Hammergun

William - Rabbits do get the full nutritional value from grass. They are **** eaters!!!! They eat their own ***** to get the benefit of digested food. Their gut produces two types of ****, the hard droppings we see scattered around, and also the soft pellets eaten directly from the anus. This is known as "coprophagy".

Starting to see mushrooms here more than usual. Must be the warm autumn. ...........or are you talking about magic ones?

I must be quite fortunate where I am. Most of the footpaths where I shoot are just used by locals exercising dogs (of which a number are gundogs) or just out for exercise. I find that many of them are sympathetic to shooting and have no love for pigeons, rabbits, rats or squirrels etc.

The law (Highways Act) states that "It is an offence ....to shoot within 50 feet of the centre of a highway if in consequence someone on the highway is injured, interrupted or endangered". Under this, you may shoot nearer than 50 feet from the centre of a highway provided that it is safe to do so. This essentially means that you must have good visibility all round and can see a good distance to ensure that nobody is approaching, hence if your hide is in such a position that you have a good view of the footpath in either direction and are shooting away from it, this is acceptable.

Ring round the catering and food processing equipment dealers in the Yellow Pages. Some friends got a sausage maker from a butchers which had packed in for £25 The ones on Cabelas most probably only run on 110 volt, 60 cycles so are no good over here.

Here's the completed skin. After all the effort in making it, I'm a bit reluctant to let the dog maul it!

I shot a rabbit tonight which had fur missing from one side of its face, with the skin at the edges scabby. That eye was puffy but the other eye and the nose was fine. The rest of the bunny looked OK. Unfortunately I didnt have my camera with me.

I use a .22 on both. Perfectly good for ferals.

Not really a lot of use other than for rats at close range (but too close for comfort if you ask me). Stick to bouncing pellets off cans!

Really great flexicoy decoys, as new condition. They cost me £5.50 new and I'm selling them for £4 16 in total

Pigeon pie recipe under "Recipes" bird on the main page. "The rook affords a dry and coarse meat. A pie made of young rooks is tolerable; at least, it is the best form of using these birds as food. There is, in the opinion of some, a resemblance between the flavour of the young rook and that of the young pigeon. Rook pie - Rooks require long stewing, or they will not be tender. The breasts are the only parts of the birds which are really worth using, and when the other portions are put into the dish, care should be taken to cut out the spine and the flesh near it to the width of three quarters of an inch, or the pie will have a bitter taste. Many cooks lay the birds in a dish, season them with pepper and salt, put a coards flour-and-water crust over them, and then bake then for a couple of hours; the next day they remove the common crust, lay good pastry over them, and bake the pie in the usual way. The following recipe will, however be found very good: Take six or eight freshly killed young rooks. Skin without plucking them, and to do this cut the skin round the first joint of the legs, and draw it over the head. Cut off the necks, draw the birds, and cut away the legs, backs and wings. Cut a pound of chunk steak into neat squares, pepper these, and lay them in a pie dish, pouring over them half a teacupful of stock or water, cover the dish closely, and bake themeat until it is almost done enough, Lay the breastsof the rooks upon the steak, with a small slice of butter upon each. Sprinkle over them a seasoning of salt, pepper and pounded mace, and pour over them as much stock or water as will barely cover them. let them bake gently for half an hour, Let the dish cool, then line the edges with good pastry, cover it with the same, ornament according to taste, make a hole in the centre that the steam may escape, and bake in a brisk oven. When the pastry is done enough, the pie may be served. Time to bake, altogether two hours and a half, probable cost, uncertain, rooks being seldom sold. Sufficient for five or six persons. Rook Pie (another way) -Skin and draw six young rooks, and cut out the backbones. Season them with pepper and salt, put them in a deep dish with half a pint of water, lay some bits of butter over them and cover the dish with a tolerably thick crust. Let the pie be well baked."

Not quite a funny story from the hide, but may still raise a smile. Was talking to this old farmer about catching rabbits at the weekend, and this is what he told me. Don't know if it's true or not but it's funny all the same. Apparently there was this chap who found that another bloke in the village had been screwing his wife. The bloke in question was well known for growing large vegetables which he entered into the shows and won many prizes. The chap then went out and caught a large number of rabbits (this was before myxamatosis when they were everywhere), went into the blokes grden when he was away down the pub and released them into the cloches and cold frames!!! B)

You could get a gunsmith to build up the end with a black ebonoid piece like I had done. It looks really good, and not like an obvious add-on like brown wood blocks. Dont add a rubber pad as it will spoil the look. You got yourself a real bargain. It would have cost you 3 x as much from a gunsmith.

Bunnies should be paunched as soon as possible after killing and are best frozen or kept in the refrigerator unless the weather is really cold as they spoil. They cannot be hung like hares are. Save the livers, kidneys and tongues as they make good gravy. Your initial post didn't have anything for people to follow a thread (such as a request for advice), which is why there were no responses. There are members on here from all over the world.

Have you got a cool box of the type you use for camping? If so, take it with you along with as many frozen ice blocks you can get hold of. Re-freeze them at the hotel. It is illegal to leave carcasses on the land, plus the fact that the landowners will be annoyed if they find remains. Feral pigeons are no good to anyone unless they are for ferret food. Gut your bunnies as soon as possible as they soon spoil with guts in, and take a trowel with you to bury the entrails (or this will encourage foxes, and the farmer will not want you back again). Leave the heads and skins on (like all things, they are best left in their wrappers until you need them!!). If your cool box keeps cold, you will probably be able to get the bunnies back home. If I were you, I'd keep a few for yourself, but if you want to sell any, they need to get to the game dealer as quicly as possible. You should be able to dispose of the feral pigeons in the hotel's kitchen waste bin.

You need a FAC for more than 12ft lbs muzzle velocity, so that's the highest you should go. You will find the gun effective in the evening with a lamp, or else if there's some good cover and there are certain spots where the rabbits favour, you can lay up downwind of them but in range and wait for them to appear. If the rabbits have set runs in the long grass which you can see are regularly used, don't discount snares. Correctly placed, they can be very effective.

Hawk Best Pigeon, 32g fibre wad.

Happy birthday to Aaron, Roelof and Shooter. May all your pheasants fly straight and true!

Easiest way is just to ignore them and not to rise to the bait. They soon get bored and leave.

Count me in!

I remember someone else trying to trace relatives through the Army. There are extensive archives available of ex-servicemen and you can use this service. Perhaps a net serach may throw something up?

It's the time of year when they start to moult. The rabbit with the dodgy ears wasn't one of those which had been burrowing at Sellafield was it?

If she wasn't mixed up with PETA, she would be.

Here's a rabbit I shot tonight. It's shedding its summer coat and you can see the moult lines. Similar moult lines occur on the body.

YTPW - Air rifle or Shotgun?