Hey everyone.
After moving from the UK to Australia in 2015, it took me a while to get back into airguns due to having other more pressing priorities - but late last year I finally managed to get myself set up. That was only half the battle though - I live in the city these days, so finding places to shoot isn't straightforward.
There are a couple of ranges within driving distance, and my buddy has let me set up an indoor range in his business' warehouse, but as much as I love shooting at paper, hunting is what I dream of at night!
I managed to pick up a piece of permission from an unlikely source when I was at the range last weekend. The range officer - initially a little sceptical of my Wildcat (I'm shooting on the main range, alongside all manner of firearms and not a single other airgun), admitted that he was impressed with it after watching me shoot some decent(ish) groups in strong winds at 75 metres - and said he'd look into buying one to deal with the rabbits at his home, as it's not practical to use his rimfire there. Of course, I sniffed the opportunity and volunteered to save him some money!
Went for my first look at the place on Saturday morning. It's a fair drive from home, so I didn't have a chance to recce the property before hand - and I arrived a full hour before first light. Without a mount, I used low-tac painter’s tape to fix my LED Lenser to my rifle, and surveyed the scene. I must have seen 40 rabbits. They all bolted as soon as my light came onto them. In the way that rabbits do, some of them stopped at the edge of the paddock, but not one of them sat still long enough to get a shot off.
I walked around the area that I'd seen them all, and managed to get a standing shot off at one straggler. Off-hand shooting has never been my strong suit, but I definitely had a case of buck fever too, so I duly missed.
There's a veranda surrounding the house looking over most of the area on which the rabbits feed. I decided to sit it out, and wait for light. I was telling myself over and over again in my head to be patient, don't be tempted to flick the light on. After about half an hour, it was just starting to get a little less dark and I made out two shapes hopping around on my right-hand side. I waited, and knew that it would only be a few minutes more before the light was more favourable. I rolled the magnification on my Optisan EVX 6-24x50F1 back to 9x, waited a few minutes and then picked the bunny furthest to my right. It sat right up as I was settling the crosshairs I estimated the range to be about 40 metres, so I gave half MRAD of holdover and sent the pellet on its way. I heard a thud when I really wanted to hear a crack and I knew that I hadn't got it quite right. The rabbit moved off out of my sight as I silently cursed myself, thinking I'd lost it.
About 20 minutes passed, and it was really starting to get light now, and two more hopped into view. The closest one was at about 30 metres, so I aimed dead on, and watched it cartwheel into the air as the pellet struck the base of its skull. The second rabbit was at around 45 metres, and it didn't move. I adjusted my position slightly and squeezed off the shot. There was a loud crack, and the rabbit slumped forward, stone dead.
Another 20 minutes or so passed, and I spotted one in the paddock behind me and to my left. 30 metres, easy work.
It was complete daylight now. I saw several more hopping through the paddock on my left, but most didn't stop, and if they did, there was no clear firing line to them. I decided to pick up the 3 that I'd shot and call it a day. Whilst I was doing that, though a couple more hopped into view. I managed to rest on a fence post and drop one of them. On the way to collect it, the second one presented a shot too - but I got the range all kinds of wrong and missed it cleanly over the top.
Whilst gathering up the others, I noticed some white just the other side of the fence - and was delighted to find that the first rabbit that I'd shot had only managed to get about 5 metres before expiring. On closer inspection I found that it was a decent heart/lung shot. In daylight, it was obvious how much further away it was than I thought, but I got lucky and managed to pull of an ethical shot anyway.
First hunt with my Wildcat was a success!
Long story for a small bag compared to some of you guys, but I had a ball. Can't wait to get back there.
After moving from the UK to Australia in 2015, it took me a while to get back into airguns due to having other more pressing priorities - but late last year I finally managed to get myself set up. That was only half the battle though - I live in the city these days, so finding places to shoot isn't straightforward.
There are a couple of ranges within driving distance, and my buddy has let me set up an indoor range in his business' warehouse, but as much as I love shooting at paper, hunting is what I dream of at night!
I managed to pick up a piece of permission from an unlikely source when I was at the range last weekend. The range officer - initially a little sceptical of my Wildcat (I'm shooting on the main range, alongside all manner of firearms and not a single other airgun), admitted that he was impressed with it after watching me shoot some decent(ish) groups in strong winds at 75 metres - and said he'd look into buying one to deal with the rabbits at his home, as it's not practical to use his rimfire there. Of course, I sniffed the opportunity and volunteered to save him some money!
Went for my first look at the place on Saturday morning. It's a fair drive from home, so I didn't have a chance to recce the property before hand - and I arrived a full hour before first light. Without a mount, I used low-tac painter’s tape to fix my LED Lenser to my rifle, and surveyed the scene. I must have seen 40 rabbits. They all bolted as soon as my light came onto them. In the way that rabbits do, some of them stopped at the edge of the paddock, but not one of them sat still long enough to get a shot off.
I walked around the area that I'd seen them all, and managed to get a standing shot off at one straggler. Off-hand shooting has never been my strong suit, but I definitely had a case of buck fever too, so I duly missed.
There's a veranda surrounding the house looking over most of the area on which the rabbits feed. I decided to sit it out, and wait for light. I was telling myself over and over again in my head to be patient, don't be tempted to flick the light on. After about half an hour, it was just starting to get a little less dark and I made out two shapes hopping around on my right-hand side. I waited, and knew that it would only be a few minutes more before the light was more favourable. I rolled the magnification on my Optisan EVX 6-24x50F1 back to 9x, waited a few minutes and then picked the bunny furthest to my right. It sat right up as I was settling the crosshairs I estimated the range to be about 40 metres, so I gave half MRAD of holdover and sent the pellet on its way. I heard a thud when I really wanted to hear a crack and I knew that I hadn't got it quite right. The rabbit moved off out of my sight as I silently cursed myself, thinking I'd lost it.
About 20 minutes passed, and it was really starting to get light now, and two more hopped into view. The closest one was at about 30 metres, so I aimed dead on, and watched it cartwheel into the air as the pellet struck the base of its skull. The second rabbit was at around 45 metres, and it didn't move. I adjusted my position slightly and squeezed off the shot. There was a loud crack, and the rabbit slumped forward, stone dead.
Another 20 minutes or so passed, and I spotted one in the paddock behind me and to my left. 30 metres, easy work.
It was complete daylight now. I saw several more hopping through the paddock on my left, but most didn't stop, and if they did, there was no clear firing line to them. I decided to pick up the 3 that I'd shot and call it a day. Whilst I was doing that, though a couple more hopped into view. I managed to rest on a fence post and drop one of them. On the way to collect it, the second one presented a shot too - but I got the range all kinds of wrong and missed it cleanly over the top.
Whilst gathering up the others, I noticed some white just the other side of the fence - and was delighted to find that the first rabbit that I'd shot had only managed to get about 5 metres before expiring. On closer inspection I found that it was a decent heart/lung shot. In daylight, it was obvious how much further away it was than I thought, but I got lucky and managed to pull of an ethical shot anyway.
First hunt with my Wildcat was a success!
Long story for a small bag compared to some of you guys, but I had a ball. Can't wait to get back there.
