Rabbits are back

[Ideation 8,216]

PS rain snow night or day I go out there, summer winter , air gun shotgun trap or ferret , fox to moles I go out there.

 

 

Fair play to you mate, i just always get a laugh out of the idea that a land owner wants all of the bunnies gone right away cos they are causing a serious problem etc, and the 'pest controller' waltzes up in their real tree with an air gun, and has a walk about. If that was the only method someone was using, it's taking the piss a bit don't you think?

[The one 8,467]

We are out there summer and winter as well thumping rabbits ,now there might no be loads on my permission's as they are what i would call under control ,a farmer might disagree and believe me a few do .But theres always new land owners asking to get there done often as they have seen us out doing a bit and came over to check what i was up to .I worked it out i have roughly twenty farms etc but that swells during the season and im never stuck for a place to go out on rabbits are a Big pest and you cant leave them alone during the summer to breed out of control

Edited April 3, 2011 by The one

[hogdog 61]

Before anyone points this out, yes I am new to shooting but personally I have no problem with the principle of taking as many rabbits as possible. They're an invasive, non native species and you're never going to get rid of them completely. If you manage to get rid of them on your permission then it will be easier to find more permission, I'm sure a reference from a happy land owner will go a long way to persuade other land owners that you're performing a genuinely useful service.

 

 

There is not an unlimited amount of land just waiting for a good shooter to come clear. If you work out the number of folk that wish to hunt rabbits or whatever in the many ways they do, divide the total huntable acreage of this country by that number, then you would probably get a shocking figure. There is not always more land, with more quarry just waiting for you. As a result, many folk want to do a good job, but also keep enough about to ensure they can come back to that land.

 

As for 'invasive, non native' - so are most of our quarry, and lets face it, we are VERY lucky that they have invaded here or we'd all be very bored.

 

Also PEST CONTROL - farmer has hundreds of bunnies around, doing real damage, and you honesty think he's going to recommend you as an effective method, if he REALLY wants them gone, waltzing round with an air gun, knocking over 1, 2 or 5 here and there is a drop in the ocean. Most of the time the farmer is doing YOU a favour by letting you shoot the land and kid yourself your a pest controller.

 

There is also just the fact that watching a kit stand and stare at me 10-20 yards away while i am in plain sight, do nothing to try to run or hide, and then just shooting it, makes me feel like a bit of a c**t (maybe i'm soft). I'd rather just wipe out, mum, dad, aunty, uncle, granny, grand da, and the whole family tree over winter, when their meat is good, their skins useful etc.

 

. . . .. . and then usually the farmer is happy that when spring comes and his crops start growing, they ARE NOT getting damaged, rather than calling me out (even if i'm willing) to try to combat the damage in spring / early summer. If i'm out doing a lot at that time of year, the farmers see it as me obviously failing my duties in the winter.

 

jmo.

 

I think if more people were prepared to properly control the population then permission may be easier to get, if we're choosing to leave a few so that we can have more shooting next year then the population isn't being controlled and crops and land get damaged.

 

If it wasn't for rabbits I'm sure we'd have to control the native hare population, as it is seeing a hare is a rare treat.

 

My Dad has horses on his land with young riders there so he needs the population controlling for safety reasons and also to protect the limited supply of grass in their paddocks. My brother was doing a good job of keeping them at bay until he went to university and now they've come back with a vengeance. They breed like...erm, rabbits!

[Ideation 8,216]

Before anyone points this out, yes I am new to shooting but personally I have no problem with the principle of taking as many rabbits as possible. They're an invasive, non native species and you're never going to get rid of them completely. If you manage to get rid of them on your permission then it will be easier to find more permission, I'm sure a reference from a happy land owner will go a long way to persuade other land owners that you're performing a genuinely useful service.

 

 

There is not an unlimited amount of land just waiting for a good shooter to come clear. If you work out the number of folk that wish to hunt rabbits or whatever in the many ways they do, divide the total huntable acreage of this country by that number, then you would probably get a shocking figure. There is not always more land, with more quarry just waiting for you. As a result, many folk want to do a good job, but also keep enough about to ensure they can come back to that land.

 

As for 'invasive, non native' - so are most of our quarry, and lets face it, we are VERY lucky that they have invaded here or we'd all be very bored.

 

Also PEST CONTROL - farmer has hundreds of bunnies around, doing real damage, and you honesty think he's going to recommend you as an effective method, if he REALLY wants them gone, waltzing round with an air gun, knocking over 1, 2 or 5 here and there is a drop in the ocean. Most of the time the farmer is doing YOU a favour by letting you shoot the land and kid yourself your a pest controller.

 

There is also just the fact that watching a kit stand and stare at me 10-20 yards away while i am in plain sight, do nothing to try to run or hide, and then just shooting it, makes me feel like a bit of a c**t (maybe i'm soft). I'd rather just wipe out, mum, dad, aunty, uncle, granny, grand da, and the whole family tree over winter, when their meat is good, their skins useful etc.

 

. . . .. . and then usually the farmer is happy that when spring comes and his crops start growing, they ARE NOT getting damaged, rather than calling me out (even if i'm willing) to try to combat the damage in spring / early summer. If i'm out doing a lot at that time of year, the farmers see it as me obviously failing my duties in the winter.

 

jmo.

 

I think if more people were prepared to properly control the population then permission may be easier to get, if we're choosing to leave a few so that we can have more shooting next year then the population isn't being controlled and crops and land get damaged.

 

If it wasn't for rabbits I'm sure we'd have to control the native hare population, as it is seeing a hare is a rare treat.

 

My Dad has horses on his land with young riders there so he needs the population controlling for safety reasons and also to protect the limited supply of grass in their paddocks. My brother was doing a good job of keeping them at bay until he went to university and now they've come back with a vengeance. They breed like...erm, rabbits!

 

 

Yes mate i fully agree, which is why if control is truly the name of the job, day time plinking with an air gun alone is a pretty piss poor method. As much fun as it may be. Also not everyone gets given permission to wipe out the rabbits and that a lone, cos if that was the case, then most of the folk that had it, would lose it to someone more efficient.

 

I think the lack of hares is more to do with industrial farming methods and predation than competition from rabbits.

 

And as for the person that said 'you will never wipe them all out' - on some land aye, but on most land it IS very possible.

 

You say 'control properly' - thats a super subjective term, which will mean a different level of control for most land owners.

[stealthy1 3,964]

Just spent the Winter on the Xbox, but now the nice weather is here, the bunnies are having it, big and small