Hitting rabbits?

[Shawn Leonard]

The heart and lungs are located way forward on bunnies almost up near the throat behind the shoulder in the body cavity. A shot behind the shoulders, is a gut shot all day! Shawn

[elknutz]

Yep, head shot or a miss is my preference.  I hate hearing them scream.

[willob]

I think it is best to shoot a sitting rabbit with a blunt, hexhead or game nabber.  A running rabbit is a little different.  You may not get the same penetration. At the same time a field point may not do enough damage and may fall out and let the rabbit escape to cover or a hole.  Saw that happen just yesterday to a buddy of mine.

[dnovo]

I have always used some type of blunt for rabbits,38 shells,rubber blunts, now hex heads. All worked well. I never found a cottontail particularly hard to kill, at least not like a squirrel. The only ones I ever shot with a broadhead were in Texas and the arrow zipped through and rabbit got away. All the Jackrabbits I have killed were with a blunt and were one shot kills, dead on the spot.

[Shawn Leonard]

I have never seen a rubber blunt kill one of our  northeastern rabbits, not saying it won't but I have seen them hit with themand they run off. We kill a lot of them and they die hard just ask the 100 people  at my bunny hunt last year. I have seen where guys in Texas and places shoot 50 or more in a day, that is just that shooting, not hunting. Here we we hunt ya work hard for 99% of the one we get chances at. Most anything will kill a bunny when hit right but what is the most effective here is something that won't get hung up on brush and grass and whatever else there may be on the way to the bunny. Shawn

[Don Stokes]

Our little Southeastern cottontails kill easily. My favorite medicine is a judo point. It will blow right through them, and the spring wires do a lot of damage, killing quickly.

[LBR]

I don't live far from Don and have had just the opposite experience--I refuse to hunt rabbits with a Judo anymore.  My preferance is a broadhead--sharp or dull, cottontails or swampers.  

Any shot tight behind the shoulder and up (shoulder, neck, head) has always been DRT (Dead Right There) for me, with a broadhead at least.  

Quickest kill I ever saw on a rabbit was a tight behind the shoulder shot--took out the lungs and heart, rabbit literally fell in it's tracks (it was sitting still at the shot).

They can be tough buggers, but lots of fun to hunt.  Using a shotgun or a .22 doesn't mean you won't loose one here and there.

[chad graham]

i was wondering if flu flu arrows with judo points from a 46lb. bow or would i be better off using an arrow with normal feathers and a judo to get the job done any thoughts?

[LBR]

I had too many rabbits duck a flu-flu.  If I used a judo, I'd only attempt head shots.

Chad

[Stone Knife]

Judo points hang up on the brush too much, steel blunts or hex heads are the way to go.

   

[yononindo]

My favorite homemade small game arrows.

Beman MFX Classic 500, brass Insert, footed with 2018, 4 point Skipper Stopper and a drive - in nut.

I do not shoot them on the run, I go for head shots with this arrows - kill or miss!
 
 
 
 
Enjoy your bunny hunts!
Daniel

[Stone Knife]

Steel blunts work on possums also, if you hit them right

   

[Don Stokes]

Chad, you must be getting Alabama imports over there! Of course, I only shoot the tender young ones.       One of the longest shots I've made on an animal was a garden-raiding cottontail at about 55 yards. My judo clipped him across the throat and he only made one jump. My brother was with me, and he said he was impressed with the shot until he saw the astonished look on my face.

Those big ol' canecutter swamp rabbits can be mighty tough, though.

[StanM]

Stone Knife, I prefer head shots on opossum as well