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Rabbit Guns: One Man's Journey, Toy to Tradition

by Jason Schmuck :: Featured: July, 2003

Through my years of chasing rabbits in Wisconsin, I have had the opportunity to take rabbits with many different guns, some good, bad and just plain ugly. As we know, rabbits are a relatively easy animal to kill so one has a wide range of guns to choose from when hunting rabbits. To many of us it does make a difference what gun we hunt with; we all want a gun the fits us, shoots well and is a please to carry. In this article, I will share some of my favorite rabbit guns and hopefully trigger a few memories of your favorite hunting arms.

The first gun I ever hunted rabbits with was an old Daisy Powerline 880 that could handle both BB’s and .177 cal. pellets. I started hunting rabbits by tromping around the edge of local farm fields just before dust staring deep into brush piles and berry briars. This light, deadly air gun harvested hundreds of rabbits and squirrels by the time I was 16. Hunting with a pellet rifle taught me to move slowly and have patience.

When I started driving, I had the ability to range our farther and hunt more territory. I gave up my trust air gun for my semi-automatic Remington 12ga. 11-87. I loved how fast I could shoot, that I could hold more than five rounds and that I did not have to be as precise as before. Although cleaning rabbits that were shot with this gun were more difficult, (due to too many pellets) I thought the sacrifice was worth it. This gun was great for deer, ducks, and turkeys but for rabbits, it was too much firepower.

When I turned 18, I bought my first gun, a .22cal Marlin 60w, from my local Wal-Mart. For a time I got back into the slow, stalking style of hunting that I had used in my youth but found this gun to be a little too limiting when stomping brush piles and it had a little too much range when hunting in flat land with farmhouses in the distance. I hunted with this sweet little gun until I got my first job after college.

Several years ago I picked up one of my current rabbit guns, a semi-automatic Remington 20ga. 11-87. Many rabbits have fallen to that light, quick shooting little smoke pole. For several years, I have enjoyed the quick shooting firepower of this smooth, light recoiling bunny killer but found that rabbit hunting had lost its challenge. This little gun, while light, was slightly too long for the thickets I had started hunting so I started looking around and researching my options and come to my current rabbit gun.

While still using my 20ga. 11-87 on occasions, my current tool of the trade is an old Western Arms (Ithaca) 16ga. side by side. This old gun is a LeFever Nitro design and made in 1941 but still has it where it counts. With a wide-open improved cylinder in the right barrel and a modified choke in the left, this quick pointing gun has taken its share of rabbits (and probably many more that I know of). I have learned the benefits of more than one choke and the value of grace/tradition over sheer firepower.

No matter which stage of rabbit hunting you are in, enjoy the process of growth and the gun you are using. Someday my son or daughter will probably use my old Daisy to shoot their first game!