Spot of early morning varminting

[craigyboy]

The women was up early at 5:30am for work this morning and she woke me up as well so I thought what the hell and got the gear together and headed out to one of the local farms I shoot on. The farmer there is lambing at the minute and while there is very few foxes there are loads of maggies and greycrows, he had a problem earlier in the year where a yew rolled over on here back and couldnt get back over and a greyback crow ended up picking one of its eyes out so sorting a few of those out wouldnt do any harm for the farmers piece of mind. I started out with the one of those predetor enticer decoys, basically a bunch of feathers spun around on a little motor, had a couple of magpies off fence posts at 130 yards and 180 yards. I then witnessed somehting I had never saw before, this place is brimming with hares and I was watching 4 out in the grass feeding in the early morning sun about 400 yards away sorta half wishing they were not restricted as they would have made a good shot but I was happy enough just watching them, next thing 2 grey crows swoop in on one sat away from the others and start attacking it, the hare runs up the field with the 2 crows in tow, they managed to keep up with it and swooped loads of times and at one point nealry got the hare onto its back but it managed to get into the ditch at the end of the field, I had never witnessed anything like this before I know the greycrows are bad buggers but this was a new one for me. Luckily after no luck with the hare my decoy caught the greycrows attention and I managed to nail one of them of a fence post at 160 yards. I didnt get any photos of the maggies or crow as they were all shot off fence posts backing off into a drainage ditch and I wasnt going back in there to dig them out, got in one time as a yew had fell in and had a horrid time getting her back out on my own, think it traumatised me abit, its deeper than it looks. After this the sun was up rightly in the sky so I went walkabout before I headed back home for breakfast, I decided to go to a new vantage point I had scouted last time on this ground which I had earmarked for spring/summer rabbiting, sure enough there was 2 rabbits sitting out at 310 yards, I was saving the rabbits for later in the year but couldnt resist popping one so I dialled in 2.5 moa and left the windage alone as there was hardly a breath of wind, held right on its front quarter and boom direct hit and instant kill. Good fun, hope the summer brings weather like we had this morning.

 

if you can see the red arrow thats were the rabbit was. Not super long range, hardly even medium range but good fun.

 

[6mmBR]

Great day to be out and a good result. I went out for a mooch this afternoon, I didn't fire a shot but great to be out in this lovely weather.

Cheers

Dave

[Guest varmartin]

Nice bit of land Craig....its nice to be up and out that time of day..must admit I should be out walking the fields a bit more rather that working on the roads.

 

Martin

[creakindoor]

How does the Leupold compare to the Swarovski ?

[craigyboy]

Crekindoor the swaro was definatley better optically especially in low light and as an general all round scope was better but for shooting groups and long range varmints I prefer the target turrets and side focus of the leupold, also the fine duplex crosshair is a big +, the swaro ret was a bit too thick for longer range targets/small vermin. The optics of the leupold are great in the middle of the day but when light is fading the sight picture is a bit dark though this is mostly down to me having it turned up to 25x mag, when turned down to 12x mag or so its spot on in low light. All in all I really like it.

[Toby]

I was also up early yesterday morning,thought that I would try and call in some foxes to my 222.Up in the woods at 6am,-10c and hardly any wind.The crampons that I bought myself as a birthday present worked perfectly,most of the time staying on the crust of the snow but occasionally going through up to my nads An hrs trek saw me in position at the frozen lake,called for 40mins with a couple of different calls,no joy,apart from a goshawk that came swooping overhead.Shame really,at the same location a month ago had a big fox out within 10mins.After that tried another post on the edge of a clearcut area,nowt again.How I miss the bunnies of GB where you can almost always guarantee something.Stopped and had a cup of coffee and a bite to eat on the trek back to the car.Bonuses on the trip were,the goshawk,a blackcock in a tree 150m away and some old lynx tracks.It always amazes me where some of these animals go,I've followed elk tracks up and down mountains thinking this animal must be mad,at least I've got crampons!So there you have it,no shots fired but some exercise in nice surroundings,will take my camera next time-regards Toby

[nemasis243]

Good start to the day and good write up . Like the rifle

[foxshot]

Sweet revenge for the ewe, you say it wasnt a long range shot ,judging by the photo it was a good way off nice vantage post as well

[.223Mark]

Cracking shot on the bunny 310 is a long way out all the same Keep up the good work craig