Though it has been a long paper and fruit punching journey, today my Taipan Vet Compact in .25 cal got “deflowered”, so officially it is no longer a virgin air rifle. The Taipan can now call itself a man for it made its first kills today and became what it is meant to be, a hunter!
I went back out to the dairy I had permission at for a couple of hours. The wind was hell (part of the reason I chose the Taipan over the Leshiy 2), plus the Taipan needed to stretch its legs and get its “first blood.”
The weather was a mixed rain no rain then snow coming. Winds were 15 mph stead with gusts I am guessing to 20 mph, so far from ideal for shooting on a diary because of pellet drift. The 4 main things I had to worry about with shot placement were cows (a couple of hundred), workers, buildings and machinery. I don’t want to pay for / hurt / injure any of the former so I gave up many shots where I wasn’t certain on where the pellet would land. Some bloody sparrows decided their favorite spot was on a tractor not a proper place like a hay bale, so no sparrows today, though it would have been easy to do so.
During the hunt I varied the power setting on the Taipan (one reason I love it so much) from a “guesstimate” of 45 ft/lbs to 20 ft/lbs. I shot JSB Hades in 25 cal. I have shot the Taipan enough I can guess the setting. Shots were from 10/15 yards to 60/70 yards, but I did take a couple of 80 plus and missed due to wind drift. I don’t have a range finder so I was going off the parallax of the scope to gauge distance.
The Eurasian doves and feral pigeons were “edgy” today and their numbers were about half of last week, though colder but windy with a storm coming in to the region. Plus I know I am not the only one pesting this dairy, so the birds are a bit educated. One thing I learned, I wish the doves and pigeons were as dumb as the calves who seemed VERY interested me and what I was doing. However, if I looked the bird’s way they took off into the property over the fence line.
After two hours and two half magazines I got a total of 6 connects, triple the Leshiy 2 under less than ideal conditions. There were 3 doves and 3 pigeons, 4 confirmed kills and one dove couldn’t be recovered from the roof of the barn unless I had a 15 ft ladder. One dove and one pigeons were fly always, which made me feel bad, but the pigeon shocked me. I have heard how tough pigeons can be and today proved it. The pigeon was facing back to me at probably 50/60 yards. The Taipan had 40 ft/lbs setting, I took aim, shot heard the pellet connect with smack, puff of feathers, a fly of birds and the pigeon couldn’t be found after a 10 min search. Also, for the dove in the picture I should be given a medal for getting it off the roof of the barn because I used probably a 12 ft 2x4 with nails in it to get the bird off while climbing an old fence.
Also, I saw my goal of this trip STARLINGS, BUT the little shots were on a power line in front of the road which had I-86 behind it. If I took a shot I break at least 3 laws. So the “shots” moved on to live another day. Plus it was in front of the office of the dairy.
Tomorrow I hope to go out again or first thing Sunday before I leave back to the Netherlands.
I went back out to the dairy I had permission at for a couple of hours. The wind was hell (part of the reason I chose the Taipan over the Leshiy 2), plus the Taipan needed to stretch its legs and get its “first blood.”
The weather was a mixed rain no rain then snow coming. Winds were 15 mph stead with gusts I am guessing to 20 mph, so far from ideal for shooting on a diary because of pellet drift. The 4 main things I had to worry about with shot placement were cows (a couple of hundred), workers, buildings and machinery. I don’t want to pay for / hurt / injure any of the former so I gave up many shots where I wasn’t certain on where the pellet would land. Some bloody sparrows decided their favorite spot was on a tractor not a proper place like a hay bale, so no sparrows today, though it would have been easy to do so.
During the hunt I varied the power setting on the Taipan (one reason I love it so much) from a “guesstimate” of 45 ft/lbs to 20 ft/lbs. I shot JSB Hades in 25 cal. I have shot the Taipan enough I can guess the setting. Shots were from 10/15 yards to 60/70 yards, but I did take a couple of 80 plus and missed due to wind drift. I don’t have a range finder so I was going off the parallax of the scope to gauge distance.
The Eurasian doves and feral pigeons were “edgy” today and their numbers were about half of last week, though colder but windy with a storm coming in to the region. Plus I know I am not the only one pesting this dairy, so the birds are a bit educated. One thing I learned, I wish the doves and pigeons were as dumb as the calves who seemed VERY interested me and what I was doing. However, if I looked the bird’s way they took off into the property over the fence line.
After two hours and two half magazines I got a total of 6 connects, triple the Leshiy 2 under less than ideal conditions. There were 3 doves and 3 pigeons, 4 confirmed kills and one dove couldn’t be recovered from the roof of the barn unless I had a 15 ft ladder. One dove and one pigeons were fly always, which made me feel bad, but the pigeon shocked me. I have heard how tough pigeons can be and today proved it. The pigeon was facing back to me at probably 50/60 yards. The Taipan had 40 ft/lbs setting, I took aim, shot heard the pellet connect with smack, puff of feathers, a fly of birds and the pigeon couldn’t be found after a 10 min search. Also, for the dove in the picture I should be given a medal for getting it off the roof of the barn because I used probably a 12 ft 2x4 with nails in it to get the bird off while climbing an old fence.
Also, I saw my goal of this trip STARLINGS, BUT the little shots were on a power line in front of the road which had I-86 behind it. If I took a shot I break at least 3 laws. So the “shots” moved on to live another day. Plus it was in front of the office of the dairy.
Tomorrow I hope to go out again or first thing Sunday before I leave back to the Netherlands.
