A couple of hours bunny bashing

[beany01 223]

Well the rabbits were getting low in the freezer to feed the ferrets, so I decided to get the batteries on charge, dust off the s200 and have a couple of hours at a local paddock. I haven’t been there for a while, as it was full of tiny little bunnies, so I thought I would let them grow a little. 

Well I turned up 5 mins before 10pm, so it was nice and dark already. The wind direction wasn’t the best, the forecast said a southerly wind. it was going to blow across the paddock, but it was more se, so it was blowing my smell along it slightly, but I thought I’m here now, let’s give it a crack. 

The night vision and rangefinder were soon fitted. I thought I would give my new haix boots a try before ferreting started, in case they needed breaking in. I got so fed up with cheap boots failing so quickly over the winter, that I needed to get something better. 

Well a quick scan over the paddock gates looked very promising, I could see several sets of eyes staring back. So I quickly stepped over the gates and obviously the nearer rabbits bolted. They could hear and smell me. I walked to the far edge of the car park and scanned along the electric fence. One still sat there at 27 yards, so that was quickly bowled over. I didn’t want to try and get through the electric tape, so I walked back on myself, to the beginning of the car park and climbed over the wooden fence. There is a small fenced off area around half an acre next to the car park, so a quick scan revealed another two sitting there on the boundary to the main paddock at 40 yards. As I’m rusty and have only been a couple of times this year and haven’t got the air rifle out in 10 years, I decided to slowly get a little closer. A quick press of the range finder, and they were at 25 yards. The one of the left had a tuft of grass in front of its head, so the right one rolled over. 

Another quick scan, and I could see another by a fallen tree further along in to the main paddock. A few minutes later, I was at a happy distance and squeezed the trigger. The pellet caused a puff of dust to the left of its head. Ball bags. Luckily it didn’t go far, and the next pellet hit the mark. 

I then walked along the far side of the enclosed area to get to the middle of the main paddock. This was where the electric fence started I didn’t want to cross earlier. This runs along the middle of the main paddock down the whole length. There are 4-5 horses in there, so no shots go in that direction. 

Now I was in the middle of the paddock, the wind direction would only blow my smell to the area I couldn’t shoot. I walked along the electric fence and saw several groups of bunnies, I normally had one and the rest bolted. I did have a couple of twos.

Well I thought 10 was enough to keep me going, so I sat down and had a quick fag. A quick look at the watch and it was half 11. I was happy with that. I then switched on my head torch on the walk back to pick up the bunnies. Right near the car park I saw another group of bunnies having a chew, and it’s hard to resist, so 1 more got bowled over! All in all a nice couple of hours and it will top up the ferret food. 

 

[Mr r3d 192]

Well done mate nice haul the rabbit numbers seem to have picked back up a little now don't they 

[Jonjon79 13,358]

That's a cracking result

 

And, nice rifle.

[samuria 331]

nice one james, ferrets will be happy 

[beany01 223]

1 hour ago, Mr r3d said:

Well done mate nice haul the rabbit numbers seem to have picked back up a little now don't they 

The young are getting a good size now, so there is plenty about. I just hope they are still there when it comes to ferreting. A lot of the young rabbits had fluke in them.

[beany01 223]

1 minute ago, samuria said:

nice one james, ferrets will be happy 

I hope so, they love getting the hearts and kidneys fresh every time I go. The appeal of fresh ones in far higher than the frozen ones.

[beany01 223]

41 minutes ago, Jonjon79 said:

That's a cracking result

 

And, nice rifle.

Yeah, I was happy. The old s200 has done me well, Ive had it nearly 20 years. Its perfect for using the night vision, as its nice and light, so your arms dont fall off when you are scanning about

[j j m 6,555]

nice shooting and nice gun mate

[Rimfireboy! 1,463]

Nice write up, good shooting , well done basher

[Rimfireboy! 1,463]

Sorry beany not basheroops.....

[villaman 9,983]

That's the way to do it 

[The one 8,494]

Nice going mate

[beany01 223]

Well after picking some minced chicken carcass up from the localish butchers, he asked me for some rabbits to feed his eagle owl. He didn’t want any shot ones in case of lead poisoning, even the head shot rabbits. Well it’s too hot to work the ferrets, so I’ve started making some cage traps up. I’ve heard it is either plenty or none depending on the rabbits, but you have to be in it to win it. Especially when you have paddocks 400 yards from the butchers! 

[Rez 4,961]

I need one of those for the mrs.

How does it work? With rabbits in mind I mean... Being as there scent driven.

[beany01 223]

You bait them up with carrot etc. Rabbit then steps on the treadle plate, pulls the linkage wire out of the door and it drops shut. Really simple.