Granddad's 20 Foot Up A Tree....daft Sod.

[Daz39 962]

It’s 8am, I fell in bed at 4:30am this morning after a 10 hour shift with Bigmac at the farm last night, so please excuse me if the order of events is a little mixed up, I’m drinking redbull for breakfast before work.

 

When Bigmac turned up at the permission last night, he gets out of the car with a huge smile… “what?” I ask to which he replies “One – nil” and reaches into his footwell to pull out a little kit. I swear he ran the poor thing over but he tells me he shot it in the car park as he arrived…well that was me on the back foot before I’d even got the gun out of the boot! I actually vote that one doesn’t count.

 

It was very windy last night and I’m not sure if that kept the Kite and Hawk away, but thankfully there were no dark shadows in the sky and it was like a Chaz and Dave concert last night..rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, pigeon, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit. Had it not been for the wind, we’d have brought home 20-25 rabbits last night, and that isn’t exaggerating. I took 14 shots and Bigmac at least that and some more and only the wind saved many a bunny. Often there were 2 rabbits together, so naturally you can only pick one (sadly our telepathy isn’t on song yet). It made for a bloody good nights hunting.

 

The main events go as follows, after Bigmac car park cheating I had the first chance of the night, a good size rabbit 35 yards away, I got a good head shot and the rabbit went down but by the time we crossed the field he had managed to crawl very slowly in to his burrow which was hidden in the undergrowth. I have read a lot about getting clean kills and not letting rabbits die in burrows, so I was upset about this one. I know he was dead, I just hadn’t seen the burrow and must had hit slightly off centre.

 

Bigmac was up next and spotted a pair of rabbits about 50 yards away in a shadow under a tree..he just started stalking off up one of the lanes and I was like “what’s that silly bugger doing”…couldn’t see anything. That still amazes me, the hunters eye…still need to develop mine. Anyway, Bigmac dropped to one knee and took a 44 yrd shot (paced) and took the rabbit with a chest shot. He again dragged himself off into the under growth (The rabbit not Bigmac) as we both ran up to where the rabbit was. The nettles were 5 foot high and thick but we searched for 5-10 mins until Bigmac said, there he is…laying dead 2 inch from my right boot. Bigmac’s shot had gone through the lung and broken the rabbits thigh on exit, he’d managed 2 yards from where he was hit before he died.

 

Next we spotted a pair of rabbits about 70 yards away on the edge of some stubble. We climbed a fence and startled them, but layup prone with the bipod to see if they would come back out. They did and I took a 34 yard head shot and the rabbit just rolled over still. Bigmac had said not to go get it to see if his mate came out to check on him. We layup for another 10 mins (Bigmac whispering…”you are desperate to go pick that up aren’t you?” and I was, but remembered to give the other rabbit a chance. He didn’t show and I picked up a good size adult female. Making up for one that got away.

 

Entry wound.

 

Exit wound

After a break as the light was starting to fade, Bigmac spotted a pigeon in a tree. He took a shot and killed it instantly, but as it fell, it wedged in the fork of a branch. Bigmac turned to look at me as if to say “fetch!”. My reply was “mate, I’ve a metal bloody hip, my tree climbing days are well over”. Bigmac then proceeded to reach up to a branch and scale this damn tree like a 12 year old. I was about to tell him to get down, and not be so daft, when he dropped the pigeon and deftly followed it himself. It’s not often you see a granddad climb 20 foot up a tree to get a pigeon, he must really love pigeon breast. Mind, the bird yielded a good hand and a half size breast.

 

Walking further round I had my second kill but un-retrievable of the night. This time a 25 yard head shot where the bunny back flipped and managed to go through a barbed wire fence which borders the permission. It literally fell into a burrow off the property and we knew it was out of reach and out of bounds. I hated having to leave that one too.

 

Just after that Bigmac got his 3^rd of the night, scanning with the red lamp he spotted a rabbit no more than 15 yards away and dispatched it with a clean head shot. The wind had started picking up now and we both missed a few rabbits. We took a walk to part of the permission I hadn’t been to and literally every 10 yards a new rabbit popped up. Here I took my 2^nd and my best shot of the night. We stalked up to a pair of rabbits and I went prone but had no clear shot so I had to sit up. I took a kneeling position and shot the rabbit just in the corner of the eye. I had been aiming slightly right but the wind had taken it over. Bigmac said, “nah you missed it mate” and only when we walked over to where I had shot it in the longer grass did we see it had in fact dropped down exactly where it was hit. Again it was a good size doe and when I started to remove the belly skin to gut her I was squirted with some white stuff. Bigmac thought it was funny and said, mind that is milk, she is either about to litter or has had a bunch of kits. The thought of finding a bunch of kits inside her worried me a little but thankfully she had already given birth.

 

 

That was pretty much it on the night, the wind was swirling so much now we were both missing from 20 yrds and less, I had several bang on crosshair and watched the wind take pellets just over the rabbits nose or just behind an ear. It was swirling & gusting so you couldn’t predict any windage. Bigmac decided it was time to quit or we could injure a rabbit rather than kill it cleanly. He however couldn’t resist one last rabbit on the way back to the car. He walked into a paddock and stalked to about 15 yards from the rabbit and went prone, as he took aim a Shetland pony walked right in front of his rifle. Now Bigmac is something of a doctor dolittle at the farm, every damn animal from the Deer & llama to the horses and sheep all follow him around. He did a couple of deft commando rolls to the right and took up aim again, only for a different pony to walk in front of him again. By the time he commando rolled left the bunny gave him the “V” and ran off so he never had chance to take the shot.

 

The night ended 2-2, I told him he couldn’t count the pigeon and the kit he shot before he got out of the car…he said he could, but then I pointed out that my two weighed 3x as much as his little tiddlers. I’m claiming a draw!

 

My two.

 

We left around 4am and I have to admit, after 10 hours my legs were heavy, the rifle felt like a 10kg bazooka not a 3kg air rifle. This hunting is exhausting, I’m all for building a hide next time. During the night we were treated to a meteor shower, a storm off in the distance and some amazing star gazing. I tried to explain to my wife how fantastic the night had been, how I didn’t want to come home, how I could have stayed in those fields another 4 hours until the farm opened. She didn’t understand and it must seem crazy to others. “What do you talk about for 10 hours” she asked, “stuff” says I, “sometimes we can walk for 30 mins and not say a word, just focus on spotting the next target, stalking it down and getting into position to be able to take a clean shot”…her eyes glazed over and she walked off.

 

My two and Bigmacs 4

 

As I drove home this morning, it took every ounce of SENSE to stop me turning round and going back. Had it not been for work and family (and the wind), I could have easily pulled an all nighter. It was a brilliant night. I’d asked bigmac this morning, “What time did you go back up then?” convinced he would be back out with so many rabbits out last night. “5:30” he said “and I got 6 more rabbits…..then I woke up”.

 

Daz

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Did he not think to shoot the head of the pigeon to impart motion ie shoot the beggar out, had to do that with a pheasant once, got stuck in one fork, shot the head, fell down, into another fork, shot the head again, fell into a damned third fork, one again shot at what was once the head, fell to the ground!

 

Nice write up and some interesting shooting!

[Daz39 962]

Nah, he's tight as fooook, wouldn't waste the pellets

[air gun ant 1,666]

good write up mate , but personally id of rather found the kits still in the belly than think of them starving to death down in the burrow

[RossM 8,120]

So the rabbit crawled very slowly? Did you not think to run or take a second shot? But hey it was dead right?

[Daz39 962]

A very fair point sir, I guess we don't have the choice in these matters. It's not like she carries a sign around her neck.

[Daz39 962]

So the rabbit crawled very slowly? Did you not think to run or take a second shot? But hey it was dead right?

We did mate, jumped up and ran right over, but it was only a yard from the burrow (under a hedge) we were 30 odd yards from it and when we got there it was out of reach. It pains me that it wasn't clean, but we all do out best right? If we listened to the doubt, we'd never shoot, and you can't account for every eventuality.

[bigmac 97kt 13,796]

So the rabbit crawled very slowly? Did you not think to run or take a second shot? But hey it was dead right?

We all have shot at some thing and hit it in the wrong place at some time or another even you if you tell the truth and some times its the nerves and the two or three kicks that pushes the victim down the hole even when its dead just let me point out that you can cut a hens head off and it will still run around but hey its dead right atvbmac

[bigmac 97kt 13,796]

Did he not think to shoot the head of the pigeon to impart motion ie shoot the beggar out, had to do that with a pheasant once, got stuck in one fork, shot the head, fell down, into another fork, shot the head again, fell into a damned third fork, one again shot at what was once the head, fell to the ground!

 

Nice write up and some interesting shooting!

Hi mole i could not get a clear shot mate the fork it fell into was one that splits off from the trunk and all i could see was part of its wing bi-leave me im not 12 yrs old eny more but i did not want to leave it so this 49yr old climbed the tree to tell you the truth i was shitting my self they say kids have no fear and its tru as when i was 12 i would not of batted an eye lid :laugh: atvbmac :thumbs:

[Daz39 962]

You know what guys. I had wanted to keep my posts open and honest as a newbie on only his 4th hunt. I had hoped to pass on things like;-

 

* Try not to shoot a rabbit near its burrow (if you can SEE it's burrow).

* If you hit a rabbit and it doesn't go down right away, get up and finish it off quickly.

* If it gets too windy to allow you to shoot well, STOP.

 

Stuff 90% of the people on here do instinctively. However the 10% of us who have never hunted or who are just starting out might just find that helpful. Getting clever comments only serves to stop people posting what could be good information.

 

I had 2 very good head shot clean kills. When I could no longer do that, I stopped. I searched for each rabbit that didn't just drop, with the intent of making sure it didn't suffer.

You can ask Bigmac too, so many times I passed up the shots as I wasn't confident and I told him to take them.

 

I think I learned another lesson - Don't be honest, just talk about the clean ones, that way, you are a perfect hunter and never miss or maim, even if it is out of your control.

Edited September 2, 2013 by Daz39

[The one 8,482]

Nice read mate , anybody doing a bit of rabbit control just now will have problems two death flips and a dead rabbit could be in four or five foot cover a dead rabbits getting to a burrow you can only try shoving your arm down there or a bit of bramble . lately ive had some nice bags of rabbits but its the ones i didn't pick up i rember most even to the extent of going back in the morning with a dog and often then i get a few , as things look total different in the day light

[bigmac 97kt 13,796]

Nice read mate , anybody doing a bit of rabbit control just now will have problems two death flips and a dead rabbit could be in four or five foot cover a dead rabbits getting to a burrow you can only try shoving your arm down there or a bit of bramble . lately ive had some nice bags of rabbits but its the ones i didn't pick up i rember most even to the extent of going back in the morning with a dog and often then i get a few , as things look total different in the day light

Here,here an honest hunter . if we hit every thing spot on we would not have a sport as there would not be eny thing to shoot if i miss i say i miss ,if i hit but not right i say so if i wound i say i wound Daz39 is just trying to be honest ,as i am im teaching him how to be a good hunter and an honest one at that why say some thing that is not true or leave some thing out as that would not be a true account of the nights hunting there is a saying learn by your mistakes but its totally obvious that some people on here don't make mistakes and they are perfect hunters Yer right.My hat is off to you the one and a big thumbs up atvbmac :thumbs:

[Daz39 962]

Nice read mate , anybody doing a bit of rabbit control just now will have problems two death flips and a dead rabbit could be in four or five foot cover a dead rabbits getting to a burrow you can only try shoving your arm down there or a bit of bramble . lately ive had some nice bags of rabbits but its the ones i didn't pick up i rember most even to the extent of going back in the morning with a dog and often then i get a few , as things look total different in the day light

Thanks fella. I have to admit, again as a newbie, killing your first rabbit/pigeon whatever is a one off experience. I wasn't expecting the twitching and jumps. Seeing a rabbit flip 1-2 times with a clean brain shot is shocking. Anyone can pick up a gun and shoot paper/metal targets, but shooting a live animal is very very different and the feelings can be very mixed. From elation, surprise and shock to feeling sick and guilty. You don't read that in many posts, it is all something I wanted to share as I set out on my hunting journey. Most posts on here, youtube or the other sites like WOC etc are done by experience (in some cases perfect) hunters, I just want to put a fresh, green pair of eyes on it all. Talk about stuff most of you have forgotten, take for granted or do out of instinct.

 

One thing I wanted to do when I started out with Bigmac and Vislauk was to make sure I wasn't one of those people who just shot and walked away. But that does mean getting your hands dirty, literally. Bigmac has taught me to gut & skin the rabbits. Again, the softness of the fur, the feel of the warm rabbits insides when you are taking out the heart and lungs, the smells and sights are, well, shocking the first time round. No amount of reading can prepare you for it (and hence my perhaps missplaced relief when the doe wasn't pregnant) and nievely I post things on here perhaps I shouldn't. It makes a difference when guys like you post comments showing understanding and encouragement. Thanks.

[RossM 8,120]

Ok fair enough, I never looked at it like that and I can see these things happen, accept my apologies and enjoy yourself lads,

 

Ross

[Daz39 962]

Ok fair enough, I never looked at it like that and I can see these things happen, accept my apologies and enjoy yourself lads,

 

Ross

Done, and we will.

 

Thanks, Ross.

 

I'm not the most responsive to critisism after 2 hours kip. The point IS very valid, if you don't take it out in one, make sure you take it out in TWO!!