Easter Bunny Shoot

D

Death from Afar

New member
One of the highlight of the years shooting is the annual easter bunny shoot competition held in the bottom half of the South Island in a tiny town called Alexandra. The idea of the competition is have 30 teams of no more than 12 shooters who are assigned balloted blocks of rabbit infested land. The team that shoots the most rabbits in 24 hours ( rimfire and shotgun only) wins the prize of a trophy, glory, and bragging rights for the rest of your life.

My team of 18 persons ( and you are allowed extra drivers and "picker uppers" ) duely arrived armed to the teeth. Ruger 10/22's were the rifle of choice ( my shooting vehicle, which looked like a cross between an Abrams Tank and a Mad Max vehicle ) had 4 of them. The other gun of choice was a pump action shotgun. I actullay used my 870 P ( which became quickly known as the "Hose of death") as it was very quick, and handy as we chased rabits at 40 miles an hour by night with everyone on the back clinging on for dear life. During the day we stalked and shot rabbits on foot, at night with spotlights we chased them around the fields , with the shooters on the back blazing away quite happilly. Our team shot constantly for 24 hours, except for five guys who had an hours sleep ( "sleepins' cheatin'' ")

Well, in the finish our team shot just under 900 rabbits in 24 hours, to come a very credible third. The next team shot 1100, with the winners having shot an insane 1400 rabbits in 24 hours. I wont even begin to say how mauch ammo we let go of, but suffice it to say the ammo supply was getting low after 24 hours of blazing away.

So , very bruised and battered, sunburnt and happy we now plan next years shoot up....

From the newspaper...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3635957a10,00.html
 
i'm assuming with the kind of shooting done, these things are an epidemic, like how they had those mice in austria years back where they just wiped out everything? or am i missing something.

are they just layed out for pictures/counted and disguarded or are they eated/used for something?
 
Sounds like a complete blast, we have been wishing the jack rabbit populations would make a come back here, at least a little bit. 900 and 3rd place,, man thats a lotta bunnies...
 
after shooting that many bunnies that shotgun must of felt like a cement truck. Can you just run em over?
 
sounds like a great time, i'm glad they are put to use (pet food) and not just left to rot.

any pics perhaps? hard to sight in if on a stationary rabbit when the sight picture is distorted from the heat waves comming off the end of it :D
 
Another tragic waste of life that gives gun owners and true hunters (you know, those that stalk their game) a REALLY bad name. I'm sorry that you can't see how perverse your actions are, truly. Killing for food is justifiable. Killing for the sake (it clearly isn't much of a sport, or any more of a sport than taking candy from a child) of getting your rocks off is pathetic. Sounds like you're one bully that is long overdue for a good a** kickin', especially since you're probably the "holier than thou" type that prosecutes crimes yet fails to see your own actions are extremely demented. Seems to me that a District Attorney would have more intellect and education to warrant such disguisting behavior... but then maybe I'm wrong.

About 6 months ago another perverse man posted a video of prarie dogs being blasted by a .50 BMG and he was ridiculed. I see your perverse actions in the same light.

The only saving grace, which is likely simply to justify your perversions and pasttimes, is that the critters weren't entirely wasted but instead turned into food. I doubt, however, that was the intent of the "sport" massacre...
 
Hang on a moment LC, I am sorry if you feel that way, I truely am. I dont think you quite understand the way things are down here. I do not for a moment think this is "hunting", but nor do I see that there is a moral problem. I also dont think you understand that- and this may be very hard for you to understand- that as a general rule, the enviromental crowd basically support this sort of activity.

Did you read the news article that I did I hyperlink too?

If you look at the number we shot- and thats one team out of 30- and consider the total number of rabbits shot over the weekend- around 14,000, then it should become apparent after some reflection that we are not talking about trophy stags here- we are talking about a serious pest that has driven farmers off land, ruined vast amounts of pasture, and caused serious risk to native species. New Zealand has no natural mammals at all bar one species of bat. All have been introduced.

I myself am very uneasy about eating rabbit since 1995 when a rabbit haemooragic virus was illegally introduced into New Zealand by desperate farmers. Nothing is known about the disease, and so I am careful even handling dead rabbits.

Rabbits were one of the introduced animals, and after liberation in the 1880s became a very serious pest to farmers.With no natural predators, and practically ideal climatic conditions rabbit numbers exploded causing massive erosiion and desertification of prime pastures. By the 1910's rabbit numbers were so high, the Government paid men to be nothing but full time rabbit shooters- same as deer incidentally.Professional deer hunters were shooting deer by the thousands and they were left to rot in the sun as numbers were so high. Rabbits are controlled by poisoning, shooting, and the introduction of disease all of which have done nothing to stem the numbers. When I was at school I would go out rabbit shooting practically every night. The most I ever shot by myself with a .22 was 250 in 4 hours. The team that won last year shot 1800 rabbits in 24 hours, with a total shot of 21,000. The tallies that have been shot recently are far below what has been shot in the past. My grandfather used to shoot up to 400 rabbits EVERY WEEK, for years.

This competition is done with the full sanction of farmers and the local council who are responsible for pest control. Frankly, I would rather see the rabbits shot than the other cntrol methods used, which include 1080 Poison- a cruel and vile death, or using cyanide gas down warrens.

I should add that you are most warmly invited down here to see the situation for yourself - and that applies to all TFL members- although I appreciate that is not the same thing as visiting Canada, say- and when you drive into a field at night and see maybe 50 rabbits, you will see what I mean...

Please PM me if you have any other issues- I would hate you to think that we kiwis are ruining the sport for others. How did you know I was a DA BTW?
 
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Regardless of the moral issue (which I don't really think there is one...) it says you're a DA on your profile.

Ed
 
DA is in your public profile. This guy doesnt understand the problem you guys and the Aussies have with pest species like cotton tails just eatin the place bald. I would love to come down there and give you a hand, but it is a bit too far for a weeks trip lol. The viral haemorragic thing is a very foolish thing to do desperate or not, you only have to look at the various enviromental disasters in Australia trying to control introduced pests to see that is not the way. You guys are doing a good and needful job long may you continue.
 
Hi

I am another Kiwi from New Zealand, The easter bunny shoot is nothing more than pest control. As deathfromafar said these bunnys have raped the landscape and have turned profitable farms into struggling businesses. Honestly this is no comparison to blasting dogs with a .50, this is done to reduce the effects on our land.

BTW if any of you yanks are coming down to New Zealand PM and I can arrange some hunting spots and give some advice. Cheers.:)
 
BTW if any of you yanks are coming down to New Zealand PM and I can arrange some hunting spots and give some advice.
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I think I'm going to start planning a kiwi walkabout.....can I bring a shotgun & rifle on the plane to your country? :-)
 
...especially since you're probably the "holier than thou" type...
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Pot... kettle... what?

Me thinks someone is upset that they missed their PETA meeting.

Death From Afar -- sounds like great fun, and great way to get active in controlling a pest population. Most people are aware that rabbits breed at an alarming rate, and can quickly over come a loss of 14,000. This event should really be bi-annual at the very least.

...you're one bully that is long overdue for a good a** kickin'...
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This is absolutely ridiculous, leadcouncel. Grow up.
 
Well, I am glad some of you know how things are down here, and oddly enough, I was so concerned that I had offended a poster I didnt really notice the:

Sounds like you're one bully that is long overdue for a good a** kickin', especially since you're probably the "holier than thou" type that prosecutes crimes yet fails to see your own actions are extremely demented. Seems to me that a District Attorney would have more intellect and education to warrant such disguisting behavior... but then maybe I'm wrong.
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Its a shame that LC didnt bother to get an insight into what things are like down here before busting into print. I wonder of he is man enough to apologise?
 
leadcounsel, you need to do some reading about the problem of an introduced species into an ecosystem without natural predators against that species. Rabbits in Australia is one of the world's most famous disasters. I hadn't known that NZ had the same problem.

In the U.S. from time to time, it's our own native jackrabbits.

In 1980 or 1981, there was a population explosion of jacks in NE Nevada and SW Idaho. The farmers in Idaho, in order to try and save some of their crops built mile-long vee-fences of chicken wire. Hundreds of people would gather and herd the rabbits into the killing ground, and kill them with shovels, clubs, rakes, hoes, etc. (The tax man doesn't care if you make a crop or not, he wants the school taxes on your land and house.)

We're just plain lucky that Florida waters are not warm enough for piranhas to propagate. But the rabbits in New Zealand are no different than the fire ants in the southern US or the Africanized honey bee.

Art
 
The invite applies to you too Art.

The rabbits in Australia werea true enviromental catastrophy. My uncle has a farm- well, its about the size of Maine- near Warburton in West Australia and when I was last over there, they were shooting routinely 500 rabbits a night, which was apparently the best they had been for years. Even I was shocked by the numbers.

Funny thing, a few years back I was doing some liason work ( when I was in the service) with some guys from "deep Freeze" the United States Antarctic Programme, which is based here in Christchurch. Some of the boys wnated to go out shooting, so we took them up deer hunting, pig hunting, shot a fee wallabies, usual thing. But the thing they enjoyed the most- after a weeks world class trophy hunting- was night shooting rabbits from the back of a truck.
 
Yea yea yea you can justify your murderous actions all day long. Frankly, if "raping" the land of its resources were enough to warrant a death sentence then humankind is long overdue for our death sentence.

If it were truly a problem then nature would run its course and the weak rabbits would die out, or other predators would move in to take care of the problem. Any Kiwis ever consider introducing some natural predators such fox, snakes, coyotes into the enironment? Oh wait, you'd rather have a barren desolate landscape void of any creatures except humans, huh? Kill everything in sight.... great attitude. Unfortunately it's your indifferent attitudes toward life and the balance of nature that have caused the extinction or near extinction of countless species of animals. Just shoot 'em cause it's fun. Yeah, that's really intelligent "pest control." Very scientific. It's the same attitude why coyotes, wolves, bear, etc. are very rare in N. America; why whales are struggling for survival, why apes and gorillas are also fighting extinction, etc. What makes a life valuable to you. Have you ever had a moment of introspection or reflection on the value of life? Is there only value in life when it's fighting extinction. Imagine for a minute if that rabbit you so couragously shoot were the LAST of it's kind. Would that trouble you? Would that make it's life any more valuable? Ponder that for a minute. Why does it matter that there are a million rabbits or only one to change your attitude toward the life of an individual rabbit? Or consider this. Maybe it's not the rabbits who are ruining the land and the real pests. Maybe it's the HUMANS... gasp. Do you feel any remorse for the wholesale destruction that humans (myself included) have caused against the earth and nature? Have you ever considered the phrase "walk gently?" I suppose since we're bigger and stronger and have tools and intellect might makes right and you can wholesale kill as much as you want. Seems particularly strange for a DA to feel that these actions are "just and right." I can't seem to reconcile that attitude, nor do I really want to understand it because it is so foreign to me. (BTW your profession is listed on your profile).

I'll say it again. It's your indifferent attitude that give gun owners and legitimate hunters a very bad name.

For the record, I am a carnivore. I believe that hunting for food is very natural. I own lots of guns. I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum from the passivist. I DO have strong beliefs and am not affraid to speak my mind and defend my beliefs and what I feel is just and right. I am not a member of PETA and feel they are often very extreme. However, I do side with them on the humane treatment of animals issue. Just cause you have a brain capable of logical thought, opposable thumbs, and can use tools doesn't give you the right to slaugther at your whim. In fact it gives humans the responsibilty to show some compassion toward creatures large and small.

Before you attack me for being a "hypocritical carnivore" I know that beef was a cow that was slaughtered. However, I make every attempt to purchase meets, eggs, etc. that were humanely raised. I don't eat certain products like veal or lobster for the humane reasons. It's not a perfect world and this isn't always possible to be humane. However, I absolutely do not condone the senseless slaughter of wildlife and waste of life you partake in and many of you condone or get your kicks from. It's completely perverse and stone age thinking.
 
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