Thread: The little bunny that moved in..

Here's Lucky hard at work this morning - taking a rest under the tree outside back door..

Good to see in posts above so many hardened hunters quite at peace with wild bunnies living round the house. Yes there's a time to kill .. but also a time to just smile, and let 'em be

What a bunch of bunny lovers! Who'd have thought it?

Bunnies are cute.

Originally Posted by Chur Bay

Bunnies are cute.

....and tasty.

And bred like mad. Cute sweet bunny sitting on the lawn probly been f*#king like a rabbit all night, with the cute sweet bunny that you arnt seeing.
How wierd is it to slaughter all its relatives then let one go, to bred so you can slaughter all its offspring because they arn't the one that you decided was sweet and beating the odds.
But on the other hand compassion is an admiral human trait, and is something that is being displayed here. I can't knock the sentiment.

There is a wee one hanging around on our lawn that last couple of days, probably had it's burrow filled with water.
I showed the cat thru the kitchen window this morning, she went out and stalked it but didn't get it, I expect it (or bits of it) will turn up under the spare bed sometime soon

Like you Mudz , I am a rabbit serial killer, and just like you I think they are an amazing little animal and enjoy having them around.
They have a ton of character , a social system and entertaining to watch doing their thing. .
They other animal is a ferret, truly a marvel of evolution. It's a shame they are so destructive on our native species , I shoot them on sight but enjoy watching them move , stalk and work their way through the landscape. A natural born killer.

Good for you. As we get older our perspective changes.

There are many good reasons why we go out to hunt and kill game species. To gather the meat, help cull and control wild animal populations in our mountains/bush/farm environments, to let some of that old hunter/warrior DNA out of the closet, and simply to enjoy the beauty of the kiwi outdoors. Hunters/farmers do a great job culling/controlling invasive animal populations - pigs/deer/bunnies etc. A very important role - our team does this every shoot. Unfortunately Jacinda never understood this.

But even amongst all this killing/culling its extremely rare to find men/women who hate the target species. In fact the reverse is true. A great many hunters admire and enjoy the wild game - be it a big red stag stepping out in a clearing, a 220lb boar with 3" tusks, a bull tahr on a mountain rock, or a wallaby sitting quietly under a matagouri bush. Usually we will shoot, but sometimes ...we watch quietly for a time, and leave them. Yep - more often as you get older..

So no surprise when hardened hunter/killers chuckle when a little bunny appears on the back lawn, in the woodpile etc looking for a safe place. As the many pics/posts above attest, the same hunters are just as likely to smile some, let him be, let him have a safe haven. A bit of compassion, mercy, and a profound fondness for wildlife. No guarantees however with the bloody cats...

Originally Posted by mudgripz

So no surprise when hardened hunter/killers chuckle when a little bunny appears on the back lawn...

It's funny you say that, because if I look out a window or door and give a little laugh, the dog tears outside looking for a bunny!

It's easy to let it be when it is no challenge to shoot it.

Well that's weird!!

About 1am this morning I hear 30 seconds squealing in pain of little animal on the back lawn - exactly the sound that can happen with cat killing a bunny. Heard it before. I'm thinking oh-oh, Lucky the bunny is now Unlucky the ex-bunny. The cat got him. Then bit after lunch today I look out kitchen window and what the.. there's Lucky eating seeds off his favorite bush as usual!! Same bunny, same size, same habits. Can't quite figure if he's reincarnated, if there were two of them identical - but have only ever seen the one in last month. Or if nearby Lincoln University have been doing some interesting genetic experiments, from which Lucky escaped to my place, and he just killed and ate the neighbour's bloody cat!! I'll be more careful of him in future.

Little bugger still alive .. I don't know how he does it!!

Originally Posted by mudgripz

But even amongst all this killing/culling its extremely rare to find men/women who hate the target species.

I think that is true apart from possums. They seem to evoke visceral hatred in a lot of people, even non-hunters.

Possums are cute too.