First outing with FAC!

[Leicester hunter 0]

Well i should be in bed (start work at 5am!) but the perfect weather got the better of me today.

 

I got to my shiny new permission at around 9 o'clock, unlatched the massively noisy gate and rolled into the drive. Clanking the gate shut behind me i had a quick look through the handheld nightvision into the first field. Nothing. Drove to the top of the track, and removed my CZ from the case, and clamped on the lamp. Mag loaded, lamp ready, i walked into the second field. Another flash with the NV revealed a couple of rabbits about 150yds towards the top end of the field. I strolled around the perimeter some 100yds and had another look. There was only one rabbit left about 80yds out. I dropped to my knee, pointed in the general direction and turned the lamp on. 2 red dots greeted my beam, so i removed the safety, breathed out and squeezed....Thud. Rabbit down. a slim buck with a headwound.

 

I carried on through the entrance of the next field via an open gateway and heard some rustling to the right of me. A quick spot with the lamp revealed charlie, no more than 10 yards away! Im not sure who was more startled, him or me. I switched off the lamp and sat for 5 mins. Another quick flick revealed he was sitting around 70yads away, right on my permission boundary. Behind the hedge is a house about 150yds away, so i let be for another night.

 

Strolling in the opposite direction into the next field, i had a quick shine, and charlie was still sat there, completely unbothered. Nobody has shot this area, so hopefully a few mistakes in my early FAC days wont go to punished. i could have called from here, but dont have a caller as yet, and didnt want to ruin the opportunity with my (still learning) mouth call!

 

In the next field, another shine revealed a dozen or so sitters, so again i dropped to the knee, placed the perfect relief on my (nearly) aquired meopta, and squeezed. Thud again. Another buck.

 

After this, i returned to the van and took a quick snap with my phone. (Left Nikon at home!)

 

The farmer has mentioned fox, and the rabbits were obviously warey, so hopefully theres some good nights to be had here.

 

In summary, at least i didnt blank, but could have been a gold start to the permission if id had a charlie on my list!

 

ATB.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Leicester hunter

[langouroux 14]

nicely done "LH" keep it coming

[cassshantia 16]

well done on your 1st outing ,very productive and a good buzz ,only saying that as ive just experienced my 1st outing on thurs last week ,

ive set my scope up on my .17 @35 yrd so the 1st time ive been lamping with it

i tend to find distances more difficult to range so my 1st few shots were hitting high

so then i got my eye in and what a buzz ,we were out taking hares as we have a big problem with poaching

i suprised my self @what distances we were shooting these @,

we shot 13 that night and two friends had a go with my rifle and they shot 1 a piece and the 1st was paced out to 105 big strides and the 2nd not strided out but was even further

the .17 was very effective as the hares were a bit lamp shy for obvious reasons but when they thought our lamp was a safe distance by joe they were so wrong

my ist impressions of this calibre are WOW what a handy tool

that saturday followed was by a hare drive and we accounted for 34 plus as some lads took a few (i had to go to work @ dinner time )

the 2nd nights lamping was sat night after back shift with the keeper

he had his .22 and me the .17,this time we were on the quad and accounted for another 20 hares and 3 rabbits for his larsen traps

again this rifle took some excellent shots with the keeper taking the more closer shots

so a good thin out was by all

sorry no pics

[zook 0]

sounds like you had a good night

[langouroux 14]

well done on your 1st outing ,very productive and a good buzz ,only saying that as ive just experienced my 1st outing on thurs last week ,

ive set my scope up on my .17 @35 yrd so the 1st time ive been lamping with it

i tend to find distances more difficult to range so my 1st few shots were hitting high

so then i got my eye in and what a buzz ,we were out taking hares as we have a big problem with poaching

i suprised my self @what distances we were shooting these @,

we shot 13 that night and two friends had a go with my rifle and they shot 1 a piece and the 1st was paced out to 105 big strides and the 2nd not strided out but was even further

the .17 was very effective as the hares were a bit lamp shy for obvious reasons but when they thought our lamp was a safe distance by joe they were so wrong

my ist impressions of this calibre are WOW what a handy tool

that saturday followed was by a hare drive and we accounted for 34 plus as some lads took a few (i had to go to work @ dinner time )

the 2nd nights lamping was sat night after back shift with the keeper

he had his .22 and me the .17,this time we were on the quad and accounted for another 20 hares and 3 rabbits for his larsen traps

again this rifle took some excellent shots with the keeper taking the more closer shots

so a good thin out was by all

sorry no pics

 

 

i presume you are talking about air rifles? surely not a .17hmr zero'd @ 35 yards?

[cassshantia 16]

im just going and doing what the majority have zerod @on numerous threads ,im new to the game like alot of hunters but the more experienced men have told myself and others to do this

why what is the problem like ?

zerod @35 re zeros @125 yrs so you have a good allround distance

[Treacle Trackpad 6]

well done on your 1st outing ,very productive and a good buzz ,only saying that as ive just experienced my 1st outing on thurs last week ,

ive set my scope up on my .17 @35 yrd so the 1st time ive been lamping with it

i tend to find distances more difficult to range so my 1st few shots were hitting high

so then i got my eye in and what a buzz ,we were out taking hares as we have a big problem with poaching

i suprised my self @what distances we were shooting these @,

we shot 13 that night and two friends had a go with my rifle and they shot 1 a piece and the 1st was paced out to 105 big strides and the 2nd not strided out but was even further

the .17 was very effective as the hares were a bit lamp shy for obvious reasons but when they thought our lamp was a safe distance by joe they were so wrong

my ist impressions of this calibre are WOW what a handy tool

that saturday followed was by a hare drive and we accounted for 34 plus as some lads took a few (i had to go to work @ dinner time )

the 2nd nights lamping was sat night after back shift with the keeper

he had his .22 and me the .17,this time we were on the quad and accounted for another 20 hares and 3 rabbits for his larsen traps

again this rifle took some excellent shots with the keeper taking the more closer shots

so a good thin out was by all

sorry no pics

 

 

i presume you are talking about air rifles? surely not a .17hmr zero'd @ 35 yards?

 

Why not? I used to zero mine at 35 yds, it was then 'flat' out to 120. Easy peasy