Solo rabbit lamping

[Houseplant]

It's been a while since I last posted...

Rabbit shooting continues to be good, but haven't quite got a "system" sorted yet. I'm shooting by myself, on foot in the hours of darkness. My torch is scope mounted, and I use full length shooting sticks. I shoot from standing because the ground is undulating and the grass can be long, so getting a shot from the ground often isn't possible.  

Since the torch is scope mounted, I'm walking with the rifle held more or less parallel to the ground in my right hand, using the torch light to find rabbits. My shooting sticks are held in my left hand, the issues are:

1) It gets pretty hard holding the rifle like that for prolonged periods of time.

2) Quite often when I see a rabbit, by the time I have deployed the shooting sticks and put the rifle on it, the rabbit does a runner.  

Any suggestions that don't include HTFU? (I could get that from a NZ hunting forum!)

 

 

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, is that a white light torch ? i use a red led torch and thumb switch, and night vision, have you considered a night vision kit you make up and fix to rear of scope, i also use a sling on my 22 /LR

Edited April 3, 2018 by oldypigeonpopper

[Houseplant]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, white light. A quick look online reveals that I may be a little behind the times. I have thought about NV, but not sure if I can justify the cost for what is basically a bit of sport shooting with the added bonus of pest control and meat harvesting.  I do have a sling on my rifle, but it's not much use in this situation because I need to hold the rifle so that the torch beam goes where I want it, or have I missed something?

[Bear1cat]

Hi,

I do a lot of lamping for rabbits and Fox.

first of all get yourself another torch for scanning and carry the rifle on a sling.

This is a lot safer and will also reduce the fatigue of holding the rifle for scanning.

 

As for the rabbits running before you can get the shot, this could be a few things but difficult to diagnose without seeing what you are doing.

They could be seeing you, hearing you or winding you.

They could also be getting lamp shy, but still, good field craft will help.

Move quietly and practice getting the rifle onto the sticks without making any noise.

Move into the wind or with it crossing so they can’t wind you.

Remember that their main senses are hearing, smell and ground vibration. They are also not blind.

Watch your background so you don’t get skylined.

I hope there is something there to help you or maybe you already know all this.

Good luck and remember to have fun.

 

[Houseplant]

That's good stuff, thanks. Hadn't thought about a second torch for scanning. Any recommendations? Red light? Head mounted?

Edited April 4, 2018 by Houseplant

[Bear1cat]

I use a red light most of the time.

the main one I use is a evo t75, but you don’t really need a torch that big for rabbits. The T50 would be totally fine .

Ludicrus lumens also do a lot of good kit.

 

[Houseplant]

Cheers mate.

[toxo]

Make yourself a set of quad sticks for next to nothing. Green canes from B&Q, Add an extra adjustable leg for fantastic versatility out of a fishing rod rest.

Once you deploy the sticks you're carrying no weight at all. Lift one leg with the back leg closed to scan a field. If the bunny is too far away you can pick the whole thing up as you see it in the picture and walk with it (back leg closed again). The most stable platform you will ever shoot from whilst standing. If you have time deploy the back leg and line up the shot. As you can see it's also a work station when you need one.

tgt

[Houseplant]

Thanks toxo, nice looking sticks. 

[FOXHUNTER1]

I use  2 torches as already said , 1 to spot and 1 to shoot ...........Red t50 does the job,

[decoy1979]

All good suggestions so far  I would add not to dazzle the quarry with the torch beam. By this I mean scan high above the ground ensuring you only cast enough light to pick up eye shine, this may prevent rabbits running off whilst you get set up.

[toxo]

9 hours ago, Houseplant said:

Thanks toxo, nice looking sticks. 

You're very welcome.

Got some detailed pics if you fancy making a set. I promise you'll never use anything else.

[telf]

I have the same as toxo without the extra leg and have had them for 6 years now , i also have a spare set and a smaller set which i use for sitting down waiting for squirrels even have a bipod made of the same stakes , they are by far the best money ive spent and wouldnt,couldnt do without them ,had bipods,tripods allsorts but you cannot go wrong with these especially for the money

[toxo]

6 minutes ago, telf said:

I have the same as toxo without the extra leg and have had them for 6 years now , i also have a spare set and a smaller set which i use for sitting down waiting for squirrels even have a bipod made of the same stakes , they are by far the best money ive spent and wouldnt,couldnt do without them ,had bipods,tripods allsorts but you cannot go wrong with these especially for the money

Hi telf.

Do you recognise your Anschutz 1417 sitting on those sticks?

You really should add the extra leg. It makes a big difference. I made a short set also. Good for zeroing but can't swivel when you're sitting down. Still earns it's keep when using two rifles. My rifles never lay on the ground.

[telf]

Hi toxo

Didnt recognise it  mate ,been a while now hows she doing ,hope your getting plenty with her ,i went and bought another annie after ,felt naked without one

may try the extra leg but at present snookered with arthritus ,going for the first knee done in a couple of weeks so it will be a while before im back out

[243deer]

I use a very similar setup to most folks on here. T20 as a spotter with a red pill as it is lightweight and easily shows eye shine at 150 yards, it also only uses one battery so also carry a spare or two on cold nights. It is not really good practice to swing a loaded rifle around spotting. Quad sticks, happy with standard ones as I like to get close. Yukon on the rifle, .22 with eley subs - hence getting close for head shots to reduce runners to a minimum. I pick dry windy nights as you then have the best advantage as long as you go slow and work up/cross wind. If you have enough ground try and leave 2 or 3 weeks between trips.

[toxo]

Houseplant.

Some useful advice above but take some with a pinch of salt such as "

It is not really good practice to swing a loaded rifle around spotting " .

Presumably 243deer has a bunnies head in the scope as soon as he puts his eye to it and then and only then does he chamber a round.

Nothing wrong with spotting with the rifle, whether it has a chambered round in it is up to you but being pedantic about it doesn't help. If you wanted to be ultra safe you wouldn't be shooting 22LR anyway. When you hear that zing it means you don't know *** it's going to end up.

Now some useful advice. Rabbits will get used to whatever colour light you use. The advice regarding keeping it dim is good either use a low setting or as said, aim high until ready to take the shot. We're not all blessed with loads of permissions so if you're not you could try ringing the changes with the colours. Use white until they get used to it. Then try red and then green, blue etc. You don't have to go expensive. Quality street wrappers will do.

The location will affect your strategy. I look after a couple of farms and some fields have nothing around them but other fields. These are the difficult ones because there are few lights of any colour. Some fields are adjacent to roads or houses etc and so will be used to building lights, car lights etc and so will be more tolerant..

Here's a bit of really useful advice. A rabbits vision isn't that good. Within a certain range he will know there's something there and will treat it as a possible threat. This is where you keep still. When he starts to feed again or look away you move forward but only in a straight line. He will still know you're there but he can't register whether the blob is getting bigger. If you move sideways at all he will be off like a shot.

 

 

[243deer]

54 minutes ago, toxo said:

Some useful advice above but take some with a pinch of salt such as "

It is not really good practice to swing a loaded rifle around spotting " .

Presumably 243deer has a bunnies head in the scope as soon as he puts his eye to it and then and only then does he chamber a round.

Nothing wrong with spotting with the rifle, whether it has a chambered round in it is up to you but being pedantic about it doesn't help. If you wanted to be ultra safe you wouldn't be shooting 22LR anyway. When you hear that zing it means you don't know *** it's going to end up.

 

 

 

Glad you are in Kent and no where near me.

We all know .22lr subs ricochet badly off any type of ground which is why you have to allow for this and ensure as you bring your rifle on to your sticks you have a suitable backstop. With practice, which I have had a lot of, you most certainly can set your sticks and your rifle up to be pretty much on the rabbit, albeit not exactly on the head, even in the dark. Of course the rifle is loaded, no reason for it not to be, safety on and finger no where near the trigger, but rifle put on the sticks from a pointing down position and at no time pointing skyward.

Next time you apply for your renewal please let your feo know for me that you consider it completely safe to spot with your rifle especially on the horizon I will be interested to know what the response is so that I can educate myself.

[dazb1967]

On 06/04/2018 at 13:39, 243deer said:

Glad you are in Kent and no where near me.

We all know .22lr subs ricochet badly off any type of ground which is why you have to allow for this and ensure as you bring your rifle on to your sticks you have a suitable backstop. With practice, which I have had a lot of, you most certainly can set your sticks and your rifle up to be pretty much on the rabbit, albeit not exactly on the head, even in the dark. Of course the rifle is loaded, no reason for it not to be, safety on and finger no where near the trigger, but rifle put on the sticks from a pointing down position and at no time pointing skyward.

Next time you apply for your renewal please let your feo know for me that you consider it completely safe to spot with your rifle especially on the horizon I will be interested to know what the response is so that I can educate myself.

I am by no means an expert but my sticks are set to my height and I would struggle to point the rifle down whilst mounting, i recently bought a set of viper flex sticks at the British shooting show from the Danish gentleman who makes them and he demonstrated how to use them, He mounted the back of the stock on the back stick then then lowered the front end of the stock onto the front stick, he was only using a dummy rifle but it was never the less pointing skywards, a quick look on youtube will see a few people using this method, I work in a very safety conscious industry but common sense does have to prevail at times, as said I'm not an expert and will always be aware of where the muzzle is pointing but there is times when it will have to point skywards even if it is for a short period.

[toxo]

When it comes to firearms common sense is indeed the watchword. There are many scenarios that aren't covered by the "book". Apart from anything else it's only 243deer that assumes there is a round in the chamber when spotting.

[243deer]

I always assume there is a round in the chamber if the bolt is in and closed on any rifle.

The technique that I use is to set the sticks a little wider than shooting height when mounting the gun and so slightly lower than my shoulder. The rests are cut so that the front of the rifle can be brought up and  just over the front rest. I can then easily  and smoothly lift the gun and rest the last little bit up to shoulder height and good shooting position. Go and try this in daylight, it is not so hard to do and costs very little in terms of time.

I developed this technique as a result of having a bad shoulder for a bit as a result of an accident on the farm. 

Give it a go then come back on here and let us know if you now manage to mount your gun without ever pointing it skyward.

[Guest]

Sorry but it is bad practice to scan with your rifle/scope. Whether day or night, I always scan with a separate hand-held range finder. Lamping never works for me so I use nv at night instead.

[Dekers]

Use another torch for scanning, lots of options, head torch or loads or cheap/small/powerful ones from China.   I have tried every colour filter you can find over the years for shooting but have been back to white light with a dimmer switch for years, and that seems to work as well as anything.

I'm not really following anyway, I shoot on all sorts of land all through the year and to the best of my knowledge I have never used sticks for rabbit anywhere.  I certainly use bipods and up to sitting height but fieldcraft has proved useful.

 

Edited July 2, 2018 by Dekers

[Dekers]

On ‎05‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 02:49, toxo said:

Make yourself a set of quad sticks for next to nothing. Green canes from B&Q, Add an extra adjustable leg for fantastic versatility out of a fishing rod rest.

Once you deploy the sticks you're carrying no weight at all. Lift one leg with the back leg closed to scan a field. If the bunny is too far away you can pick the whole thing up as you see it in the picture and walk with it (back leg closed again). The most stable platform you will ever shoot from whilst standing. If you have time deploy the back leg and line up the shot. As you can see it's also a work station when you need one.

tgt

Do what you like and shoot however you like, but I'm curious, why do you need sticks there?

Is it simply to get a downward angle on the shot

[Dekers]

On ‎09‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 01:03, toxo said:

When it comes to firearms common sense is indeed the watchword. There are many scenarios that aren't covered by the "book". Apart from anything else it's only 243deer that assumes there is a round in the chamber when spotting.

????????????????

News to me!