Oldbloke wrote:Sooooo,, whats your prefered method of hunting?
I like to ambush vermin, for example waiting over a dam. Or I like whistling foxes. What about stalking, spot lighting? What do you like most?
Well well...Im a little surprised to hear you ask this OB...and so i wonder the response ill get this time...
I cant help but say this because in relatively recent past ive had you make comment that me spotlighting foxes is an unfair advantage, alluding to the fact its almost unsportsmanlike, despite the fact i have to navigate fences, gates, crops, terrain, and stock, not choke on whistles, all the while having to drive, spot, shoot, keep a mental compass in check, monitor everything around me almost to the point of sensory overload..all the while trying to interpret their behavior given the time of year and breeding cycles in being aware of different areas that are reactive to subtle seasonal changes...___....and here i see you not liking to not move anywhere & just lie in wait for an ambush...
HHmmm,,,My two favourite things to do are walking around with a shotgun & having bunnies pop up when least expected...but that is very rare these days given the sparcity of bunnies...
Sniping bunnies beyond 200, but keeping to
just within achievable distances whilst also challenging myself, but still so as to execute effective head shots...(included in this is shooting them under light at distance)...
And...dare i say...spotlighting foxes...i love spotlighting foxes...!!!!
(hows my maths-?-anyone keeping count...
)
Also, as i get older, i am beginning to enjoy the challenge (i think its a challenge), of both being able to take up tension on the trigger, but also being willing in letting the shot go if i have a given element of doubt about the shot...
For example...im pleased i relinquished the opportunity to take a shot on a fox (ive had this situation a few times in the last year), when it has been close to the farmers house...knowing full well its 99.99998997% likely a fox, and within what i consider to be my proven effective range with my 204, 300 yds, but far enough to not be able to entirely identify it under light as a dog or fox...
I consider it learning for one...watching it for 20 mins, come closer, then meander away...filtering the termoil of not having taken the shot, is better than either having shot a dog you know & love (i get to know ALL the dogs on the farms i shoot, & they love it when uncle Stix comes with bones & pats), or injuring an animal...
There are foxes that have outlived my hunting skills, two that i can recall that were amazing in their stealth & knowledge of me...cudos to them...in a way, i hope they lived full lives, despite having been terrorised by me...
Also, i have a given amount of "wobble" i allow--dont ask me to quantify this...it differs with every shot...but lets say knocking over roos...if im taking them at 192 yds & have movement in the reticle, they live...simple as that...i shoot with a 204, so if they sit looking at me for 10 mins then hop away, they live... but if at 120 & there is reticle movement across an inch of the roos brain box & a quick shot is required, unfortunately for the roo its lights out...
Anyway...just realised im off track...strange as its unlike me to waffle...!!!...
I should add, if youre a sporting shooter & hunter, & shotgunning bunnies that launch themselves out of warrens from stuffing ferrets down holes doesn't get your blood pumping & appear on the top of your list ...then you must either be dead & not know it, or never have experienced it...
Deer...clean headshots at modest distances from a well rested position...under spotlight i like...(although not if its its only 2 degrees)...clean and humane, and all the meat we retain...
Goats...love the hunt...the stalk...the flurry of rapid activity & or the clean instant kill at decent but modest ranges...
The man who knows everything, doesnt really know everything...he's just stopped learning...