matt_hooks 188 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 A quick thanks to Davey for a great night out last night. A full write up and pics to follow shortly. Quote Link to post
Sweeney-Todd 208 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Hi Matt. Dont keep us in susspenders......start typing Bill. Quote Link to post
Phantom 631 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Sounds like everyone that went out last night scored apart from me Davy'll probably do the write up Bill, but your right Its nice to have different views of the same hunt, so come on Matt get your finger bouncing on the keyboard buddy, lets hear it from your eyes as well Phantom Quote Link to post
matt_hooks 188 Posted October 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 (edited) Nope Tony, I'm doing the write up this time. Davey is off enjoying the rugby 9and maybe some throat lubrication!) Imagine the scene. It's a saturday night, and a couple of blokes are heading out for a night out. Are they headed to the pub to get s##tfaced? Nope! Are they going to stand around in fields all night chasing bunny rabbits? Ohhhh yes! It all started at a house in Wiltshire. A little later than expected (the queue at the gunshop was incredible!) but it started there nonetheless. The jeep was loaded with the necessary supplies. Guns, ammunition, coffee (I'd heard about Davey's habit of nodding off!) and lots of waterproofs (we'd both checked the forecast, it wasn't good, but we're not northern poofs who are put off by a little bit of rain!) The drive to the permission was pretty uneventful. Davey tried his best to get us lost, but we found our way in the end. When we arrived at the first permission, I was a little perturbed to hear from the land owner that he'd not seen any rabbits recently. He did us the favour of turning the electric fences off though, which was good, there's nothing to spoil your night than clambering over the top rail of a fence, only to find, with your most sensitive bits, that it has a wire on top of it! We unshipped the weaponry. I borrowed Davey's .177 S410 (I tried to steal it at the end of the night, but he spotted it under my jumper!) as I'd left my PCP at home due to the barrel end being a bit loose and me not being able to tighten it up. I was going to give my Theoben Scirocco an outing, but the chance to try out the S410 was too good to pass up! I took the fence side of the paddock, and Davey took the side with the stables and training ring. Well, all I can say is I don't think much to the powers of observation of the land owner. Within 5 minutes I'd stalked in and had the first bunny on the deck. Straight through the back of the eye at 35 yards. He hopped once and fell over. A quick text to Davey to rub it in a bit (to no response, I reckon he was asleep!), bunny hocked and hung up safely from the fence post, and it was back to stalking along the fenceline. I heard a few noises from the other end of the field, that might have been shots, or they might just have been Davey cursing as he missed a bunny! I stalked down to the bottom corner, and spotted a pair of bunnies, about yards out. I closed the range down, crawling on my tummy through the grass and thistles, and drew a bead on mr bunny. I judged it at about 45 yards, and the 410 inspires so much confidence I decided it was on. I slipped the safety, squeezed gently and "pfffft....CRRAAAAACK" Bunny does a backflip, straight over a three rail fence and into the wood behind. Now I know he's hit, and mortally injured, but I'm not wanting to leave a bunny behind. To make sure he was dead, I made the rifle safe, laid it down on the tripod and hopped the fence. There was bunny, on the other side of the fence, not moving a muscle and obviously where he'd landed after his olympic gymnastic display. He was dead before he hit the ground. I paced the shot back, and it was somewhere around the 55 yard mark, so further than I though but proves the effectiveness of the flatter trajectory of the .177. After a while sitting waiting for other bunnies to show themselves, Davey called me back to the car for coffee. An hour or so in, and three bunnies in the bag. I was well impressed with the 410! Night had fallen while we were drinking our coffee. So after we'd helped it back up, and got over the really bad joke, we affixed lamps and headed out for some lamping. Turns out my night time range judgement needs some work. Davey had one on the deck, and I managed to miss three or four. About this time the rain started, and waterproofs were donned. After another half hour or so, we decided that we'd shot or scared off all the bunnies in the first permission, so it was guns in the truck, and after a quick photo shoot it was off to the next permission, which conveniently was only 30 seconds along the track. As the rain was pretty heavy now, we decided to lamp this field from the jeep. It all gets a bit blurry here, as the action was fast and furious. I shot a few, and missed a few. Davey shot a few and missed a few. We had to stop for a few minutes to re-zero the .177. Driving and lugging it in and out of the window I had managed to knock the rifle off zero. Once we were happy with our zero's, and after an air refill, it was back off lamping. The boot of the jeep was looking pretty full by this time. The rimfire got an outing too. A rabbit with a good solid backstop, the range a little too far for the air rifles, so a round was slipped in to the chamber and "fut.....THWACCCKKKK" And the bunny didn't even twitch, just rolled over onto his side. A bit more driving around, a few more in the bag, and a few that we shot but couldn't find in the dark, and as it was after 1AM we decided to head off. By now the rain had stopped, so we got a few good photo's of the total bag, then gutted them out and packed everything up. We both decided that it had been a brilliant night, and more succesful than we could have hoped for. The "end of night" photo's, complete with a pair of S410's, one in .22 and one in .177. The rifle being held is my Voere .22LR semi auto. I have a few in the freezer now, Davey has loads of bunnies to skin, so everyone's a winner! Can't wait to get out again, it's ages since I've had such a good night out! Thanks so much to Davey for letting me come out on his land, and for lending me the .177. It's always good to get out on new land, especially when it is as productive as it was. Edited October 3, 2010 by matt_hooks 6 Quote Link to post
Phantom 631 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Enjoyed that Matt have an SP I'm hoping my session this evening will be as successful Well donr to you both Phantom Quote Link to post
lighthunter 81 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 A quick thanks to Davey for a great night out last night. A full write up and pics to follow shortly. hi mat,before u give away the 3 field location,did davy make u sign chaz and davys official secrets act.and blind fold you,before entering the permission.lol regards chaz Quote Link to post
matt_hooks 188 Posted October 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Tony, thanks fella, it was a superb night out! Chaz, I wouldn't dare give away the location, Davey has guns, and a massive Rottweiler! Quote Link to post
kingoftoosh 15 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 (edited) Crackin write up matt,bet you saving your pennies now for a new gun ... sp winging itys way to you now Nice one davy,you seem quite proactive on inviting decent forum members out for a shoot,way to go sir. hope you had a good night too. Edited October 3, 2010 by kingoftoosh Quote Link to post
matt_hooks 188 Posted October 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Crackin write up matt,bet you saving your pennies now for a new gun ... sp winging itys way to you now Nice one davy,you seem quite proactive on inviting decent forum members out for a shoot,way to go sir. hope you had a good night too. Aye, Davey's a legend! I am saving for a new gun, unfortunately not an air rifle though. I'm saving up to fill the .243 slot on my ticket! Quote Link to post
hunter1989 91 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 hi matey nice read up and nice pics slut point to all of you atb steve Quote Link to post
Marksman 934 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 great write up Matt.... Have an SP for effort Darryl Quote Link to post
dillan 19 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Well done Matt, good session and post, hats off to Davey for sharing his permission with another member Quote Link to post
gurtwurz 792 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 nice work matt and davey, and a good sized bag at the end of the night to finish with too, fair play to you both... spa for not revealing locations...(due to the c&d act) all the best, wurz Quote Link to post
stealthy1 3,964 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Good shooting lads, have a slut for leaving Davy to paunch the rabbits Quote Link to post
mick01 36 Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 well done to both of you sounds like a great night.. after reading the last few posts sounds like a good weekend all round for the air gunners, hopefully get myself out this week sometime.. ATB mate Quote Link to post
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