Ye they are a smart bird with high optics eye sight.
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Ye they are a smart bird with high optics eye sight.
1 vixen n 3 wabbits, been shooting rabbits for solid 12 months and just getting on top now. Skinned the vixen and it's in the freezer waiting for some more of her mates, I'll do them as the old cowboy/ fur traders, like a wolf skin, hang them in a bunch.
After a few weeks off with life it was back into it last night, all night, with @alan. Conditions were great, very little wind. A new high score of 248 for the site for the evening. We managed to put a hole in an alkathene pipe, so I turned off the tap about 15m away, marked it so the farmer could find it quickly and notified him.
Following on from a thread discussing what was left to eat after shooting rabbits and hare with 222 Remington or 22 Hornet?
A couple of weeks ago I put up some photos showing the wound damage on hare, from my 22 Hornet pet hand load: 10grn ADI AR2207 pushing a Winchester 40grn HP FBX CJ CANN with CCI primer. Estimated muzzle velocity 2200 - 2300ftps.
Last week I ran out of my pet loads, so was using Hornady factory loads 45grn SP MATCH with an advertised muzzle velocity of 2665ftps. I pulled one of these projectiles and found 11.2grn of either Lil Gun or Winchester powder. Interestingly the Hornady reloading handbook states that 11.7grns of Lil Gun (compressed?) produces 2600ftps, so another example of box advertised velocity perhaps being exaggerated? Hornady projectile is probably #2230.
That detail aside last week I shot 10 hare in one evening. At one stage I shot 6 (with seven bullets) in one herd at ranges for 30 to 65 metres. Interestingly the herd mostly sat, or spooked and ran 10 or 20 metres before stopping again, always a fatal mistake! It was about midnight, so they were probably asleep!? The photos show only the 8 I processed, one received the cruelest shot of all at 70 - 80 metres as it ran for the ridge, the other was simply gut shot and things had gotten a bit shitty!
Basically, comparing the first set of photos, to this weeks photos, clearly show the heavier faster bullet does more damage than the slower lighter bullet, no surprises there. It would be interesting to know which projectile has the thickest/thinnest heavy/light construction.Attachment 247019Attachment 247020Attachment 247023Attachment 247025Attachment 247028Attachment 247030Attachment 247031Attachment 247032
NOTE: I'm happy with the results from my pet load, but I am going to increase the powder from 10 to 10.2grn just for the hell of it. What's your thoughts on how much that will increase MV by? 50 - 100 - 150 ftps?
Out to the local haunt again with @alan and Neil, just a short 4 hour shoot but we still managed 106. Can definitely see we are making a massive dent in the population, having to travel further to get the numbers. To be continued ...
Attachment 247595
One of the 20 odd rabbits destroyed this afternoon by the 17HMR.
that many hares together is USUALLY/OFTEN a doe in season and all the rest are hopeful suiters..as long as she still hopping the males are still hopeing... someone had hard case video of this taken close to temuka a year of two back on forum...just kept shooting till they were all gone or dead. my guess is 50fps but unless it s more accurate or less..it shouldnt matterQuote:
Originally Posted by Hugh Shields
Wellington region seems to favour hares far more than rabbits. So it's not unusual to see a lot of them around and a lot together. I think it may be predator related - hares are a bit big for stoats and cats.
Chase my Tui's at your peril!!
Attachment 247627
This family of possums were having a little possum party in the willows around the Waikanae Golf course........BIG MISTAKE!
Tally so far, 3 Canadians, 26 Australians, 23 Welsh and 2 Partridges in a pear tree. I still have 4 hours before the.staff arrive and I've just heard the Honkers return to the 17th fairway......Goose pepperoni salami on its way....Attachment 247746
Attachment 247747
I got something.
https://youtu.be/dC7z8Ad1jxg
Big long walk today no deer seen but knocked these two over on the way back.
About 30min from the truck so we dragged em out for mate to use as dog tucker [emoji106]
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a66d2fd0d1.jpg
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Four of these.
https://i.ibb.co/njKSdr5/IMG-3197.jpg
Went for a walk on sunday, a bit wet and not many bunnies around. We saw a few, dispatched a few, but all were under 40m and damn the 17hmr really disassembled them.
Went walkabout yesterday, taking the Sako M591 243W on the hunt for Hares and Rabbits. I visit this block several times a year and while it's been a reliable provider over the years of these small game animals they were fairly non-evident on my last visit. I'm unsure of why. As far as I know it's not been poisoned or shot by other than myself.
Yesterday I entered the block in the very early dawn. After the previous day's rain the morning was quite foggy with all the valleys shrouded in white mist. It was quiet. The farm animals were not making much sound.
I found a commanding spot to enjoy the new sun as I sat and worked the binos hard. The Sako magazine was charged with a favourite load shooting Hornady ELD-X 90 gn bullets. Excellent varmint medicine.
No furry friends seen. A pair of Spur Wing Plovers decided to land a tempting 104 yards below me on the grass. I dislike these horrible things and don't mind culling a few. I lined up the Sako and the explosion of feathers was impressive. I was ready for another shot should the partner bird swing around and land near but it kept making distance.
https://i.postimg.cc/KzQsYddS/20240423-082827.jpg
Even on such a light framed target the ELD-X seem to expand aggressively.
https://i.postimg.cc/1t51McSS/20240423-082930.jpg
I related in a previous post that Peacock numbers here have really increased. They were not too evident very early but as the day slowly warmed a few were emerging into the open hear and there. On the move I came over a little rise, immediately spying a single cock coming out from the bush edge. I sneaked in a little closer, using a fence post as cover against his strong vision, and couldn't get closer than 240 yds. The Sako was exceptionlly steady on the bipod and one shot was all it took to nail him. I was pleased with my shooting.
https://i.postimg.cc/85GS2gVh/20240423-093210.jpg
By now it was a bit warmer with the sun reaching into the gullies and I sneaked through several looking for shootable game. It was disappointing to, again, not find any Hares or Rabbits. On the far side of a bigger gully I caught a glimpse of movement and brought the binos up. There were two big Peacocks there scratching around for food. Too far away to shoot from where I was so I quickly snuck across another couple of gullies and around the head of a bushy gully to reach a point that would put them in range. I didn't find them for several minutes as they had moved much further to my right than anticipated but they were now at 250 yards, so worth trying a shot. I had to adjust the bipod height but one leg was stuck which took a couple of minutes to rectify and I just managed to get the crosshairs on them as they dived into the scrub. Bugger ! So I continued walking. Hadn't gone much further before glimpsing something white across a stream gully. It was one white peacock and two others settling into the grass for a mid morning break. I had a solid shooting platform and a 220 yard distance so the rapid kill ratio was three for three. Just as I shot the third bird the two cocks I had just lost to the scrub earlier suddenly popped out to investigate the ructions and I was quick enough to throw another round into the chamber and nail number four. I had evil intentions towards number five but he seemed to be a bit smarter and hastened back to the scrub.
https://i.postimg.cc/T1QWfnQd/20240423-105407.jpg
I needed to be home by lunchtime and soon turned to return to the truck. Of course, nearing the truck I walked around a couple more gullies and counted another six big rooster peacocks. I would love to have used the last of my ammo but the countryside around here is ever more built up and one must be very concious of background before loosing off shots. Although I had safe background there are unfortunately houses out there within the reach of bullets and it's just not worth being careless or inconsiderate. Anyway, if my luck holds those big cocks should be there for me to find next time.
