A TALE OF TWO HALVES

Well this week has seen me go from a real low to finishing up with a nice evening around some farm buildings.
To start the week i went to a new permision that i had acquired through my number getting passed to a fisheryboss . I had gone through the test on the first outing to prove that i could do the job safely and efficiently. I had taken 23 rabbits in the two hours that i was allowed and that gave the nod for more . The second run to the fishery proved very productive and i took over 30 that evening but there were signs of myxi in a few areas amongst the adults and kits. This week i decided to go again as there is a chance of alot more ground on the estate so i wanted to show willing . I had arrived at 5pm to give most of the fishermen time to clear off the pools , there is always some stragglers until around 8pm when it closes but i can still shoot away from them until then . The first few rabbits to meet the Rapid were a family of youngsters on the gardens edge of the bosses house. I have had a few from here before and they were all nice and clean . The first 3 that i had this time were rife with the dreaded myxi , it is pretty heart breaking to see the little things hopping around not knowing where they were going even for hard skinned  hunters like myself and gladly i was able to stop the suffering  to the poor kits. The next hour i had taken 14 from the garden in all sizes and i was only able to keep 2 that were clear.
The next part of the shoot that i decided to wait on is quite over grown , there is a large patch of short grass that the rabbits have kept down when feeding so it is a good ambush point as you know thats where they will be coming. Again for the next hour i had a steady styream of youngsters come out and from the 9 i shot i managed to keep 1 . This now was telling me the ground is gone. I cant see anything much surviving this dose of myxi as i was also finding carcasses littered about the place as i was walking to the next points..  I wont put any images of the rabbits with myxi as it servs no purpose and i didnt feel good about shooting them . here is the picture of what i had left to keep though .

Read the full report in Airgunner Magazine .

The other day i decided to drop on a farm that i have shot on for years. There isn`t many rabbits about but i like to keep dropping in to see the farmer and if anything is about then i will sort them out to keep him happy. On my way I picked up my good freind Phil Walker ,  you would have seen him in previous posts . We have not been out for a while and i know there is always something for both of us to shoot so why go alone. Once at the farm we had a quick chat to the farmer and his main concerns were the amount of pigeons, jackdaws and doves raiding the feed barns.Me and Phil had decided to split up around the farm , one was going to stake out the feed barn while the other sat and waited on the other side of the yard. We hadn`t been there long when i spotted a dove  sitting on a roof , It was only about 25 yards so a nice head shot was on the cards . The .177 hit it smack on the mark and it tumbled to the floor . As i reloaded the rapid another dove landed in the same place , it was obviously its mate and was looking at it lying on the floor . I wasted no time getting the cross on it and that joined its mate on the floor.

Nothing had come for the next fifteen minutes so i took a look over one of the paddocks . There was a wood pigeon feeding out in the field about 35 yards away , I crept along the fence to a clear spot and put the cross between its shoulders . The pellet did its job and the pigeon slumped forward without a twitch . I had left it where it fell and decided to wait and see what els would land and sure enough in the next 30 minutes another one had landed with it and it to was brought down by the rapid. I had decided to see how Phil had got on on his part of the shoot . As i was nearing him i heard the sound of a pellet hitting something i could see Phil walking over to one of the sitty trees that are usually very productive at times and pointing into the middle of a large bunch of nettles and brambles  he showed me his pigeon. I nodded in appreciation of his kill and ushered him to go and retrieve it . In no certain terms was he going in the wimp so i decided to have a go . I soon backed out and decided to leave it for the hawks to eat . At least i tried to get it . After a quick cuppa we decided to swap roles and i sat in amongst some bales and waited and Phil went for a walk around the other paddocks . I was surprised that the jackdaws hadn`t come back while we were there as we scared a few when we pulled up and when they find a good regular food source they usually come back in no time. A good 30 minutes had passed now and at last a pigeon had showed itself at the front of the shed. It was pecking around the loose corn for what seemed ages and never really presented a still shot so not to rush and wound it i kept calm and within a couple of minutes it flew up onto some railings. The pigeon looked straight at me and that was all i needed to drop him with a clean head shot. Phil returned a few minutes later proudly clutching a nice plump rabbit. He had been watching it feed some 100 yards away and a nice quiet stalk had the rabbit within range of his .22 rapid and a nice clean headshot resulted in a clean kill for him .

That was that for the evening and as we were leaving the farmer showed us some rat holes that were at the far end of the farm . There wont be hundreds to shoot but there will be a few to go at so thats our plan for our next visit.