Playing Tag with the Woodies, They lost

[Phantom 631]

I was really keen to get out yesterday and put some more meat in the freezer after last week’s shoot.

Chris picked me up and off we went.

Arriving at the Cemetery we saw a decent sized Woody walking and pecking at the grass, Chris spun the car around and parked at the gates. As quietly as I could I got out the car, Woody still bobbing along without a care in the world. I opened the boot and unzipped my gun bag. I slipped a Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum into the breech and removed the scope caps.

Leaning into the boot of the car and placing my babies stock into my left shoulder I drew a bead on the Woody who had decided to turn around and head towards us.

Estimated 25-27 yards crosshair placed, a gentle take up of both first and second stage and the pellet left the muzzle with a quiet phutt which resulted a fraction of a second later with the view through my scope showing the Woody drop like a brick, face down kissing the grass

Before anyone starts I know the law regarding shooting within 50 feet of the centre of the public highway and as no one was going to be interupted, endangered or delayed etc.. etc... It was a legal shot

Chris and I then went to check zero of the rifles, mine was pretty much spot on as the Dead Woody had just shown, just a little low, hence the Severed Spinal Vertebrae in the Woody’s neck and not the removal of it’s brain. Still a kill is a kill and a severed spine in the neck is just as humane as a shot to the brain. The signals from the birds brain not having chance to tell the muscles to open its wings or its heart to beat another pulse.

Chris’s zero had been altered to take into account the shorter range of the indoor rifle range the previous night so a quick swizzle of his elevation turret had it bang on and the little 1mm dot in the centre of the zero target vanished and was replaced by a circular hole of about 5.52mm

 

I took the chance to fire Chris’s S300 in its new stock, sweet as a nut the pellet hit where I placed the crosshair my final shot tore the card target to shreds as I took aim at the bamboo skewer that held the target in front of the backstop. The skewer vanished and stuck inside the hedge a very nice shot and I was left grinning like the proverbial Cheshire Moggie.

We made our way over to the big tree and chilled for a few minutes from the intensity of the heat and from the Sun.

Having cooled down and rigged up we both heard a Woody, it seemed very close, so close that I thought it was right over my head, Chris however reckoned it came from the top of the Power line just to my left, so cradling my beloved baby in my arm I reloaded her and inched out from under the tree. Just as I reached the edge I could see the Woody and, knowing that it was only about 40 feet up and a few yards away I knew I had to aim low to make this one count. Just as the first stage was taken up the darn bird decided to shuffle sideways along the top of the beam meaning a quick reacquisition of the target was needed.

The second the bird stopped moving the pellet was off and the feathers from the back of the head told me that I had judged the hold under correctly

The bird wobbled backward and opened its wings partially then and spiralled down behind the pole. I knew the growth behind the pole was thick but just how much it has grown in the last week astounded me. It was just above waist height last week, this week it was head height! I spent the next 15-20 minutes trampling down and cutting the weeds, nettles and grasses down still unable to find it. Eventually just as had given up looking I found it against the fence post between the pole and the paddock.

Having retrieved my 2^nd prize of the day, Chris and I parted company, I kept the cemetery under guard and Chris took the paddock.

Unfortunately though, neither of us got a shot off although Chris did see a few younger kits as they crossed in front of him, however the scrub wouldn’t allow for a clear shot on anything closer than a couple of yards. After hours of not seeing anything else we wandered over to the Spring Water tap in the cemetery and filled our water bottles. We then did a bit of target practice from the gates of the cemetery from 65 to 70 yards on a water bottle. Between the two of us, we managed to knock off the top of the bottle and send the bottle another 5 yards down range.

It was a good day despite the lack of adult bunnies and as we left the area, we saw a couple of roadside bunnies near the lights both were showing obvious signs of Myxie

 

End of day pic

 

 

Tony

[Daz 7 563]

Nice one Tony bud

 

Lovely write up and a nice Pair of Woodie's to de- Breast .

 

atvb Daz 7.

[zini 1,939]

Brilliant post Tony .

 

Good to see you out again with the trusty S200 pal.

 

Si.

[Skot Ruthless Teale 1,701]

well in mate good shooting

[stealthy1 3,964]

Good shooting Phantom