miss ferreting :wink:

[macka]

ahh i dont think i made myself clear on that one.. i mean it would be cruel for the animal to go blind and die instead of an arow hitting it.

I shoot over rabbits heads all the time with the rimfire and catch them in the spotlight and kill them by hand. that way ya can skin them in the morning if ya put them in a cage. so i kill them by hand all the time.

sorry for the mix up (i used to have ferrets too)

Macka :wink:

[interceptor]

I am not sure Nature24,

But I think Macka was comparing mixo death to an arrow. :)

Cheers Noel

[interceptor]

Sorry Macka you must type faster than me, thats not saying much though.

Cheers Noel

[nature24]

Hi again, yeah sorry I see what you are saying, death by Mixo is pretty bad.