Eliminating pest species is a worthy goal and doing so with minimum impact to other species is commendable. It happens that hunting is more challenging and therefore more entertaining than poison and traps and also has the benefit of being more selective/less likely to impact other animals in the area.
If the species is legal to hunt and is legitimately considered a pest species then I see no conflict of ethics in hunting them simply because the hunter finds it entertaining.
Shooting animals indiscriminately is an entirely different story.
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Rabbits are considered a game animal.
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In some areas and countries. In others, they are considered to be a pest species. The OP is from New Zealand and I believe rabbits are virtually a plague in NZ.