Pellet gun recommendations?

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Thank you, Ramjet. I will feel safer using a pistol because I will be able to hold them down with one hand, pop them with the other. I don't want them moving around more than necessary.

You say to 'Make sure the angle directs the shot through the brain'... unfortunately, I don't know what angle that IS, exactly. Can you give a description? Do I angle the shot toward the eyes? Nose? Lower?? :/

As for the FPS, I have no idea. I'm going to go to Walmart and buy something if they have anything appropriate available. If not, I may have to do an overnight order through Amazon, but I'd really rather get this done today. <br /><br /> __________ Thu Oct 29, 2015 10:05 am __________ <br /><br /> One more question... in the videos I've watched, it really doesn't seem like there is much blood involved. This is surprising. Is that accurate? Because I've been REALLY concerned about the huge mess it will make to do this.

Actually, one more. Would there be any benefit (or detriment) to chopping off the heads immediately after dispatch? Like, say... with a hatchet? I'm really worried about just 'stunning' a rabbit and having it come back to life as I'm skinning it or something. :x
 
Angle should be from the back of the head thru eye level .... Just picture where the brain cavity is and draw a mental line thru it.

No , there isn't a whole lot of blood. I suggest once you do the deed hold them over a bucket for a few seconds catching the blood ... the vast majority of the blood is immediately after dispatch. They are a small animal , don't have much.

I leave the head on while skinning / gutting. It aint coming back to life. When I do remove it , I use scissors to do so. I don't recommend a hatchet , this is a delicate job , no brute force required.

This is really easy (accept for the dispatching part). You'll do just fine.
 
I usually dispatch, then immediately drain the blood through the throat. I leave the head on because it helps keep the mess down a bit.

I wish I lived closer, I would be willing to come do it for you. I know it's not been an easy process the last month or two.
 
Nice to see you back on RT Susie, I wish it was under better circumstances:(. I have no advice for you but just wanted you to know you are supported and have been missed!
 
Thanks everyone. I just got a call from a local gal who said she's willing to help. I may take her up on it (sounds like she'd be happy to just get some meat out of it). I was getting ready to go for it. I think I'm ready. I just hope it isn't too awful. :(
 
Me too. I breed for pets only and just see my rabbits as such. I spend a lot of time and energy on them. Can't imagine what you are going thru. Hope you get past this and can love rabbits again.....
 
I failed. At least for today. I think I deliberately took longer than I needed to, getting everything ready and such. I basically ran out of time. I think I could have gotten a few rabbits done before I ran out of daylight, but I know I was intentionally stalling. I don't really have any excuses now though. I bought a few 5 gallon buckets, I bought some paracord and set up a hanging rig for skinning and gutting. I dug out my big cooler to put the carcasses in while I work. I bought what appears to be a decent pellet gun (and cartridges and shot) at Walmart, as well as a nice little blade for skinning.

This is the gun I bought. It seems to have good reviews and was the most powerful .177 pellet gun they had in stock at 'up to' 495FPS: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Daisy-Powerli ... l/35715950

Possibly more importantly, I cleared out a spot in the greenhouse and set it up with a dispatching box, table, cooler, buckets and things I might need. It did take time to get it all set up, but like I said, now I have no excuses. It's supposed to rain a bit, but at this point I'm setting my goal for getting the job done on Sunday.

Dispatch question: when you shoot them with a strong pellet gun like this one, is it common to get screaming? I expect death throws, that's what the box is for, but if they scream it will really bug me. :/ <br /><br /> __________ Thu Oct 29, 2015 4:26 pm __________ <br /><br />
macksmom98":3ld5la57 said:
Me too. I breed for pets only and just see my rabbits as such. I spend a lot of time and energy on them. Can't imagine what you are going thru. Hope you get past this and can love rabbits again.....

We still have several rabbits that are definitely pets and we will be keeping them. I do love our pet rabbits, unfortunately I'm also 'fond' of several others that we simply CANNOT keep and, given their health history, I cannot sell (or give away). I'm pretty annoyed with some of the little bucks right now though, and that's good motivation. It's heartbreaking though that quite a few of these rabbits are just little love dolls, very affectionate, because I have bred them for pets and worked on having tame, friendly rabbits. :cry: That's pretty crushing when you have to kill a bunch of them.

On the other hand, I keep reminding myself that, up to this point, they've all had pretty darned good lives. They are fat and sassy. If all goes well there shouldn't be any suffering for the critters, just for ME mostly and, they will give us good meat for the winter. It's also good that I now have a tool for emergency dispatch if a rabbit should become badly hurt or something.

I'm wondering if a pellet gun of this nature can be reasonably used for personal defense. I mean, if someone comes into my shop and starts threatening me, I guess pulling this thing out and shooting them several times in the face would deter them at least. :p
 
I've never heard a rabbit scream upon dispatch. :shock:


If you do it correctly, the nerves should start their motions within a few seconds. If the rabbit is completely unsuspecting, they may not kick at all.

My best guess is that that the kicking is the nerves releasing stored energy. I know it's not an intentional act, since a rabbit with a dislocated spine cannot intentionally kick, nor even feel it's lower body from my understanding.

I know, when that automatic kicking is finished, it's a sure sign that the animal is well and truly dead.

Just be careful of your hands, since even a dead rabbit can do some damage if it's stored up "run" energy before dispatch.

The brain is mostly behind the eyes, so a pellet between the eyes would be too far forward. You can search rabbit skull to see what I mean.

Emotionally, it will be hard. Especially at first.
Some people experience nausea and shaking.
It gets easier with time, but no one really likes dispatch.

Cutting off the head may give you a sense of ease. I know, I was really worried that my first few weren't actually "dead" too.
No need to use a hatchet though. A solid pair of shears and a sharp knife will do the job. Actually, if you cut around the spine you may be able to simply twist it off.
 
Susie570":3t14iipt said:
....

Dispatch question: when you shoot them with a strong pellet gun like this one, is it common to get screaming? I expect death throws, that's what the box is for, but if they scream it will really bug me. :/
...
That's why I use a pipe. One smack and it's lights out. The Swedish method.
 
When there is screaming, something went wrong. Keep a iron pipe or rod in reach (I use the back of my Glock army knife), and practice with it on a piece of soft wood simulating the rabbit (holding the "rabbit" by the shoulders and whacking 1" in front of your hand). It's really good to have a fast, reliable backup, and bopping is a very good method anyway, Homer is right about that.
Also practice with the gun.

Like Zass said, it's not easy at the start. Do only one rabbit after the other, I never do more than 3 in a session.

I knee on the ground, put the rabbit between my knees (crossing my feet so it cant wiggle backwards), hold ears down and fix them by the shoulder, wait til they are calm and shoot them. So I can take good aim and easily and fast bop them, should it be necessary.

For placing the shot: draw an imaginary cross from eyes to ears, there straight (perpendicular to the surface) down. That are the directions for a captive bolt gun (I just built one, wasn't perfect at the first try, so I was reminded that a backup is a good thing)
With the gun I put the muzzle between the ears and aim slightly forward, at the chin, but with a much stronger .22.

There can be quite some kicking although the rabbit is already realy dead, don't be surprised, I think I can see it in their eyes if the shot did the job, cant put the finger on what is different. But if the rabbit starts to kick right away, in the same split second, is screaming or breathing - bop it, be prepared to do it anyway.

I'm following mostly Grumpys video, but remove the head right away. I cut around the neck with a sharp knive and cut the spine with the garden scissors. That way when pulling the fur down I only have to cut aroung the front feed to get it off.
Then I rinse the fur in cold water, put it in the fridge and after I'm finished with butchering into the pickle (100g salt/liter, adding acid for a ph 3)

Sorry that it's not better news that returned you to RT, missed your posts. All that stuff happening to other users makes me feeling bad about whining over my problems (which is 23 rabbits to feed through winter instead of the planned 4) :oops:

Good luck :)
 
Good advice all around!

The eyes are definitely a good sign. If you touch them and they don't blink they are dead... read that somewhere, and it works. Also, in my white rabbits, it's easy to see the color change in the ears. It's almost instant. I got a wringer type thing from a couple I bought some rabbits from and it works well... I have had to do it by hand though, with smaller ones.
 
Thanks everyone. It is done. I feel kind of guilty about it, but I didn't do the job myself. I hired a local country girl to do the work. I stood by and watched everything. I will say this, I'm not so impressed with the bopping method. It was hard to bear. She used a hammer. It truly seemed to me as if, several times, they did not die immediately. Not so much just the kicking, but having reflexes of jerking a leg away when she would go to cut off the foot. :cry: There was one when I am certain wasn't dead, I could hear it breathing (well, gurgling) and grunting...... she would cut the throat after bopping. She finally broke the neck because I was distraught about it. How awful. Definitely not a good experience for me.

I did save the pelts though. They look gorgeous. They are currently packed in salt, in ziplock bags in the freezer until I can put them in a curing solution. I saved the feet to sell. They are all in a bucket, covered with salt. The carcasses are in individual Ziploc bags in a fridge to rest. I inspected the organs of several rabbits and the lungs all appeared pink and clean, no spots I could see. I didn't see any signs of disease in the liver or intestines. In fact, the girl doing the butchering (who was familiar with butchering rabbits) commented several times on how beautiful and healthy they all looked inside. Therefore, I don't know what has been plaguing them, off and on, with the sneezing and slight mucous. Whatever it is, it may be curable and not terribly serious.

All in all, I still feel sick inside about the whole thing. I wanted to ask her to do one with the pellet gun, just to see, but after we got into it I just wasn't even able to think clearly enough to ask. It occurred to me that using an ice pick and hammer might be a very effective method. It may be enough to put me off raising rabbits entirely. I don't know yet. I'm relieved to have this behind me though. Thanks for all of the advice and support.
 
Sounds like a lot going on. I am sorry to hear about how it all went, but glad for you that its all done, and you shouldn't feel guilty. You should take some time to rest and reflect, and enjoy what you have left. I picked up several more since acquiring our first pair, and at one time we had a total of 6. We ended up selling 2, and now we are down to 4, and I realize that is about my limit. Its what I enjoy, and isn't burdensome for me. I feel I can care for them the best and am not feeling like I have too much to handle. A lot of my feelings also came from having other animals to care for as well, it wasn't only the bunnies, but my point is that I had to find a way that worked for us, and I hope you can too:) Even if its just keeping the ones held back and getting them healthy to enjoy. You will figure out whats right for you, and just give yourself time to move forward and see. No doubt this experience will have changed you, it sure would me!
 
Thanks, macksmom. I agree that 4seems like a good number to maintain just as pets. I'm down to six now, after butchering 14 rabbits yesterday. :cry: It truly was far too many though, especially indoors and having to have several of the bucks in group cages. What a mess. I was definitely getting overwhelmed.

I kept our primary pet buck Scarlett (of course), River, one of River's doe kits (a beautiful chestnut with a fantastic personality), a white lop doe kit from Sprinkles that my son adores (Sprinkles and her Frosty kit were sold, in good health, to a lovely older couple), Tattoo (a harlequin mini lop doe) and one gorgeous chin buck from Chrissie's litter. I plan to try and sell the chin buck and the chestnut doe, which will get me down to 4.

Sorry, I feel like I totally hijacked this thread. Feel free to separate it out, mods, if you want.
 
Hi Susie! Nice to see you back, even though this experience must have been so very difficult for you. Fourteen rabbits is a huge number to process at one time, even with help. Especially when it was your first time.

But you got through it! :goodjob:

Now you need to let go of the stress of the past month or two and just enjoy your pet rabbits with your son. :)
 
I had issues with dislocation and head bopping. The thing that disturbed me most was that they were frightened. Eventually I ended up with a pellet gun, slightly more power than the one you have linked. I put them in a small playpen so they can get grass then I get in position, and it sometimes takes a few minutes if they are suspicious. It's not long before they are not concerned and that is when I shoot them. It's easier for me to stomach and they never know anything. That's the only way I can do it. I also have to spend a few minutes psyching myself up. Once they are dispatched it's totally different and I have no more emotional issues.
 
Thank you, Maggie. I was still feeling pretty rough this morning, but I spent the entire day cleaning the rabbit area and that was therapeutic on several levels. Not only do I find cleaning therapeutic itself, but it was a grim reminder of how badly I needed to downsize the herd. I actually feel much better now.

imajpm":1yyu69om said:
I had issues with dislocation and head bopping. The thing that disturbed me most was that they were frightened. Eventually I ended up with a pellet gun, slightly more power than the one you have linked. I put them in a small playpen so they can get grass then I get in position, and it sometimes takes a few minutes if they are suspicious. It's not long before they are not concerned and that is when I shoot them. It's easier for me to stomach and they never know anything. That's the only way I can do it. I also have to spend a few minutes psyching myself up. Once they are dispatched it's totally different and I have no more emotional issues.

That was super helpful to read. I'm going to stick with the pellet gun when/if there is a next time. I hope it's not something I have to go through again, but if so, at least I have this under my belt and the hope that it CAN be done without so much stress, both to me and the rabbits. It's really important to me that the rabbits don't suffer. That is just the worst feeling of all. :/
 
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