Rabbits, pellet pistol style

[Curly]

That table shows cottontail is classified as game animals. I don't see how they can legally be taken with air guns...

[KFhunter]

That table shows cottontail is classified as game animals. I don't see how they can legally be taken with air guns...

I been doing some looking, the native cotton tails we have are very small pigmy,  or a big cotton tail (Nuttall’s Cottontail) that likes sage brush and desert type landscape.   

Other than that it's pika's, snowshoe hare or two species of jackrabbit.  (if its white in the winter... don't use a pellet gun!)


So if there's no sage around, and they're not pygmy...then it's almost certainly a European cottontail which are invasive and non-game species.


I would be confident enough that its perfectly legal to blast them with a pellet gun at this point     

[Stein]

The chances of a purebred rabbit in a city are pretty low I would think.  Leave it to WA to even be having this discussion.  Worst case, I’ll send it off to 23 and me 😉



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[Curly]

I don't believe it matters if cotton tails are native. They are listed in the regs as a game animal and have a season, therefore they can only be shot by a licensed hunter with legal weapons. Sounds like they were released in the 1930's to be a game animal and that is what they are now even if they weren't native originally. 

[jackelope]

I think the thread got jacked, at least partially because of me, and off onto shooting feral domestic rabbits with pellet guns. The san juans and whidbey island could use some population control there.

[KFhunter]

I don't believe it matters if cotton tails are native. They are listed in the regs as a game animal and have a season, therefore they can only be shot by a licensed hunter with legal weapons. Sounds like they were released in the 1930's to be a game animal and that is what they are now even if they weren't native originally. 

You are correct,  I did an error and conflated "European cottontail" with "European rabbit"   No cottontails can be hunted with a pellet gun, they're either a game species or protected



Sorry no more pellet gun 

unless they're european rabbits

[Tracker0721]

If anyone is looking for a good pellet gun, Ruger impact max at Walmart in .22 cal. It’s accurate and kills stuff deader than dead. We were hunting in Colorado and used it to take a rabbit at 95 yards. Held high and took 7 shots to hit it (drop wasn’t as bad as we were thinking it would be) or more haha. Also killed a lot within 50 yards. I sold my Hatsan 95 vortex I like the Ruger so much.