Lamping from a 4x4 help required.

[weedraker]

I have a few fields of wheat stubble I can lamp over. I'll be using a shotgun out of the sunroof in a Diahatsu fourtrak whilst my friend lamps and drives.

One field is over run with rabbits, the banks are full of holes and the field was grazed bare around the edges.

I went out last night and didn't see many rabbits, or get close to them. We went about 10:00 in the evening, we were doing about 15-20 mph around the edge of the fields. We just had the lamp and vehicle side lights on.

 

Any tips? How was the speed or the time of night?

 

I've done plenty of lamping before from a quad on another farm with good results but seem to struggle from the 4x4.

 

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

 

Regards

 

Michael

[BSA-airgunner]

i have done the same with a sportrack i was driving and lamp holding but creeping along at walking pace with no lights on so you will need to know the lay of the land . and we left the shotguns at home and was using air rifles out to 30 yrds . if i remember right we had 20 bunnies which for the land i used is very good

[Vermincinerator]

Yep, a little faster then a brisk walking pace is the speed we do it at, plus we only use 22LR or 17HMR.

My sidelights are permanently on but this does not seem to effect anything

I drive and lamp and my buddy shoots, or vice versa

 

Ian.

[al4x]

if with a shotgun you need to drive fairly fast and might as well have the vehicle lights on as well. With a fourtrak I take it you're standing on the passenger seat? works ok but if there are many houses about you will get complaints and make everything pretty lamp shy, its easier with a rifle and actually it helps to do it on short crops rather than stubble as they don't run as fast when they think they have cover

[Salop Matt]

I would agree with alex, If shotgun is your only option try and get yourself a scilenced .410 or 20b. Either that or what the greater percentage of lampers do is use a scilencer rifle weather that be Air sub 12fpe or FAC powers !

 

[Browning]

Was it clear skies in your area last night? If so the scarcity of rabbits could be down to the full moon lighting you up.

 

It certainly makes a noticeable difference around here. So much so that I don't bother on clear nights.

 

Give it a week and wait for a nice dark night and try again.

[Vermincinerator]

Was it clear skies in your area last night? If so the scarcity of rabbits could be down to the full moon lighting you up.

 

It certainly makes a noticeable difference around here. So much so that I don't bother on clear nights.

 

Give it a week and wait for a nice dark night and try again.

 

Not on my ground, the full moon allows me to pick out those that are sitting in the middle of the paddock and take them out without the use of a lamp

 

Ian.

[weedraker]

It was a clear sky last night, with bright moonlight.

I do have a .410 and a .22 air rifle so they may be an option.

The passenger seat slides forward, so you stand on the floor behind it. Its a safe, comftable position to shoot from.

All the fields are out of the way of houses so no problems there.

I have this week on them in the 4x4 before some are ripped up and drilled with rape (handy for pigeon shooting).

 

Regards

 

Michael

[al4x]

its interesting on our ground rabbits seem to move further into the middle of fields on a full moon, though there is little for them to eat on our stubble as its too clean so you don't tend to see many till the drilling is up

[TJ91]

My lamping used to be done from a fiesta si

push front passenger seat right forwards and shooter stood there poking out of sunroof and the other person would drive, no lamps, just put headlights on..

it worked good enough for us, we went at a decent jogging/running pace (maybe put the foot down now and then to get the odd fox!)

we had some very good results, we now shoot from the back of a patrol and get the same results

 

we never bothered lamping when it was moonlit as i only lamp october-january, the moonlit nights were spent hoping and praying a goose or duck would fly over me on the estuary!

Edited August 24, 2010 by TJ91

[vampire]

I use a frontera so can stand two people in the back and shoot out the top when using shotguns,we would have to get a move on to get the shots off with a 12g more like chasing em down with lights full on,now we use rifles from the seats out the windows with side lights only and a max tracer lamp driving round at a walking pace which produces bigger bags.

I have driven round a local meadow last week to see how close i could get by just letting the frontera drive its self in first gear,counted 60 rabbits on eleven acres and quite a few were within 2 metres of the truck ,contrast this with lights full on and driving at em and you would be lucky to get with in 80 metres before they have legged it.

A good read about this subject is on BASC 410 hushpower review where the guy compares shotgun 12g to 410 silenced from a quad,bit of an eye opener.

atb,Karl

[Browning]

Not on my ground, the full moon allows me to pick out those that are sitting in the middle of the paddock and take them out without the use of a lamp

 

Ian.

 

I am absolutely certain that, even on your ground, on a bright moonlit night the rabbits CAN see you, which was the point I was trying to make.

[weedraker]

Last night I got 6, for 8-9 shots. There were a couple more in range that we didn't have a shot at. Yet again quite a bright night. If it stays dry tonight I may have a go on another farm with the quad.

 

It was good fun though.

 

Michael

[Highlander]

I hope you’re not one of those who goes out with a bunch of mates roaring around the fields, banging away with semi autos, lit up like Blackpool at Christmas and shouting at the tops of your voices! We (unfortunately) have a couple of gangs like that in our part of the world, do no b***** good for rabbit control (or for that matter foxes), upset the locals who tar everyone with the same brush and generally cause bad feelings all round.

 

Can you tell ‘em? NO they wouldn’t consider what they do as bad news! **** heads in charge of guns!

 

I’d say you need to consider getting out with a rifle not a shotgun (unless it’s moderated) and driving slower. IMO shotguns are not the thing for serious lamping...too much noise! Also less meat damage with (head shot) rifled rabbits.

 

As for ‘moonlit’ nights what’s a Hunters Moon then! There are other factors that might have been in play, no wind, too much wind you know all the usual reasons!

[TJ91]

we have had many 'pro' lampers come on our ground to show us how its done with rifles, got bored of them, 3 a night is no good to the farmer, he would rather we drive about with shotgun and get 30-40 a night, we have no problems getting close enough without going at ridiculous speeds! and we lamp every wednesday and friday on my grounds, we have yet to get less than 10 with the shotgun...and yet to get 10 with a rifle!

 

each to there own, no matter what grilling i get from the 'know it all' 'better than every other *****r'... i will carry doing it my way until i get poor results

 

peoples rants wont change the way i go about my shooting, the animals and how they play ball decide that!

Edited August 25, 2010 by TJ91

[al4x]

whether they were pro TJ is debateable, any normal shooter will get far more in an evening with a rifle than a shotgun and not annoy any neighbours surrounding the farm Thats fact

[TJ91]

whether they were pro TJ is debateable, any normal shooter will get far more in an evening with a rifle than a shotgun and not annoy any neighbours surrounding the farm Thats fact

 

good job there aint no 'neighbours'

if i waas to sit in the closest houses living room with the window open i would hardly hear a thing

 

 

define 'normal'

 

problem with rifle is they gota sit still, well they dont near me, they are lamp shy but they hide behind pig sheds so we jus gota drive around steady until they make a dash for it

 

yes plenty are out of range but the majority are close enough

 

i did put PRO in quotation marks..they were like alot of people on here... "this is how you should do it, we shoot over x amount of acres and we get x amount of rabbits every year and were the best at it" etc...

 

i know i arent the best, i never will be, but i enjoy what i do and the farmers i shoot for are more than happy with my results..so i'll stick to my way!

Edited August 25, 2010 by TJ91

[al4x]

normal generally would be two hands and two eyes. Theres a good reason they're lampshy and it'll be someone chasing them with shotguns

 

they sit fine on a red filter at a decent range with rifles

[TJ91]

normal generally would be two hands and two eyes. Theres a good reason they're lampshy and it'll be someone chasing them with shotguns

 

they sit fine on a red filter at a decent range with rifles

 

 

yep i know thats why they are lamp shy. but why would i care, i dont shoot them with a rifle and dont ever intend on doing so.... so i want them to be moving when i pull the trigger, gives them a fair chance of survival (better than fair with me aiming the gun!)

[ellebarto]

I drive over my permission in a landy and have a scope mounted lamp. I freewheel into a position that gives me a good view of the spots I know the bunnies frequent, then out of gear and I sweep the area I want to shot over with my lamp. Even doing this I feel a bit of a ****. It feels a bit lazy and well a bit gungho shooting out of my car! Cant imagine what driving around shooting out of a sunroof is like or indeed what it looks like to people who dont perhaps understand what your doing.

 

Ah if it works and the farmer is ok about it then what the hell. Its just not my idea of shooting I guess and I consider myself to be a very modern shooter. I do like to walk good chunks of my permission with a silenced 410 witha mounted gun light and take a few reaction shots as I startle any bunnies I come across but maybe I'm doing the farmer a diservice by looking for good sport before big bunny culls.

 

Horses for course and food for thought! I'd probably likely to try it at least once though to see how it feels in practice!

[weedraker]

I hope you’re not one of those who goes out with a bunch of mates roaring around the fields, banging away with semi autos, lit up like Blackpool at Christmas and shouting at the tops of your voices! We (unfortunately) have a couple of gangs like that in our part of the world, do no b***** good for rabbit control (or for that matter foxes), upset the locals who tar everyone with the same brush and generally cause bad feelings all round.

 

No, Nothing like that.

 

I find semi's too slow/fiddley to load when on the move at night compared to the over & under which can easily be broken for safety.

 

My fourtrak is very descrete, and the quad is very quiet.

 

What is clear from peoples posts is that what works best on one farm is different to another.

 

My area (in Suffolk) is 99% arable. Generally all big fields or very big fields. All fairly flat land. With no houses or busy roads nearby.

 

On my friends farm where we use the quad we can get 20 very quickly over his 500 acres (9 fields, and no major rabbit problems). He has tried a rifle and swears there is no bettter way than the quad. There are not many we see that escape.

 

The new land I have to shoot over is odd fields, approx 40 acres each dotted within a 6 mile radius. All funny shapes with plenty of corners, hence 4x4 and shotgun approach.

 

I'm not ruling out the rifle approach but in our neck of the woods the shotgun does seem the favorite.

 

Regards

 

Michael

[al4x]

semis actually work well from a vehicle, simply because you don't have to break them with the barrels dropping towards the roof etc, trick to it is to keep stuffing cartridges in the bottom rather than using all 3 and then reloading. Shotguns have their place when lamping and it is good fun, round us its not practical due to noise anymore but a fair few keepers still do it round us normally on summer stubble

[cuzzy]

when i go lamping i'm usually on my own i put some red plastic spot light covers over the spot lights and red plastic over the head lights and drive round with the high beam on have the hmr resting on the wing mirror with the lamp fitted to top of the scope i travel at about 5 mph i had 20ish in a few hours last night i do have a hushpower 410 but cant get close enough to get a good shot

Edited August 28, 2010 by cuzzy

[NorfolkPoacher]

i must be one of those un popular characters who roars around fields lit up like blackpool!! i find the combination of a swift pace and a well placed shot using a silenced pump shotgun works great, my land owner doesnt appreciate mr pop off 1 or 2 here and there with his RF, we need drastic number reductions and in my years of night shooting i find a 4x4 or quad (mine is a buggy) with a shotgun most effective. 40-50 a night on 500acres and double that on my 2000 acres permission. using the .17hmr once the fields are drilled at long ranges works ok, but getting through stubble with a ballistic tip at range can be a pain.

[al4x]

how high do they leave your stubble if you have trouble getting a ballistic tip through it, never heard or experienced anything like it