Colster Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Had my mate, Mike out with me last night on a permission near mine. He was going to use my AirArms S400Xtra and I'd take the .22LR. As we walked up the foot path, I motioned for him to hang back as I can usually crawl round the corner and catch a rabbit or two out, sure enough near the end of the track one was sat out, but I hadn't put the bipod legs down, completely fluffed doing this and one flicked into place with a clang. Rabbit shot off into the hedge to live another day. Mike got set up in the next field and I lay down just on the edge of the crop and then we were on. After no more than about 5 minutes, I heard the S400 spit accompanied by a satisying thump, followed by Mike on the walkie talkie, "That's one less bunny in the world" For the next 30mins I didn't see anything apart from a smallish fox about 100yards away from my position, It came out from the crop, stood and looked about a bit, then made off in the opposite direction. During this 30mins I received regular updates from Mike on the walkie talkie "..and another", "that's three". Although the pic shows the whole field as crop, it's not like that now and the farmer doesn't crop right into the corner so Mike was looking up a strip of bare soil and taking the rabbits as they came out of the hedgeline heading for the crop or (as applied to half the rabbits he saw that night), coming out of the crop heading back for the hedge. At last, I see the tips of some bunny ears in the crop, only about 20yards away, this is pretty much primary zero for my LR but taking no chances as I could still only really see it's ears, I gave a little "click click" and obligingly Bugs sat up on it's hind legs to investigate, aiming straight for the heart I fired, one rabbit down. Shortly after another update from Mike, "oh yes, that's four" another set of ears appears in almost exactly the same place, so I lined up and prepared to get his attention but this rabbit seemed more wary. He kept popping up then crouching down again, so I lined up on the ears and waited for him to pop up again which he duly did and that made it 4-2. I relayed this to Mike and he said if it ended like this tonight and I couldn't find one of the rabbits it would be disallowed... Then another fox appears much closer and much bigger, I don't shoot foxes on this permission so I just watch as he comes out of the crop only about 30yards away. He's too close to my dead bunnies for my liking but he doesn't seem to notice them and carries on across my field of view and disappears into the long grass. Almost immediately another rabbit appears (Charlie must have nearly stood on him), I totally stuff the shot but it makes Charlie reappear at quite a rate of knots and he legs it off back into the crop. Now it all goes a bit quiet, apart from Mike getting his fifth nothing seems to be coming out and the light is starting to go. I decide to move up the field a bit so I can see the far hedge and into the bit of set-aside (although this also shows as crop on the pic). Now I realise where all the rabbits have been as I look down the bit of set aside, there are 2 sat on the edge of the path and 5 or 6 over the far side. The two on the edge are closer but a miss or shoot through would put the bullet into someone's garden so I turn my attention to the far side. I pick one nice big bunny sitting on the path which the rangefinder says is 86 yards which on my Endurance 30IR is just above the thicker part of the crosshair. Down she goes, I glance across and the two on the edge are still sat there so I crawl back to make it a safer shot and still they sit there. It's only about 40yards so I can go straight at one of them, down it goes and at this the other now decides underground is a better bet. The light is fading fast now so I call Mike and head back to where I started, retrieving the first three on the way, they had pretty much all died on top of each other at the massive distance of 22yards, which as Mike had got all his at around 33yards seemed somehow to make him the top gun of the evening. All in all a great way to spend a summer's evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchieboy Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Very good write up mate. Very interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 That was a quality read. Good shootiing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdboy Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Sounds like a great time. Shame you couldnt add Charlie to your tally ! BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick54dog Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 excellent job!.................and a very good read too. atb, mick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bullet boy Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Well done to you both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleTap Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Nice shooting and like the pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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