Who here hunts rabbits with traditional rifles/shotguns and what do you use in terms of caliber/gauge and loads? I still don't have a muzzle loader despite working with them regularly and my strong interest in them. Finances keep putting it off. Every time I get enough set aside I end up needing to re-purpose it for something for the house, my son, my wife, or one of our cars. I definitely will get around to it at some point either a mostly finished kit or perhaps pick up something used. Regardless, I'd probably only use one for hunting small game and target shooting once I finely get one in my hands. Here's hoping for a good bonus this year or some extra overtime coming up.
I haven't hunted rabbits since I was a teenager, but now that we live out in the country again I am considering doing so again. I've always liked the way they cook up, but nowadays I also like watching them around the yard and out in the pasture. Therefore, I'm torn about whether to hunt them. One of dogs broke one's back this weekend, but got chased off by my wife before they finished the deed. She didn't know at the time that they had critically injured it already. When I came home I shot it with a target load of 7 1/2 steel shot from a few yards away to put the poor thing out of its misery; it basically took the head clean off but left the rest in fairly good shape. I figured the meat was not going to be any good since the animal had been injured for quiet awhile, so I just disposed of him. I should have still saved the meat and fed it to my Blue Tongue Skinks if I had thought of it at the time. I'm sure they would have enjoyed it.