Head or body for rabbits?

Chest shot for me. I have never seen a hollowpoint .22 tear up a rabbit ever. Solids or HP work fine. I've done head shots and still feel the chest gives the most humane kills. Most chest shots the rabbits don't move at all. The kill zone on a head shot is small on a cottontail, these aren't huge southern jackrabbits.
 
I can't shoot rabbits in my neck of the woods with a .22. My little .410 H&R Topper does the trick nicely. Also makes it challenging because you have to get within about 30 yards. Hardly ever gets any shot in the meat like using my 12 gauge when out hunting for dove and quail.
 
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We're talking rabbits here not Elk and deer. OP, don't put so much thought in it. I've shot plenty in both areas to know that both work fine and a .22lr, even and HVHP, does not blow a rabbit to the point of being inedible.

As for humane vs. inhumane: Take the best shot you can and let the chips fall where they may. No one is a perfect shot and crap happens, not every animal dies the perfect death, so be it. Don't like it? Hang up your guns.

LK
 
Wild bunnies are already always skinny enough from a hard life in the wild. We don't get to hunt those fat city cottontails that you feed in your yard. Every little bit helps when you're trying to make a meal.:D
 
As I stated in the second post of this thread, solid subsonics, in the head if possible, body otherwise. I limit my head shots to a calm animal, unaware of my presence to 25 yards or less usually, with a scoped .22. Any farther and I consider the head shot (not possible) and go for the lung shot. I've never shot a rabbits jaw off sticking to these limitations.
 
Rabbits and Squirrels = head shots. Larger game = heart/Lung shots.

I have seen quite a few deer that had poorly placed head shots, jaws, eyes etc. Thats from poor judgement to shoot at their heads, or from roadhunting poachers around here, they want them to drop. The old instant kill or complete miss, unfortunately a percentage of those "misses" are just bad hits.
 
Elmer Fud

He uses a blunder buss looking thing on Bugs and that seems to have failed him miserably. Bugs has taken numerous body shots in the cartoons and still lived to make another few million so I would go with a head shot! :D
 
I see your point, Vermonter, but I also recall Elmer having some dead on head shots on Daffy, and all it did was push his bill onto the back of his head... seems cruel to me. That was on a duck, though, so the comparison is a little off:rolleyes:
 
Elmer Fudd

I don't know how many can remember the first Bugs Bunny / Elmer Fudd cartoon but Elmer didn't have a gun on his first trip to the woods, he had a camera, and was interested in taking pictures of wildlife.

Bugs started being a rascal to Elmer, and harassing him and interfering with his picture taking. He wouldn't leave Elmer alone and Elmer got so mad that he ran home to get his gun and returned...

...and the rabbit head shot was born ;)

So don't go thinking that the rabbit is innocent because they started it.
 
Bunnies' brains are very small, and a shot with a "solid subsonic" that does not actually hit that pea-sized target might result in a lost animal ..... fatal yes, but the coyotes or a possum will fidd him before you if he gets into some brush......


....for that matter, their heart/lung area is smaller han it looks, and further forward....... aim center mass, and you've gut shot Bugs.......

I use bulk hollow points (Dynapoint, Golden Bullet , etc). Works much more reliably than solids. Head or chest, either works.
 
I spent a lot of years in the Sacramento valley. No rabbit season or limit on take with the exception of cottontail. The "Sacramento Jack" is actually a hare. It can also get well over 10 pounds. Head shots are best, but chest shots work good too. My favorite ammo for them is CCI Mini Mag. Most shots are taken between 50 and 100 yards.

Usually it isnt difficult to get a farmer to let you hunt their land for them because they are considered pests. BTW......unless you get an old one, they are great when cooked like fried chicken. If you have an old one, then its time for the old stew pot.
 
I don't think I've ever tried to hit a cotton tail in the head. Chest only, right behind the front leg w/ my trusty Remmy Nylon 66 -- first firearm I ever bought. Still have it.

I think I tried for neck shots on occasion on Jackrabbits with my 22-250, but again, most of my shots were chest shots.

More margin for error in the chest. As mentioned above, there are places in the head, even bunnies, that can be mortal wounds, but not a quick kill. Hit'em in the chest and you have a dead bunny waiting for you where you shot it.
 
I stopped using hollow points for rabbits in 72 and have been using standard velocity 40 LRN bullets through the heart ever since. I nail them quick, less chance of missing and there is very little meat lost from that area. The fact that I use a pistol for 90% of my small game hunting influenced my body shot decision but their small head and their constantly moving it around as they eat and look around them influenced it even more.
 
I use both, usually they run in thick brush before I spot them and I take a foreward body shot which I usually leave to my wingman who is on shotgun, if their sitting still sideways I take a lung heart shot which dosnt damage anything but the ribcage which I dont eat anyhow, If their faceing me I shoot the lower head/ neck at the medula for a clean lights-out and no damaged meat. Plus if you aim low on facing headshots and you miss high you still get a textbook headshot, low you get a neckshot or bodyshot and either side you graze the neck instead of an eye or jaw. For a different experience try a .410 with a full choke and take clean headshots all day.
 
Old Grump..I figure your a dead-eye shot....22 pistol on rabbits....
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Was, key word is was. Thousands of jack rabbits to my credit and hundreds of squirrels and pigeons, The rabbits were easier. They didn't hide in the rafters of the barn or up in tree's but were right down there at ground level like I was. Since then I have gone to rifle for the rabbits and shotgun for the squirrels and pigeons. Now that I'm back in Wisconsin the rabbits are even easier, they are smaller but a lot slower, Kind of like me except I got bigger and a lot slower.
 
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