Airgunner

It has been a busy month for me regarding shooting,although i have not posted on here whats been going on i have been writing features for Airgunner magazine. Writing has never been my strong point as im sure many of the viewers on here would have read, but i like to put my outings in text as i do it. There is no half hour of talking about trees ,plants and whatever el`s someone could come up with, i like to put you in my situation and make you feel that its you taking the shot ,if that is possible and hopefully that will make a better read.
 I thought writing features for the magazines would be easy,just go out shoot something and write about it, how wrong could i have been. Well taking pictures is the worst thing i have come across so far, there are so many things that can make the seemingly easy pose a headache. I wont go into to much detail but take a picture from my first feature,i had been waiting for a jackdaw to come into range and just sit long enough for a shot,i did manage to get the shot off in the end but when it came to take a picture of me in the same position as i took the shot from it all went pete tong. For the one shot i needed  we must have took 20 pictures.  I blinked ,the sun went in for a second as the picture was taken , there was a little shadow in the wrong place, there was a twig that did not look right near me .I could go on for ever but at least you can get the idea.
When writing the features i like to plan my day well in advance, I decide where i am going  ,what i am shooting, where the best spots are going to be , i want to make the best of the situation so the readers can get the best out of the feature. I also try and add a little to help the readers gain some information that will hopefully get them a shot that might not have presented itself before, there are certain ways to get to quarry , make quarry come to you , there is always some little trick that could help the reader go from blank days to having a few shots and bagging a rabbit or pigeon for the pot.
Last month i had a situation where i could not shoot rabbits as it was very windy . I didn`t like the idea of wounding them so i opted for an afternoon in some woods that was sheltered.It proved to be a good session in the end, and having the chance to swap from one ground to another at short notice gave me the chance to write about what i had done and got the feature done on time.
In this months Airgunner i went into the hills with some friends from the rapid7owners.com. The weather was not perfect , Granted it was dry and very sunny but there was  quite a bit of wind.We over come the wind and managed to produce a bag of rabbits totaling 110.

If you would like to read more about what went on you can buy  Airgunner from most newsagents or subscribe to get the mag early every month and at a very good rate here..  http://www.airgunshooting.co.uk/

Here is some pictures of a couple of pests that added to the total  from the May feature and a sneak preview of July feature.

.Catch you soon .eddie

MOLES KEEP ME BUSY

On one of my permissions i have been out on the mole hunt.The farmer is getting on a bit and he was struggling to keep ontop of them so like the nice guy i am (cough cough) i offered to take over and sort them out.

There are two types of traps i use,the first is the claw trap.

 This traditional  mole trapping method is  effective and makes it simple to trap and catch a mole or moles .

To set these mole  traps is easy. The base of the  claw trap  is inserted into the mole run or mole tunnel which are easy to locate as mole hills are found along these runs or tunnels. The handle section of the claw trap, which is pincer like, protrudes above ground level. A mole cought  is evident when this pincer like handle springs apart.
These claw traps are easy to set and insert into the mole run and are one of the best and most effective  mole traps available for catching  moles.

The other trap i use are the duffus tunnel trap

This  tunnel  trap , is one of the best and most effective  mole traps for catching moles. These traps are a now taking over as the prefered method. They are an effective pest control method to trap and get rid of moles.

The  tunnel catch trap  is a well and old established design in mole traps and gives effective mole eradication and control.
The tunnel catcher trap is easy to set and very efficient in getting rid of  mole  problems .

Alot of trappers prefer to use the tunnel traps over the claw , but i catch just as well with both traps.
so far i have had 22 in 12 days and there are more fresh holes coming up daily over the permission so it looks like i am going to be busy for a while.

A couple of months ago me and dad were controling foxes on a permission with his 22.250,we had noticed a new run in one of the fields a couple of weeks ago so we had baited it up and decided to sit in wait and hopefully get it on its patrol`s.
We had waited for a couple of hours and the light was just beginning to fade when i noticed the fox coming up the fenceline.I had watched it for a couple of minutes when it decided to come round the hill we were waiting on.The rifle was ready loaded and ready to take the shot so i stood up to take a look where it was.

As i stood up i noticed it quater back and was heading straight for the bait.As it came across me i had the crosshair on its heart ,one squeek to stop it and the bullet flew straight to its mark.The fox lay stone dead  as me and dad walked over.This was a welcome boost as the young rabbits are taking a bashing from hungry foxes,so hopefully one less means a few more rabbits later on in the year..