Bullet Proof Bunnies, A Bloody Great Hawk And A Time Machine (A Newbies First Shoot).

[Daz39 962]

Last night I got to go out on my first hunt. I had posted on here to ask if anyone could teach me a few things, but had no offers. Then after meeting some guys (Bigmac & Vislauk) at the shooting range, they offered to take me out on their permission to give me a taste of hunting and critically for me, to pass on those tips to help prepare me for the day I manage to find my own permission. I have to say, I like the taste of hunting very much indeed!

 

Last night wasn’t just about how many bunnies I could get, it was a chance to learn from a pair of very good hunters, just what is required to prepare, carry out and leave a shooting trip. Things like the obvious (call ahead to the land owners to let them know you are coming. If it is a public place, make sure you come out of hours, and if there are still people around, don’t go waving your rifle around), things like the not so obvious for a newbie (If you hit something, you need to get the p1ss and guts out within 20 mins. Make sure you have something to carry your prey home in. If you hit something, don’t just run over and grab it, hold on 5 mins to see if his mate comes to check him out. If you gut and clean anything, don’t leave the head and guts for the public to find the next morning). I know the majority of people on here know all this already, but I learned more last night than I have in the last 2 months reading and watching on line. One of the biggest lessons is that rabbits do not just sit up, wait for you to get 10 yrds away, then turn their head to present a perfect kill zone (and allow you 2-3 shots if you miss on the first attempt). All those clips on line make it look easy…..and it isn’t. For every clean head shot of a bunny from 20 yards, there must be 20-30 un-shown clips of near misses, not so clean kills and a million “ones that got away”.

 

I arrived like a kid in a sweet shop (Sweet not sweat) at 5:15 and after zeroing the scopes, we went for our first tour of the permission. Bigmac was pointing out the best places to find this and that, talking me through the basics and before long he’d spotted the first Rabbit. I stood still while he stalked a little closer and took up position. The little bugger decided to move just beyond a fence and left Bigmac with a difficult shot through grass and bushes, that one got away. Within seconds of that I saw what was to be the bane of the night, a huge bloody great hawk flying around right where we were. We also spotted a second smaller hawk in a different location, but the pair of them had made all the birds and rabbits very skittish all night.

 

Bigmac was spotting quite a few rabbits and I have to say, it took me ages to see them. My eye sight isn’t that bad, but I just didn’t have the vision to spot the damn things. Most of the rabbits were legging it before we could get within 100 yards but we spotted another pair, I hung back watching through my scope (and had a perfect head shot, but at 50 yrds) while Bigmac got closer. He took a shot and from both our positions looked like a hit smack bang in the head (and a good twack noise) the rabbit flipped….and ran into some deep scrub & brambles. We had a look but couldn’t find it.

 

A little later on we spotted some rabbits which ran into cover when we approached. Bigmac said to lay up and wait and they would come back out. Sure enough they did after 10 mins and I had my first shot. It LOOKED again like a perfect head shot, a loud smack as the pellet hit (sounded like a pellet on skull to me), and the bunny went down fast. I thought that was it until I saw a white tail again run into the thick wooded area. Yet again on searching, nothing to be found.

 

We took a break and met up with vizlauk who took me out on the next roam around. It was great being able to spend time with both lads as they have very different techniques and tips. They walk different routes and have different “favourite” spots. The light started to fade now so the lamps came on, I wasn’t really prepared for the EVIL SHEEP that kept on looking back at me haha. We spotted a few rabbits, had a few shots, and vizlauk got a perfect shot on one, the rabbit flipped and for the 3^rd time that night, used it’s last ounce of adrenalin to nip in to cover where we couldn’t find it. We went back for a cuppa and vizlauk spotted bigmac’s car boot open “the b******” only gone and got something. Sure enough, one dead bunny and one pigeon.

 

Now Bigmac had promised to teach me how to gut & prepare the animals and I swore to myself I would have a go. When I got back the guts were already out of the rabbit, but he showed me how to skin it and prep it for the freezer. I must say, it was less gruesome than I expected and I had to promise to do the first one I bag. The Pigeon however was less palatable, Bigmac’s shot had pretty much ripped half the pigeons shoulder and neck off and Bigmac proceeded to rip the wings off, pluck it and stick his thumbs under the sternum to rip the ribcage, breasts included right off the body. He pealed the skin back to reveal 2 perfect pigeon breasts (Which were kindly donated to me along with the rabbit and now sit in my freezer). In some VERY small way, I was a little relived I didn’t have to face that on my first hunt. It made me laugh that seconds after gutting the animals, Bigmac picked up a pie and tucked right in. I’d lost a little of my appetite at this point.

 

Vizlauk left for home but bigmac and I had another roam around. If spotting the rabbits in day light was hard, using the red and green lamps made seeing them easier, but I found it took longer for my eyes to adjust and focus through the scopes. We both had a couple more shots at some rabbits but I missed mine (with Bigmac saying I’d have hit that bang in the brain J) much to my annoyance.

When we finally got back to the cars it was almost 1:30am. I had been walking round and round the permission for the best part of 8 hours. It felt like 2-3 hours maximum. I was totally elated, bless, Bigmac was gutted for me that I didn’t get a kill, but I know it will come, and I’ll practice daily to ensure that. I had a superb time and as I expected, stalking and hunting is far more interesting and fun than plinking at paper and metal targets at the range or back garden. I feel very lucky to have been able to get out in a lovely environment to taste this hunting way of life. I loved it.

 

Massive thanks to Bigmac and Vislauk for taking this newbie out. I’ll leave you with one of my typical quotes from last night…

 

Me- “Mac, look, something over there” (as a pair of red eyes stare back at me)

Bigmac- “Daz man, it’s a f***ing coo” (In his best Geordie accent)

Me- “ah, right, that’ll not fit in the car….”

 

[bigmac 97kt 13,781]

A good write up mate and you will get one soon i promise you that im back out tomorrow night with little hunter he has to get his first rabbit yet iv got a feeling he will succeed tomorrow atvbmac

[rabbitcatcher 1 287]

Good read that fella and top blokes for taking you out, shouldn't be long and you will have 1 in the bag, keep at em

Atb rc1

[jandcguns 65]

good write up keep at em

[Daz39 962]

A good write up mate and you will get one soon i promise you that im back out tomorrow night with little hunter he has to get his first rabbit yet iv got a feeling he will succeed tomorrow atvbmac

Cheers fella. Good luck to little hunter, hope he has more luck.

 

And cheers for the new avatar

[vizlauk 1,568]

Very good write up mate & pleased we were able to offer you the chance of a wander around on our permission - you are more than welcome to come again mate - as the more you go the more you will learn - everyone has to start somewhere & myself and jimmy would help anyone we can ! early morning shoot will be more productive - to be arranged !

Regards Sean

[Daz39 962]

Very good write up mate & pleased we were able to offer you the chance of a wander around on our permission - you are more than welcome to come again mate - as the more you go the more you will learn - everyone has to start somewhere & myself and jimmy would help anyone we can ! early morning shoot will be more productive - to be arranged !

Regards Sean

Very much looking forward to it! I'll fetch the bait this time!

[j j m 6,538]

good write up bud

[Daz39 962]

good write up bud

Thank you. Better with a pen than a rifle at the moment haha

[falcongit 242]

theres always next time bud,at least you enjoyed yourself and its not always about taking home a kill its about taking part and having a laugh with your mates, great write up

 

atb symon

[Astral 253]

I really enjoyed reading that, a great insight as I'm still a newb too! Looking forward to going out with my rifle.

[stealthy1 3,964]

Good write up lads

[Daz39 962]

theres always next time bud,at least you enjoyed yourself and its not always about taking home a kill its about taking part and having a laugh with your mates, great write up

 

atb symon

Thanks, Symon. I agree 100%, Bigmac was gutted for me, but I kept saying, mate I had a bloody great night. I didn't expect to be coming home with a freezer full, not on the first outing. It was indeed for me about getting out and learning LOADS from these two top lads.

[Daz39 962]

I really enjoyed reading that, a great insight as I'm still a newb too! Looking forward to going out with my rifle.

Cheers, Astral.

 

I kinda hoped there would be a few newbies who might enjoy that. The ammount of stuff I didn't know was 10x that of the stuff I "thought" I knew. Some of the posts on here are aimed at seasoned hunters, and I can get a bit lost. This one is for the greener hunters among us .

 

Mind if Bigmac told me once to "learn to walk lightly" he told me 100 times.....I'm 6'1" and 16 stone, I don't do ANYTHING lightly haha.

[bigmac 97kt 13,781]

 

I really enjoyed reading that, a great insight as I'm still a newb too! Looking forward to going out with my rifle.

Cheers, Astral.

 

I kinda hoped there would be a few newbies who might enjoy that. The ammount of stuff I didn't know was 10x that of the stuff I "thought" I knew. Some of the posts on here are aimed at seasoned hunters, and I can get a bit lost. This one is for the greener hunters among us .

 

Mind if Bigmac told me once to "learn to walk lightly" he told me 100 times.....I'm 6'1" and 16 stone, I don't do ANYTHING lightly haha.

 

You will LEARN TO WALK LIGHTLY or you will not get eny where near them it will come to you all of a sudden im back out to night mate to get the ones i missed, O.and im still learning there is still alot of things that i need to learn mate atvbmac