Learned an important lesson rabbit hunting

[The_Eric]

My wife and I were out rabbit hunting last Sunday- she would work to flush them out and I would (try to) track them down and bag them. Saw several little thumpers, but it wasn't until the end of our trip that I was able to take one... I caught sight of it about 50 feet away hiding out under some briers. Lined up my Savage 93R17 on the head/neck area (shooting from side/behind) and squeezed off the shot. After retrieving the rabbit we walked back to the house where I cleaned it up. It was then and there that I learned how important shot placement is with a .17HMR. The entire area above its shoulders was turned into bunny burger. Luckily there was very little waste. I knew that the .17 has about twice the energy as a typical .22, but until now I haven't really put it into context.

No doubt most of the seasoned members here already knew about the effectiveness of the .17, but I thought I would relate my story anyway. All's well that ends well. My wife and I enjoyed the time out in the timber together and we got a rabbit for dinner some night.

On a side note, is there a round that doesn't offer the expansion of the Hornady 17grn V-Max? Something more suited to rabbits?

 

[GutsyGecko]

A .22? lol

 

[Reg# 43897]

Now that's funny right there...

 

[MolaKule]

A .22 or .410 is more than sufficient for wabbits.

I use a Ruger MarkII with the Bull Barrel.

 

[The_Eric]

If I had a .22, I'd use one. Heck, even if I did have one, I wouldn't be able to find ammo for it anyway...

 

[mount]

Love the .17 HMR

First 150 yards is flat as a pancake. Put the cross hairs right on it.

 

[Chris142]

Rabbits are wimpy. A good bb gun will kill them.

 

[urrlord]

When I was younger I always used a 16 gauge double barrel(although once when the rabbit froze I used a 32 revolver).We hunted with dogs . I trotted behind the dogs all day with a Newport hanging from my lips......then one year i could not run 20 yards without gasping for breath.Had to put down the cigs.Amazing what the human body can do in it's youth.

Now the rabbit kills are incidental to other hunting or when out scouting,usually with a 410 or 22.Check your local pawn shops and grab a cheap used shotgun it'll make shots on running bunnies a lot easier....esp when you get older.

 

[BISCUT]

Originally Posted By: mount
Love the .17 HMR

First 150 yards is flat as a pancake. Put the cross hairs right on it.


Unless a zepher comes by!!

 

[IndyIan]

Can't you just get solid tip .17's? I have both hollow and solids in .22LR and they do work differently.
Our bunnies are making a noticable comeback in the last year so I'm thinking about going and doing some hunting. I think I would use the solids to avoid the leaded hamburger situation and they should be quite lethal anyways.

 

[Blaze]

Bolt action, open site .22 shorts is all I use or need. I like the .22 shorts because the game recovers faster...in other words the .22 shorts don't scare and scatter everything down holes for two miles around. I notice ground squirrel hunting with .22 longs the game wont come back out of their holes for at least 15 mins after a shot. Shooting the quiet little .22 shorts sometimes they sit there and dont even notice I shot anything so naturally I have multiple easy follow up shots without fightening everything around.

 

[supton]

Could try some "standard" velocity 22's for a bit more quiet. I noticed that they are similar in velocity as sub-sonic, but one or the other was cheaper (assuming you can find any 22). At short range I suspect either will be similar in accuracy, but it should be easy enough (cheap enough) to figure out what is accurate enough.