Couple of hours in the bone yard

[Phantom 631]

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far, the sky was glorious blue, this was how all days should be

The kicker was though, I was stuck inside the fecking house working on a piece about the Brown Rat among other things. Anyway after having the sun beating in through the kitchen window directly at my face, I shut down the laptop and grabbed my gun, I was that eager to get out I didn't even bother to give my baby a few pumps to top her up. Not that she needed it though, I'd only put a couple of shots through her since I last topped her up.

 

I was totally undecided as to where to shoot today so I passed the paddock and was heading up to the new permission, as I passed the cemetery I saw a dozen or so bunnies chewing on the fresh flowers, digging and generally having a summer party.

 

Shit, I better get in there and do something about these numbers I thought to myself So I headed through the gate, the wind was blowing gently from the East to West of course in a cemetery bodies are inturned with the feet pointing East, the head West (just a bit of useless information for those that didn't know).

 

My scent was of course blown right to the furry feckers and the festivities stopped immediately and all but one bunny headed for the nearest hole or the safety of the old ladies garden.

 

This lone brave (or stupid) bunny stayed sat right where I wanted to be sniping from, so I figured he was going to be te 1st one to get it in the head.

Of course I had to get my baby out of her case and load her first. The bunny heard me unzipping the case and began moving across the grass to the central warren making a shot that bit harder as I had to slip a pellet through headstones. Rather than take the shot standing, I wanted the extra stability of the pod as I couldn't risk clipping a headstone could I? As the legs came down with a metalic "clink", bunny vanishes under the lilac bush/tree and that was the last I saw of her for a good while.

 

I made my way over to the hedge between the lotties and the cemetery and got set up, checked the ranges to different points and figured if the wind stayed as it now was, I could drop any thing and everything that made a move in the cemetery. The longest range I would be shooting was 50 yards in any direction so I was comfortable doing this range with my new scope.

 

Soon after I was watching a pair of frisky Woodies giving it loads in a tree in the paddock. If they'd been doing that in public in Saudi, they'd have been shot! theres an Idea! The tree is a small one, the angle was not steep from my position and I figured it would be about 50 yards to the tree.

Gun loaded and moved to the new coordinates facing the woodies, I took aim giving just under 3 mildots hold over (yes hold over) and let the 16 grains of contraception go at the back of the head of the female woody.

A nice crack ensued followed by a flapping of wings by the male as he took to the sky. The female was by this time falling and had come to rest in the fork of a branch.

 

Making my way over, I slipped sideways through the hedge and moved to the tree. I could barely reach the tail of the now dead woody so I had to jump and grab it. The branch bent a little and as the tail feathers all came out in my hand the rest of the woody was catapulted forward and came to rest in a dense bunch of stinging nettles. Woody retrieved, I made my way back to my gun and took this pic of the woody.

 

The shot was a corker slap bang in the back of the brain

 

After that, the place went into a deathly quiet, only the sounds of the songbirds and the cooing of the woodies and doves in the conifers outside the permission. I could hear the sounds of leather on willow and the occasional cheering from the Cricket grounds opposite the paddock.

 

I took a panaramic pic of the cemetery for you:

 

The tree right on the far left is where the woodies were making out. The Lilac bush in the middle is where the bulk of the central warren is, this extends to the 5th headstone on the right of the bush with numerous entrances/exits between.

My second shot came about two hours later; that bunny that had legged it down the warren was now sat near the central walkway having come out from a distant exit.

I could only see her head. But I could tell it was the same one due to the nick taken out of the top of her ear by another bunny during a scap.

I waited for a few minutes, to see if she would come further out, she didn't so I moved my baby slowley from her sitting position and lined up the crosshairs on the bunny. I gave it one mildot under and let another FX head to its mark. The crack was seemingly very loud against the quiet of the graveyard. Bunny jumped forward and landed on her side, not so much as a raised leg waving. I didn't need to go over to know that she was as dead as the proverbial DODO

 

I left her where she lay in the hope that there would be others to follow, the wind was now very polydirectional and there was no more bunnies to be seen. This is where she lay outside an entrance to the central warren.

 

 

I was very hot and dehydrated so decided to call it a day and get the group portrait.

 

When I got home I decided to do a little Autopsy of the Woody, it was a very interesting experiance

I pulled the skin and feathers back to see what damage the pellet had done at that range to find it had compleatly shattered the skull, the pellet entry can clearly be seen as the source of the breaks

 

The Crop was very full, this woody had been feasting on some farmers seeds

 

I found something that seemed to be a rock hard lump of muscle.

 

I was intrigued by this so split it open only to reveal it was the Stomach of the bird and it was stuffed full of seed. Nothing like a mamals stomach at all.

 

Also I found intriguing was the fact that the bird was mating, yet it appears to already have a fertilised egg growing inside

 

It had quite a tough outside but was soft enough to squeeze. I pearced it with my knife, just to verify what I thought this was. As you can see there is deffinately a Yolk with blood vessles beginning to form

 

Just shows you what you can learn, I always loved the Science's at school.

 

Phantom

 

 

 

 

 

 

[venomviper 129]

hi ya tony

great write up buddy and good pictures to and very shooting tony me old pal i'll be out monday night i hope so i get to try me new scorpion t10 177

 

shay

[aaronpigeonplucker 32]

nice shooting phantom and nice autopsy as well. you'll often find woodys with huge crops full of seed but because of the sunflower seeds i think this is probably a woody which has been feeding on birdseed.i learnt after a while that when you pick woodys up dont grab them by the tail feathers as they come out really easy.

p.s how did you get your permission at the graveyard as i have sen a graveyard with diggings everywhere but i'm not sure wether they would want shooting there.

Edited May 23, 2010 by aaronpigeonplucker

[ArchieHood 3,692]

Top Tucker mate, gonna stick em on the bbq?, just read a wonderful book on the Rat,let me know if you want to have a read and I will send it on. Hope to get out tonight and have a bash at the Manor House, so watch this space.Better go out and check me zero.

[Phantom 631]

Thanks guy's

 

Archie that would be wonderful, very kind of you Sir

 

No BBQ for me though I'm gonna do it the way Aaron suggested in the pan tomorrow

 

Aaron, I emailed the Arch Bishop, as I had a gut feeling the local vicker would tell me where to go Our last encounter was not particularly friendly. The AB sent my email to the local Church Council, who put it up for the vote. Took 6 months for them to get back to me but I got it on a 3 month trial and they were impressed with the numbers and I have had it since.

Try speaking to the vicker of the local church. However if its a County Council run cemetery, I'm not sure who you would need to speak to. Good luck with it just be patient and be preparfed to wait and forget about it, like I did after three months!

 

Phantom

[JackReid 35]

Great shooting Phantom.

 

It does amaze me a graveyard allowed you to shoot there. Obviously its a prime reason to have you there with rabbits messing the place up. Are the public walking round occasionally when you shoot? Once again mate great stuff.

 

Jack

[MR TEA POT 1,287]

Nice pics mate love the autopsy.

I think they was taken on a SONY ERICSON model K750I

EXPOSURE TIME of 1/20 sec

ISO SPEED was ISO-400

But you didn't use the flash which was probably down to the bright sunshine.

 

Couldn't resit

[garfield 23]

good job i wasnt eating when reading this your a bit sick arnt ya Tony or shoud i say Gunther von Hagen

[jay2k123 2]

yet again another superb write up and always look forward to reading them.nice shooting and a great day all round by the sounds of it.good job keep it up

atb

John

[pest hunter 151 15]

Brill write up mate and brill pics to

[zini 1,939]

Nice write up Tony mate

 

That pigeon looked well struck in the head mate

 

Dont you just love them FX 16 grainers, they dont half make a mess of what they hit.

 

3 mil dot hold over from a .22 calibre rifle zeroed at 27.5 metres is a fair old shot buddy

 

You must of been well happy with that shot mate.

 

Obviously the new scope is panning out good for you pal.

 

Si

[bleachtastesnice 4]

Nice write up mate, learn some thing new every day!!

All the best,

Frenchie

[Phantom 631]

Thanks very much guy's

 

Si,

I was very well chuffed (amazed actually) with the outcome of that shot, one to remember for life, I honestly thought that there was no chance of me dropping it like that, I figured at best I might have hit the neck, so getting it in the noggin was a bit of a fluke really another couple of millimeters over and she would have flown off unhurt and I'd have been swearing at myself.

 

Garfield:

You cheeky sod, thats Tony von Hagen if you don't mind

 

MTP:

You'll soon be a computer nerd yourself Did you do it from memory or did you have to refere back?

 

Jack:

Sometimes there are people in the grave yard, so far I am happy to say, everybody appreciates what I am doing and no one has kicked up the slightest fuss so far. Although I did draw a crowd of people dressed in silly costumes when I was lamping it on halloween

I hang a sign on the gates when I'm there so people are aware and they usually look for me and its a quick wave to them to let them know I've seen them. I very rarely shoot towards the railings/gates until I know the regular people such as the dog walkers and the workers from the growers distribution centre have gone past.

 

I'm not the only person on here that shoots graveyards, there are a few regs on here and a moderator or two

 

Aaron:

Forgot to mention it earlier; What you said about the birdseed makes sense thanks for that

 

Phantom

[farmerkev09 105]

hi phantom

 

you wo write when you said grafic

 

great write up and some great pics to

 

happy hunting

 

farmer

[stealthy1 3,964]

The muscle bit is the gizzard, should be grit in there to crush up the seeds, looks like the woodies been robbing birdtables