Pigeons and a Pricket

[greengrass3 0]

I have just come in from hanging a gralloched pricket in the barn. I took the rifle out mid afternoon and reached my high seat a couple of hours before dusk. Whilst walking around the edge of two rape fields I disturbed many hundreds of woodies who flocked around in the light mist before before settling in clouds in adjacent woodland. Can they tell the difference between a man carrying a rifle and one with a 12 bore? I ask this because as climbing into my seat I was surrounded by roosting pigeons, some not 50 metres distant and not unduly concerned. After about 30 minutes a dozen pheasants feeding out in the rape lifted their heads and stared intently at the woodland edge. A sure sign. I slipped the safety forward on the .243 as a single unusually dark pricket sauntered out from the conifer plantation and began feeding on the young crop. A simple heart shot at 120 metres. He bucked with the shot, ran forward, turned a full circle and re-entered the wood. I gave him five minutes but knew he was dead before I located him some 20 metres in from the field edge. No pigeons now. The sky was dark with fleeing wings. I drove the Ranger as close as I could before dragging the fallow out and near rupturing myself lifting him into the back. I'm getting too long in the tooth for this game.

[SNAP SHOT 194]

Nice one....

[spudlington 3]

Good stuff