Mixenden

I told my wife I was going out for an hour to get some pigeons for the ferrets, as I arrived at the farm I looked at the clock on the dashboard, it was 5:00pm.

I pulled up in the yard, and saw 9 pigeons sat on the farmhouse roof. The rifle was laid on the backseat, so I got out of the car, opened the backdoor and slipped the rifle from its case. I pulled back the cocking bolt as I took it from the case, popped a magazine in, and slid the bolt back.

I turned to face the farmhouse, slipped the rifle to my shoulder and raised it.

The pigeon fell from the roof, and landed with a thud, and the rest took flight. They circled round and landed again.

Another pigeon hit the deck.

The lady came out of the farmhouse, and chatted for a moment, then I walked around the corner of the farmhouse, and spotted a large rabbit sat grazing just over the garden wall.

I walked across the garden, as if I was minding my own business, used the trunk of an old Sycamore tree as cover and got within 20 yards.

He rolled over, and lay kicking for a moment, then was still.

As I peered over the wall, I saw a rabbit bolt for cover. So I slowly climbed over, and went to see how far he'd gone. I spotted him darting across the field, but then saw another sat on the edge of a small ditch, scoped him and...

He slumped, and lay still in his seat.

There was a noise in the huge Stinging Nettle patch nearby, and I caught a glimpse of another dashing through the undergrowth. I let this one disappear.

I returned to the farmhouse, as the pigeons had returned.

I walked around the garden boundary, and slowly raised the rifle.

Pigeon #3 was in the bag.

The remaining pigeons circled, and then landed again. I took aim, squeezed the trigger, and a cloud of feathers was left floating to the ground as the pigeons took flight.

I stood talking to the farmer for a couple of minutes, and we saw a pigeon swoop into the barn. We watched the others come in as we chatted.

The farmer borrowed one of my pigeons for a couple of minutes to help train his Spaniel pup on the retrieve (which he did very well).

He took his dogs on their walk, and I went into the barn to find the pigeons. There were 3 sat in the rafters, so I scoped 1...

He tumble from his perch, and landed stone-dead.

His friends fluttered about in the rafters, then settled again...

Another was in the bag, and the remaining pigeon flew out of the barn, so I called it a day, and put the rifle in the car.

I talked to the farmer for a few minutes before driving off, and gained myself some more permission on another stretch of land he has.

I got in my car, and as I drove off, looked at the clock on the dashboard, it was 6:00pm. I had been there exactly 1 hour.

All-in-all, this was a good day's hunting.