23,000 bunnies killed, but thousands live on

The great bunny hunt in Alexandra recorded its second-highest kill but it is unlikely to have made a dent in the overall rabbit population in Central Otago.

The highest number of rabbits killed in the competion was in 1997 – 23,948.

At the weekend, for the 19th competition, 23,064 rabbits were killed.

Event organiser Dave Ramsay said one hunter returned to a block that yielded a high number of kills during the shoot, only to find rabbits still in abundance the morning after.

"We've made a good dent in numbers, and rabbits are coming into a dormant breeding season, but there's no doubt we'll have plenty again next year," Mr Ramsay said.

Although figures were still being tallied yesterday, hunters' entry fees were thought to have raised about $9000 for the Alexandra Lions Club.

The winning team, Team S.W.A.T, made up of hunters from Invercargill, Winton, Nightcaps, and a friend from New Plymouth, took a total of 2306 rabbits, one hare and five stoats.

Team leader Karl Wilton yesterday said the team was pleased with the winning effort, which had been a long time coming.

"The team has been entering the event for the past five years, and we're all rapt with the win," he said.

Mr Wilton is the only member of the original team, but had no trouble attracting new members. "We're all farmers who enjoy shooting and know that rabbits are a huge problem in the Alexandra area. So it's fun for us, but it's also good to help keep rabbit numbers down."

Most team members stayed awake for the duration of the 24-hour hunting period. The teams' success came down to drawing a heavily populated hunting block, commitment and working together, Mr Wilton said. "We realised we'd need more ammo than we thought, so got extra sent in from Alexandra on Friday, and the team worked well together with our spotlights during the night," he said.

The team won $1000 cash, and along with other top five placed teams in the competition, were automatically entered in next year's event.

"We'll definitely be back to defend the title again next year," Mr Wilton said.

grant.bryant@stl.co.nz

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