The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Game hunting and large prey. Deer stalking, hunting with hounds. Boar, pigs etc., large prey, culling, hunting large feral animals.

The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 04 Jan 2015, 6:50 am

G'day Fella's

A mate and I had been planning for a while to get out together for a bit of bunny bustin and gong smacking, so finally we'd managed to get a date settled on, anyway Mick arrived on NYD and it wasn't too long after he and I and the family were headed off to see what we could find.

I'd spoken to the property owner (who was on holidays on the Coast) a few days earlier to arrange for us to have a shot, after finding the key to the gates we were on the journey up to the back of the property to a little valley where I often find bunnies willing to play, on the way in I spotted a fox darting across the opposite hill side which I thought was a good sign for tonights spotlighting to come.

Anyway we'd arrived at our first destination and set up in the shade of some trees as it was a warm day at around 30deg, I started glassing the area in the hope of finding a few bunnies willing to give up living for the cause, sadly I didn't see many at all, I did locate a few bunnies here and there and Mick had a crack at those but no luck, anyway we set up the gongs out to 80m for use to have a shot at with the 22's whilst waiting for the sun to go down and hopefully a few bunnies and foxes to come out and play.

Mick made the gongs for me out of some nice Bisaloy 500 in sizes 3", 4" and 5" which will certainly test my shooting skills out with the 204 and 222 at long ranges, Just what I need to get the skills up for long range shots on bunny and fox heads. ;)

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Well needless to say we had a ball on them, finally some rabbits came out and we decided to have a crack at getting a few with the 22's, it didn't take long and we had a few on the ground (all headshots from memory).

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By this stage we were getting hungry so Mick cooked up a feed of Stinky Billy Bangers (his own homemade goat sausages) and they were an absolute hit with everyone as was his homemade BBQ Sauce.

We'd waited for the bunnies to come and and play some more but they were very shy and timid and no more see which was a shame as only a few weeks before they were running everywhere under the light :roll:

Anyway it was around 7pm I guess at this stage so we decided to move to another part of the property that has had quite a few bunnies running around, Mick nailed 2 bunnies on the way with nice headshots put on both of em (he wanted a few for some rabbit bangers he was thinking of making) so they were dressed soon after in preparation for the fridge. It wasn't long and we drove through the gate and down the hill abit when I see another fox go darting by flatout, I thought that's a good sign for tonights spotlighting effort, anyway we finally arrived at our destination and there were a reasonable amount of bunnies running around (not as many as I'd hoped) but enough to keep us entertained until last light.

The 22's were deployed and it wasn't long before we had a few on the ground, then as the range increased Micks 222 Howa and my 204 Howa came out to play, again the bunnies were getting smashed all over the place :D The kids and I went for a bit of a look to see if we could find a few of the willing participants we'd shot and only managed to find a few, meanwhile Mick dressed more rabbits then got onto the job of setting up his Remote Spotlight setup in preparation for tonight's spotlighting raid on the ferals.

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That spotlight setup is a rippa, with some fine tuning it will be perfect and a hell of a lot better than hanging onto the bloody thing on a cold winters night or for hours on end.

Anyway it was around 9ish at this stage and Mum and the Kids were ready to head home so they headed off and on the way back down the track they'd spotted a couple of foxes around the water tank, sadly the firearms were all packed away so mum didn't get a chance to add to her fox tally :cry: (they were lucky foxes as she hasn't missed one yet!) :D

Anyway Mick and I were in full spotlighting mode now scanning the surrounding countryside to see very little :shock: , anyway we kept at it and managed to find a few bunnies willing to sacrifice for the good of the cause - they were promptly dispatched with the 222 and 204. We'd finally spotted some fox eyes and I lined em up and sent a 39bk on its way, the eyes went out and I was fairly certain of a hit, we headed over and searched where we thought the fox was but couldn't locate it in the thistles :? oh well we'll call that a miss, anyway we moved on and soon after spotted another fox so I got in preparation for another crack and well the little bugger disappeared before I got a chance (may well have been the one from earlier on) :?

Anyway we kept at it and finally spotted another set of eyes and sure enough it was a fox, so we got the Hilux in position for Micks chance to get a red dog on the ground, Mick lined it up and sent the 52gn SMK on its way, whack! beauty we finally got one, so off we went to find it and FMD the same thing, we couldn't locate the little bastard no matter how hard we looked! :twisted: what the hell is going on with these foxes? :?

Anyway we kept searching in the hope of some more foxes but none were seen, it was getting onto about 3am at this stage so we decided to put the rifles away and have a couple of Micks home brews :D they were bloody fantastic too, it was definitely some of the best if not the best home brew I'd tasted (would put some of those boutique brewing companies to shame!) :D We'd arrived home about 4am and it was time for some well earned rest.

Anyway that was Day 1 of our 2 Day adventure.

Day 2

We piled out of bed around 8am for some of Micks ubute chinese omelettes and magnificent brarista style coffee :lol: I've never seen a camp setup like what Mick had, (I will have to take some pics next time) she was impressive to say the least, ubute coffee plunger type thing, something to froth the milk, you name it, she was a cracker for a camp setup.

Today we decided that we would shoot some gongs out to 750yds and 1000yds (we'd found an ideal spot the day before) so off we went to set the gongs up in preparation for some long range fun. Meanwhile the skies rumbling and lightening had started to happen :shock: the winds picked right up and then the rain started on and off, but it held off long enough for us to have some fun, with 2 shots Mick had the 308 Howa on target at the 750yd gong :D

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With wind gusts approaching up around the 10mph and higher I thought this would be interesting (and it was) but Mick had it nutted out quick smart and the 3rd or 4th shot was in the Centre :lol: and it was on, one after the other they were hitting around the centre of the going (its funny watching the gong move then 5sec later the ding! It was now time to go out to the 1000yd gong and see how we'd go there, it proved a lot more challenging as the winds just kept getting stronger but Mick persisted and finally got it ringing too just before the rain decided to come in and spoil the fun :roll: it was getting lateish at this stage so we figured we'd get the gongs packed away and we headed down to the sheds after that for some more of Micks Stinky Goat Bangers and some cherrios to see if this rain would bugger off or not.

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Eventually the rain stopped so we headed back up to the rabbit patch to have some fun with the 308 and 204, Mick skull capped a rabbit at around 330yds from memory, it hardly made a mark on the bloody thing, just creased the top of its head which removed the top of the skull exposing the brain membrane (that was quite a sight) :shock:

Anyway I had a few shots at bunnies near that one and was just getting blown off to the RHS bugger, we drove further down the hill to where we'd been the night before shooting em and set up again for some more fun with the 308 and 204. It wasn't long before we'd had our first victims lined up, Mick nailed one at 260m or so, which saw it flying in all directions (who says target projectiles are no go for hunting) Amaxed all over the joint it was :lol:

I spotted this pair doing the deed, so I lined up on the female and sent a 39gn Bk on its way and Whack 2 bunnies down for the count (240m) apparently they were both dead roots. :D I spotted another tiny little one at around the 240 range too and lined it up and Whack, it went flying through the air, then I spotted another one out around 260m and sent a 39gn Bk on it's way and it too fell over, meanwhile Mick had accounted for a few more with his 308 too.

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By this time it was around 8.30 and the light had all but gone so we decided to call it a night and head home for a quick feed and a good rest (after downing some more Home brew and Coopers Mild. ;)
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by North East » 04 Jan 2015, 9:24 am

The calicivirus appears to be having no effect up your way going by the health of those bunnies but a bit of lead in the head sorts them out.
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 04 Jan 2015, 12:22 pm

North East wrote:The calicivirus appears to be having no effect up your way going by the health of those bunnies but a bit of lead in the head sorts them out.


It has affected a few other properties I hunt on but so far this one seems to be free of it, I'm sure some rain and hot weather will soon change that though. :(

I'm happy to give em a quick humane death. ;)
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by RealNick » 05 Jan 2015, 10:46 am

Some lovely country you've got there BFS :thumbsup:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by inspector » 05 Jan 2015, 10:50 am

Off topic but what rest are you running there in the second photo Scott?
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 05 Jan 2015, 11:15 am

RealNick wrote:Some lovely country you've got there BFS :thumbsup:


It certainly is Nick :thumbsup:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 05 Jan 2015, 11:16 am

inspector wrote:Off topic but what rest are you running there in the second photo Scott?


It's a homemade jobbie Inspector, my mate who was with me made that, he's rather bloody handy with his hands to say the least (awesome some of the stuff he makes) :thumbsup:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by AusC » 05 Jan 2015, 2:22 pm

bigfellascott wrote:Image


Geeez you're an ugly bastard Scott :P :lol:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by vexesus » 05 Jan 2015, 2:23 pm

Damn they're big rabbits out there.
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 05 Jan 2015, 2:32 pm

AusC wrote:
bigfellascott wrote:Image


Geeez you're an ugly bastard Scott :P :lol:


It's a bad case of acne alright! :lol:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 05 Jan 2015, 2:33 pm

Vexesus,

What's big out here mate? :?
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by vexesus » 05 Jan 2015, 2:39 pm

Sorry, typos made my reply make no sense.

The rabbits (updated reply)
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 05 Jan 2015, 2:44 pm

vexesus wrote:Sorry, typos made my reply make no sense.

The rabbits (updated reply)


Ah roger that, they are a lot bigger than a few mths ago :lol: they were tiny little things to shoot at then. ;)
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by sally-bee » 05 Jan 2015, 3:01 pm

About fox season too now isn't it? With the warmer weather.

Pups will be grown and getting out more?
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 05 Jan 2015, 3:07 pm

sally-bee wrote:About fox season too now isn't it? With the warmer weather.

Pups will be grown and getting out more?


Yep they are getting about nicely now, I've seen around 10 foxes in the last couple of outings, some have been willing to die for the cause, other's less so and have just kept sprinting away as soon as they see or here the 4by. :unknown:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by riggee » 05 Jan 2015, 3:20 pm

bigfellascott wrote:We piled out of bed around 8am for some of Micks ubute chinese omelettes and magnificent brarista style coffee :lol:


Geez you guys are really roughing it :sarcasm: :lol:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 05 Jan 2015, 3:49 pm

riggee wrote:
bigfellascott wrote:We piled out of bed around 8am for some of Micks ubute chinese omelettes and magnificent brarista style coffee :lol:


Geez you guys are really roughing it :sarcasm: :lol:


Not too shabby is it :lol: he's got that omlette gravy the chinese use down pat, bloody beautiful it was as was the freshly ground espresso coffee with frothed milk! :lol: what a setup, I've never seen anything like it I can tell ya.
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by Supporter » 06 Jan 2015, 7:30 am

Has he got a fixed spot already setup?

Did you drag an espresso machine out there or what? :lol:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by schink » 06 Jan 2015, 7:33 am

bigfellascott wrote:what a setup, I've never seen anything like it I can tell ya.


You've probably Googled some of those "glamping" setups?

Most of them are nicer than my house! :lol:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 06 Jan 2015, 8:49 am

Supporter wrote:Has he got a fixed spot already setup?

Did you drag an espresso machine out there or what? :lol:


Yeah mate the espresso setup was in the back of the 4by all the time, he just keeps it all in one of those plastic tubs :lol: not that we bothered having one whilst out shooting! :D
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 06 Jan 2015, 8:50 am

schink wrote:
bigfellascott wrote:what a setup, I've never seen anything like it I can tell ya.


You've probably Googled some of those "glamping" setups?

Most of them are nicer than my house! :lol:


No I haven't actually, I must have a look, no doubt they are flash! :lol: I still like the more bushy type setups to be honest, homemade is the go for me,
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 06 Jan 2015, 8:51 am

I went out again last night with another mate, I'll do a report later on :thumbsup:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by schink » 07 Jan 2015, 10:35 am

bigfellascott wrote:No I haven't actually, I must have a look, no doubt they are flash! :lol: I still like the more bushy type setups to be honest, homemade is the go for me,


Well... Here is some "camping" in "tents".

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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by bigfellascott » 07 Jan 2015, 3:36 pm

:shock: That's a bit swish mate, bloody norah! I wouldn't want to go shooting if I lived in conditions like that out bush :lol:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by anthillinside » 07 Jan 2015, 7:14 pm

What's the morgage worth on that one? :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: The New Year started with a Bang and a Ding!

Post by harris » 08 Jan 2015, 7:35 am

Probably cheaper to buy a house than do that :lol:
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