Thread: A paddock walk with a good mate.

Just got in the door after being at my sons football game to a text from @Micky Duck asking if I was keen to go looking for a hare on a local dairy farm he has access to. 4 p.m. Micky rocked up at home and we headed out him with his newly acquired (today).222 and me packing my 223.

Headed through a few paddocks with nothing seen so across to the far side near the river where the landscape was a little more undulating and had a nice river terrace to look down onto.

Over the first brow and halfway down the paddock we spied the distinctive brown of a hare tucked into a clump of grass. Micky throws down his daypack, lies down and lines up, for his first shot out of the rifle, on the hare. BANG,FLOP it goes at about 100m.

Down to the end of the paddock we are overlooking another lower terrace and I'm scanning with the binos as Micky removed the back legs and backsteaks from his hare. I soon spot another, line up the 223 and quickly dispatched our second animal.

Walk further down the farm we managed to spook 3 or 4 more hares without the opportunity for a shot. Heading back we dropped to lower terrace to pick up my hare where we saw a couple more which due to our freehand shooting were very lucky. One I missed at about 20 metres .

Across to my hare I removed back legs and backsteaks then off again towards the vehicle, spotting another brown thing we couldn't really ID so we moved closer and I was pretty sure I could see it's eye but still had a 1% doubt that it may have been a piece of wood. A bit closer and the wood took off running. Another one was spotted just to the right and after an embarrassing couple of shots each I managed to make a hit with my 3rd.

A quick butcher by Micky and with darkness and a cold southerly approaching we walked back to the truck and headed home.

A throughly enjoyable outing with a bit of meat to experiment with.

It's remarkable how hares can sometimes appear to be something else entirely. A looong time ago my early stalking adventures were trying to get within air rifle range (<20m for a head shot) on the flat featureless Hauraki Plains paddocks. My buddy and I spent some time stalking up close on a patch of dry grass that looked a bit odd. We got fairly close and decided it was definitely just some dead grass or old hay. So we gave up being sneaky and just walked up to double check. Got a huge fright when the bloody grass got up and ran away from close range....

Nice work chaps, can't beat an afternoon/evening stroll chasing small game!

i always forget how hare is nice eating. that southerly is bloody cold and bitter too we got chased off the hill this arvo with snow and ice battering us.

My two dogs enjoyed hare for breakfast.kept a backsteak for lunch.it was great to have your company bud.you don't have to miss the easy ones just to make me feel better,but it sure does help lol

Do you guys have pictures of carcasses? Like to see how 223 on hares, how much damage can make....

Nice work guys
Oh and nothing wrong with shooting a piece of wood
I have been known to shoot the odd piece of dirt before I started wearing my glasses

No not this time sorry @Black Rabbit. I was using 55 grain winchester soft points and they remove about 1/4 of the hare. Pretty wasteful if you want to recover meat and I assume varmint projectiles would be a lot worse. Might need to try head shots next time.

Originally Posted by RUMPY

No not this time sorry @Black Rabbit. I was using 55 grain winchester soft points and they remove about 1/4 of the hare. Pretty wasteful if you want to recover meat and I assume varmint projectiles would be a lot worse. Might need to try head shots next time.

Thank you. well....1/4 were gone ah, just like a man exposed to a 20mm anti vehicle gun Do you think a FMJ could do less damage? leaves penetration wounds than explosion one.

Yes, something that pencils through would probably be better.

Just coated some backsteak with salt, pepper and a sprinkle of Moroccan seasoning and quick fried in butter on a hot barbie. Bloody delicious, my boys wanted so much I only just had enough left for a sammie. And then I gave them quarter each.

Originally Posted by Black Rabbit

Thank you. well....1/4 were gone ah, just like a man exposed to a 20mm anti vehicle gun Do you think a FMJ could do less damage? leaves penetration wounds than explosion one.

it king of would defeat the reason to use a.224 centrefire....... the beauty of using them with a soft projectile is threefold..... a hit pretty much anywhere will kill quickly.. the risk of ricochet is MUCH less as soft pill going fast will break up as soon as it hits anything,become very splattered un shapely non aerodynamic small bits of metal so doesnt carry far...and thirdly,its spectacular...the term pink mist explains it well.
those 3 hares yesterday...my one was hit crosways through back thighs....1" out hole...was pretty well expired from severed femoral artlery by time I walked the hundy yards to it.
RUMPYs next one was a classic heart lung shot...hare took off shaking one front paw and changed colour..seriously,at the 100-120 yards it was even with naked eye it went from brown to red as it pumped out the oil,it went all of 20 yards,when he was boning out the meat I went back along blood trail and found the base of projectile jacket sitting on the ground...and he was using std 55grn winchester load NOT a super explody varmit pill, the third one was hit from front on and one shake and its puku was out on ground.
the softer projectiles prevent wounding...its a massive overkill but its humaine and good practice for bigger game.
if wanted do do less damage I would simply use the humble .22lr or shotgun.

Originally Posted by RUMPY

Yes, something that pencils through would probably be better.

Just coated some backsteak with salt, pepper and a sprinkle of Moroccan seasoning and quick fried in butter on a hot barbie. Bloody delicious, my boys wanted so much I only just had enough left for a sammie. And then I gave them quarter each.

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not going to say "I told you so" LOL
My cheeky Mrs says "well you will just have to shoot those branches before they move off next time"

well managed to go back up today and miss another few hares just to proove yesterday wasnt a fluke..... did check zero,yip no excuses there.

Originally Posted by Black Rabbit

Do you guys have pictures of carcasses? Like to see how 223 on hares, how much damage can make....

Craig Maylam did an excellent article [one of the best I have ever read]in the NZ Guns about subsonic rounds which he put in his kit when out with his 222 deer shooting. Just adjusted the trajectory for hares. 7gr of Trailboss.

well,all is good in the world again...after missing ANOTHER easy shot,then a 50/50 running shot,my bottom lip was dragging...to be completely honest I was more than a bit pissed off with myself and really starting to doubt my self.
so I put a felt pen mark on a bit of paper and stapled it to a handy tree with good backstop at about 75 yards,lay down with good rest and fired 3 rounds,slowly and carefully,taking my time...walked up..hmmm 3" right.....so gave it 16 clicks left...fired 2 more...3" left....grrrrrr 8 clicks back,call it good. got back in wagon with Mrs n dogs,the dogs were enjoying the outing but think even they had given up on fresh meat for tea...back out onto road,up to tarseal and I spy a hare in the farm paddock...all still legal as have permission and will be on roadside shooting away from road....see two hares move off,one dropped into gully so watched as I believed he would cross over,sure enough it did...leaned carefully through netting,getting good rest and the hare at hundy yards didnt know what hit it...I did and a 50 grn sierra does a good job. drove down n through gate,walked across gully and collected very dead hare.I had called shot between shoulder blades,when skinning it at home for the eagerly awaiting dogs a neat wee hole was spotted between shoulder blades,the exit wasnt so neat,actually lifted out the heart from skinned carcass... the lungs were gone completely.... dogs happy.Im happy,have faith in rifle now.my reloads cant be too bad
as an aside,I fed old Meg the ribcage end,gave young 5 mth old Poppy the rear leg n went inside to clean rifle...heard Poppy give a whoof,looked out to see Meg coming back across section...the old dog had given way to young pup...so went out,took hare off pup,gave it back to Meg and sat and supervised rest of meal.Poppy went back to whoof again so I tipped her upside down and gave wee growl....message recieved. she came inside with me and left old gal to finish her dinner in peace..... looks like it will be a gentle passing of the reins/top dog status...Meg is definately still my main dog,Poppy hasnt even started work yet... fun times ahead.
the trebly might have to go visit wallaby spot soon...fallow could be good too.

Its a good feeling to know your riffle is shooting straight, well done MD.
If anyone can sort it out its you.