Slaughter idea, need input.

[Kyle@theWintertime]

So yesterday I was helping my dad install some windows at the condo, and after the windows were in we made them pretty with new framing. My dad apparently owns a compressor and nail gun, which I did not know (WHY WERE WE USING A HAMMER TO NAIL ON THE MOPBOARDS?! This would have saved us HOURS of work!!! :furious...and last night when someone asked how I dispatch kits who have a failure to thrive issue, got to thinking.

That nail gun drove a nail three inches into a hardwood board, so I'm sure it would go right through a kit's head. I'm a little unhappy with the "whacking" method since I worry about margin of error.

Has anyone ever used a nail gun on kits who need to be dispatched? Or for that matter, adults?

No I'm not planning on doing this, merely bouncing around some ideas and thoughts. Opinions?

 

[ladysown]

you are thinking of a captive bolt idea.

I don't know that a nail would be particularly a kind way to die. Not quite big enough to properly shock the brain I would think.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

you are thinking of a captive bolt idea.

I don't know that a nail would be particularly a kind way to die. Not quite big enough to properly shock the brain I would think.

I'm pretty sure on a nestling it would be plenty big enough, but I do see your point for an older animal. :shock: :?

 

[Secuono]

Yea, you'd need a thicker nail than those usually take.

 

[PSFAngoras]

I think a heavier gauge nail, if you can get one that is about 1/4 inch diameter, might do the trick, but honestly, I would suggest either building or investing in a cervical dislocator. I can't stress how much pain it's saved me (my back is in a sad state for my age from working in a plant nursery for almost 10 years) and how much easier it is to use. Not to mention, they are quiet, require no batteries, electricity, or springs, and the rabbits don't bleed everywhere like they do with a bolt gun.

 

[HowlsOfAngels]

You could do some serious damage to an adult, and it would probably die sooner or later, but it wouldn't be a humane death. As for a kit, less than a week old with the largest nail the gun will take and it should, in theory, be a quick dispatch. No guarantees though and I'm surely not brazen enough to try it.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I, too, would worry that the diameter of a nail is too small.

One of the stories told in our Defensive Handgun classes illustrates the point.

*Warning! Graphic!*

One of our classmates is a paramedic. They were called to a home where a young man had appeared at the door bleeding profusely from the face. When the paramedic applied gauze to his nose to stop the bleeding, blood started spurting from the back of his head. He had been involved in a drug transaction in a remote area and had been shot "execution style" with a 9mm handgun and left for dead. When he came to, he walked over 2 miles until he found a house and asked for help.

The bullet went between the lobes of his brain, but was not lethal.

 

[PSFAngoras]

Ugh, good point MSD, ya, if you don't want to whack them and I remember you saying you have back problems too, you might want want to check out the cervical dislocator.

 

[HoppyMeal]

Kyle,
Using a nail gun to kill the rabbit would not be a good idea. You would have to hold the gun down against the rabbits head in order for the plunger to be pushed down when you pull the trigger to fire the nail. I built a rabbit wringer. I used a 1 foot piece of 2" angle iron and welded a piece of 3/8" rod straight out from one end and heated it up and bent it so at the closed end it was 1" out and bent it to 4" at the open end and it works awesome.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

I think a heavier gauge nail, if you can get one that is about 1/4 inch diameter, might do the trick, but honestly, I would suggest either building or investing in a cervical dislocator. I can't stress how much pain it's saved me (my back is in a sad state for my age from working in a plant nursery for almost 10 years) and how much easier it is to use. Not to mention, they are quiet, require no batteries, electricity, or springs, and the rabbits don't bleed everywhere like they do with a bolt gun.

I have a wringer someone made. It is also TOTALLY useless on newborns (such as peanuts) and nestlings. Which is my primary concern.

I still use my pellet gun on extremely large or mature animals, I'm not worried about blood though the mess and post-mortem kicking is unsettling.

The nail gun needs no batteries...just plug in, make sure the compressor tank is adequately adjusted, and you are good to go.

You could do some serious damage to an adult, and it would probably die sooner or later, but it wouldn't be a humane death. As for a kit, less than a week old with the largest nail the gun will take and it should, in theory, be a quick dispatch. No guarantees though and I'm surely not brazen enough to try it.

I'm sure not yet either, hence asking for input. All my peanuts I've dispatched have been whack-method, but again, I'm a little leery with that. One of them I hit so hard it didn't just smash the back of the head, it broke the things back where I was holding it, and my snake-owner friend complained that it was hard for her snake to eat since it was all crooked. But I'm afraid to swing with less force, for fear of causing suffering...the margin of error concerns me. Looking at this as a potential alternative.

Just in the theoretical phase though.

I, too, would worry that the diameter of a nail is too small.

One of the stories told in our Defensive Handgun classes illustrates the point.

*Warning! Graphic!*

One of our classmates is a paramedic. They were called to a home where a young man had appeared at the door bleeding profusely from the face. When the paramedic applied gauze to his nose to stop the bleeding, blood started spurting from the back of his head. He had been involved in a drug transaction in a remote area and had been shot "execution style" with a 9mm handgun and left for dead. When he came to, he walked over 2 miles until he found a house and asked for help.

The bullet went between the lobes of his brain, but was not lethal.

Eek.

Ugh, good point MSD, ya, if you don't want to whack them and I remember you saying you have back problems too, you might want want to check out the cervical dislocator.

............I have one. Totally useless on NEWBORNS or very young kits.

Kyle,
Using a nail gun to kill the rabbit would not be a good idea. You would have to hold the gun down against the rabbits head in order for the plunger to be pushed down when you pull the trigger to fire the nail. I built a rabbit wringer. I used a 1 foot piece of 2" angle iron and welded a piece of 3/8" rod straight out from one end and heated it up and bent it so at the closed end it was 1" out and bent it to 4" at the open end and it works awesome.

Maybe I should have stated at the beginning that I do have a wringer. It's great. Works great. Not-so-great for MASSIVE rabbits and totally useless for nestlings. GREAT for small or fryers though!!!

Stated at the get-go that this was an idea for KITS, merely contemplating it's all-around use, and again only theoretically. Already reached the "useless for adults" conclusion in my previous comment.

Still contemplating it for nestlings. The particular nail gun my dad has doesn't have a real tough plunger...and thanks to my dad twitching while holding it an inch away from a board, I also know it'll still fire a nail, more like a dart; still stuck in the board but by less than an inch. I figured, if held right at a peanut's head, it should still be pretty instantly fatal.

So...now that I have hopefully cleared this up.............I have a wringer, already saw the point of not using on adults, and am still contemplating (JUST CONTEMPLATING, NOT TRYING YET) it's use on peanuts or failure-to-thrive nestlings.

Please keep all that in mind in future comments, k? Great.

Don't mean to come off as cranky but somehow seems like people missed the "kits/peanuts/nestlings" as the primary "target."

 

[grumpy]

So yesterday I was helping my dad install some windows at the condo, and after the windows were in we made them pretty with new framing. My dad apparently owns a compressor and nail gun, which I did not know (WHY WERE WE USING A HAMMER TO NAIL ON THE MOPBOARDS?! This would have saved us HOURS of work!!! :furious...and last night when someone asked how I dispatch kits who have a failure to thrive issue, got to thinking.

That nail gun drove a nail three inches into a hardwood board, so I'm sure it would go right through a kit's head. I'm a little unhappy with the "whacking" method since I worry about margin of error.

Has anyone ever used a nail gun on kits who need to be dispatched? Or for that matter, adults?

No I'm not planning on doing this, merely bouncing around some ideas and thoughts. Opinions?

Welp, Kyle.

Looks like you've gotten your answer! At first, my initial thoughts were,
"What a novel idea." But, after consideration and reading the replies, I'd
have to agree with the majority. It may not be such a good idea.

Now.....as for your father's 'hiding' the fact of his 'nail-gun' ownership.
I must laugh over this because I flagrantly resisted buying
a finish-nailer for years and years! I'M OLD SCHOOL!! Born and bred.

However....I was faced with the task of remodeling my entire house when
I 'broke-down' and bought a finish air nailer.
I have 'kicked-myself-in-the-butt'everyday since then.
Those things are AWESOME!! I would not do a job now without it!

Add a 1/4" crown-stapler to your arsenal, too!
You won't regret it. I use the air-stapler more than the finish nailer.
That's what I use to put all of my nest boxes and hay feeders together with. PLUS, good glue.

grumpy

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Don't mean to come off as cranky but somehow seems like people missed the "kits/peanuts/nestlings" as the primary "target."

Guilty as charged.

It might work for them. :? Is it a finish nailer or a framing nailer? I would be more comfortable with a framing nailer since the nails are so much larger.

If you decide to try it, and I know this goes without saying, have a secondary means ready for dispatch just in case.

I would also try two different aim points. One to the brain (draw an imaginary X from the ears to the eyes and shoot where it crosses), and the other to where the spine joins the head.

When I dispatch kits I just put them in a paper bag and whack it HARD against a solid surface.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Now.....as for your father's 'hiding' the fact of his 'nail-gun' ownership.
I must laugh over this because I flagrantly resisted buying
a finish-nailer for years and years! I'M OLD SCHOOL!! Born and bred.

However....I was faced with the task of remodeling my entire house when
I 'broke-down' and bought a finish air nailer.
I have 'kicked-myself-in-the-butt'everyday since then.
Those things are AWESOME!! I would not do a job now without it!

LOL, Grumpy? We already replaced all the mop-boards at both his house AND the condo...BY HAND!!!! I never knew he had the darn thing!!! I was about to hammer in some nails to hold the molding in place and he said "Oh hey, here, try this." When I said "AWESOME WHEN DID YOU GET THIS???" He said......YEARS AGO!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Just last WEEK I was lying on the floor, carefully hammering nails into some floor-edging, very careful to make no hammer-marks or scuffs on the new planks. I'd have given a KIDNEY for a nail gun last week!!!!!!!! :lol:

Add a 1/4" crown-stapler to your arsenal, too!
You won't regret it. I use the air-stapler more than the finish nailer.
That's what I use to put all of my nest boxes and hay feeders together with. PLUS, good glue.

Our stapler is a massive, ancient monstrosity that doesn't work right. :roll: If I had the money I'd buy a new one, as is my dad doesn't feel the need to replace it because I still use it and then just hammer in the staples when they INEVITABLY don't go all the way in. :lol: I bet I could convince him to get an "upgrade" if HE had to use it though!!! :mrgreen:

My dad LOVES two-part epoxy. He just water-and-weather-proofed a hunting seat with it...used it like varnish!!!! Dries hard, never wears out, the metal stand it's on will disintegrate long before the plywood he sealed with it!!! Good glues and epoxies are INVALUABLE!!!! He used to have trouble with boards rotting on the boat...water would linger in the bilge and the wood would hold the moisture, until one day my dad coated some boards with two-part epoxy. THEY NEVER ROTTED AGAIN!!! Been YEARS since those boards needed to be refinished or replaced, and they always look SHINY and new!!!!

Looks like you've gotten your answer! At first, my initial thoughts were,
"What a novel idea." But, after consideration and reading the replies, I'd
have to agree with the majority. It may not be such a good idea.

Yeah the issues of using it on an adult are pretty risky, it could cause a lot of pain. Even though this is a pretty wicked nail gun with a fairly large gauge, it is still a smaller diameter than, say, a pellet from my pellet gun.

It might work for them. :? Is it a finish nailer or a framing nailer? I would be more comfortable with a framing nailer since the nails are so much larger.

Framing nailer...but I'd still have used it for "finish" work since I can just plaster over the head of the nail (it's powerful and tends to embed the nail deeper into the wood than a finisher would) and paint over it easier than I can hammer them into the darn mop-boards. I all but accused my dad of making me do them by hand with a hammer as "busy work" LOL!!!!!!

But yeah, this thing is pretty wicked powerful. My dad cheerfully told me about a number of lawsuits he was involved with when some factory workers used a similar product, and (when they put the nail gun between their legs to use both hands for a second) embedded nails directly in their knee-joints!!!!!

I would also try two different aim points. One to the brain (draw an imaginary X from the ears to the eyes and shoot where it crosses), and the other to where the spine joins the head.

I don't think I'd be comfortable aiming for the spine, that's SUCH a small target. I'd probably try a center-of-brain shot. Still not sure I even want to try it, TBH. I just hate the whack method.

When I dispatch kits I just put them in a paper bag and whack it HARD against a solid surface.

Whole body??? Does that work as well as a direct head-strike????

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Quote:
When I dispatch kits I just put them in a paper bag and whack it HARD against a solid surface.


Whole body??? Does that work as well as a direct head-strike????

Yes. Works great, and you don't have to look at them when you do it.

I tried holding one by the back legs and striking its head on the corner of the shed... and the poor thing was bleeding from the nose, but still alive.

Epic fail.

 

[GBov]

I use hand pruners and snip right behind the head. They dont take the head right off but cut the spine through. Instant death with no worries about getting it wrong. Had to do an entire litter one morning, doe had them on the wire and a raccoon pulled their little legs off. Horrible thing to find first thing but I was so glad I knew how to dispatch them quickly.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I hold them by the back feet and whack their head against a hard object, in my case a concrete "footing" that is laying around the yard. It's fast, humane and requires no special skills.

 

[skysthelimit]

I hold them by the back feet and whack their head against a hard object, in my case a concrete "footing" that is laying around the yard. It's fast, humane and requires no special skills.

Yeah. If all else fails, I give them to the dogs and walk away.

I've been thinking of a better way, but no firing anything within city limits, and I haven't culled anything over 6lbs in a while, the bop is faster than the makeshift wringer. I often wonder if my stun gun would do the job?