What Do You Get Out Of Hunting / Shooting

[charlie caller 3,654]

As that greatest of all English naturalists "BB" Denys Watkins pitchford said, it is so much more enjoyable observing nature with a gun in one's hand, I like to think that although our practices are radically different from our forebears, I am doing the same thing broadly speaking,that my Saxon ancestors were doing a thousand years or more ago, the older I get, the less concerned I am if I have a blank day (except perhaps trout fishing) the fresh air, exercise, company (sometimes) seeing things that our towny friends (poor sods) dont even know exist, and just sitting feeling the ebb and flow of nature around me, makes me think I will be a hunter until the day I shuffle off this mortal coil,and when I am asked to justify what I do, I can never get out of my head the late Colin Willock's quote about Kenzie Thorpe, the wild goose man, "you might as well ask the stoat why he catches rabbits, or the Goshawk why she pounces on a pheasant chick"

[villaman 9,983]

Looks like we all do it for roughly the same reasons , nice

[treecreeper 1,136]

Same as you lads really, its part of my "condition" that I need solitude and my own company hence why I enjoy fishing and shooting, I take no joy in the kill I think anyone who just enjoys the killing is a bit weird.

[abarrett 462]

Great out doors ,fresh air ,nice views

My arse

If some one came to any of you lads and asked

Do you fancy a night in a stinking transfer station knee deep in shite

But I guarantee you will shoot 200 rats

Would you hand on heart say no thanks

It's all about the field craft and views

It's all about the excitement

It doesn't matter if your shooting , calling ,lamping

You know you feel it

If you don't THEN that's the time to jack

[villaman 9,983]

Not time to jack at all , just appreciate what is around you ,its not just about killing stuff for the sack of it !!

[pianoman 3,587]

I wouldn't have written what I did if I didn't mean it abarrett. I can safely take it then for you, the countryside is really little other but a killing ground and you are only there to shoot everything you can see.

 

I had a lovely walk out in some glorious countryside this Good Friday afternoon and tonight, bagged 8 rabbits and a couple of woodies with my Weihrach HW77 .22 spring rifle ( a proper rifle) and had a couple of pints with the farmer at a lovely old pub afterwards. Time to pack it in, by your use of the word jack? No, I really don't think so, not for a long while yet.

 

As for being knee deep in shite for 200 rats? Not for triple the number old son. I did more than enough of that when I was your age.

[abarrett 462]

I'm not saying you don't mean it I believe you mean every word

What I'm saying is if it's not the excitement of that good shot

Why not enjoy all those things but leave the gun at home

As for killing things for the sake of it

I have shotguns,centre fires,rimfires,air rifles

Apart from rats the last time I shot anything was beginning of Feb on cock day on the estate I beat on

I can't remember the last time I shot a rabbit because I have no use for them when I've shot them

So I don't

I get out evert week on the foxes. I lamp not shoot but still the excitement is there seeing a good well placed shot

I did stand in a waste station Wednesday night and between us shot 111 rats

That was work but it was also a great bit of sport

And at 47 years old I still love it

Pianoman if it wasn't for that satisfied feeling you get after a good shot why add to the challenge of the shot by

Using a spring gun it because it's a challenge and that good shot is now made sweeter by using something harder to be

Accurate with

So again sorry if I came across wrong

[Deker 3,478]

 

 

Mmmm a little bit more powerful than my .177 and .22 air rifles then .

 

1,000 yards is great marksmanship, but is not exactly the "Field Craft" air gun hunters have to attain.

 

"What ever floats your boat" i suppose.

 

 

 

 

( figures,- it did say 1000 yards didn`t it ?)

 

 

atb

Yep 1000, bit outside air rifles but it shows what can be done.

 

This is what it looks like...

20140830_135034a.jpg

 

Centre of picture enlarged to show targets, grainy sadly, but it is a long way!

20140830_135034crop.jpg

I don't know.......38 mildot holdover and a good 150 yards left judging by the way the flags are blowing, you may get close.

 

 

 

The rifle is zeroed for 1000 yards, so no worries there, but interestingly with the .308 ammo used on that occasion I seem to recall the bullet arc was well over 30ft high at it highest point.

 

At that distance bullets don't go straight through, they sort of fall at the target!

 

Just like an Air rifle pellet at distance!

 

[bigmac 97kt 13,806]

I can see both points hear

 

I took a shot just the other week end with the pro sport 177 50yrds one shot one kill perfect kill zone shot standing

 

and if im honest it made my night just to pull off a shot like that with a spring rifle and every shot after that did not make me feel the way that first shot did

 

So yes the feeling you get dose make you feel good but i can agree with Simon to its good to be out in the country side

 

and see nature out and about we do alot of night time shooting and see wild life that you dont see in day light

 

Yes its good bloody good to fill your bag but if you dont then what the hell at least your out and about and not sitting in the house in front of the box .

 

I think some of the lads hear are right to when your out most of the time it becomes like a job and not a hobby

 

me and Viz get called out a lot to take care of a lot of vermin and have a lot of different rifles for different jobs

 

and iv seen him do some cracking shots not just long distance shots but hard shots to where you cant just see the kill zone shots i would not take but he never misses and all ways hits the kill zone

 

I think he just needs to take a brake away for a good few weeks , its in his blood he cant walk away from it he is one of the best out there

 

and his knowledge of hunting and rifles would be a loss to the shooting community , we have as you all know tort a few new be,s rookys and took them out with us on our lands and help,d them get there own perms and show,d them how to go on this would all stop if he left .

 

and apart from that who the Feck would i argue with when im out lol

 

atvbmac :thumbs:

[vizlauk 1,568]

Seems a lot of pointers and topics are coming up on this thread; different opinions and people's reasons for hunting and shooting; I won't be packing in; but I am going have a break until I feel the urge; I can still go out but may leave the guns at home; even join my mate on a shooting trip and just walk my dogs over the land; time will tell

[mark williams 7,558]

Seems a lot of pointers and topics are coming up on this thread; different opinions and people's reasons for hunting and shooting; I won't be packing in; but I am going have a break until I feel the urge; I can still go out but may leave the guns at home; even join my mate on a shooting trip and just walk my dogs over the land; time will tell

Try a little trapping Viz , i love the challenge.

 

atb

 

 

p.s. i`m loving the scope mate

[bigmac 97kt 13,806]

Seems a lot of pointers and topics are coming up on this thread; different opinions and people's reasons for hunting and shooting; I won't be packing in; but I am going have a break until I feel the urge; I can still go out but may leave the guns at home; even join my mate on a shooting trip and just walk my dogs over the land; time will tell

Thank fook for that

 

dose this mean i wont be getting the 5000 acres lol

 

atvbjimmy :thumbs:

[pianoman 3,587]

abarrett it's alright chap, apology accepted.

 

I really do derive a great deal of satisfaction from a really good shot well taken resulting in a clean and painless death for the small animal or bird I have to eradicate. I'm not there to give em a cuddle! . I just don't revel in the act of killing something for its own sake. But there is as you say, that definite satisfaction when you are on top form with your rifle.

 

As you well know, the trouble with a lot of farmers is, where you or I or, anyone else here sees one rabbit, they see hundreds! So, I keep my shoot by keeping the numbers down. I don't want to lose it to some cack handed pillock who hasn't the level of care for doing things with a sense of responsible humanity that I have. And there are some like that about.

 

I love my shooting, but not just for the shooting in itself; but a total enjoyment of being out with my rifle on a long stroll alone around my permissions to some really lovely locations on it where I can get down into prone position and ambush rabbits from cover .

It helps clear my head of my everyday cares and I love the time to reflect on the absolute beauty of the places I'm very fortunate to have to shoot over. My part of Lincolnshire is a heaven on earth to be honest. It's beautiful here.

I am a professional artist too. A REAL one...Not the proverbial!!

 

I paint military aviation paintings in oil paint on canvas for a whole host of different clients and Landscape and skies play a large part in my work and so, perhaps I have a rosier tint to my spectacles than some others when it comes to appreciation of the countryside I have to enjoy. Sometimes I leave the gun at home to come to work. Sometimes just to walk and enjoy the place without the impetus to hunt.

Clearly, you work more for a living with a variety of firearms for specific tasks, where I just get to enjoy it as a relaxed hobby. So you have a different point of view. That's good. And you've explained your point a lot better than your first post here did so, I have greater respect for your point of view. Even if you are too old to be my son.... I'm 58!

 

And I'm still not going to wade knee deep in shite to shoot a couple of hundred rats!

 

All the very best to you abarrett and the best for your shooting sir.

 

Simon

 

I'm not saying you don't mean it I believe you mean every word
What I'm saying is if it's not the excitement of that good shot
Why not enjoy all those things but leave the gun at home
As for killing things for the sake of it
I have shotguns,centre fires,rimfires,air rifles
Apart from rats the last time I shot anything was beginning of Feb on cock day on the estate I beat on
I can't remember the last time I shot a rabbit because I have no use for them when I've shot them
So I don't
I get out evert week on the foxes. I lamp not shoot but still the excitement is there seeing a good well placed shot
I did stand in a waste station Wednesday night and between us shot 111 rats
That was work but it was also a great bit of sport
And at 47 years old I still love it
Pianoman if it wasn't for that satisfied feeling you get after a good shot why add to the challenge of the shot by
Using a spring gun it because it's a challenge and that good shot is now made sweeter by using something harder to be
Accurate with
So again sorry if I came across wrong

Edited March 26, 2016 by pianoman

[Jonjon79 13,358]

Hi all. I've just joined the forum.

Interesting post.

 

Like a lot of others, I like to be out in the fresh air, walking my permissions and watching them slowly change.

I like watching and learning whatever I'm stalking. I'm no pro, just an enthusiast. I hunt for the pot.

 

My daughter likes to come along (when shes not at school), she learns to be patient and, to treat what we hunt with respect. She also learns that her food isn't born in Tesco.

[pianoman 3,587]

Welcome Jonjon79 And to your daughter too if she happens along!

 

Great to read how your daughter is gaining a healthy respect for game and the food she eats through your shooting. Very few of here are pro shooters and pest controllers. But there are chaps who are. There are a lot of really sound chaps who know an encyclopedia of shooting experience between them.

 

Always good to read things like this when the youngsters are involved in dad's sport. Even if they don't do any shooting. ....Yet!

 

Perhaps one day, she'll pick up your rifle and the bug will bite....

 

All the best Jon and daughter!

 

Simon