Old pastures, new tactics... (Or revenge on the £200 bunny!)

[secretagentmole 1,701]

I decided to renew an old acquaintance and see if my first permission I ever got was still open to me. I had invited another shooter to shoot there and was under the impression he was, he was not I found out after speaking to the permission holder. So I got an invitation back and resolved to get revenge on this permission. It is virtually impossible to stalk in daytime (no cover) and at night one side is illuminated by an industrial estate and massive road junction, so you present a silhouette! Not easy.

 

I decided to take it lying down. I put the sleeping mat in amongst the shooting gear and took some tent pegs with me. Now I am zeroed to 30 metres, so I positioned myself 15 metres from the bottom of the field and 25 metres from the hedge that ran along the side. That meant that I was at the corner, I could cover every point in a sweep 30 metres down the side and about 25 metres across the bottom.

 

Before I did this the permission owner was cleaning out the horses, which meant I earned extra bonus points by helping her. I chatted to her to find out if my suspicions were correct and was ambushed by one of her horses. Lovely creature, soft as wet tissue. Head on shoulder wanting attention, nudging you, looking for attention, trying to stuff nose into pockets looking for sweets, to top it of it swung its thigh into my shoulder, apparently this mean he wanted just above his tail scratching, just like my Labrador does! Oh well!

 

She had a new horse given to her (rescued trotting horse). She was unsure as to how he would react when I fired the gun. She just wanted to be around when I fired a shot, so I went down to my firing position and dry fired the BSA. Not a muscle flinched, sound as a pound, so I wandered back up and let her know. She asked me when I was going to fire. I told her I had, she asked me if I was sure, I told her I was. "Oh well," she said, "He does not seem to mind it..."

 

I waited, blew up some worms, waited, shot some worms, waited, used a banana bomb and a super sheep! Still no rabbits, the sun slipped lazily below the horizon and all the lights came on. I rearranged myself, got comfortable and played some Monopoly. Waited some more, it was now dark so I scanned the periphery and there was the massive flash as the IR bounce off the eye of a rabbit. I could tell this one was on the rubbish pile, Halfway up, zoomed in, got it nice and composed, thwack, the bunny fell! My first decent sized rabbit from that permission. I waited for a while and scanned, but nothing was showing so I went and picked up my kill.

 

Stupid mistake, as I made my way to the pile I could hear the crash of rabbits piling into the undergrowth. I got frustrated, forgot where I was and went back to the gun and tried to stalk, more crashes. In the end I gave up and packed the gear away. So now I have shot two £200 bunnies (not 1 £400 bunny). Not a bad size, 2 and a quarter pounds ready for filleting for Jambalaya!

 

Edited November 17, 2012 by secretagentmole

[Grayling 56]

Enjoyed that write up , thanks for posting it. Nice to see I'm not the only one with frustrating permissions. But ain't it all the sweeter when you do hear that THWACK of the round hitting bunny .

[nangell 50]

nice shooting ,like the s10 with the night vision setup ,nv setup seems a popular choice

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Just the NS50, not the fancy NS200 (I don't need to see 200 metres with a sub 12). It works well!

[Grayling 56]

Just the NS50, not the fancy NS200 (I don't need to see 200 metres with a sub 12). It works well!

 

Got a Pulsar Challenger at the mo, good piece of kit, but I want one of those NS50's as soon as funds allow. Just wondering do you aim it from the hip or something, bearing in mind where the VDU is situated you cannot aim it from the shoulder surely........Or do you.

[secretagentmole 1,701]

I was shooting prone at that point, so it was no problem, if I am stalking I side mount it, that way the head position is more natural!

[Robbie uk 24]

Super gun !!! Well done Moley !!

[secretagentmole 1,701]

The rabbit will be converted into Jambalaya for tonight's (ie Sundays) dinner! Will let you know the results.

[davyt63 1,845]

nice one mike,worth the wait well done

[j j m 6,633]

good shooting bud

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Rabbit Jambalaya is nice, very nice, very very nice!

[Phantom 631]

The rabbit will be converted into Jambalaya for tonight's (ie Sundays) dinner! Will let you know the results.

 

Nice one Mike,

 

Cant beat a bit of Cajun.

 

I shot my first Woodcock and my first Hare yesterday. In the states a Hare is called a "Jack Rabbit" and part of it is going into a Jambalaya too

 

Tony