A question I often get asked at the shows is “How do I get my first rabbit?” it’s the sort of question that needs far more explaining than simply telling someone to get up to a local farm. Usually, it turns out that the person asking already has some land, but for some reason or other, every outing has produced a big fat zero!

Trying to pin one particular reason down, though, is very difficult. Without actually following the guy, or girl, around, I thought I’d lay out a few vital tips and let you follow along with me, on one of my recent forays to show you how it’s done.

Using an airgun to hunt rabbits is some of the best fun you can have – plus it helps the landowner keep his pest population down and, if you’re successful, you get a free meal out of it too!

So, going right back to basics, let’s see what sort of kit you’ll need – and this is before you even venture out on your first real rabbit raid. Remember, this is just skimming the basics, a lot of these items are worth a page or two in their own right, and we’ll hopefully go over these in future issues.

First get your gun
Obviously, you’re going to need a rifle, not a pistol. Hunting should never be attempted with any air pistol as they simply do not have the power, or accuracy, for hunting work. So, what sort of rifle do you need?
There are plenty of good hunting rifles on the market that’ll be more than adequate, but, putting it simply, it comes down to basically two types.

• Recoiling riflesThese are powered by an internal spring that you compress by either cocking the action via a break-barrel, underlever or sidelever

• Precharged pneumaticswhich run on compressed air and are totally recoilless when you fire them.

There’s pros and cons for both types but for our purposes today, all I’ll say is that you’ll need a rifle that’s got a maximum power output of 11.5 ft lbs. These rifles are available without a licence, but bear in mind the current laws of the land. However, from the age of 14 you can shoot an airgun on your own, and without adult supervision, provided you are on private land and have the consent of the landowner.

What calibre do you use
An old adage used to go “Use .177 for feather and a .22 for fur” and although this is damn good advice, it’s not gospel. A well-placed shot, in any calibre, will result in a clean, humane kill. Again this debate has been going on since the dawn of airgunning so, my advice? Opt for your own personal choice and learn to use that properly. Now, having said that, there are times when one calibre may be better than the other, but I’ve found that with rabbits, a good head shot with any size pellet will humanely kill the coney.

Scopes
Once you’ve got your rifle, you’re going to need a scope. For any type of hunting work, I honestly believe in the use of a decent set of optics. Telescopic sights comes in all sizes; but for hunting, I’d advise something in the range of a 3-9 magnification setting. This gives you the best compromise and versatility in that you can use the lower magnifications in dull light conditions, as this allows more light to reach your shooting eye, or due to the wider field of view the lower end gives you, you can check out the ground ahead for possible prey. Once you’ve located your quarry, then it’s only a matter of moments to zoom up to a useful 9x magnification which makes the actual taking of the shot so much easier.

Pellets
Pellets are also a top priority. It’s no good just shoving in any bit of old lead. Quality ammo is essential. After all, at the end of the day you want the best accuracy you can get. Essentially, although there’s plenty of specialist ammo around, you simply cannot beat a standard dome-head type pellet for both accuracy, and efficiency, in the field. Again, pellets are a separate article on their own – the basic rule though is buy a well-known brand that’s got a good reputation.

The right gear
And finally, your clothing. I honestly believe that wearing the right gear helps my hunting. Whether I’m stalking, using a hide or practising, I always wear my cammo. The reason is that I get used to moving and shooting in one set of clothes. The idea behind wearing cammo, as opposed to your jeans and T-shirt, is to break-up your outline so your general shape cannot be seen by the rabbits. All you’ve got to do then, theoretically of course, is to move really slowly until you’re within range of them. On paper this sounds so easy, but in practice one little mistake in your approach and you’ve lost the shot. To be honest, because of the closer ranges you’re working at, I’d rather stalk a deer than a rabbit. And, if you are a deerstalker, then practising on rabbits will certainly hone-up your stalking skills.