I'm a terrible person. (sortof)

[6_Qubed]

You are not a terrible person. You are a person, involved in a terrible decision.

 

[fenrizz]

You do not shoot an animal unless you are certain that your first shoot is going to kill it.

Simple as that.
Otherwise it is just cruel, and you should not be allowed to use a gun.

 

[II2]

If, like me, you're fond of animals, it haunts you the first time or two, but you get past it, however unpleasant and distasteful it remains.

If you've got to kill an animal at close range don't plink at the poor thing with some dinky pellet gun; it's more messy and protracted and awful than just black jacking it with whatever is on hand. If you've got to kill a creature in close quarters just steel yourself and do it quick with whatever you've got. It may be "gross" but it'll spare the creature more pain than it'll take you to clean up.

Anyways, I'm just speaking general opinion on how to quickly get through what needs doing sometimes. I'm not personally calling you out for being startled and uncomfortable OP - you did your best and no, you're not a bad person. (At least, not for anything you described in this thread)

 

[Ando85]

I don't think it is all that horrible. It is just the way things are. Look at what they do in the slaughterhouse. All rabbits do is eat stuff, reproduce, and make more rabbits eating stuff. Like mentioned before they are pests, and just because they are cute and cuddly looking doesn't make you bad for killing them.

I do feel somewhat bad though whenever I injure and animal before killing it, even a snake. As I don't intend to make the animal suffer. A big snake was once in my garage and I was going to kill it with a shovel. Unexpectedly it took quite a few blows and bloodshed before it was dead.

 

[theevilgenius60]

I have had to kill off pets, Old Yeller style in the past and it never gets easier. Once I had to kill one of our tomcats that was killing our other animals. Shot him from a distance so he couldn't get those claws in me. He did the most macabre little dance afterward, I still have nightmares. Once I had to put a puppy out it's misery as it had gotten is legs mangled under the house. It would have never walked again and lived a terrible life, so I ended it as humanely as possible. That one still hurts as it was one of my favorite dog's puppies.

 

[Mr.Numbers]

yeah, one night I found a bird that my cat had injured and brought to the doorstep, it was a dove or something and there was a rather large cut on its back, over one of its wings (looked like the whole wing was rather ruined) I got a pellet gun and pumped it up allot then shot it in the head, then once more to make sure it was dead, it was very strange

also, you should stop shooting rabbits, they are just trying to survive

They're both tasty and a horrible pest in Australia.

I have no qualms with shooting rabbits so long as you prepare and cook it afterward, or at least keep the pelt.

And I don't kill spiders, I'm hardly a bad guy, I just like knowing where my meat came from and how it got there.

Sometimes the neighbors kids would find baby birds in the forest near our house and pick them up and play with them for a while. Of course after being touched by humans the real parents would have nothing to do with them so it was just more humane to put them out sooner rather than waiting for them to starve.

Sorry to break this to you man, but that's been well established as a myth...Baby birds on the ground tend to have just been learning to fly, being touched by a human means nothing to the parent it just picks the bird up and lets it try again...

SO umm...Yeah...No more killing baby birds please?

 

[Griffolion]

I'm certain there's a more humane way to deal with your rabbit problem, and uh, I think you might want to get your brother checked out. I don't think laughing gleefully at something like that is considered healthy.

Yeah, I agree here, having fun at causing pain to small animals is a telling sign of psychopathy, seriously.

 

[Rawne1980]

Yeah speaking as a vegetarian animal rights activist who can't stand this sort of shit, all I can say is that this thread is making me ill.

Speaking as a 100% carnivore who doesn't like the taste of vegetables therefore lives of the flesh of farm animals and other cute fluffy things ...... I have nothing more to add.

Ponder that while you muster up enough energy to reach your keyboard.

 

[Superior Mind]

I've lost count of how many rabbits I've killed. They're a pest here. I've also shot goats. One summer I spent in the Waitaki Valley where there is a huge rabbit problem and I went out shooting them every night. Sometimes you wouldn't kill them with one shot so you'd finish them off by hand, (or by foot which was generally the case.) It's not particularly pleasant but it has to be done. Sometimes you get caught up in the bloodlust and you find yourself quite surprised at how vicious you can be.

Over an almost three week period me and my Dad killed well over 100 rabbits. Thing is it will only take that particular local population around a month to regain those numbers and more.

 

[Da Orky Man]

I put the life of animals over the life of any human, so regardless of what the animal was doing I couldn't bring myself to do that.

So you would gladly kill yourself to save the life of a chicken? Or kill a butcher? If you would, then in my opinion, you are a terrible person.

 

[RevRaptor]

Only good rabbit is a dead rabbit but then I live in NZ we tend to have a certain bias towards the destructive little bastards. Don't feel bad dude sometime the first shot doesn't get them that's just the way it goes. I totally understand why you are using a low powered air gun, better to have to shoot a rabbit twice than having a pellet go through a fence and wound a kid. Just try to do the deed as humanely as possible maybe get a more powerful air rifle, there are plenty of medium power air rifles that are perfect for blasting bunnies
and yea your brother has issues, killing small harmless animals should not make you laugh, that's just wrong.

 

[PMorgan18]

*snip*

Your mistake was trying to finish it off with the pellet gun. You should have got a shovel or a knife to do that because at least when cut off a rabbit's, chipmunk's, etc. head with a shovel it can get kinda bloody but then you know its dead.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Question: Have you ever killed something at close range? It's very strange...and I dislike it highly.

My first hunting kill was close range (point blank, in fact). Dad and I kinda sucked that day, so our aim was terrible (and groundhogs are damn hard to hit). Two shots from each of us (him with a .410, me with a .17) and the bugger finally goes does (I' can't be sure all four shots hit him). Anyway, what happened next went something like this:

Hank: It's still breathing. So what happens now?
Dad: You have to kill it.
*Hank puts barrel of .17 to rodent's head*
Dad: Are you sure you'll...
*Hank pulls trigger*
Hank: *thinks* Yeah, I'll be fine. (said in normal voice)

And for the record: That groundhog was tasty.

 

[Worgen]

yeah, one night I found a bird that my cat had injured and brought to the doorstep, it was a dove or something and there was a rather large cut on its back, over one of its wings (looked like the whole wing was rather ruined) I got a pellet gun and pumped it up allot then shot it in the head, then once more to make sure it was dead, it was very strange

also, you should stop shooting rabbits, they are just trying to survive

when you think about it, even the lion that is chasing you is just trying to survive also.

given how few lions there are and how many of us there are I think we can afford to lose a few people to them, one of them would have to figure out how to work knobs to get me though

 

[Baby Tea]

Question: Have you ever killed something at close range? It's very strange...and I dislike it highly.

Yes I have.

To add we would use a powerful and 100% surefire gun if we didn't live in a place with many neighbors.

Then you shouldn't be shooting it at all.
As a hunter, I'm utterly disgusted by anyone who uses an underpowered rifle to kill an animal. Sometimes you need to kill animals. For food or because they are a serious nuisance animal (Like raccoons to a farmer). I don't have a problem with the killing. I have a problem with needless suffering. If you're going to shoot an animal, make sure you to it as quickly, and as painlessly, as possible. A shitty little air-rifle isn't enough. And if you do use that, then you better be resolved enough to pull the trigger again at close range to ensure it doesn't suffer.

If you can't do that, then you have no business shooting it with that firearm in the first place.

 

[Mr. Google]

Question: Have you ever killed something at close range? It's very strange...and I dislike it highly.

Yes I have.

To add we would use a powerful and 100% surefire gun if we didn't live in a place with many neighbors.

Then you shouldn't be shooting it at all.
As a hunter, I'm utterly disgusted by anyone who uses an underpowered rifle to kill an animal. Sometimes you need to kill animals. For food or because they are a serious nuisance animal (Like raccoons to a farmer). I don't have a problem with the killing. I have a problem with needless suffering. If you're going to shoot an animal, make sure you to it as quickly, and as painlessly, as possible. A shitty little air-rifle isn't enough. And if you do use that, then you better be resolved enough to pull the trigger again at close range to ensure it doesn't suffer.

If you can't do that, then you have no business shooting it with that firearm in the first place.

As I said they maybe in the post but definitively to another person it is 99% of the time a one hit kill if we shoot them. This time my brother just didn't get a perfect shot because he was at a weird angle and that's when things went to shit. And when it was on the ground dying I didn't wait long to shoot it. It just felt like a long time due to its whimpering and thats when I knew that I just had to shoot it. It was 5 seconds tops.

 

[spartan231490]

So in our backyard we have rabbits that will eat out plants. We have decided to shoot them more than a few years back to stop them from destroying all the hard work we did on our yard which became incredibly frustrating might I add. Today after dinner my brother saw one in the bushes so we grabbed some low powered guns (Lead air rifles) but enough to kill...well a rabbit. So he shot it at first and it went jumping around and spazzing out. My brother was laughing very hard because he is horrible (Not at it's death but at it's jumping around. Not saying it's much better still might have to get his head checked out) while I just sort of looked on indifferently. After a bit we had to go pick it up and when I got near it it was breathing very hard and i knew it wasn't going to die soon. So I got the gun and I decided to shoot it again to put it out of its misery. When I put the gun up to its small body and it looked at me and started to whimper. I started freaking out because it was so terrible. I thought this is for the better! I finally shot it and it was more or less screaming. I don't care for animals too much but it was really really bad! I'm (obviously) recovering and it's fine now but still. Question: Have you ever killed something at close range? It's very strange...and I dislike it highly.

Edit: To add we would use a powerful and 100% surefire gun if we didn't live in a place with many neighbors. The only reason why it didn't die right away though as they usually do is because it was hit in a strange spot near it's spine. I didn't do an autopsy nor would I know what I was looking for but still I shot it the second time because I felt bad for it. My brother wasn't laughing when he shot it nor when I shot it. So he is only slightly crazy but hopefully not a sociopath. Also If you dislike that I kill them in the first place I'm sorry. There are probably some things that you do that I dislike to and life goes on.

Dude, I'm sorry, but that's cruel. You should not be killing them with an air rifle that doesn't have the pop to get the job done. Your edit makes me leery of saying that you need a better gun, but if you aren't getting an instant kill on 9/10 shots in your situation, than you probably should upgrade. They make very powerful air rifles, and various types of BBs/pellets and I'm sure that a better pellet would up the kill rate as well. If it's still not enough, consider just letting them go, or some have-a-heart traps and just relocate them. You could also try a bow, but your best bet is just to get better more practice with the air rifles you use and to actually aim for a "kill-zone" instead of just the rabbit. Most importantly, if it doesn't die on the first shot, don't sit there and laugh as it jumps around, shoot it again.

Finally, on a less lecturey note(and I'm sure you already know at least half of that lecture which makes me feel even worse, but I can't be sure which half you know so there it is), You probably won't ever exterminate them using that method. There's a reason the expression: fuck like rabbits, exists. Rabbits reproduce at a prodigious rate and to make matters worse i think they actually start reproducing faster if something other than starvation starts killing them off. If your purpose is just to get rid of them, your best bet is an exterminator, or a pest-control guy probably.

 

[Mr. Google]

Snip.

It does get an instant kill 9/10 times don't worry about that. And It seems like when we kill them they stay away for a long time so...you're probably right about the reproducing thing but still...it works.

 

[spartan231490]

Snip.

It does get an instant kill 9/10 times don't worry about that. And It seems like when we kill them they stay away for a long time so...you're probably right about the reproducing thing but still...it works.

Nice. Well then, happy hunting!