RodN

Indeed.... but you have it right at 38"

If I sit very quietly under the bird table, I might just get lucky......

Nobody has yet mentioned a Chupacabra.?? Yes... that's what it is.

Opinions here in the Forest of Dean are hotly divided. But the boar are now invading gardens and raiding rubbish bins in the towns too. Thankfully I haven't had any in my garden (yet) but they have uprooted the grass verge just 10 yards from my gate. The situation has now been reached where I feel very uncomfortable walking my dog in the forest. (She's a Springer, and loves to go into the thick of the woods). I might add that the Forest of Dean is a recreational area with lots of walkers, etc. It is only a matter of time, with the increasing boar population that a child is going to get badly hurt or killed. My wife is a teacher, and a little while ago a boar was in the school playground. Last week, a neighbour had a boar in her garden. In both cases the authorities were called in and the boar shot. The Forestry Commission "guesstimate" that we now have 894 boar in the Forest of Dean based on surveys. The residents know that the population is probably a few thousand. And.... we are not allowed to hunt boar in the forest. The Forestry Commission do a cull each year of a couple of hundred, The "antis" go around destroying the metal high chairs by sawing them up, and the Forestry Commission people have had death threats. The whole situation is out of hand. Rod

Somebody shot that fox in the tail !!

Sharing the hunting with a fox is very kind of you. I'll bet you had more than he did though. Rod

Flat head pellets are recommended in them, as a slightly longer domed head pellet can foul the action of the magazine, by protruding too far. My Umarex S&W 45 MP Great fun for plinking in the garden, if you have a large enough target.

Try your local fire station

Years ago now.... Knock at the door.... I answered and there stood a very officious "officer" in uniform. "We have had a report of a malnourished cat that you own. I would like to see your cat." Whaaaat OK... come in.... Here he is.... Ben the collie looked at the RSPCA guy very suspiciously, protecting the cat. "Oh. He looks fine" "Sure he is" I replied. "So where did this report come from." "I can't tell you that" Hmmm... Cast my mind back to the previous evening when I entertained a mate and his new girlfriend for dinner. As usual, the cat was around meooooowing at signs of food. In my usual inimitable offhand humour I remember saying "Shut up cat. You were fed last week"

Planning, perseverance and patience. And great when it all comes together. That's a great shot.

Thanks Mike. Some good ideas there.

Great dog photos

Apparently it is rats by night on that pig farm and huge numbers of crows by day! We saw loads of them at the spilled pig pellets in front of the pens when we arrived at sunset. Just have to figure out how best to approach those crows with no cover, but probably my 4x4 netted out will do the job. And... just to add further interest, the same farmer reports hundreds of rabbits with burrows under the hedgerows a few fields away and would like those dealt with also. With the sensitivity of (piglet) stock in close quarters it will always be a sub 12 ft lb air rifle shoot though. If I was closer to home, (instead of a 160 mile round trip), then I would be over there on a very regular basis with the guy who has the permission. In the meantime, I'll satisfy myself with what is basically mixed rough shooting on my local farm permissions. One of those has hundreds of crows too. Extremely wary crows! I can't get anywhere near close enough to them. They congregate out in the middle of a large open field, and scare when anything moves within 200 yards of them. But I am working on it. Cheers Rod

No hide or shelter of any kind. Just a fold up comfy camping chair sat out in the open, about 15 yards from the nearest pig pen. Obviously, I just sat still and didn't go tramping around. Cocking the rifle was no problem (it is an HW100T so pretty quiet). Even the shot is just a "click" from the HW100T, with a correspunding "clunk" as the pellet hits. But that didn't scare the rats away. No lamps..... just an infra red Nite-Site Viper. There is a little glare back from the screen, and I removed the dark filter from the screen too, as that enabled me to turn the infra red down low to prolong the battery life of the unit. I do use a head torch (single low output red LED) to see what I am doing reloading the magazines, but that's all. I don't get on with white or even red lamps. I find that rats get pretty skittish if you light them up, most probably because of the moving shadows though, as they get used to a constant light from a security light in the garden when I pop them off there, but I still prefer infra red and apparent total darkness even in the garden. Cheers Rod

On the pig farm the farmer leaves some plastic feed bags handy. Normal mode is to then just pick up as many rats as can be found (I use a litter picker) and put them in the bags. He is happy to dispose of the bags the next day in his incinerator. On the other farms where I shoot, the farmers ask me to dump them in the slurry pit.

This year to date: 21 In the garden 26 at the farm perms 72 at the pig farm in one evening 119 Total = 606

And one of the reasons why I bought the HW100T full length in .22 I don't even need to look at the gauge until 10 mags (of 14 shots) have been fired. So even in my recent mega rat shoot of 76 shots I didn't have to think about refilling..... while my colleagues both had to walk back to the car for refills.

It isn't my own permission unfortunately. I had an invitation to a permission that was 160 mile round trip from home. Although I could probably get to go there again. It was worth the trip. There were three of us there that evening, and between us, we accounted for 240 rats. Cheers Rod

My first post as a new member of the forum..... Just had a ratting session of a lifetime last week. HW100T (.22 full length), Nite-Site Viper, on a Hawke Airmax 4-16 x50 I let loose 76 AA Fields between 6.30pm and 10.30pm 72 rats killed 2 shot twice (to finish them off) 2 misses. (but those may have been accounted for with other shots) I have been spoiled! I have never had a night's shooting like this in over 50 years, and I doubt if I ever will again! Pig farm.... with a LOT of rats! My shooting zone from a fold up chair in front of the pig litter pens. Range between 16 and 22 yards, and with the HW100T propped on tripod sticks. Waited until it got dark, and then I didn't move position all evening! Rod