A Crow A Pheasant And A Couple Of Rabbits

[Craig Fosse 286]

Day off today and the weather was perfect, cloudy with outbreaks of sun, the odd shower and no wind.

 

I planned two trips today, a sunrise and sunset. I headed out yesturday to check zero my rifle before I went down in this morning, something I don't particularly like doing but as my current scope hasn't lost its zero yet which is a nice change from my old mountmaster. And I wanted to create as less noise as possible I made sure I looked after my rifle as soon as it was zeroed.

 

Set off early this morning with a hit at the rabbits first... Unfortunatly a lot of stalks which ended with the the ever depressing white tail floating across the fields. A bit of a poor morning to tell the truth. Not much about.... I headed off to the woodland in hopes of a woody rising, but not much luck, with the ivy and leaves still on, placement just wasn't there. To my utter surprise a crow landed about 20 yards in front of me which I took at a sitting supported position. I'm not one really for shooting crows because I only genuinely shoot for food, so I can count this as my first crow that I have ever shot before. I shot it straight through the neck and spine and it folded and dropped like a stone..

 

 

After a few hours a quick chat to the land lady as always and I went back for lunch. Unfortunatly I was late coming back as the misses horse had been very ill and I spent most of the lunch time running around helping out.

 

I managed to get back out at about half 4, for a quick check zero and to try some of the daystate heavy pellets villaman gladly sent me.... I was happy after 20 shots that they were producing groups well within 5p at 27 yards.... Which is a nice heavy pellet to use, I plinked around for about half an hour and ended with shooting the twigs off a downed branch, so confidence booming I got into my LLCS and headed out. Went back to where I saw the bunnies run off before and nothing around....on my way back on the small walk to the famous rabbit warren I have on my permission something caught my eye. After a quick scan again I worked it out to be the beak of a Cockbird sunning itself in the land owners veg patch..... For the past couple of months I have let the pheasants breed a bit, I have taken the role of managing the area so that I don t wipe the pheasants off the property completely, I'm glad to report that 3 of the hen birds on the permission have recently hatched and there are now 10 or so hen birds wondering round...the potatoes won't be dug in until at the very earliest December and the mustard is just used as fertilising so I have let the pheasants breed and mature. The Cockbird however was too ripe for the taking....the position I was at was unsafe to shoot at because a bunline lay 70meters behind which then leads on to a back road which is rarely used but even still not worth the chance in case the pellet didnt hit the mound..... I managed to side crawl a full 90 degrees all the time the phesant not even paying the slightest bit of interest, I ended up being about 15 yards away from it where I dispatched it cleanly (I would hope so)!.... A nice start to the evening.

 

 

With my game bag bulging because of the pheasant I set off. All the fields now have been seeded with mustard and grass, the ones with grass have been used for grazing the local farmers herds....on walking to the warren I had this strange sensation I was being watched, on turning round I realised why...

 

 

Eventually I managed to loose the welcoming party and make it to the warren, peering over the bunline I managed to spot a rabbit, the only one out for now... about 25 ish yards and in a part with not much decline... A little hold under, and I slowly squeezed the trigger, a loud TWACK and over he rolls, a nice big buck rabbit... Perfect placement.

 

 

Off to the woods to check around...after an hour sit down, not much happening, a few woodies around but nothing worth even contemplating a shot.. Light slowly going down I headed back to the warren for one last look, on peering over two rabbits spotted but one bolts while the other stays... 30ish yards and I line up again, crosshairs placed, squeeze and drop....a doe with perfect placement again......

 

One happy man....and two lovely furs for the freezer, almost enough for a batch of tanning.

 

Couple more photos

 

 

I honestly cannot rate the s200 enough, for me its the perfect rifle.

 

Hope you enjoyed the read.

 

Craig

[tomburras 2,729]

great write up and it sounds like a nice permission you have there wait until phesant season tho before shooting phesants cos you may get into bother

[reaper1064 285]

Nice going mate, a few nice nice meals there.

[reaper1064 285]

Think the rules are a bit different where he comes from in regards to pheasants.

[villaman 9,983]

Well done mate a nice write up . Glad you liked the pellets

[A1WOC 212]

It must be great to be able to take pheasants without looking over your shoulder to see who's around. Here on mainland we wouldn’t dream of shooting pheasant with an air rifle, would we?

Regards, Steve

[tomburras 2,729]

Aah where are you? Thaught you was on mainland. Are you in jersey?

[Craig Fosse 286]

Sorry guys i forgot to put the statement at the bottom!, pheasant shooting where I am is legal in jersey, they are not classed as a game bird, however you do need a special licence in order to shoot them, which I have.

 

BASC

 

JERSEY

 

All wild birds are protected with the exception of carrion crow, magpie, feral pigeon and woodpigeon which may be shot under licence. However licences may be granted by the Minister under the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000 Article 16(1) and (2) which would otherwise constitute an offence for the purposes of:

 

Preventing damage to crops, livestock, foodstuff for livestock, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or other forms of property ,

 

Public health or public or air safety,

 

Prevention of the spread of disease

Edited September 26, 2013 by Craig Fosse

[Daz39 962]

Nice write up and nice bag mate, top shooting.

[bigmac 97kt 13,780]

TOP CLASS SHOOTING Craig and good photos and write up ,the s200 is a cracking rifle my son has one that i got for him last xmass its the second one he has had and he loves them even more that his scorpion all have been in 22 flavor O by the way we don't shoot pheasants here ether atvbmac

[Craig Fosse 286]

I must admit if I have a choice and the numbers arnt causing to much of a problem I favour the air rifle over a shotgun to keep the numbers down, so much cleaner meat!

 

And mac.... I would believe u if it wasn't for the eye rolling and sly whistling you have going on there!! Haha

[Craig Fosse 286]

Cheers daz mate! I'm well chuffed and so are the cats!

[The one 8,467]

Nice going mate

[Daz39 962]

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the pelts mate. I often feel like I should make more of them...

[Craig Fosse 286]

I just think its too good to waste, even if I end up making gloves or cat toys out of them at least it's Somethng else that is t just left to decmpose