Thread: What little pesties did you bowl over today?

Quietest nighe Ive had at the farm so far struggling to get to 10 possums last night.

Small shoot with another shooter on a local farm 86 pesties removed from the gene pool. Took a few rabbit rear wheels and back straps home for the pot. My shooting was a bit below par to start with, using the 22WMR, but quickly improved when my eye started focusing through the scope rather than into the scope at the reticle.

Rossi .22LR Boltie
Size 9 Haviannas, and I like to peel my bananas from the bottom up

Fine little shoot this evening on farm near Chch with @gadgetman and @Bob Da Browning+.

Arrived with an hour of daylight left but shot only half a dozen before sunset. Strong and varying wind made it very challenging, esp for the 22LR. 8pm however, the warrens began to empty and we did well. Popped another 60+ in next two hours - 70 in total. Good in the conditions. Boys all enjoyed the evening - gadgetman on driving duties for the night.

I enjoy my very accurate wee Marlin 795SS semiauto in 22LR. Great for smacking 3 or 4 in a row very quickly. Good fun! We'll be out again soon

@Jo Schmo in stealth mode, and with a NZ rabbit. No problem with the left hand CZ 17HMR.

Been a while but finally had a day off on the weekend. Grabbed Bo and snipered a hare in the eye from 50 metres.

Bit slow on the camera work as he had it back before I got the shot of the retreive pick up.

Must be close to the heaviest one yet,weighed 9.50 lb

Just back from a road trip to the South Island with my wife.

It was a 9 day holiday. We caught up with old friends in Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch. Had a great time as we stopped in Hanmer Springs for couple of nights and then to the 4500 station near Aubry (near Fairlie).

The weather was great for most of the trip except for the 2 nights on the station. Bloody Murphy! It rained the whole day as we reached the farm around 4 pm. The set up rally good. The hut is 10 km inland from the house. It has running water, a flush toilet 35 meters away, real nice little fireplace with great insulation. Lots of bunk space, gas cooking etc. No electricity or internet. It drizzled and rained until midnight. So no hunting. We saw a few fallow on the way in and on the hill faces from the hut.

The next day was clear and sunny. A few magpies were around but refused to cooperate each time I took out my Tikka 223 Rem. I went for a walk behind the hut to look into a steep gully but saw nothing. I glassed all the hills and gullies and saw a mot of fallow but no wallaby. At around 6.30 the farmer came and picked me up on his quad. We went around the paddocks and started to climb towards the 4500 feet ridge top. About 300 feet onwards we started spotting wallabies. All of them them were down hill shots and quite easy. The first one was 290 meters (230 meters adjusted for slope) and I was shooting off my knees. Missed to the right! No excuses. Second shot nailed him . I got two more at ranges from 160 to 235 meters. The second hand Leupold Freedom 4-12X was really good (far better than the Burris 3-9 that I got as a package with the rifle).

As we headed to the higher tussock country it started to fog up. It was real big weather front as we could see for miles around us and all the ridges were getting covered with thick fog or clouds. A real disappointment as we could not hunt the tussock with my new Sytong Thermal scope.

We decided to hunt the flats and gullies where the numbers are a lot less. We still got another 7 hopping giant rats at ranges from 30 meters to 130 meters. Most of the shots were off hand and I was very happy with my shooting. We finished at 10.30 pm.

The Thermal scope worked well and I found it worth the cheap $1500 for this entry model. We picked up all the wallabies and hares. A few sheep were easy to spot and even a small group of fallow at 50 meters. I did not take any photos or videos as I got a fright with one of the batteries right at the beginning. Operator error. I should have checked everything during the day. First time using thermal - stupid laziness I guess. The Thermal reticle was really fine and the tiny red cross was perfect. I am not sure I was on 1X or 2X! Again I had not checked the set up.

Overall I was happy I got 10 critters and shot well with the Leupold as well as the Thermal.

A relaxing experience and my wife was very supportive and really enjoyed the quiet relaxation.

The deal was not cheap. $50 per night per person PLUS hunting fee of $75 per hunter per day PLUS $200 for the guiding.

We might still go next time. Let us see ......

On the way back we stopped at Christchurch and caught up with old university class mates for lunch. I was meeting them after 10 to 30+ years! A real good time. Then it was 2 days at Kaikoura. We had a reasonable day out fishing and caught a feed. We got a cray each. The Malaysian seafood restaurant was awesome.

Back to Wellington with more friends, and Family in Hawera before were back home to see the brand new fireplace installed!