Summer shooting.

[Ideation 8,216]

I am an enthusiastic air rifle shooter and hunter who hunts rabbits, among other vermin. I shoot as often as I can which is not often enough!

 

I am not a pest controller nor would I ever regard myself as such.

 

 

But I just love the hunt. The precise kill. The well-placed accurate shot, The humane, instant despatch. That's what I'm out for.

 

I want to see healthy rabbits in numbers and other vermin on my shoot. Not a landscape cleared and void of them! So I will happily shoot foxes, stoats, weazles, mink or anything else that takes them as a bonus. If I find poachers traps or snares, as in the past, I destroy them. I do not shoot the babies or kitts because I want them nicely grown and in my reticle in the autumn.

 

I shoot huge numbers in the course of a year and my landowner mate is more than happy with what I do and that's how I do it. Whether I am out in rain or shine, dusk or dawn is neither here nor there.

 

As long as they are where I am, where they are

 

 

Simon

 

Bang on that Very good post.

[secretagentmole 1,701]

If I see Mink I will shoot them, the damned things are an invading species thanks to a lot of cotton headed tree huggers! Besides, if I skin them and save them up I might make mother that mink coat she has always wanted :whistling:

[rossi_j 99]

Me and my shooting pal, go out in all weather, we only have a small area to shoot so ferreting during the winter would just kill it, we are more than happy to do 'pest control' for the land owners taking between 0-6 rabbits a night and plugging away at it, and having a laugh while we do it. 'pest control' dosent have to be drastic, just under control in our case

 

 

Its just a matter of permision, I would love to ferret in the winter, course dogs, shoot pigeon over crop with shottie, take foxes skulking around pheasant pens, but dont have the land.

 

I love hunting by any means, I would never be without my air rifle, it will always be used year in year out, rats, ferrals, squizzers, bugs, woodies, corvids and more all fair game all through the year.

 

My two peneth worth

 

.atb. .ste.

[Ideation 8,216]

If I see Mink I will shoot them, the damned things are an invading species thanks to a lot of cotton headed tree huggers! Besides, if I skin them and save them up I might make mother that mink coat she has always wanted :whistling:

b*****d little things that they are, can't believe you can't legally let your mutt kill them.

[Ideation 8,216]

Me and my shooting pal, go out in all weather, we only have a small area to shoot so ferreting during the winter would just kill it, we are more than happy to do 'pest control' for the land owners taking between 0-6 rabbits a night and plugging away at it, and having a laugh while we do it. 'pest control' dosent have to be drastic, just under control in our case

 

 

Its just a matter of permision, I would love to ferret in the winter, course dogs, shoot pigeon over crop with shottie, take foxes skulking around pheasant pens, but dont have the land.

 

I love hunting by any means, I would never be without my air rifle, it will always be used year in year out, rats, ferrals, squizzers, bugs, woodies, corvids and more all fair game all through the year.

 

My two peneth worth

 

.atb. .ste.

 

 

Good point mate. I guess a lot has to do with the nature of the land owner and their attitude to the rabbits. We vary with ours between people wanting them all dead, first winter a massacre, to people who actively ask us not to hunt the land during the summer as they don't want us killing them when they are breeding, but want us to take say 50 % of their population each winter, and don't really want to see us doing it.

[davyt63 1,845]

Before i start, this is not a dig at anyone in particular. But it seems that during the winter months, the number of hunting tales are few, and usually come from the same small group of people. Now that the summer is under way, we will see a massive rise in posts, mostly about shooting rabbit kits in the evening sun (easiest quarry there can be). I know that folk always defend it saying it's 'strictly pest control' and they need to remove all the problem rabbits etc. But knocking off a couple of bunnys a week, is hardly pest control. Is it just because most folk on here static shoot, and lying on the ground still, is not very pleasant on a cold day? Or are folk using other methods over winter and just using the air gun to mop up? Or is it just cos it's much easier?

 

 

hi buddy

have you upset some one in the dog section

the tales are still here through out the winter,last time you posted in here was January 10

 

http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/topic/184563-air-pistol/page__p__1867854__fromsearch__1#entry1867854

 

winter months are always a lower count than summer months,not because of hunters,because lack of sight of rabbits!

 

you are mainly in the dog/ferret/general sections! so you will miss some of the winter posts,if your not in here posting/looking.there is a large number of lads on here who will go out in all conditions! if you dont then you will not learn much about your quarry through the seasons.

 

if you think you can contribute to winter posts then do so,tell us about your days out with your air rifle!!

 

regards

 

Davy

[Ideation 8,216]

Before i start, this is not a dig at anyone in particular. But it seems that during the winter months, the number of hunting tales are few, and usually come from the same small group of people. Now that the summer is under way, we will see a massive rise in posts, mostly about shooting rabbit kits in the evening sun (easiest quarry there can be). I know that folk always defend it saying it's 'strictly pest control' and they need to remove all the problem rabbits etc. But knocking off a couple of bunnys a week, is hardly pest control. Is it just because most folk on here static shoot, and lying on the ground still, is not very pleasant on a cold day? Or are folk using other methods over winter and just using the air gun to mop up? Or is it just cos it's much easier?

 

 

hi buddy

have you upset some one in the dog section

the tales are still here through out the winter,last time you posted in here was January 10

 

http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/topic/184563-air-pistol/page__p__1867854__fromsearch__1#entry1867854

 

winter months are always a lower count than summer months,not because of hunters,because lack of sight of rabbits!

 

you are mainly in the dog/ferret/general sections! so you will miss some of the winter posts,if your not in here posting/looking.there is a large number of lads on here who will go out in all conditions! if you dont then you will not learn much about your quarry through the seasons.

 

if you think you can contribute to winter posts then do so,tell us about your days out with your air rifle!!

 

regards

 

Davy

 

Hello matey. I don't post much on here, but i do browse pretty regularly, and as i said it wasn't a dig. For me a lot of my air rifle shooting, is just a practical thing and not really something i do as hunting. I.e dispatching trapped animals, or shooting the odd coupe of something in a domestic situation (barn/garden) either in summer when i cant use ferrets or inside a building. Its pretty rare, and i don't carry a camera anyway. There is a great core of folk on this section who not only hunt in all weathers but also take i think even more than the rifle guys, pride and time in making very accurate clinical shots, at the limits of their equipment. The wealth of knowledge is impressive. But there are a lot more posts in summer, and i just wondered if like me (and born hunter) its the practical mop up stuff (and i wouldnt post dead kits its great anti ammo) or if its just that folk prefer doing it in summer as many static shoot etc. There is nowt wrong with the latter, but people always feel the need to dress it up as pest control, which for me doesnt usually involve knocking over the odd bunny here and there on a stroll. But Rossi_j makes a very good comment about that. Just musing mate

[rossi_j 99]

My comment only represents me personaly, lads on here have had massive bags of rabbits and rats and ferals over the winter months, carrying out serious 'pest control'

 

I personaly accompanied a couple of top lads on here to a ratting job, that was serious pest control and I dare say I was taking rats from places a dog couldent

 

Remember there is a hell of a lot that goes un poasted FACT!

you wont get a true representation of what goes on from reading a couple of posts on here

 

.atb. .ste.

[Ideation 8,216]

My comment only represents me personaly, lads on here have had massive bags of rabbits and rats and ferals over the winter months, carrying out serious 'pest control'

 

I personaly accompanied a couple of top lads on here to a ratting job, that was serious pest control and I dare say I was taking rats from places a dog couldent

 

Remember there is a hell of a lot that goes un poasted FACT!

you wont get a true representation of what goes on from reading a couple of posts on here

 

.atb. .ste.

 

 

Aye mate, rats need an all angles attack, and you still aren't gonna kill them all. What i meant about what you posted is just that your right when you say that some folk DO ask for their rabbits to be controlled, but are happy for the controller to conserve the rabbit supply for themselves to shoot as sport, and to see bunnies bouncing about

[fry 209]

i dont like shootin in the rain winter or summer but try and get out as often as i can all year? i love lyin under a tree on a hot evening, can of blackthorn, havin a look about through the scope and poppin a few bunnys we eat them, my dog eats them, and i save the livers for pate. is it doing something naughty?

[rossi_j 99]

I shoot all my quarry as 'pest control' I dont conserve them for 'sport', I just dont need to wipe them out, just keep the numbers down, wich we are doing quite efficiently. If you start calling it sport you make it sound like your doing it for fun, weather you are or not dosent realy matter, but you dont tell people you are or you may fall foul of the law with certain species.

Example, clay pigeon shooting (sport)

Pigeon shooting (pest control)

 

Thats the way I see it anyway. . .

 

The owners are happy with what we do, the damage the rabbits do is minimal in comparison to when we started there so job done, and now its just a case of keeping on top of them and not letting it get bad again, hense the word 'control' :laugh:

 

Good interesting topic, some good views.

 

We are all strangers to each other on the whole, and you dont realy know who gets up to what realy, im pretty shure there is a good chance the quiet ones do a lot more than people think but not speak of it.

 

.atb. .ste.

[fry 209]

rossi said "We are all strangers to each other on the whole, and you dont realy know who gets up to what realy, im pretty shure there is a good chance the quiet ones do a lot more than people think but not speak of it."

very true its pointless repeating your self "went out shot a rabbit" ect if some thing unusual occurs and you have been arsed to take a few pics ok. a lot take pics on there phone too an a lot of phones have no flash which is a bit of a hinderence in dark winter conditions.

[andyfr1968 772]

I shoot all year round, regardless of the weather...

 

I've only very recently started putting hunting posts on the forum and only 'cos I've been meeting up with a few of the regulars who do the same. I've always been happy to keep myself to myself before, help out with the odd question that maybe I can answer and enjoy the craik and the banter

 

Most of my shooting year is involved helping out on a large managed shoot in W.Yorks that I've been involved with since I was a lad. It's more about hard work most of the time and not about shooting, that's just a bonus for me. I don't use a shotgun anymore, I'm just happy to be involved and enjoy the chance of a little pest control with an airgun.

 

As has been said, I also enjoy the hunt and the skill involved. It's not about killing huge numbers for me, just a few for the pot and to help keep the land owners happy. I won't shoot kits, branching rooks or anything else that's had no chance yet (except rats...!!).

 

Cheers

Edited March 28, 2011 by andyfr1968

[Marksman 934]

Both wor kid and myself shoot all year round, even in " extreme" weather as you will find if you do a search.

A lot of places this year have suffered with the numbers including ours. Last year we were producing double figures nearly every shoot, this year there's a dramatic decline on our permissions the same as a lot of people have been talking about so we've really had nothing to post about. There's no HFT facilities really local to us so rather than post we were out plinking we choose not to clog up the forums.

 

Darryl

[pianoman 3,587]

Both wor kid and myself shoot all year round, even in " extreme" weather as you will find if you do a search.

A lot of places this year have suffered with the numbers including ours. Last year we were producing double figures nearly every shoot, this year there's a dramatic decline on our permissions the same as a lot of people have been talking about so we've really had nothing to post about. There's no HFT facilities really local to us so rather than post we were out plinking we choose not to clog up the forums.

 

Darryl

This is something to read about declining numbers of rabbits on your shoot Darryl. I first though that I was getting unwelcome attention from poachers and other trespassers taking the warrens in large numbers but, I'm not so sure of this now. Especially after reading of your findings here.

 

The rabbits are really very wary and aware here on my permission, from such numbers that I've actually seen and had a shot or two at.

 

Simon