Thread: Bullet Choice on Hares

Originally Posted by vulcannz

urban myth. Unless the hare has been poisoned with an anticoagulant first.

Ahh yeah that makes a lot of sense - as I noted up there we've had a couple that had phenomenal runs after being solidly hit. Not sure of the distance but in both cases 6 paddocks and then trying to swim the Tukituki river! Most we got were bang-flopped or a short run, but those two were exceptional and there was no way we could catch them on the 4 wheeler being impeded by pesky gates as we were!

Originally Posted by vulcannz

urban myth. Unless the hare has been poisoned with an anticoagulant first.

disagree. shot hundreds in my time over many places and they bleed for a very long time.

Originally Posted by scottrods

disagree. shot hundreds in my time over many places and they bleed for a very long time.

Well there is always this: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18041703/

Results: Mean +/- SD were obtained for thrombin time (TT) (13.97 +/- 1.37 seconds), prothrombin time (PT) (13.32 +/- 2.15 seconds), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) (16.73 +/- 1.86 seconds), fibrinogen concentration (2.98 +/- 1.06 g/L), and platelet count (355.28 +/- 128.73 x 10(9)/L).

Basically the clotting times are all very similar to humans. It may be poisons, unhealthy animals, or if they run while wounded it may prevent the wound from clotting?

I use a 22 Magnum and 223 for smaller game these days. Just more stopping power and more clean shots. Thats just me though of course. Others might say otherwise. Nonetheless, all the best!!

I went to a .22 Magnum. The .17hmr went much better than a .22 as well.

I also shot a rabbit with a 9.3x62, but with centrefires you just headshoot or chop them across the top of the shoulders, and then you can still eat the rest.

Originally Posted by vulcannz

Well there is always this: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18041703/



Basically the clotting times are all very similar to humans. It may be poisons, unhealthy animals, or if they run while wounded it may prevent the wound from clotting?

They do seem to bleed for longer, I have thought that too, but I believe the reason why they are hard to kill, and can run for a long way without a functioning heart or lungs, is because their blood is highly oxygenated, for the high speeds they run at.

I don't know about the clotting thing,but by hoki it is sticky...blood from hare just seems to go everywhere and stay there. Great to gut them at 03:00 when hands were freezing,but as said,really hard to clean up afterwards without decent amount of water.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I don't know about the clotting thing,but by hoki it is sticky...blood from hare just seems to go everywhere and stay there. Great to gut them at 03:00 when hands were freezing,but as said,really hard to clean up afterwards without decent amount of water.

A bit like horse blood mate , hellish stuff to clean up .

Originally Posted by XR500

22.250 imp firing 50 gn of anything= skin only left behind.

Thought I had missed completely once, having shot a hare behind the hut we were based at. 75m shot. Looked everywhere.....till I spied a kidney swinging in the breeze attached by a ligament to the manuka shrub he had been hiding under

Eventually found the skin with 4 paws attached. Everything else had been vacuumed off the skin

Hahaaa yeah, shot rabbit with my 22-250 once at 125m..hit kidneys, hindquarters disappeared in red mist..and I was aiming at head..in my defence the gate post flinched....

They take a lot to kill if you dont get a nicely placed head or neck shot, presuming you are using a 22lr

Compared to a wabbit the hare has a heart twice the size, maybe when that thing gets pumping in the flight or fight reaction the oxygen and adrenalin is rabbitly put around the blood stream, resulting that the hare will "run on a long time" or 'take a lot to put down" Jugged hare would have to be one of the best things I've eaten off a wild animal, Using the saddle is also especially yumfull if done medium rare like a piece of venison.

Originally Posted by XR500

22.250 imp firing 50 gn of anything= skin only left behind.

Thought I had missed completely once, having shot a hare behind the hut we were based at. 75m shot. Looked everywhere.....till I spied a kidney swinging in the breeze attached by a ligament to the manuka shrub he had been hiding under

Eventually found the skin with 4 paws attached. Everything else had been vacuumed off the skin

I found a shot low in guts was best if couldn't get head if using 22-250.... Go to pick up very dead animal and give back legs a shake,gutting all done.back wheels n saddle still ok. But yes headshots best if want anything left to eat. A 40grn at ten yards was.....interesting.... Just about wore the splatter.

Ive shot hundreds of hares in the last few months alone, fairly even kill count between using my .223 setup for day use and my .22lr running subs for night use I would say. The .22lr still drops them well out to 120m so long as you put the shot in the right place, with the .223 it doesn't really matter where you hit it.

Most interesting one was a paddock I was shooting in lying prone, full darkness using my thermal and NV gear. Shot 2 hares and was moving around to where the third should have been but couldn't see it, could hear something running at a fair pace and sounded like it was getting closer.... the bugger ran me down boxing at me, then circled back another 3 times doing the same. Took me a second to figure out what the hell was going on, jumped up, head torch on and landed a solid kick to the noggin on its next run at me, then a .22 to the brain as it sat in the grass gasping for air.

First time for me with the hunter becoming the hunted!

Originally Posted by scottrods

disagree. shot hundreds in my time over many places and they bleed for a very long time.

Definitely. My dogs catch young rabbit sized hares in the long grass sometimes and I know its not a rabbit because there is blood everywhere.

Rabbits are all fast twitch white, almost clear muscle, but hares slow twitch red and bloody.

I feel sorry for hares, they seem to have a lot more reserves than rabbits, meaning slow deaths

hares bleed more cos they're hemophiliac ..? 17 hmr works for me. 22for something different.