My first attempt at the Corvids

[Phantom 631]

Hey guy's,

 

Weather was good yesterday so in the afternoon I grabbed my gear and went off for a spot of Maggie mugging and Crow capping

 

I got to the paddock and luckily I had taken my portable pellet catcher and zero cards because I had left my tin of AA Fields at home

 

I had some Milborough Caledonion pellets in a tic-tac box (they aint any good for shooting quarry but they make an effective maggie rattle ) and I remembered I had a couple of hundred FX pellets in a pouch in the front of the bag from my last foray with the beast PHEW!!

 

Set up my zero card and catcher, got my baby to spit out 5 of these FX pellets, 2 clicks right and 1 click up of the scope turrets and she was putting them damn near pellet on pellet in the bull

 

Had a quick wander around my shooting area and found more proof that I am not the only predator on there!

 

This is new

 

 

That'll be the Hawk that I've seen yes?

 

Anyways I set up my little hide under the trees near the fence where I was to be sniping from.

 

 

Set up my deeks with 2 full eggs and one broken one

 

 

I then got under my hide and rattled the pellets in the tic-tac box and waited.

Within a few minutes a Magpie appeared, YES I thought this is looking good. It flew around and came to rest in a tree just outside the paddock where it stayed flicking its tail up and down making its calling sounds.

Patience was in order, sooner or later it's not going to refuse that nice yellow yolk me thinks.

The fecking thing stayed in the tree for a further 10 mins when it was joined by another, BRING IT ON I'm thinking getting excited. Another flew over and around the paddock then flew off in the direction of the main road, where it was followed by the two in the tree

 

As it got dark, I collected my gear in and turned my attention to the cotton tails that were all over the place.

 

As there is no real cover it was very hard work getting close enough to these buggers and a frost had started to make the vegetation under foot very crisp, I dont know what the temp was, but I had two sets of gloves on and my fingers were getting painful but I was determined I was not going home empty handed and after further stalking around the perimeter for another 40 minutes I say a reasonable full grown buck hop out of a warren about 20 feet from the fence. I dropped behind the 'Fire Pit' cage and swept the scene with my ultrafire on the front of the gun. The beam had dropped considerably as these rechargeable batteries really don't seem to like the cold at all

 

I skullked ninja style towards this buck and got within range, he didn't seem to mind the dim light and I knealt down, took aim, got my shivering and breathing under control and took up the 1st stage.

A final check of the crosshair placement and I let the second stage click, a phutt from the muzzle and a loud CRACK as the pellet impacted the head of the buck. He jumped forward and gave it legs back towards the warren entrance He almost made it too :hmm:upon examination the pellet had dropped slightly low and had only just clipped the brain. Again if this had not been a .22 transfering all that shock the bunny would have made it away wounded (but having said that if it had been a .177 it would not have dropped so far and would have decimated the brain )

 

Anyhow by the time I walked over to him, Mr Buck was flat on his side dead as the proverbial Dodo

 

Decided that I had my prize for the night and went home for my tea.

 

 

After I had warmed up again I placed him on his back ready to clean, when I noticed he had a large lump on his chest.

 

I had a feeling I knew what I was about to find so I skinned him rather than open him up to gut.

 

Sure enough, another Tapeworm cyste. Not suitable for the table I put him in a bag to use as corvid bait and put the pelt in the freezer (going to preserve the fur)

 

Phantom

Edited December 5, 2009 by Phantom

[zini 1,939]

Hi Tony,

 

You are starting to get all tactical mate I like the Phantom Hide

 

Nice write up fella as always.

 

Si

[Phantom 631]

Thanks Si,

 

I like to snipe from an ambush; especially when there is no cover around. I cleared a warren in the cemetery doing it from ambush only to discover that it had been repopulated only a week later

 

The only thing I don't like about that position is that I was litterally 10 feet from a major road and 4 feet of that is taken up by a padestrian foot path. Luckily there is a small embankment behind me so I am hidden from view of the passers-by, even more so with the hide

 

Phantom

[bedrock 16]

Well done Tony good effort there mate. Its a shame about the bunny.

By using a Larson trap and decoying I learnt that magpie decoys or call birds will attract crows and magpies were as crow decoys or call birds intimidate magpies and are less likely to bring them in although they will still work for crows. Good luck for next time atb John

 

Ps so maybe Mr magpie was too scared of his big black cousin to come in any closer

[Sweeney-Todd 208]

Hi Tony.

 

Great post and pictures mate

 

You deserve a Magpie for the sheer effort you put in!

Next time me dear.......next time

[BEARINATOR 2,825]

Good shooting and write up mate

[sibaldib 6]

Nice write up Phantom.

 

Is that a poncho you were using as a hide?

 

Cheers

 

Sib

[black lab 3]

Nice write up Phantom.

 

Is that a poncho you were using as a hide?

 

Cheers

 

Sib

Good write up enjoyed, did not fancy that blister on rabbit! imagine that grown on the end of your nose LOL.

[stealthy1 3,964]

Good going Phantom, if you paunch your rabbits in the same place every time, you may find the Magpies start to watch for you, and associate you with a feed

[Phantom 631]

Good going Phantom, if you paunch your rabbits in the same place every time, you may find the Magpies start to watch for you, and associate you with a feed

 

Hey there Stealthy,

The wife would have my nuts in a vice or slit my throat if I started shooting Maggies in the house

 

I suppose I should start doing them in the field as she dont like walking into the sight of me cleaning bunnies

I was actually doing them in the cemy at one point til it started to get dark, I like to be able to check the liver and other organs for signs of illness and if they are all okay, they go for the pot (again much to my wife's disaproval )

 

Sibaldib:

Yeah its a poncho, purchased it for a few quid at a local surplus store for a few quid. Been worth its weight in gold to me since I have had it. I often use it in the cemetery to lay on and a couple of short sticks to hold the front up when sniping at the big warren, that way the bunnies come out, cant see me looking through the scope and as soon as they turn their head left or right, they get a 16 grain head ache

 

Black Lab:

You should have seen the one I got on a bunny from my cemetery permission! Twice the size of that one.

I always carry latex gloves with me now after the marbled liver from the bunny from Roos (luckily he had some that day).

The cyste I wouldn't want growing on my nose thats for sure, and I deffinately wouldn't want to let the fluid or the eggs it contains touching my bare skin. Apparently the TapeWorm is extremely easy to catch and they can take years before you know they are in you. Saw a program on the telly last week called "I caught it abroad" a woman had picked up a Tapeworm egg 10 years earlier, she had no idea until she began having fit like seizeurs, when they scanned her head, she had one of these creatures growing in her brain!

 

To everyone else for your kind comments.

 

Phantom

[jackinbox99 41]

a woman had picked up a Tapeworm egg 10 years earlier, she had no idea until she began having fit like seizeurs, when they scanned her head, she had one of these creatures growing in her brain!

 

omg!!!!!!!!!!!! yuck yuck yuck!!!!!!

[hughes_jh 0]

Phantom, you write the best write-ups!

 

Cracking post, the only problem with reading these is that it makes me want to get out shooting right now!

[davyt63 1,840]

Phantom, you write the best write-ups!

 

Cracking post, the only problem with reading these is that it makes me want to get out shooting right now!

 

 

john you need to make your mind up!!

[davyt63 1,840]

nice write up tony

"not as good as mine though!" lol

me tinks thats your second tape worm isnt it?

how long did you leave it? before you skinned it, as it looks like the meat had turned quick

well done buddy

regards

 

davy

[Phantom 631]

nice write up tony

"not as good as mine though!" lol

me tinks thats your second tape worm isnt it?

how long did you leave it? before you skinned it, as it looks like the meat had turned quick

well done buddy

regards

 

davy

 

Thanks guy's, sulk over

 

Yeah, your right there Davy, 2nd bunny with em in as many months

 

I had it skinned within and hour and a half of it getting the lead head ache.

Think its looking a bit of a funny colour in the pic as I had to run it through an image editing program so that the detail of the eggs in the cyste could be seen (was a little washed out in the original pic) but it darkened the rest of it a bit.

 

Cheers again fella's

 

Phantom