A few days ago I had an incident that has me extremely distraught and I can't get it out of my head. I have some feral cats in my neighborhood and saw one of them coming across the street with a small animal in its mouth. A half hour later I notice that the cat had the animal on my rear deck. It was a baby rabbit no more than 3 or 4 inches long, it was still alive and able to walk a little. However just about all the fur on its rear body was missing. It was just raw flesh and muscle showing.
My first thought was to go out there with a .22 revolver but then I thought it would be too loud and the neighbors would call the cops. My next thought was a single shot Winchester 67 rifle, which when fired, a .22 LR's report is not much louder than the firing pins "click". I then thought better of it figuring the neighbors might see it an report that there's someone firing an "assault" rifle.
In my state its probably even illegal to fire a pellet gun but I grabbed my Crossman American Classic .177 cal pellet gun which is a single shot. I fired a shot at the rabbits head with the muzzle 2 inches away and the rabbit seemed to go instantly limp and on its side. I walked back in the house and was fumbling with the gun trying to load another pellet. Looking through my sliding glass door I was horrified to see the rabbit roll over onto its stomach and start looking around. Now I'm really fumbling and having trouble getting the tiny pellet into the chamber but when I finally did I fired a second shot, from 2 inches away, into its side right behind the shoulder area. Same effect as before - seemed to do the job but 10 seconds later the poor rabbits looking around. I did this a third time with the same results. Finally I put the rabbit on a piece of wood and carried it into my attached garage and did the deed with a .22 LR.
I don't know the first thing about hunting or killing animals but I caused this rabbit a lot of suffering (probably not as bad as the cats eating it alive for the next hour). What did I do wrong? Am I stupid and negligent for thinking a .177 cal pellet gun could kill a baby rabbit? Should I have just let it alone and let nature take it course? Can anyone recommend a repeater type pellet hand gun that is up to this kind of task?
Sorry for the long post.
My first thought was to go out there with a .22 revolver but then I thought it would be too loud and the neighbors would call the cops. My next thought was a single shot Winchester 67 rifle, which when fired, a .22 LR's report is not much louder than the firing pins "click". I then thought better of it figuring the neighbors might see it an report that there's someone firing an "assault" rifle.
In my state its probably even illegal to fire a pellet gun but I grabbed my Crossman American Classic .177 cal pellet gun which is a single shot. I fired a shot at the rabbits head with the muzzle 2 inches away and the rabbit seemed to go instantly limp and on its side. I walked back in the house and was fumbling with the gun trying to load another pellet. Looking through my sliding glass door I was horrified to see the rabbit roll over onto its stomach and start looking around. Now I'm really fumbling and having trouble getting the tiny pellet into the chamber but when I finally did I fired a second shot, from 2 inches away, into its side right behind the shoulder area. Same effect as before - seemed to do the job but 10 seconds later the poor rabbits looking around. I did this a third time with the same results. Finally I put the rabbit on a piece of wood and carried it into my attached garage and did the deed with a .22 LR.
I don't know the first thing about hunting or killing animals but I caused this rabbit a lot of suffering (probably not as bad as the cats eating it alive for the next hour). What did I do wrong? Am I stupid and negligent for thinking a .177 cal pellet gun could kill a baby rabbit? Should I have just let it alone and let nature take it course? Can anyone recommend a repeater type pellet hand gun that is up to this kind of task?
Sorry for the long post.