Weirdest Outing Yet!

[RemyBolt 420]

Okay, here's the scene...I'm down my normal permission. It's massive, and has the worlds luckiest rabbit. We all know this rabbit's time is coming to an end. Which is why I head straight down to his normal stomping ground.

 

I double check my zero; still good.

 

When I get down to where Mr Rabbit usually is, he is nowhere to be seen. I spend 30 minutes waiting for him to pop out. Nothing.

 

As I go around the other side of the barn, I see a quick movement. When I get my scope up on it, I do so just in time to see a Watership Down style run. As if slow motion, to mock me, as usual! This rabbit is really pecking my head! I think the day I get him will be the best day of my life! haha. Thankfully it's bank holiday, and the wife is away, so I'm going out every morning and evening to get him!

 

But the fact that this rabbit really does have lucky rabbit feet, is not the end of the world. The farmer has had many chickens pecked to death by the local crows and rooks. Which is one of the reasons I want to get this rabbit so badly. Slice it open and use it as bait. But, because of the fight he's putting up, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to skin it and wear it's fur as a hat! haha. Sorry, got a little distracted there. Back to the crows and rooks.

 

I pop down to the barn by the woods (where I last got 2 squirrels). I set up, sit down, and start to wait. As I'm sat there, the best thing to confirm my camouflage is working, happened. A robin landed on my barrel, hopped around a little, then flew off. Yesterday I had put some textured material over my barrel sleeve. It seems to be working a treat.

 

While I'm there waiting, this squirrel runs down the stoney road, and then up a large wooden post of the fence. When I say large wooden post, imagine a railway sleeper cut in half. So there's this squirrel sat on this post. No eating or anything else. Just sat there, like Seneca, philosophising about the world in which he existed, and what his role in the play-of-life was. Just at that moment his thoughts were interrupted by a .177 pellet hitting just low and taking a small chip out of the wooden post.

 

I look at this squirrel, then get annoyed at myself. He's not moved. Just curious about what that sound was, while I reloaded another .177 into my gun. I shot again. Another fence post impact, exactly the same spot!

 

While looking at this squirrel sat there contemplating who-knows-what, a thought flashed through my mind. I wonder if, like people, certain animals have a set time to die? Maybe for this little squirrel, it just wasn't his time?

 

Then it struck me. obviously I'd not thought about hold over. It was only about a 10 meter shot after all. So I compensated and reshot. Like an idiot, I compensated as if shooting at 40 meters! The pellet must have flown over it's head, because there was no 'thud' impact sound, of hitting a kill shot, but there was a rustling sound of a pellet flying through a load of leaves.

 

Clearly it was not this squirrel's time.

 

So I reloaded again, rested up, and waited for the cawing crows to start their "Wake up, we're flying around" calls. Which did start.

 

The first one was, I thought, a good clean shot. Up a tree on the corner of the wooded area. Stuck the crow clean in the head. The wings flapped, and it started to fly...for a second I thought I had missed. Then suddenly it dropped down dead. The time lapse between hearing the 'thud' and it dropping was about 0.5 of a second. But in that time it looked like it was about to fly off. One flap up in the air, wings wide apart, ready to fly....this is where I got worried. Then it dropped as the biggest sigh came from my mouth. PHEW! Dropped into the wooded area. The farmer doesn't care if I retrieve them for him....thankfully.

 

Later on I pop back round to see if I can get that stupid rabbit! I saw Mr Squirrel, but decided it clearly wasn't his time to pass away, so I just watched him run around for a bit.

 

While waiting near a rabbit trail, I heard this lovely sound of rooks. Granted it's a hideous noise, but it does signify time to take a shot haha. So I started a stalk on the tree. they were in This tree had about 7 or 8 crows in it. All I had to do was stalk over and pop one of them. So I started slowly walking over there. These crows are super weary. I've been thinning their numbers for a while now, so a 'normal' approach wouldn't have worked. I decided not to look at them during my stalk. Instead I opted for a spot that I thought would provide me with a good angle and the right distance. To further hide my face, I decided to walk half-backwards, looking over my shoulder if unsure of my direction.

 

It was pretty much open ground, otherwise I would have had many more options to get to them.

 

When I got to my shooting position, all but 1 rook had flown away.

 

I like to call this 1 rook, the one that didn't get away.

 

It dropped clean, onto the ground. Very happy with the shot.

 

So, although Mr Rabbit evaded me...as usual, and I failed to kill a philosophical squirrel, I did bag me 2 corvids for the day. One retrievable, the other not.

 

I'm out tonight ratting. Will be putting out some bait and hopefully getting some nice numbers! It's kind of fun when the wife's away.

[mark williams 7,558]

Shooting Remy and nice read.

 

atb

[j j m 6,553]

good read remy mate