A few Bunnies and Basil
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:31 am
It was Thursday evening, I was finishing up at work, the wife was staying in Sydney visiting her Grandmother and our daughter was staying overnight at her cousins. I was home alone, Being a firm believer of never letting an opportunity go by, I made the usual arrangements with the Cocky for a spotlight with the 204. I was informed the rabbit numbers finally had exploded (yay!) and the odd fox is still lurking about.
Upon arrival early evening, I was greeted by scampering bunnies crossing the access track. My good ol' and faithful mate, Brno came along for support.
Initially concentrating in the front paddocks, Brno had bagged six bunnies. All head shot with Winchester 40gr SSHPs, but unfortunately I lost four kicking their way back down burrows. There were way too many sheep near the hayshed for me to take any safe shots on the mass of rabbits present and too close to the house to use the 204.
Moving onto the open sheep paddocks, the Brno was substituted by the 204. Like all previous trips, I briefly saw Mr Basil near the flock of sheep on same the hill near the same dead tree trunk, and as usual when the light hit him he was off like a rocket!
Moving onto a gully with a bit a blackberry, rabbits were running everywhere and very skittish in the light. I belted the first bunny and reloaded for the next only to see Basil pop his head up from an erosion gully approximately 20-30yds behind the steaming furry red bunnypat. Within a second, he became very open minded! Interestingly, where he was dropped was only metres from the skeleton of a vixen head shot with the 204 back in May.
The 204 took another seven rabbits in the vicinity with some spectacular misting action.
On the way out I swapped hardware again and bagged another three bunnies with the Brno before calling it a night.
There were no extreme range shots taken on this trip which indicated (to me) a higher concentration of small game. Rabbits bagged with the 22LR ranged from 10yds to 80yds and rabbits nailed with the 204 ranged from 90yds to 180yds. The fox was the longest shot being a whisker over 200yds.
It was good (for me) to see a lot of kittens about too. I can see an afternoon of casual bunny bustin' coming up soon(ish).
Upon arrival early evening, I was greeted by scampering bunnies crossing the access track. My good ol' and faithful mate, Brno came along for support.
Initially concentrating in the front paddocks, Brno had bagged six bunnies. All head shot with Winchester 40gr SSHPs, but unfortunately I lost four kicking their way back down burrows. There were way too many sheep near the hayshed for me to take any safe shots on the mass of rabbits present and too close to the house to use the 204.
Moving onto the open sheep paddocks, the Brno was substituted by the 204. Like all previous trips, I briefly saw Mr Basil near the flock of sheep on same the hill near the same dead tree trunk, and as usual when the light hit him he was off like a rocket!
Moving onto a gully with a bit a blackberry, rabbits were running everywhere and very skittish in the light. I belted the first bunny and reloaded for the next only to see Basil pop his head up from an erosion gully approximately 20-30yds behind the steaming furry red bunnypat. Within a second, he became very open minded! Interestingly, where he was dropped was only metres from the skeleton of a vixen head shot with the 204 back in May.
The 204 took another seven rabbits in the vicinity with some spectacular misting action.
On the way out I swapped hardware again and bagged another three bunnies with the Brno before calling it a night.
There were no extreme range shots taken on this trip which indicated (to me) a higher concentration of small game. Rabbits bagged with the 22LR ranged from 10yds to 80yds and rabbits nailed with the 204 ranged from 90yds to 180yds. The fox was the longest shot being a whisker over 200yds.
It was good (for me) to see a lot of kittens about too. I can see an afternoon of casual bunny bustin' coming up soon(ish).
