Wheatley

Went for a squirrel hunt with Dave & Lee

I took my new air rifle (Falcon Raptor FN-19RB 8 shot)

Dave took his new rifle (my old BSA Mercury S)

Lee borrowed Dave's old air rifle (BSA Supersport)

We set off to the local woods, in search of the tasty tree rats, we searched for a couple of hours, and didn't see any.

So we went to another local patch, in search of squirrels and rabbits. We arrived and decided a plan of action. Dave & Lee set off together, I went another direction on my own.

I spotted a pair of ears in the grass, raised the rifle and as I got the scopes on the bunny's head, it bolted. It ran straight towards me and stopped about 4 yards away. I put the sights on it again.

The rabbit flipped over, then ran back up the banking, then followed the boundary line and had disappeared by the time I got up the banking.

I followed in search of my game, but didn't find it. Then I spotted a bit further up the boundary line was a group of 4 rabbits feeding. 1 saw me and hopped for cover.

I sighted in on a large buck.

He slowly lifted up onto his hind legs, wobbled as if he was drunk, I took another shot.

He fell backwards.

A couple of second later a smaller rabbit emerged from the same cover, about 3 yards from where the big buck lay in full view. I sighted again.

He didn't see that one coming.

I returned with my bag to find Dave & Lee, and they hadn't even seen a rabbit or squirrel, so we headed to a different area of the patch.

Straight away Dave sighted a rabbit in the open, scoped it, took the shot and missed. The rabbit moved about 3 foot and stopped. I scoped it and as it headed under the Brambles took my shot. We went to find it but it had disappeared.

We walked round the area, spotted plenty of rabbits out of range, and also saw 2 foxes, 1 entered the den, as the dog left, he casually climbed the banking and hopped onto the wall. He walked on the wall for about 5 yards, then hopped down the other side out of view.

As we walked back across the patch, a rabbit was sat approx. 40 yards in the open, we crept along behind the cover, got to 25 yards, and all took aim. BANG! BANG! PHUT! All 3 of us took a shot.

All 3 full-powered shots hit like a burst from a machine gun, and the rabbit jerked like it had been hit by 1 too. It fell over, lay on its side kicking so Dave ran to collect it. It kicked its way through the sheep netting, and we heard it crashing through the undergrowth.

Dave climbed the fence, and was scrambling about in the Stinging Nettles, Thistles & Brambles, I headed in from another direction, but couldn't get close enough. Dave found a large hole near where we had heard the crashing, but found no rabbit.

We started back to my car, and I spotted another rabbit in the open, I signalled Dave as he was a lot nearer. He stalked within 40 yards, and took the shot.

It hit home, right in front of the eye, with an exit wound in the back of the skull. The rabbit keeled over and lay kicking for a few seconds. Dave collected his bag and it put a big smile on his face.

We tried another section, and didn't see any rabbits or squirrels, but we saw a family of 5 Sparrow Hawks circling near their nest. I think the juveniles were getting a hunting lesson from both parents, as there was a lot of calling and a lot of false dives as Swallows flew around catching the Midges.

We got back to my car, and Lee was a bit upset as he hadn't shot anything, so we planned to return the day after. Unfortunately it rained all day, there were heavy showers throughout the day until about 4.30pm so we got rained off. So spent the best part of the day shooting targets in my back garden, until a Crow came in for a nosey, I was ready to take the shot

I got some ferret food with a single shot.

We'll return again another day, and be better prepared for a much better hunt.