Happy christmas

I hope you have all had a good year and may I wish you all a very good Christmas and a fantastic New Year. I also want to say a big thank you to everyone who has visited the site as you all make it worth while.

Please keep coming back to the site as I have new things to post and now I have a list of shops to add to the site also. Now you will have everything you need on one site, no need to go looking for them, as all the good ones will be in the shop list. Scroll down the page and you will find the list of shops on the right, starting with Tonys Camo.

Once again Happy Christmas and a big thank you.

Richard.

a change of plan

Hi guys

Went out for a few hours the other day mainly to get some bunnies but that soon changed

Any how on arrival decided we would set up the hide and wait it out as the particular area was quite a hotspot, while setting the hide up we both noticed a flock of pigeons in the distance in a couple of tall tree’s and although these are not at the top of the priority list from the farmer I thought I would have a little change for an hour or so.

I wandered up the side of the field along the hedge row for 100yrds or so looking out for wabbits as I walked/stalked, turned towards the nearest tree with Woody’s in of about 80yrds away, I crept in and out of some thorn bushes to get into position on Mr. Pigeon. At now 25yrds off so had done really well but I was pretty much stuck in what to do next as I could not move from were I was and I could not get a shot off with all the branches over hanging in my line of site. So I just sat and pondered for a minute and watched all around me for other quarry to reveal them self’s.

I then broke cover and risked it, trying to get clear of the branches for a clean unobtrusive shot. I eased myself out of the hedge very slowly with my face pointing down even though I hade my face vial firmly in place, had moved out from the hedge a good two meters and still could not get a clean shot and now the branches were thinning out to there tips

Now in almost full view I was very skittish myself just waiting for these eight or nine pigeons to clock me, I saw a gap in the branches were maybe I could get a clean shot so I very slowly raised my S410 and sure enough I was rumbled but to my surprise it was one on the other side of the tree that clocked me and with his infamous clatter of wings sent the rest reaching for the skies. I lay in the frost ridden grass for a moment and gathered my thoughts and came to the conclusion that I was pushing my luck from the moment I left the ivy ridden tree I was using for cover.

Strike me down!!!..... as I was getting up out the corner of my eye was a bunny ,one of this years kits stood there , I grinned as I had two feet and one hand on the ground with my hand helping me up, I froze and chuckled to my self “if I go back down he will bolt, if a get fully up he will bolt” I got up as slowly as I could but he was to scared having been only 15- 20yrds away

Patted myself down and went to the edge of a field slightly further on which has been a source of a couple of rabbits. No sooner had I got into the hedge over looking the field when a giant horse came bounding over making noises from his snout and bucking quite aggressively having met the old fellow before I backed out of the hedge and turned and sat back on the other side, I had a look around for a while, from were I had just came I saw a woody slightly flying toward me just off centre.

Pushed myself into the hedge with my heals ,he swooped down and back up as he found his spot and opened his wings to slow ,He perched him self on a branch no further than 15-20yrds away to my left very unfortunate for him. Squared him up and nailed him, down he came hitting a few branches on the way coming to rest in some bracken. Picked him up and took him over to an opening in the field that I would later use to exit the field so that was were I lay him

( thank god Richard took his camera because i forgot )

I walked back down to my first ambush point to have a look at were I could locate myself to get a clean shot on the Woody’s return there was no easy position and needed to rethink my approach so I thought I would go back get my woody and meet up with Richard find out what’s been happening in the adjacent field he was covering and maybe have a coffee or two and let my presence cool down

Could not believe my eye’s when I reached the opening to find my prize was gone, looking around saw a few feathers, then saw a clump of feathers a bit further on past the opening I walked on there was my woody, “what the hell” I said and not quietly either, my woody was there alright with it head down a small hole .Confused I grabbed him lifting him out to find most of his neck and face ripped open. I can only assume that the weasel I have seen on occasion had dragged his new found gift away from my grasp and tried taking him underground, thank you very much !!! Were the words I used while walking away

Walking down the fields back to Richard I was more interested in telling the account of what happened than showing the woody

We had a coffee and chatted for a while but still buzzing was soon of again this time in the opposite direction to do a little reccy on a area we both had over looked for a good reason being that to get to this little area we would upset any chances of a rabbit or two on the other side of the hedge. Curiosity made me do it, and yes I did set off a few bolting rabbits but my finding were great plenty more holes and quite a few places to hide up that we will be using on our next visit.

Mike S410

Todays shoot

Today Mike and I went out for a short shooting trip, mainly to see if the rabbits were out during the day warming themselves after another frosty night. We got to our set up spot and built a blind, just to hide ourselves from view of the passing wildlife. Mike went off to look at the roosting woodies at the top of the rape field and i settled down to wait for the passing rabbits. Out set up site is 25 yards from a well used run and we always spot the odd few running across the fields, heading right to the fields of young oil seed rape shoots.

Me waiting to bag a passing rabbit

My little hide. This field is 70 yards wide and the rabbits use this as there walk way to the rape field.

Mike managed to bag a woodie, a big one at that too, but i missed out on 3 rabbits due to the horses running in the field. My boots are a size 8 so you can judge the size of the bird.

This is now breasted and waiting for a nice rabbit saddle to go with it. With this i will make a nice rabbit and pigeon pie with winter veg.

This is the view from the trees where my blind is situated. As you can see the rabbits come from the otherside of the field and in to the rape field behind me.

Just under this tree is loads of warrens. Take a look at the next picture to see how many there are within a 2mtr square of that tree.

There are hunderds like this all around this field, under the hedges and trees so its just a waiting game really, and being on top form when they show themselves.

All packed up and ready for home. We will be returning friday afternoon around dusk and see how many we can bag under the cover of darkness..........To be continued

HAD A QUICKIE ! ! ! !

Hi guys

BRAVING THE COLD- I’d decided at about 3pm I was going to get a bunny or two in the last remaining hour's of light ,gave the farmer the nudge and tackled up ,logun lamp, knife, rifle, ect. The rifle has a charge of 150bar left so well in its sweet spot so no need to charge.......right I’m off.

Driving over realized that the AA S410 was still zeroed up for short range ratting from the other day ...OH CRAP ..Zeroing the rifle is gunna take 10 mins and the dark is coming down fast and not got a full charge in lamp either was not planning on staying all that long .Luckily have made a cigarette lighter charger for this very instance although was only planning on getting in,, shoot one or two, and get out.

Any how I arrive, drive down the lane and see a few rabbits cross my path and think to myself this could be good.... so I pull up and need to get the ball rolling quite quick the light is fading and a new zero needs applying plus load up my mags ......now I’m getting eager to be on my way, the zero came quite quick with no windage adjustment needed, mag filled, wellies on..... Within five mins I’m ready .

Take the first corner up the long edge of a field like a sniper...nothing ,carry on 30yrds up to just 30yrds short of a brow of a small hump un the field were I know in the adjacent field is the first hotspot ,so I crawl and creep through the hedge then pause just to let my presence if it has been felt settle before I eye up the hotspot , I can see through the fence into the field about 60yrds away 5 rabbits 3 of which are grazing and 2 are running round playing ,Instead of moving up ,I wait, settle into the hedge.

Within 10 minutes the hotspot starts to come alive a young one hops out sits grazing ,I know now I’ve got probably another five to ten minutes before something bigger and more worth while is going to show itself sure, enough she does right on zero and cue, heart rate rises slightly as i’m well chuffed that my thoughts and actions were bang on as its a new shoot, I try not to rush and compose myself ,get onto my knees from lying in the hedge motionless and adopt an awkward position at first because I have a rock under my knee so slowly lift it of and move a fraction over ,The dark is coming down fast not got long now.

The cross is on ,the tension is there and as I move it right over the kill zone her head pops up ,she has seen me !!!!!! ,No she is just checking around she goes back down grazing .so i quickly take aim and squeeze the trigger sending the AA field straight as an arrow right on target knocking her over with two twitches and she is dead I stay still as the young one gets jitty and scarpers ,then I realize its raining and start to think about the car on the muddy lane and getting back to the road alright.

So I just hopp the fence and retrieve my rabbit and decide that I did not intend on stopping long and I’ve now got a rabbit to gut and skin together with a wet rifle to strip .So back to the car for a quick photo for you guys and a paunch ,then the drive home.



Mike S410

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What it takes to bag a bunny

OK, you’ve got your rifle and other assorted equipment ready, your land’s ready so what’s the first thing you do? It may seem obvious but I always check that my rifle/scope combo is perfectly accurate before I set out on a stalk.

When approaching your prey, you should head into any breeze so that your scent is carried away from the rabbits, and this will also help drift away any small sounds you make – after all rabbits have big ears for a reason! Your movements must be slower than slow, especially on the final approach. You should never attempt to shoot a rabbit that’s more than 35 metres away, and only then with a headshot that will kill him cleanly.

If you look at the map below, I’ve sketched out a recent foray for you, and I’ll take you through a typical day out from the moment I left my car at the farm buildings to when I potted my first rabbit.
As you can see, the breeze was blowing from my left as I entered the woods. However, even though I was working my way towards the edge of the woods, I still stalked slowly through the undergrowth; it’s no good wandering through the woods, sending birds flying and branches breaking because when you do get to your fields, that’s all you’ll find there – just the fields. You need to take every step as if it was the final one of your approach – silently, slowly and carefully.
As I got near the end of the woods, I used my scope to check-out the fields. At the top, there’s a rabbit-run through the hedge and rabbits quite often come into this field for a feast. Spotting a couple I checked for wind direction and realised that the only way I could approach, unseen into the wind, was by working my way down through the woods and then along the wrong side of the bank.
The woods posed no problem to me but when I had to come out of the woods, I had to do it on all fours. Wanting to keep as low a profile as possible, I had to keep my body below the level of the bank. Unfortunately, this meant getting lower as I moved away from the bank towards the short bushes.
This is what stalking is all about, there’s been many a time I’ve spent ages stalking a rabbit and maybe missed the shot or something else has spooked the rabbit before I could draw a bead on him. But, it’s the taking part that counts. There’s nothing like the feeling you get when you finally arrive some 30 metres from a wild animal and it’s been all your effort that’s rewarded you.

A question I often get asked at the shows is “How do I get my first rabbit?” it’s the sort of question that needs far more explaining than simply telling someone to get up to a local farm. Usually, it turns out that the person asking already has some land, but for some reason or other, every outing has produced a big fat zero!

Trying to pin one particular reason down, though, is very difficult. Without actually following the guy, or girl, around, I thought I’d lay out a few vital tips and let you follow along with me, on one of my recent forays to show you how it’s done.

Using an airgun to hunt rabbits is some of the best fun you can have – plus it helps the landowner keep his pest population down and, if you’re successful, you get a free meal out of it too!

So, going right back to basics, let’s see what sort of kit you’ll need – and this is before you even venture out on your first real rabbit raid. Remember, this is just skimming the basics, a lot of these items are worth a page or two in their own right, and we’ll hopefully go over these in future issues.

First get your gun
Obviously, you’re going to need a rifle, not a pistol. Hunting should never be attempted with any air pistol as they simply do not have the power, or accuracy, for hunting work. So, what sort of rifle do you need?
There are plenty of good hunting rifles on the market that’ll be more than adequate, but, putting it simply, it comes down to basically two types.

• Recoiling riflesThese are powered by an internal spring that you compress by either cocking the action via a break-barrel, underlever or sidelever

• Precharged pneumaticswhich run on compressed air and are totally recoilless when you fire them.

There’s pros and cons for both types but for our purposes today, all I’ll say is that you’ll need a rifle that’s got a maximum power output of 11.5 ft lbs. These rifles are available without a licence, but bear in mind the current laws of the land. However, from the age of 14 you can shoot an airgun on your own, and without adult supervision, provided you are on private land and have the consent of the landowner.

What calibre do you use
An old adage used to go “Use .177 for feather and a .22 for fur” and although this is damn good advice, it’s not gospel. A well-placed shot, in any calibre, will result in a clean, humane kill. Again this debate has been going on since the dawn of airgunning so, my advice? Opt for your own personal choice and learn to use that properly. Now, having said that, there are times when one calibre may be better than the other, but I’ve found that with rabbits, a good head shot with any size pellet will humanely kill the coney.

Scopes
Once you’ve got your rifle, you’re going to need a scope. For any type of hunting work, I honestly believe in the use of a decent set of optics. Telescopic sights comes in all sizes; but for hunting, I’d advise something in the range of a 3-9 magnification setting. This gives you the best compromise and versatility in that you can use the lower magnifications in dull light conditions, as this allows more light to reach your shooting eye, or due to the wider field of view the lower end gives you, you can check out the ground ahead for possible prey. Once you’ve located your quarry, then it’s only a matter of moments to zoom up to a useful 9x magnification which makes the actual taking of the shot so much easier.

Pellets
Pellets are also a top priority. It’s no good just shoving in any bit of old lead. Quality ammo is essential. After all, at the end of the day you want the best accuracy you can get. Essentially, although there’s plenty of specialist ammo around, you simply cannot beat a standard dome-head type pellet for both accuracy, and efficiency, in the field. Again, pellets are a separate article on their own – the basic rule though is buy a well-known brand that’s got a good reputation.

The right gear
And finally, your clothing. I honestly believe that wearing the right gear helps my hunting. Whether I’m stalking, using a hide or practising, I always wear my cammo. The reason is that I get used to moving and shooting in one set of clothes. The idea behind wearing cammo, as opposed to your jeans and T-shirt, is to break-up your outline so your general shape cannot be seen by the rabbits. All you’ve got to do then, theoretically of course, is to move really slowly until you’re within range of them. On paper this sounds so easy, but in practice one little mistake in your approach and you’ve lost the shot. To be honest, because of the closer ranges you’re working at, I’d rather stalk a deer than a rabbit. And, if you are a deerstalker, then practising on rabbits will certainly hone-up your stalking skills.