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.

New shoot...Rabbit problem.

The other week i got a phone call from a farm asking me to help with their rabbit problem. They have a big problem with the rabbits because the gamekeepers have shot all the foxes around the 470 acers of prime farm land, so the rabbits have been left to multiply at an alarming rate. So in we went to do a walkround the main fields that have the most warrens on them and we were amazed at how many there were. The following pictures were taken from the bottom of field and the warrens are on the left under the bushes....As you can see from these pictures, over a 2mtr strech theres loads of holes...and loads of rabbits too. I have just bought a new sleeping bag to use as a short term hide as there are loads of bushes to hide under and trees to hide in to just wait for them to pop out for a spot of food. I have a huge length of tank scrim that will provide me with some cover and the bivi bag will keep me warm and dry through the day. I have just orderd a "dragons claw" bipod to provide some front end support and i am looking forward to some serious bunny bashing sessions quite soon.I will keep you posted on the outcome and do some pics of my hide too. I hope the freezer will be full soon as i miss my rabbit and pigeon pies .

the logun lamp

For some time now i have wanted a bigger lamp for my night time forays but i have now got a better charger for my battery and the lamp is now brighter than ever, and lasts a hell of a lot longer than it did before. I askes the proffeser (Mad Mike) if he could come up with a red filter for my lamp as i only wanted one and not the whole set. He came up with the filter and i added the screw fitting for easy use and i must say it works a treat. I just used the realtree tape to cover over the glue and direct the light out the front and not the sides of the lamp.

I moved the switch so i can use my thumb on my right hand to turn it on and off, therefore i can keep my left hand holding the stock very still for the shot.Thanks to mike for the unique filter...rabbits just stand still and pigeons dont fly off so i can say it works very well.

Richard

The D-V-S forum

Just a quick post to let you all know that the D-V-S forum is now up and running.

Click this link to go to the forum. Please register as a member and have your say on all things airgun or post your shooting pictures in the designated forum. Even if you just want help or advice on something airgun pop in and post...it shouldnt take long for you to get a answer to your questions.

So thats the "D-V-S FORUM" Join today and have your say.

The new Logun EVO

Whilst i was at the tackle and guns trade show i had the opportunity to shoot this, the new logun evo. It looks and feels like a rifle should and the shots were quick and very quiet.

The new generation Evo S16 features a shrouded barrel system and other major improvements to raise the rifle to new heights of technological superiority. The shrouded barrel system not only makes the rifle even quieter but also reduces the rifles overall weight. Amongst the improvements are a new cocking cycle that is smoother, new style gauge gives more accurate info on your air reserve. Improved trigger unit gives improved feel. The original issue with bottle o-rings has been resolved with a re-design incorporating the new thicker seal o-ring into the charging adaptor. This new Logun Evo S16-S takes an already superb rifle and in Logun tradition "Makes the Best Better"

New backstop.

I had some time on my hands so i made a new portable backstop. This backstop incorperates a knockdown target with backstop. Easy to build and has a load of room for paper targets and a shelf for other targets.