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.
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).
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
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
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.
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
(they were lucky foxes as she hasn't missed one yet!)
Anyway Mick and I were in full spotlighting mode now scanning the surrounding countryside to see very little
, 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!
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
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!)
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 2We piled out of bed around 8am for some of Micks ubute chinese omelettes and magnificent brarista style coffee
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
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
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
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
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.
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)
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
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.
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.
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.