Guest hyperion Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 so much for staying up the farm all day! it rained and rained and rained! i started the day with a quick twenty five yard zero check and after a couple of hours stalking about the woodland edge in the hopes of a soggy squirrel i headed up to the farm yard to try my luck there and maybe find some where to get out of the rain for a little while! as i made my way up the track leading to the farm yard i spotted a lone crow in a field of cut silage, he didnt seem at all bothered by me walking up the track and using the bales of silage i got to within thirty five yards of him, resting the rifle on the fence i put the cross hairs just above his head and squeezed the trigger, then watched as my pellet skimmed the feathers on the top of his head, i even saw the fine spray of water and the pellet just touched him and of he flew a very lucky crow indeed, two mil lower and he would have been an ex crow! i made my way into the yard and stuck my head over the gate to one of the calf pens to see two rats sitting up on their hind quarters like book ends under a water trough on the wall, WHAP the pellet took the one on the right clean through the throat and his mate dived for cover as the one id shot thrashed around on the pen floor! my first kill in i dont know how long but its months id say! moving round to check on the feed bins i caught a large rat out in the open stuffing his face with soggy feed pellets, i lined up the crosshairs on the base of his skull but he must have seen the movement as i mounted the gun and just as i slipped the trigger he turned towards me and the pellet took him just behind the shoulder, he jumped about a foot into the air and shot into the weeds around the old oil tank but i knew he was down when i saw the nettles shaking as he kicked out his last breath! just then i saw another rat drop out of the feed shoot and make off across one of the legs of the feed bin and drop down behind a sheet of ply leaning against the back of the bin, i heard him slide down the ply and quickly lined up on the end of the eight by four sheet, he stuck his head out and a moment later my pellet knocked him back out of sight with a loud WHOP! i reloaded and sure enough a few seconds later i heard his tail beating against the ply sheet as rat number three expired! after checking the rest of the yard i made several attempts to stalk the crows, rooks ect feeding on the silage clamps but there were just too many eyes on the look out and as my old hide had collapsed under the onslaught of the brittish summer i decided to try my luck in the strip of trees that runs alone the back of the yard behind the silage clamps! getting into one of my favorite little hidy holes under a big oak and over looking another i had a quick smoke and settled down to wait but nothing was showing up, the crows knew i was there and didnt want to come into the sitty tree and the pigeons simply wernt there at all so after and hour i headed back to the yard! i mooched round the yard until i came back to the feed bins and had almost a double take of the two rats id had earlier, the one out in the open dropped where he stood and as i reloaded another from behind the sheet of ply took a pellet full in the face, he twitched, flipped over a few times and then lay still! with six rats seen and five shot dead i was feeling pretty good, even if at this point i was soaking wet with either sweat or rain or both as the day was still very warm even with the downpour, and i could hardly see a thing through the scope the lenses had that much water on them! i wandered over to the old hay barn to clean my scope, regroup and take some shots of the fallen rats! after a while the rain eased off and i made my way back to the trees around the back of the yard, this time making my way down through the milking yard, managing to stay out of sight of the crows untill i was almost at the tree line but with twenty yards to go id run out of cover and the crows on the new pig pen saw me and lifted but those on the silage clamp still didnt know i was there and in the confusion i made it into the trees mostly unseen! soon enough i had a crow in my sights and even though i couldnt see his head for the thick leaves he was less than fifteen yards away, i lined up on his chest and CRACK the pellet hit a twig id not seen! i reloaded but they all knew i was here now and pretty soon the place was quiet as the crows flew off to safer feeding grounds over the road, i leant the phoenix in the crook of a low elder tree and set about bend a branch here and cutting twigs there so that i might have a better view of the pig pen thinking that a hide here might make for some good shooting later in the week! i was still faffing about with making a hide when i heard i pigeon land in the trees above me, i grabbed the gun and scanned the foliage above my head and there he was hopping from one branch to another ten yards away and totally unaware of his impending appointment with one of my logun pellets! as soon as he sat still i put the cross hairs on the base of his head and this time checked for twigs by looking down the side of the barrel, nothing in the way so my finger tightend on the trigger and THWOK, down he tumbled to land with a thump on the track! by now i reckon id had the best of the day and headed home for a hot shower and a fry! cheers hyperion Quote Link to post
bedrock 16 Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 Nice shooting mate and a good read. Iv never shot the phoenix looks like you get on with it. atb bedrock Quote Link to post
stealthy1 3,964 Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 Sound like you had an enjoyable day Hyperion, I also narrowly missed a wood pigeon through catching a twig last night, slightly anoying or what Quote Link to post
aaronpigeonplucker 32 Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 nice shooting! the pheonix looks great, what is the shot count on it? Quote Link to post
hughes_jh 0 Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 nice shooting, nice story too. Liked the bit about the crow getting grazed with a pellet! Quote Link to post
billbroon 9 Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 Good going mate good reading. Ive never shot a rat before maybe have to give it a try atb billy Quote Link to post
ferretville 69 Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 Good write up and pics ! atb FV Quote Link to post
Guest hyperion Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 nice shooting! the pheonix looks great, what is the shot count on it? its a ten shot mag though im down to eight at the mo as im having a bit of a problem with the magazine not indexing on ten and nine! cheers hyperion Quote Link to post
davyt63 1,842 Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 nice read!! that pete,and some good ratting there buddy keep at em happy hunting davy Quote Link to post
Guest hyperion Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 nice read!! that pete,and some good ratting there buddy keep at em happy hunting davy cheers davy! Quote Link to post
Guest Countryboyo Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Nice bit of pest control lad. good write up! atb CB Quote Link to post
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