andyfr1968 772 Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 (edited) Hi, folks. Can we get a chicken?? Pardon?? That was the first request of the day which for a couple of blokes with aiguns is an odd one. So off we went to Asda for Mrs Simon (Jo) so she could cook Sunday dinner. As it turned out, Asda was chickenless so Simon gave Jo her money back and we went shooting When we first arrived at Simon's shoot, the weather wasn't looking too good, a bit breezy with the odd spot of rain in the air. First order of the day was a zero check and to make sure my 90 and it's Walther scope were indeed nothing to do with the problems I'd had last time out. I'd given up on the Dynamics after the duff batch of ammo and brought along some .20 Baracudas that I know the 90 shoots very well with. After the first twenty or so shots to get the barrel ledded in (the Dynamics are made from tin...) the groups tightened up very nicely and after a while we were back to ragged one hole groups at 30 yards. I was very relieved about this because even though we'd already established a bad batch of pellets, there was a real niggle in my mind that something else was wrong as the Dynamics have been so good in the past.... We then set off into the wood to set up in a couple of ambush points, Simon sellected his spot overlooking a warren on the edge of the wood, I went a little further along and found a nice spot near a likely looking sitty tree with the ground below having plenty of signs of bunnies. The weather by this point had really improved, it was a beautiful day by now. I waited for about an hour and nothing showed so I set off for a little explore.... I'm glad I did 'cos I'd only got up and moved about another ten yards into the wood when I spotted a squirrel sitting on a birds nest, the egg robbing little bugger!! I couldn't get a clear head shot so I placed the crosshair just behind his shoulder and sent the Baracuda on it's way. Bingo!! He dropped on the spot without a twitch but out of reach still on the nest. Result!! I carried on and came across a beautiful looking paddock with bunnies running about, I really thought I'd landed on my feet here, so I climbed over a stile to have a mooch. The rabbits were very skittish and vanished pronto!! Never mind, I set up an ambush point under a tree about 30 yards from a warren. For a while there was a couple of shrews that kept darting in and out from under a tree root, I kept on trying to catch them with the camera but they were far too quick for me Lovely to watch though.... I'd not been there long when some lads and a young lass turned up at the stile I'd climbed over with a couple of lurchers and some ferrets. I thought I'd better go over for a chat They said they knew the land owner and seemed right enough so we had a chat for a while and they asked if I'd like to join them, I politely declined and thought I'd better go and tell Simon the score. He knew nothing about them so that's something he'll have to square up with Ian the farmer about..... ( and Simon, sorry for makeing you jump!!!! ) We then set off back to the two spots we'd used when we'd been before. Once again I settled down overlooking the wooded valley with more warrens on the slope above me. I'd been there for about half an hour when a pair of Fallow deers came running full tilt through the wood just below me with a fecking small lurcher hot on their tails. I could hear a bloke calling for a dog from the footpath at the bottom of the valley so I don't think he was poaching but if the twat can't control his dog, it should be on a fecking lead The light had pretty much gone soon after that, so I packed up and met Simon by the edge of the field we use to set up... Back then to Simon's where Jo had eventually been successful with her chicken hunt and very nice it was too, thanks, Jo Once again, big thanks to Simon for an interesting day out and thanks to Jo for some lovely grub. Cheers. PS, I've got pics if some kind soul could do the honours for me...??? Edited March 16, 2011 by andyfr1968 4 Quote Link to post
hunter1989 91 Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 send me pics buddy steven_graham@live.co.uk atb steve 1 Quote Link to post
andyfr1968 772 Posted March 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Nicely done, Steve, I'll pull them off the camera now and send them to you. Cheers Quote Link to post
hunter1989 91 Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 hi lads great read up looks like a good day had by both spa for read here there pics of there day out atb steve 3 Quote Link to post
andyfr1968 772 Posted March 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Thanks, Steve The first pic shows my first vantage point overlooking the sitty trees. The ground below them is littered with bird and rabbit droppings, so it' does look like a good spot. Second pic shows Simon strikeing a pose with his 77 before he got settled down to wait. Third shows the padock and the fourth is the spot I chose overlooking a warren while the fifth is the tree root where the shrews kept on popping out from. I tried for ages to get them on the camera but failed badly!! The sixth is the view down the valley towards the river. This was directly behind where I was sitting. A beautiful place indeed The seventh is the edge of the wood and you can see the fence that boarders the quarry, it's about 60 feet straight down just to the left and the last is me dicking about with the camera trying to take a cool pic of the moon.... Cheers Quote Link to post
Karpman 44 Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Nice wright up pal, Sounds great there for sure! Liking lurchers my self I cannot be to harsh against the dog, Mine can be a complete T*at at times too Look forward to more chaps! Karpman Quote Link to post
andyfr1968 772 Posted March 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Nice wright up pal, Sounds great there for sure! Liking lurchers my self I cannot be to harsh against the dog, Mine can be a complete T*at at times too Look forward to more chaps! Karpman I really do know what you mean about lurchers, mate, they can be rather.... erm.... willful Thinking about it I maybe was a bit harsh refering to the bloke as a 'twat'. I kind of feel a bit sorry for him in a way, I could hear him calling for his dog for ages before I saw it and TBH I think if the deer had turned on it, they'd have had it good and proper, it really was a scrawny looking dog!! Thanks for the comment. Cheers Quote Link to post
Karpman 44 Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Nice wright up pal, Sounds great there for sure! Liking lurchers my self I cannot be to harsh against the dog, Mine can be a complete T*at at times too Look forward to more chaps! Karpman I really do know what you mean about lurchers, mate, they can be rather.... erm.... willful Thinking about it I maybe was a bit harsh refering to the bloke as a 'twat'. I kind of feel a bit sorry for him in a way, I could hear him calling for his dog for ages before I saw it and TBH I think if the deer had turned on it, they'd have had it good and proper, it really was a scrawny looking dog!! Thanks for the comment. Cheers Hehe ya bet the dear would of gave it a right good shoeing, Dam frustrating losing your dog sometimes and bloody dangerous but do'es happen to the best of us from time to time. Always enjoy the reads from you fellas Spa indeed. Karpman Quote Link to post
rossi_j 99 Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Good write up, some cracking photography also Altho the lurcher owner wasnt to happy, im sure the dog new exactly what it was doing :laugh: another Great yorkshire outing I love yorkshire, I have family in huddersfield, plenty of moors And good tea, ahhh yorkshire tea . . . . .atb. .ste. Quote Link to post
redeye jedi 39 Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Good post there mate good photos too. glad to hear your back on terms with your gun and pellets again. Good dog , he's only doing what he was bred for. accidents happen and probably got a clip round the ear from the owner when he finally got it back. ATB Dom Quote Link to post
andyfr1968 772 Posted March 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Good write up, some cracking photography also Altho the lurcher owner wasnt to happy, im sure the dog new exactly what it was doing :laugh: another Great yorkshire outing I love yorkshire, I have family in huddersfield, plenty of moors And good tea, ahhh yorkshire tea . . . . .atb. .ste. Yeah, it's not a bad part of the world. If you find yourself over this way give me a shout, I'm sure we can get out one way or another Cheers. Quote Link to post
andyfr1968 772 Posted March 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Good post there mate good photos too. glad to hear your back on terms with your gun and pellets again. Good dog , he's only doing what he was bred for. accidents happen and probably got a clip round the ear from the owner when he finally got it back. ATB Dom Thanks, Dom. The more I think about it, the more I feel sorry for the guy with the dog. I've never owned a dog myself but I grew up with friends lurchers and terriers and I know what they can be like when they've a mind to Yup, I'm very happy it was nothing more than a bad batch of ammo, after the luck I seem to be having of late I was convinced it couldn't be that simple. I'll stick to the Baracudas with the 90 from now on, they really do fly well in .20. Cheers Quote Link to post
pianoman 3,589 Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 (edited) Cheers for the write up Andy . You up for this weekend? Thanks for getting these pics posted for us Steve The first pic showing the trees and grassy, ferny slopes near the top edge to the field is a terrific rabbit spot when the barley crops are ripe. I'm surprised you didn't get a few bagged here mate. We should be seeing more than we have done lately. I'm going to have a snipe from the paddock. And I need to know where these guys you came upon set up their nets, ferrets and dogs. No point staking out a cleaned-out warren. I had a run over on Monday and saw Ian. He says he gave NO permission to anyone with dogs, ferrets and nets to come on. They seem reasonable sorts from what you say here. What to do? Ian was busy with seeding the field with barley during Monday afternoon. In the evening I bagged a rabbit from the heavy, twin-trunked tree in the paddock out to ..well, Andy I'll show you when you're over again. A cracking shot if I say so myself! I've always had a soft spot for the paddock. It's sometimes used as a holding pen for livestock and the banked sides to the right of these views is always thick with rabbits. I shot my very first rabbit here with my little Webley .22 when I was 8 years old, and my dad had his .22 rimfire for the long range rabbits at the top of the field. It popped out of the woods about 20 yards I think in front of my hidey-spot down near the bottom corner left, where the ground is sloping downward to left; and Dad gave me the wink to have a shot at it. A 20 yard headshot rabbit with open sights...not bad for a little lad of 8, I'd say! And every sporting air rifle, rimfire, centrefire and shotgun I've had since that little Webley springer, I've brought to this spot here and bagged rabbits, woodpidgeon, hare, foxes and God knows how many game birds with them. If I had a quid for every rabbit I've shot with an air rifle alone, from the paddock, from the trees or the fenceline, it would run to tens of thousands over the last 42 years I've shot here. It will get very lively around this part of the land as the crop grows and ripens. There is another three large fields to watch and hunt over after this one too. The photo showing the setting sunglow at the quarry edge wonky fencing and the strip of land to the hedgerow is all that's left of a once beautiful meadow that ran with hundreds of rabbits in a summer. Horses were kept here and the field was grass pasture. You could get laid up at the side of the hedges to the right of the pic as the winds often blow facing you this way, and just quietly work your way along from ambush points along the hedgerows for a few hundred yards. It's a quite sad place for me now. I've had some of the greatest sport and happiest memories of shooting alone or with my dad, along with Ian's father and grandfather at this meadow site. We would frequently have bags of over a hundred and fifty togther here. Shooting on your tod, you could reasonably expect thirty to sixty depending on how you worked it. The land was sold to the quarry company about 6-8 years ago and this is all that remains of a bloody amazing rabbit field. There are still plenty of warrens on the slopes into the woods on the right of the pic but, as you can see, there is a lot of overgrown thorny shit grown through but for a few yards next to the hedges and makes a comfy sniping spot very tough to find. I shot a rabbit from 42 metres a couple of weeks ago downslope on the woodland side that Andy's unseen presence had flushed, but, this is the only one I've seen here, at this site, so far this year. There is quite a bit of Fallow deer around these woods and fields. It's lovely to see them you are well hidden and they come close by. Thank you gentlemen for your kind responses to our forays on this beautiful bit of West Yorkshire. Simon Edited March 17, 2011 by pianoman Quote Link to post
davyt63 1,845 Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 hi lads another great write ups and days shooting,plus pics.well done lads! good result on the chicken hunt too! 4th pic down,loads of young shoots coming up there! defo bunny breakfast,have you seen any here? simon may be the reason you were not seeing as many? in a certain area,because i think it may be poachers! would defo challenge the trespassers next time and ask them to leave politely i also have been offered some work in York! is this any where near you guys? if i take it, i will bring up my kit. well done lads nice read and shooting, pics! regards Davy Quote Link to post
pianoman 3,589 Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Hi Davy. Thanks mate. Depending where exactly you would be based, York city centre is about 30-35 miles north east of here by the A1 and A63; about an hour's steady run. Bring your rifle kit up with you mate and you can joins us. My permission lies just off the A1 so, no problems for a lad with a vehicle! Poachers. Alas you could well be right. I doubt we have fewer rabbits born here than anywhere else by natural process and the signs of rabbit activity would suggest there are hundreds along the land. I'm no expert on hunting dogs and ferreting but, I understand that a couple of fellas with nets and ferrets, permission or not, can bag huge numbers in a session, no problem. These lads will have to spoken to and turned off. Hope the work front turns out well for you, whatever you choose Davy. All the best mate. Simon Quote Link to post
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