Scare a rabbit to death?

H

hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
Well there has been a fat ol' cottontail just a little to brazen around here and "Deadly" the bulldog ain't had a "bunny treat" in near a year so I break out the ol' Savage bolt gun. It was only a 50 foot shot. He had his back to me eatin' and when he lifted his head I put the crosshairs at the base of his head. Cracked off the trigger and he did a full 360* front flip as expected and DRT...

Now here is the funny part. I went over and inspected for fleas before toting him to the dog yard. NO FLEAS!:D But I also had no visible entrance or exit wound from the .22 LR HP Federal... NONE NO BLOOD NO WHERE:confused: None from the nose, mouth or ears. I ran my fingers thru the pelt all up his back, belly, neck and head and NUTTIN':eek:

Reckon I missed but scared the poor bugger to death?
Deadly had to work harder to get started as she normally locates the exit wound and starts there.
Brent
 
Well either you're slipping 'ol boy, or that bunny just knew the futility of resisting a full on attack by you and chose the easy way out. :)

I'm watching "Pig Bomb" on Animal Planet. They're doing some pig hunting, but I'm thinking if they didn't put ol' hogdogs on the show, it's suspect. :)
 
I would ruin the audio with excessive Grab the BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP pig or tie them BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP mutts to a tree Not to mention all the wasted footage on the cutting room floor of me runnin' thru the woods in hopes I don't spill or foam my beer...:D
I could understand the bunny dieing of shock but wouldn't expect the 2 foot high front flip.:eek:
Brent
 
You might have clipped him across the skull. Who knows? Maybe he was just playing possum? Maybe he was a possum? Brent, you mean you can't tell the difference between a rabbit and a possum? That's the last time I'm eatin' at your house! :)Just joshin' ya. But you might have just clipped him.
 
Scorch, I really tried to find the scalp mark of missing fur... I was actually getting ready for it to wake up and go "jackalope" on me, Sinkin' his "fangs" in me. He seemed to still be trying to eat the mouthful as I checked him. He stayed out long enuff for me to carry him the 100 yards to the dog and that is all that matters...
Brent
 
I was actually getting ready for it to wake up and go "jackalope" on me, Sinkin' his "fangs" in me.
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Yeah, I have a couple funny stories about things like that happening. I usually tell them about beer #3 or so. Maybe someday . . .
 
I shot one with a .410 as a kid before I learned to whack there head on a tree trunk no matter what... stuck that "DRT" bugger in my game vest and moved on. The only time I dropped that ol' boltaction was when Bugs woke up and went to kickin' and clawin' he didn't bite me but I squealed like a little girl runnin' tryin' to shuck that vest to rid myself of "Devil Bunny". Ol' timer right then and there used that wounded rabbit to show me the tree trunk method...:D
Brent
 
Chop off the paws and tails and Mrs.hogdogs couldn't tell a coon/possum/cat from a rabbit:rolleyes: Don't tell her though... our little secret... OKAY?
Brent
 
Ya just "mossed" or "barked" em!!
Hit close to him and the concussion or debris from the ricochet got em.
I've had it happen to me a few times with squirrels when hunting with a .22 rimfire.....you can knock them out and not kill them.
After the first time it happened to me with a squirrel, I was always darn careful about picking them up....if I don't see blood, I make sure their dead.
 
Dipper, No ricochet possible but I was wondering how much concussion a HP from so close to the muzzle may generate...
Brent
 
I was thinkin' the possibility of that, skull, but I couldn't fathom no exit wound at so close a range.
Brent
 
dead snake in the yard, picked it up to throw over the fence, wasn't quite that dead.
Garter snake, but still a bit startling.
 
Rabbit almost scared me to death last week...

I was "turkey hunting", more just spending some time walking in the woods with a shotgun on a WMA here in GA. This area had been logged 25/30 years ago, and some erosion control features were installed, which are now smack in the middle of the woods. I had seen a few metal signposts, like for road signs, beside a plastic drain pipe in front of a few small earthen dam looking structures.

I was staring at one of these sign post and drain combinations, contemplating the weirdness of seeing such a thing deep in the woods, when suddenly, like one of those "magic eye" things they used to print in the funny papers, I realized I was looking at some kind of animal. Really gave me a start until I realized it was just a fuzzy bunny! Nothing quite like realizing there is a creature you had no idea was there!:o
 
I shot one with a .410 as a kid before I learned to whack there head on a tree trunk no matter what... stuck that "DRT" bugger in my game vest and moved on. The only time I dropped that ol' boltaction was when Bugs woke up and went to kickin' and clawin'
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A friend of mine was hunting squirrels one time, shot a few squirrels, hung them on his belt by a hind foot. One of them woke up one day, scared him witless and actually shredded his leg pretty good. To hear him tell it, it was like being tied to a chain saw.
 
Having missed far too many tasty bunnies with nice pelts having fired at them with a 12 ga shotgun (mostly because it was my crow gun with a modified choke), they don't die of fear. If anything has the blast to kill from fear it's my 1.25 oz crow load. If a 12 ga shotgun can't do it a .22 rimfire surely won't, unless Georgia rabbits are just inherently tough. From my experience with the rabbit pelts, I have a feeling that they hide the wounds. If you did a proper forensic investigation, I imagine the dead rabbit had a .22 cavity that was to blame.
 
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