Awesome! Congrats to your boy! Cottontails were my first game animal too and I have a nice scar as a memory. The man who introduced me to hunting had a custom made over under .308/12 gauge. Good combo for deer hunting in the swamps of FL. Use the .308 if they are way out there…. Use buckshot if they are close in the thick stuff. Well, the deer hunting did not go as planned, but on the hike in, a cottontail jumped out in front of us. I thought the 12 gauge would be perfect, not knowing what a 3.5” buckshot round would do to a rabbit at 20 yards. Well… while I was sighting down the barrel to use the shotgun, the scope for the rifle bit me in the eyebrow with a full 3.5” load behind it…. Don’t think I’ve ever bled so much in my life. Good memories haha… still remember trying to cook that rabbit hamburger.