Getting Rid of Rabbits

[Ed B]

I agree, shot placement is more important than caliber or velocity when it comes to a humane kill.

I have a Air Arms S510 PCP .22 cal. air rifle (with scope) which would be my weapon of choice if I were trying to make rabbit stew. With no strong breezes I can put pellets inside a dime at 75 yards all day long. It's so consistent and accurate it's almost boring.

I own an Air Arms S410 in .22. It is so ridiculously accurate o consider it cheating. LOL

My go to is a Weihrauch HW80 in .20. It has dispatched countless squirrels and starlings caught committing acts of depredation against my wife's bird feeders. Cottontails are very easy to out down humanely. A .177 with adequate shot placement will do the job.

 

[Ed B]

Local ordinances will be the problem for airgun use in suburban Texas. But he/she will only be in trouble if a neighbor complains.

Discreet shots from an open window, being careful so no projectile leaves the homeowners property will mitigate the risk of problems with neighbors and police. Be sure to remove the screens well before setting up for your sniping sessions. [emoji16]

Maybe, maybe not. I think that local ordinances typically forbid discharge of firearms, but to BATF/the feds, an air gun is not a firearm. So there would have to be some kind of law that defined air guns as firearms before the typical prohibition could apply.

In my case we have lots of windows overlooking what DW calls a garden and the critters call a salad bar, so I simply shoot from inside. No one sees the air gun and no one hears it. Beyond our backyard is a wide river, so I am never shooting in the direction of any neighbors, an important safety consideration with any weapon.

 

[Brat]

In our area eagles and hawks manage the critter population be they geese, ducks, squirles, or mice. If there are rabbits I haven't seen any. I know on Bainbridge Island (where we lived for several years) rabbits were a problem in the summer.. the interest of those who received a baby bunny at Easter had worn off. The return of eagles evidently kept the population under control.

 

[RetiredAtThirty-eight]

Local ordinances will be the problem for airgun use in suburban Texas. But he/she will only be in trouble if a neighbor complains.

If Texas is anything like Washington, there are a lot of municipalities that don't regulate air guns at all. Which is kind of silly but I'm not complaining, I have a small shooting area set up right in my fenced front yard on a regular city block, totally legal and safe. But some municipalities do have ordinances regulating these types of rifles so, yeah, check your local ordinances.

Discreet shots from an open window, being careful so no projectile leaves the homeowners property will mitigate the risk of problems with neighbors and police. Be sure to remove the screens well before setting up for your sniping sessions. [emoji16]

Remove the screens before shooting out your windows? Haha! That's funny, now Oldshooter is gonna chastise you for stating the obvious! He doesn't like being told about stufff he already knows.

 

[RetiredAtThirty-eight]

I own an Air Arms S410 in .22. It is so ridiculously accurate o consider it cheating. LOL

Nice! Those Air Arms barrels are pretty sweet. Do you have a favorite pellet for it? My .22 cal. AA likes JSB Exact Jumbo Diablo and Exact Jumbo Heavy Diablo pellets.

 

[Ed B]

Beeman FTS and Crossman Premiers. My Weihrauch loves JSB exacts. I haven't tried JSBs with the AA s410 but I should.

Nice! Those Air Arms barrels are pretty sweet. Do you have a favorite pellet for it? My .22 cal. AA likes JSB Exact Jumbo Diablo and Exact Jumbo Heavy Diablo pellets.

 

[O2Bfree]

We also have a rabbit problem even though we have a fenced yard. Vegetable garden has chicken wire buried underground 6". Young trees have corrugated drain pipe around them in the winter. What I have found works best is to release the dog every time I see a rabbit.

We have a rabbit in our yard, and an unfenced veggie garden. The garden is near the fence between yards, and the neighbor on that side has a big dog. So far, the rabbit has stayed on the opposite side of our yard grazing on grass and clover flowers. It hasn't yet touched the lettuce or other goodies in the garden. The dog isn't even out there most of the time, but when he does get released he tears around the neighbor's yard like an unguided missle. Seems to be enough to repel the rabbit from the garden so far.

 

[stepford]

Apparently problems with rabbits are pretty widespread these days. Depending on your relationship with '90s music you'll either like this or hate it:

 

[CyclingInvestor]

I did not see your dogs breed, but black labs can be effective

 

[street]

The ones I cage and release are taken in the back country. They don't last long there with eagles, hawks, weasels, coyotes, wolfs and so many other natural predator's.
I live a small westerns cow town that you could walk blind folded across the busiest street in town and nevah get hit by a vehicle at any time of the day.

Even thou a small town no shooting allowed in town so that is my best option is cage and release. When I release them it is 20 miles away or so with not a living human with in 5 miles.

 

[Freedom56]

We bought a large cage trap from Harbor Freight for about $20 and also have a trail camera that we bought on Ebay for about $38. The trail camera records video or photos of any pests entering your property and helps you identify it so you can bait your trap. For squirrels peanuts in the shell work well. For rabbits use leafy greens. For possums apples work well. Since mid March we have caught and released 23 fox squirrels and one possum. The camera works day and night and is triggered by motion. My wife doesn't want to kill any animals. She initially called a trapping service regarding the squirrels that were menacing our vegetable garden. The trapper quoted $200 for each catch and kill. The trapper stated that the law allows you to trap fox squirrels but since they are non native and invasive, you have to kill them. At $200 a squirrel, I decided that the Harbor Freight cage was the way to go. So far we are 0 for 23 for killing these squirrels as they are too fast for us to grab them by the neck to choke them after we open the cage. Oh well!

 

[RetiredAtThirty-eight]

I live a small westerns cow town that you could walk blind folded across the busiest street in town and nevah get hit by a vehicle at any time of the day.

Even thou a small town no shooting allowed in town...

Check your local ordinances. I'll bet it's legal to shoot air guns as long as it's done responsibly and safely.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this should be your preferred method, simply that it's probably not prohibited as you assume because air guns don't qualify as "firearms" in most jurisdictions.

 

[RetiredAtThirty-eight]

We bought a large cage trap from Harbor Freight for about $20 and also have a trail camera that we bought on Ebay for about $38. The trail camera records video or photos of any pests entering your property and helps you identify it so you can bait your trap. For squirrels peanuts in the shell work well. For rabbits use leafy greens. For possums apples work well. Since mid March we have caught and released 23 fox squirrels and one possum. The camera works day and night and is triggered by motion. My wife doesn't want to kill any animals. She initially called a trapping service regarding the squirrels that were menacing our vegetable garden. The trapper quoted $200 for each catch and kill. The trapper stated that the law allows you to trap fox squirrels but since they are non native and invasive, you have to kill them. At $200 a squirrel, I decided that the Harbor Freight cage was the way to go. So far we are 0 for 23 for killing these squirrels as they are too fast for us to grab them by the neck to choke them after we open the cage. Oh well!

Funny!

But how do you know you caught 23 different fox squirrels? Maybe it was the same one! Or the same three.

 

[brewer12345]

We bought a large cage trap from Harbor Freight for about $20 and also have a trail camera that we bought on Ebay for about $38. The trail camera records video or photos of any pests entering your property and helps you identify it so you can bait your trap. For squirrels peanuts in the shell work well. For rabbits use leafy greens. For possums apples work well. Since mid March we have caught and released 23 fox squirrels and one possum. The camera works day and night and is triggered by motion. My wife doesn't want to kill any animals. She initially called a trapping service regarding the squirrels that were menacing our vegetable garden. The trapper quoted $200 for each catch and kill. The trapper stated that the law allows you to trap fox squirrels but since they are non native and invasive, you have to kill them. At $200 a squirrel, I decided that the Harbor Freight cage was the way to go. So far we are 0 for 23 for killing these squirrels as they are too fast for us to grab them by the neck to choke them after we open the cage. Oh well!

On the sole occasion I needed to dispatch a raccoon caught in a live trap, I took him into the garage, put a sandbag behind the critter, and put a couple 22 slugs through its brain. Unnecesarily messy. If I have to do so in the future, I will use a bit of engine starter from the parts store (almost pure ether) to knock them out and then dump the trap and unconscious critter into a bucket of water.

 

[samm]

You move into a wooded area, plant food that attracts rabbits, and THEN complain there are rabbits there! Genius!

The rabbits think the neighborhood is being overrun by humans.

I do not think the problem here is the rabbits.

 

[sengsational]

If I have to do so in the future, I will use a bit of engine starter from the parts store (almost pure ether) to knock them out and then dump the trap and unconscious critter into a bucket of water.

And they said you didn't have a soft spot! When I saw the copious quantity of fox squirrels, I figured just dropping the whole trap in the bucket of water.

 

[Shredder]

Our problems were gophers and chipmunks, and mice. They feasted on our chicken's food and on tidbits from our compost piles. Two cats solved our problem. The chickens area is fenced with fencing that has 1 x 2 holes.

I made the 2 brother cats an indoor area in a pole barn. They get food, water, and a heated bedroom box, and a hammock to sleep in. They can come and go as they please, but they don't seem to stray far, and our rodent problems have been drastically reduced.

After being born in a friends wood shed its a big step up, lol. And we got them fixed. So far the coyotes haven't found them, or they outwitted them IDK. They seem well adapted and wary. I notice they rarely stray far from trees, unless were outside and come come to say hello.

 

[eytonxav]

You move into a wooded area, plant food that attracts rabbits, and THEN complain there are rabbits there! Genius!

The rabbits think the neighborhood is being overrun by humans.

I do not think the problem here is the rabbits.

Are you trying to be funny or just being a wise guy

 

[RetiredAtThirty-eight]

You move into a wooded area, plant food that attracts rabbits, and THEN complain there are rabbits there! Genius!

This thread isn't about complaining - it's about solving problems!

 

[eytonxav]

This thread isn't about complaining - it's about solving problems!

Oy Vey, I live in high density suburban neighborhood that is bordered by a green belt, and I never planted food that attracts rabbits, unless he considers a grass lawn in my fenced in backyard as rabbit food.

 

[Freedom56]

Funny!

But how do you know you caught 23 different fox squirrels? Maybe it was the same one! Or the same three.

We released them on the other side of the freeway 8 miles from home in the Angeles National Forest at an elevation of 3500 feet. We live at 2000 feet elevation with a freeway passing in the valley below. There is no way they are going to track their way back. Plus we haven't seen a squirrel for over a month now.

 

[Freedom56]

On the sole occasion I needed to dispatch a raccoon caught in a live trap, I took him into the garage, put a sandbag behind the critter, and put a couple 22 slugs through its brain. Unnecesarily messy. If I have to do so in the future, I will use a bit of engine starter from the parts store (almost pure ether) to knock them out and then dump the trap and unconscious critter into a bucket of water.

Another method is to go to an edge of a hillside and tilt the cage down and open up the cage and let the critter worry about grab onto the hillside rather than come after you.

 

[brewer12345]

Another method is to go to an edge of a hillside and tilt the cage down and open up the cage and let the critter worry about grab onto the hillside rather than come after you.

My state has bizarre laws on live traps. You must either immediately dispatch the critter or release them within a prescribed time on land where you have the written permission of the property owner. Never mind that my hunting license entitles me to trap an unlimited number of furbearers in season. So I avoid live traps as a rule.

 

[Freedom56]

My state has bizarre laws on live traps. You must either immediately dispatch the critter or release them within a prescribed time on land where you have the written permission of the property owner. Never mind that my hunting license entitles me to trap an unlimited number of furbearers in season. So I avoid live traps as a rule.

We are required to kill any non native species that we trap. But realistically in a pandemic, who is there to enforce that rule. My wife feels that squirrels are cute little creatures until they start ravaging through our vegetable garden and fruit trees. She doesn't want them killed and I don't want to pay $200 a pop to hire someone to do it. In any case the notion that squirrels don't survive after relocation is silly. Someone introduced these fox squirrels to the West Coast a long time ago. It's been about 3 weeks since the last relocation and we haven't picked up a single pest on our trail camera.

 

[brewer12345]

We are required to kill any non native species that we trap. But realistically in a pandemic, who is there to enforce that rule. My wife feels that squirrels are cute little creatures until they start ravaging through our vegetable garden and fruit trees. She doesn't want them killed and I don't want to pay $200 a pop to hire someone to do it. In any case the notion that squirrels don't survive after relocation is silly. Someone introduced these fox squirrels to the West Coast a long time ago. It's been about 3 weeks since the last relocation and we haven't picked up a single pest on our trail camera.

Fox squirrels are considered native here, although there is a credible case that they showed up as pioneers came west along the Platte. I enjoy watching them and the dogs keep them scared enough to stay out of the garden. Rats are another matter.