[Sombeech]

Here's some footage I just shot this weekend. I put my camcorder on my rifle for some good First Person Perspective.

Click on the picture for the goods.

http://uutah.com/forum/files/rabbit_final_002_0001.jpg (http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4547)

[thexrayboy]

Upon watching the video I had two thoughts. The first was it's only a matter of time before the military make such video acquisition common to evaluate tactics etc. The second was what an incredible display of poor muzzle control. Sweeping a muzzle while firing rapidly is a good way to shoot someone else by accident. That really didn't qualify as a hunt. More like spray and pray. If rabbits weren't plentiful and essentially dumb as a rock you wouldn't have gotten anything. Was it fun....I bet it was. But it was risky to be in the neighborhood of shooting styles as they were displayed.

[zinj]

The second was what an incredible display of poor muzzle control. Sweeping a muzzle while firing rapidly is a good way to shoot someone else by accident.

Ever shoot a shotgun?

[Sombeech]

I thought about mounting it to the shotgun, but I was worried that the recoil would "jar" the camcorder too much.

[zinj]

Good move, if a shotgun can destroy a simplistic rimfire scope from recoil a camcorder is toast.

I do have to agree with thexrayboy though, that isn't hunting, that is shooting.

[Sombeech]

how about trying? :D I had a hard time hitting some of those.

[zinj]

I wasn't contesting the difficulty of the shots, I am just saying that if you aren't going through hell and high water to get them or eating them it isn't hunting.

[Sombeech]

OK, I'll rename it then.

[zinj]

Its not that big of a deal. It just like the difference between a turkey hunt and a turkey shoot. On the hunt you a looking for the best and most tasty bird, ignoring lesser opportunities. On the shoot you taking every shot you get.

[bthest86]

Cool video. (I didn't see any unsafe actions.) Nice shooting too.

[BLACK-N-TAN]

awsome video, I wish I could find some rabbit fields like that around here. We do some really nice P. Dog SHOOTING just outside of St George when Spring hits.

[BLACK-N-TAN]

oh ya and if you find something and kill it.....its hunting in my book, regardless of how you did it or what you plan on doing with the prey

[nswtex]

Main Entry: hunt

Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English huntian; akin to Old English hentan to seize
transitive verb
1 a : to pursue for food or in sport <hunt buffalo> b : to manage in the search for game <hunts a pack of dogs>
2 a : to pursue with intent to capture <hunted the escapees> b : to search out : SEEK
3 : to drive or chase especially by harrying <members...were hunted from their homes -- J. T. Adams>
4 : to traverse in search of prey <hunts the woods>
intransitive verb
1 : to take part in a hunt
2 : to attempt to find something
3 : to oscillate alternately to each side (as of a neutral point) or to run alternately faster and slower -- used especially of a device or machine

[USMC_2674]

I don't know why everyone is giving you a hard time. Rabbit hunting / shooting or whatever is fun, and is a useful passtime. In Utah, the rabbit populations destroy crops if they aren't hunted.

The rabbits in those videos did seem rather lethargic though. Did you guys drug them first? I have never seen such slow moving rabbits, nor ones that stood out in the open so much.

Let me know next time you g, I love to eat rabbit. :)

Semper Fidelis

[Remander]

Interesting rifle-camera. Never seen one like that before.

In a few years, we'll likely have cams the size of a lasermax or such filming tons of such action.

[thexrayboy]

Not trying to deflate anyones ego as that obviously looked like they were having fun. I just get itchy when I see someone sweeping the muzzle of a semiauto rifle while firing with the barrel pointed in a horizontal direction. Makes it too easy to hit someone or something of value. A shotgun is a slightly different situation. Usually it is not multiple rounds fired in rapid succession and usually the barrel is pointed more skyward. Also rifle rounds have greater range than shotgun pellets. No offense but it does display a
bit of risk..

However I tend to worry about potential negative outcomes to everyday activities more than average. In my line of work I see those negative outcomes on a regular basis.

[zinj]

It looks like they are in an uninhabited area and the mountains provide a backstop for even the most errant rounds.

[WinchesterAA]

Iono about the rest of the folks here, didn't read all the comments but most seemed pretty negative...

but dayum, That's some good ol' fun there. On an old lease I had there was a 400 or so x 400 or so yard plot of pasture with very low grass that wasn't even cut, just stayed low.. dunno what it was.. anywho, there were TONS of rabbits, coyotes, some cats and the occasional stray farm animal..

We'd drive around in trucks with 3 or 4 guys in the back and the front passenger all armed and shooting rabbits and coyotes (we left the farm animals alone, obviously)

had a damn blast. Coyotes we didn't like because of some near-camp appearances by them for no apparent reason (no guts or food for them to want) and the more often than desired dead carcass of a deer that'd been chewed on by something.

and the rabbits we did eat.

Absolute blast. But the video camera adds a whole crazy perspective to it that you don't really expect to see. Great vid, and man I love that area! I wish It'd snow here for 2 or 3 days so I could get off work, school closed, go hunting then when I get back it's all warm and cozy again but whatever.

Nice work, and I've seen much worse aim from somebody you would expect to know better.

[Outlaws]

Maybe it was just because I learned to shoot and hunt with a bolt action, but do most of you just unload full magazines when they take off on you?

[Roccobro]

Looks like fun.

Thanks for posting the vid.

Justin

[grimjaw]

I have never seen such slow moving rabbits, nor ones that stood out in the open so much.

Yah, I was thinking the same. The last time I saw a jack rabbit like that was in New Mexico, and it was headed for the horizon leaving a trail of dust behind.

jm

[SoCalShooter]

My friend built a special mount for his .22LR its really awesome, his digi cam is lined up right behind the scope and he pops squirrels with it like nobodies business.

[Stachie]

I have to ask, where did this slaughter take place? I have never seen so many rabbits!

[ArchAngelCD]

I guess I'm the only one here who doesn't like killing just for the sake of killing.

Even when I go fishing I catch & release anything I'm not going to eat.

[gunsmith]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRjfS9vYj88

[Wags]

Looked like a whole bunch of fun with so many rabbits running around, and done safely also I might add. Just eat what you harvest..........:)

[bruss01]

I guess I'm the only one here who doesn't like killing just for the sake of killing. Even when I go fishing I catch & release anything I'm not going to eat.


ArchangelCD -

I had the same thought. If I were hunting rabbits I would want pelts and meat. That's what would make the experience satisfying to me. I can't see the point of simply killing except as pest control, and they didn't look like they were in a corn field, more like a patch of scrub in the middle of nowhere.

Do people really enjoy this sort of wanton destruction? Personally I don't see the point and find it a little distasteful and crude. If you just like to pull the trigger and watch things drop over dead, get a video game IMHO.

[USMC_2674]

I kill rabbits. I harvest the pelts and eat the meat. Nothing wrong with that folks.

[saddlebum]

it appears that your friends were in front of your muzzle when you were filming them. was that the case?

[TX_Shooter]

Is this the real live version of HALO? :what:

Ok, I want in :D

[OpFlash]

I kill rabbits. I harvest the pelts and eat the meat. Nothing wrong with that folks.
That's fine but I noticed the guys in that video did not respond when someone asked who did all the cleaning and eating. Looks like they just went on a killing spree.

[mpmarty]

rabbits in the west and especially the desert jack rabbits are scrawny, diseased and carry tularemia. Pelts are virtually worthless due to lice and ticks. Best use for these critters is what we used to do in the Nevada desert, shoot them at night with pistols and lights and hang em on a fence. Wait for morning and use our 22/250s and 220 swifts to take the coyotes that came to the feast.

[Fosbery]

Wow, that looks like great fun. When I make it to your side of the pond one of you will have to take me :p

I'd be a little concerned about sweeping the muzzle around with people moving nearby but as long as everyone knows where everyone is (or rather: knows where they're not) then it's fine.

[roo_ster]

I love me some bunny in the pot!

After that much bunny meeting its maker, I think my freezer would runneth over in bunny.

[Punkermonkey]

Although it looks like good clean fun, I stopped watching when he was shooing in the snow directly in front of himself. Not the sharpest tool in the shed.

[xiphur]

LOL looks like a video game!!

[Outlaws]

Do people really enjoy this sort of wanton destruction? Personally I don't see the point and find it a little distasteful and crude. If you just like to pull the trigger and watch things drop over dead, get a video game IMHO.

Not to mention a few of the rabbits took a full magazine to hit. :(

[rhubarb]

We'd drive around in trucks with 3 or 4 guys in the back and the front passenger all armed and shooting rabbits and coyotes

The video and quote from WinchesterAA remind me of my brother's rabbit shoot some twenty years ago. There was a bumper crop of jackrabbits in the Texas Panhandle that year and he and some friends thought it would be a good idear to go shoot some bunnies. Of course, this being Texas, it was at night. Being the Panhandle, they came up with this genius plan after getting way down a bottle of Jack Daniels on the long road home from a drilling rig. Being my brother, he rode on the hood.

When he didn't go to the hospital for a few days afterward, the .22 hole through his foot started to fester even though it was through and through. Almost lost his leg over that one. Lotsa fun.

[jcoiii]

GAH! You broke the first rule!!!! :what:








"Be vewy, vewy quiet" :D

[redneck2]

I can't believe the posts from the screaming weenies here. You chimps will carry CCW to kill another person but killing a damned rabbit is just too much to bear.

And, if you're so damned good, YOU hit a running rabbit with a .22

I suddenly suspect this forum is over-run with 14 year old gamers instead of real shooters.

[Outlaws]

I can't believe the posts from the screaming weenies here. You chimps will carry CCW to kill another person but killing a damned rabbit is just too much to bear.

And, if you're so damned good, YOU hit a running rabbit with a .22

I suddenly suspect this forum is over-run with 14 year old gamers instead of real shooters.

No, but some of us came from the school of "one shot, one kill".

[redneck2]

The second was what an incredible display of poor muzzle control.
Ok...so next time I go rabbit hunting, I'll explain to the rabbit that he has to sit still, directly in front of me, in front a dirt backstop, and to not move
No, but some of us came from the school of "one shot, one kill".
OK, you go rabbit hunting with one .22 round. Good luck pal.

You guys are a piece of work.

[Outlaws]

OK, you go rabbit hunting with one .22 round. Good luck pal.

Well I haven't hunted with a single shot .22, but I generally take a bolt action or lever action.
It could also be argued that spraying bullets isn't hunting. ;)

[Trip20]

Good hell I suck.

Oh man I about died laughin' at that one.

[Fosbery]

One way to kill rabbits is to sit a mile away with your bolt action CZ and snipe the beggars. Another way is to get right in there and empty magazines at them. Rabbits die either way and nobody gets hurt (the muzzle never once covered another person). Why is it a problem? We're all live and let live right?

[redneck2]

Just eat what you harvest..........
OK, next time I hunt crows, fox, coyotes, prarie dogs, groundhogs, or shoot barn rats, pigeons, or sparrows I'll take you along to gut 'em out and bring 'em home for the pot.

Yum, yummmmmm!!!

[huntingnt]

I didn't see anyone in the line of fire anywhere in the video. Looked like a good day of rabbit hunting. Those look like they were all jackrabbits (they don't taste very good) which are really bad pests in a lot of places. What looked just like scrub to some could be just outside grainfields they are raising havoc in. This is pest eradication and no different than shooting coyotes when the pelts aren't taken. To those who are ridiculing the number of missed shots I would challenge them to get out there and do it themselves. There is no better way to practice running shots than on rabbit before moving to big game. They will not go to waste, there are too many scavengers that will ensure that they find there way back into the food chain.

[redneck2]

I bet it was. But it was risky to be in the neighborhood of shooting styles as they were displayed.
I just re-read this. LMAO. Pal, this isn't a neighborhood. There's probably 20 miles to the nearest mountain.

You need to get out of the city to see what shooting really is.

On second thought, just stay there.

Not all shooting is done in a cement 25 yard range at stationary paper targets.

[Roccobro]

And, if you're so damned good, YOU hit a running rabbit with a .22

It was with open sights too, wasn't it?

Justin

[bthest86]

Lots of snobish uptights around here.

Hunting is hunting IMHO. So what if there were multiple shots taken? If its a semi-auto and not a bolt action then more power to them.

There was no unnecessary suffering that I saw on the rabbits' part nor was there any muzzel sweeps of people.

And can someone point out to me where he emptied an entire 25 round magazine to kill a single rabbit?

[648E]

Awesome video! How did you mount the camera?

Looks like a whole lot of fun and I would love to be able to do such a thing but there aren't that many rabbits here.

And yes I have emptied a 10/22 10rd mag on a running rabbit before with only the last round hitting he dropped right dead.

[ArchAngelCD]

I can't believe the posts from the screaming weenies here. You chimps will carry CCW to kill another person but killing a damned rabbit is just too much to bear.

And, if you're so damned good, YOU hit a running rabbit with a .22

I suddenly suspect this forum is over-run with 14 year old gamers instead of real shooters.
Redneck2,
I for one am not a chimp and do not carry a weapon with the intent to kill people. Everyone in this thread was having a respectful conversation. You are the only one who decided to start calling names and trashing the opinions of others. You even suggested we were all 14 years old, how ironic. Lets review, who was doing the adolescent name calling?

[Blakenzy]

Awesome video! How did you mount the camera?

Right. Exactly how did you mount the camera? Pics of the setup would be nice.

[roo_ster]

Yep, I was thinking that it was a wonderful way to get some moving target practice, complete with intervening vegetation.

[bruss01]

I can't believe the posts from the screaming weenies here. You chimps will carry CCW to kill another person but killing a damned rabbit is just too much to bear.
And, if you're so damned good, YOU hit a running rabbit with a .22
I suddenly suspect this forum is over-run with 14 year old gamers instead of real shooters.

Wow... hostile much?

I don't think anyone had any issue with hunting rabbits.

I think some, myself included, questioned wasting meat, pelts and game. I'm not accustomed to thinking of rabbits as "pests" especially since it looked like they were miles out in the boondocks in a patch of useless scrub, but OK, I'll concede this may have been an extermination party. If the meat and pelts were unusable, I can understand their not being harvested. Still, a bit morbid for my tastes. I have no problem with hunting, but personally I have committed to limiting my hunting to things I would eat. I wouldn't see the sport in gunning down a herd of deer with a full-auto AK, even if they were pests, and I don't really see the "sport" in hunting rabbits the way they were depicted on the video. I wouldn't have an issue with the hunting style, though, if it were truly a survival situation. I think even the hunting laws of many (most?) states make exceptions for that type of situation.

No laws broken and nothing blatantly unsafe. Eh, to each his own I guess. Just not my cuppa tea. I can say that, can't I?

USMC wrote:
I kill rabbits. I harvest the pelts and eat the meat. Nothing wrong with that folks.

Like the man says. kill rabbits, harvest pelts, eat meat, nothing wrong w/dat.

[NRA4LIFE]

Ahhh, reminds me of the good ol' days in Northern Wisconsin when I was younger. For those who don't consider this hunting, please don't condemn it until you try it. It takes a heck of a lot of skill to hit a white hare with snow on the ground with a .22. Try it with a pistol, even more fun. And yes, we too ate every single one we killed. Sometimes 100-150 in a weekend. Supplemented our meager venison supply at the time.

[SUBMOAS]

Two Thumbs up!!!

[sturmruger]

Here is another person chiming in to say great video!! How many people go shoot prairie dogs and then eat them??? None that I have ever heard of. Jack rabbits are a serious problem out West I can't fault these guys for shooting them any way they can. They are giving the rabbits a more sporting chance then I would if I went along I would be using a 12ga to hit running rabbits. I am sure I could hit them with a .22, I just don't know how many rounds it would take.

[gunsmith]

They tell me you can not eat the meat, I'm not a hunter but I've tried shooting rabbits with my Glock...they know when they are being hunted and it's not always as easy as the vid makes it out to be....I missed every shot.

My friend planted a field with Rye for some new rescue Mustangs he got, the rabbits destroyed his field so you guys need to go shoot some Jack rabbits.
Do it for the horses!:evil:

[kbheiner7]

Very cool - I love a good rabbit shoot. Not that I need to justify shooting these non-game animals, but shooting these little buggars with a .22 rifle or pistol makes shooting game animals a piece of cake under any circumstance.

I will say that the rabbits seemes lethargic, but I've seen them act that way, usually after a heavy snow. There were a few in the video with the usual after-burners on.

Any of you Utah boys go rabbit hunting again, shoot me a message. I usually hunt north out by Rabbit Springs, but would like to learn new territory. :D

[rhubarb]

Jackrabbits not good to eat: hogwash. They ain't as tender as cottontails, but they're good eatin.

I've never shot a rabbit or hare I didn't eat. Some within minutes. Rabbits are my favorite game animals to eat. Just thinking about rabbits is making my mouth water.

If you gentlemen didn't eat those rabbits, that's a damn shame.

[langenc]

Might consider "Spray and Pray" fo a title.

[longboard]

Did you eat them?
Longboard

[Sombeech]

Wow, lots of questions, hope I can answer some of them. Most of the questions like "How did I mount the camera to my gun" can be answered by looking at the link, as I have recently uploaded 10 pictures showing the clamp on the rifle.

And as Trip20 said, at 1 minute and 29 seconds into the video, I said "Good Hell, I suck". I chose to leave that in the footage, because I obviously knew how bad I was shooting. And yes, it was with open sights, so, oh well.

Anyways, good news! I've got a High Resolution version of this video available for download. Just go to that same thread that you'll find those pictures, and you'll see the link. I'll post it here again so you don't have to scroll back to the first page of the thread:

http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4547 and you'll see the download link in blue. It's 72MB in size.

We did not eat any of the JackRabbits. I'd lay $20 down saying the coyotes got them within a week, although we estimate shooting around 120 of them.:cool:

And no dogs. We just walked up on them. Yes, these rabbits are slower than usual, because this spot is rarely hunted. It's secret. :D

[Greybeard]

In his low 80's now, my Dad recently shared with my teenage son his experience while a teenager growing up in western Oklahoma.

The rabbit population (especially jacks) got so bad and they did such damage to crops, in the 1930s and 40's they would set up "drives" to exerminate as many as possible. Dad said they would pick a date or two right before the cotton crops were about to emerge from planting and dozens of farmers would met up at Grandpa's place south of Carter, Oklahoma.

Everyone would bring their shotguns with all of the shells they could carry (usually high brass 4s). They would spread out about 40 yards apart, forming a line a mile or two long, then walk for miles and miles, exhausting themselves and, eventually, most of the rabbits.

Did it wipe out the population? Not by a long shot. I still hunted 'em religiously there and in the Texas panhandle 30 years later. It would certainly not be politically correct these days, but, heck, even our youth minister at church would load us up in his pickup and go out to the municipal airport to slay a couple of dozen jacks on a Sunday afternoon. We would, however, commonly pick 'em up and take back to feed to someone's hogs ...

[Idano]

Greybeard we had the same scenario here in Idaho in 1981, remember the bunny bash? It was the worst during that winter you would drive down the road and where the rabbit routinely traveled across the road it would be covered in fur from all the rabbits getting hit my cars. That was the winter I learned to shoot running targets, because sitting targets were no challenge. We would easily burn through a couple thousand rounds a day per person. They still come back but not as bad also there are more hawks and eagles now with the elimination of DDT which helps keep them in check.

[rwmcquigge]

dont worry about what people think if you had fun and ate the rabbits you shot
,then yah its hunting i didnt see you point the muzzle at anyone and the only thing in your lane was the rabbit,so dont worry about it,some peopl are just "holyer than thow hunters" and they will always point out something,it makes them feel good.
theirs nothing wrong with using a 22 either thats how we do it,it makes it harder.shotgun is the easy way.:neener:

[shmavistime]

That look sliek so much fun its rediculous. In Michigan we have lots of rabbits and especially squirrels so im getting geared up to do a hunt. Ill probably have to get a .22 though, as all I have is a 30-06 NEF and a 336 Marlin. But man, that looks like a blast.

[Kandaje]

Greetings...

Here in western Colorado, we call the recorded activity in that video - "Bunny Busting". During season, My own friends and I do this at LEAST once a week - frequently more often. It's how we usually spend our Sunday afternoons...

It's an obscene hideous amount of fun. It ISN'T Deer "Hunting" (AKA Ambushing) and it isn't Prairie Dog Hunting (AKA Sniping), and it isn't Duck Hunting (AKA Bait and Blast) it's more akin to Quail, Snipe, upland game bird Hunting (AKA Flushing)...

Like other forms of FLUSHING Game hunts it IS just as much "hunting" Maybe just not the form that some of you have tried...

Over the years, after having attempted to describe this particular FORM of hunting to many people - The usual question being - "How the heck did you manage to expend over 500 rounds of ammo and only get 2 rabbits?"

That isn't the case at all...

If you actually watched the video - you would have noticed that there were quite a few incedences of "One Shot One Kill" hits. (AKA Target shooting). The real skill is in dropping a moving target slightly larger than a house cat at 25 to 50 yards at random deflections and speeds, over rough ground chock full of cover. Imagine Fluffy clocking along at 30 mph, zig-zagging, random changes of direction, Good luck with your bolt action 1 shot rifle...

I have witnessed TOO many times a Bunny LITERALLY DUCK under a bullet to avoid getting hit. I have seen them flatten out their profile while in MID-JUMP, to avoid getting hit. I have seen bizarre bunny behavior that can ONLY be described as "That freaky monster cottontail - acted like it actually ENJOYED that! Holy S&*T look! He's coming around again at top speed for another dance!"

Honestly, I STOPPED hunting "Big Game" because there is virtually NO CHALLENGE. It is hardly more than a diversionary Chore to fill the freezer with 100 lbs of elk or deer... It's more work than fun.

Busting bunnies is as I said previously, Hideously, almost obscenely - fun...

It Requires excellent markmanship skills ( using .22's), intimate knowledge of your quarry and the ground you hunt on. It also requires Excellent well tuned and functional equipment.
The facts that the equipment is inexpensive, the ammo cheaper than dirt, and the game animal itself is SO prolific and SO renewable (not to mention tasty!) - is NO downside at all...

The adreneline rush commonly known as 'Buck-fever' STOPPED happening after about the 3rd Buck (over 30 years ago)... After that - Shooting even a Monster Elk is hardly more thrilling than a paper target. Yet even after thousands of Cottontails and Jacks - My old body still warms and thrills like a 15 year old boy when my buddy calls out "Rabbit 2 O-clock 10 yards!"

Consider also:
Rabbits are NOT stupid. The rabbits in that video have probably NEVER encountered being shot at before. Some have remarked that they seemed sluggish - Well, they were - because they percieved NO danger. They were not familiar with guns.
If you go to areas where they experience constant hunting pressures - Guess what you find? Contrary to leftist logic - The bunnies are bigger, faster, quicker, hardier, craftier, smarter and much more challenging than the ones pictured in the video.

The bunnies in the video were Small, slow, weak and stupid. I.E. No hunting experience. - As was said at the end of the video - a Secret Location.

The Video claims to have been made in Utah - In this area of the country bunnies (cottontails) and hares (jacks) are EVERYWHERE. It is difficult to find ANY area that ISN'T infested with them.


As for eating what you shoot - It's a matter of degrees...
If you were talking about large game animals that take years, even decades in some cases to reach maturity, and have an opportunity to breed, then YES - you SHOULD eat everything you kill...

When it comes to the lupines - Don't worry, it WILL be eaten. 1 simple fact that most people don't know is: 80% of any rabbit population in a given area DIES every year NATURALLY - Anyway!

If I'm jonesing for rabbit, I'll collect my kills, otherwise, I'm NOT going to lose any sleep - The Eagles, crows, owls, yotes, veral cats, wildcats, coons, skunks, minks etc including the host of other small scavengers - will certainly NOT turn their noses away from the free meal... A dead bunny is certainly NOT going to go to waste...

[10 Ring Tao]

Don't let the fudds and their single shot 30-30s get to you. Innovative use of equipment, and very entertaining video.

Its the closest thing I've seen to real video footage mirroring a first person shooter game.

I wish there were hunting opportunities like this in MI.

[LEVRLOVR]

Every time someone posts a video or photo of an actual hunt, we immediately get this negative feedback like
1. that did not look like safe shooting
2. did you eat it
3. not really hunting
4. should'a used a shottie'
Etc. etc. etc.
What these people really seem to be saying is: We have never really been hunting for anything so we will just sit back and criticize those who
have.
Or: If your not doing it my way then you are obviously doing something wrong.
What I will say is: That was some good shooting for a guy with a camera strapped to his gun and... MAN, RABBIT HUNTING WITH A .22 REPEATER IS ALOTTA FUN AIN"T IT?
Oh, and that "KILL THE WABBIT" video somebody posted was great, shoulda used it as the soundtrack to the actual hunt.