Hares in the Garden

I have some friends who have a property in a rural area. Something was damaging plants in their garden and I said I thought it might be a hare. So I set up my game camera near the garden.

A couple of days later, I grabbed my fathers old Brno #1 .22 and walked around the farm. Climbing through a fence in a cunning way to avoid the electric wire, I got the worst electric shock I've ever experienced (and I've had a few). It was like someone big hit me between the shoulder blades with a sledgehammer. But I composed myself and carried on, and eventually shot one hare not long before dark.

https://i.imgur.com/jJn18os.jpg

I went up again a few nights later. Because of the wide paddocks and lack of cover I thought I'd be smart and take my Howa .223. But I saw nothing. I saw nothing on my next trip either (apart from a big ginger cat).... but I did bring the camera home. And yes, I got several pictures of a hare, but well after dark.

https://i.imgur.com/VJb1TCU.jpg

I realised that I probably should get prepared to shoot after dark. I prefer hunting in daylight, but the hares don't seem to be out then. I've spotlighted before.... using heavy batteries and big lights, but I've kept up with the times and I am well aware of how good LED torches are. I looked around to see what torches and mounts were available. But I figured that the torch I already had was fine.... and surely I could find some way of fitting it to my rifle.

I thought that my Anschutz might be the best choice for night work. It has a slimmer suppressor (thus should reflect less light back into my scope)... plus I didn't mind subjecting it to rougher treatment (whereas the Brno is a family heirloom). So I fitted a Nikko Mount Master to it and sighted it in. I sat on a low stool and rested my front hand in the vee of a pair of shooting sticks for this process. I was satisfied with how it performed (despite the gritty trigger):

https://i.imgur.com/iDns5qT.jpg

Next I had to fit a torch. I wrapped a bit of black plastic tape around the front part of the stock to protect it.... then I fitted the torch with a couple of Waugh rubber tree-training bands (these make great slingshots incidentally). I was delighted to find that the beam pretty much lined up with the sights. Ha, I thought, I'm glad I didn't spend bazillions on a special rig.

https://i.imgur.com/dw2cRNt.jpg

I had a niggle in the back of my mind about how the torch might affect accuracy. When I was enquiring about commercial mounts, someone suggested that a magnetic mount on the barrel could be a good thing. I asked... might that affect accuracy? Nah... not much on a .22. I thought I'd better test the new rig. For the first group I fired I used some Kilwell Whisper that I'd taken on a few hunts. I thought I should use it up. The group I got was not so good:

https://i.imgur.com/AaK3oT5.jpg

Hmmm, I thought... I better try some new ammo. So I shot a group of four Norinco rounds (which performs very well most of the time). But the group was still disappointing:

https://i.imgur.com/cYhNNX7.jpg

So I took the torch off the rifle, but left the wrapping of plastic tape around the forestock and barrel. But the group was still not good:

https://i.imgur.com/ojEkGZQ.jpg

So I took off the tape and shot a four-cartridge group.... much better this time:

https://i.imgur.com/lFrytDb.jpg

So I'm thinking that a small flashlight mounted above the scope might be better. Meanwhile I thought I could hold the torch loosely in my left hand while supporting the rifle. I tried shooting a group like that. The results weren't wonderful, but the method might be good enough for close ranges:

https://i.imgur.com/EDhVHGK.jpg

So now I'm working on other ways to spotlight on my own. Maybe I will buy a scope mount and a thin-barreled torch.

Could you mount under the forend with a bit of velcro?
Then not touching barrel at all and any scope glare should be minimized.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Could you mount under the forend with a bit of velcro?
Then not touching barrel at all and any scope glare should be minimized.

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Now that is a good idea thanks. I could use the adhesive velcro tape. Thank you. Well worth trying, especially if I use a lighter torch.

You've gone down the rabbit hole :D

Most people seem to have torches scope-mounted. On one of my rifles that has a stainless barrel, the glare is intolerable, so I've mounted the torch underneath the forend. Accu Long Range do a nice picatinny rail and a leveling wedge which is just right for the job.

Thanks MB, I shall check them out.

A piece of PVC waste pipe split, heated in the oven ( on baking paper) flared and shaped to accept the torch and spring over it will do the trick. mount under the fore end with velco or what ever and get into them.

A piece of PVC waste pipe split, heated in the oven ( on baking paper) flared and shaped to accept the torch and spring over it will do the trick. mount under the fore end with velco or what ever and get into them.

Also, in my garden hares love sitting under the Trampoline

Another good idea.

I like seeing the hares around. I'm guessing that family members may have a soft spot for the trampoline visitors.

I used to regularly see a hare when I went hunting on a neighbour's place. After I received my Rossi .357 lever gun, I went for a hunt there. I saw the hare sitting just a few feet away and I impulsively shot it. Now I miss seeing it. While the landowners would have been pleased to have it gone, I didn't really need the meat and the place isn't as interesting to visit now. And I think I've only seen one hare on the place in the last couple of years since.

@Coote

Hares are one of those damned if you do, damned if you don’t animals. A bit like pukekos.

I also like seeing them around and watching their antics. But leave them to breed up in an area with abundant feed, no pressure and suitable rough, ungrazed areas for them to bed down safely, and pretty soon you’ll be wondering what happened to all those nice shrubs and trees that you planted. Hare damage is very specific, terminal to the plants / trees, and intolerable when you consider the money & effort that goes into planting and rehabilitating riparian areas for example.

We had one come into our garden recently and he took a couple of bites out of every single butternut in the patch. If the dog hadn’t got onto it on what was probably the end of the first night it visited, I hate to think what would’ve happened to our squash crop.

A relatively new townie / lifestyler convert neighbour planted dozens of native saplings on his block this time two years ago. I told him then he needed to do something to protect them, and he ignored me. My wife told his wife they needed to do something to protect them, and she was ignored too. We are not brave enough to ask them how much money they lost to hare damage - the grapevine says “most of it”. (They also won’t let us shoot on their block, much to the annoyance of the immediate neighbours, so now there is a fairly abundant rabbit overflow which is a whole other story.)

So hares are one of those animals that can be present in low numbers without too many problems, but you must keep one eye on their numbers, and what is going on around the neighbourhood.

As an aside, our little valley has been transformed by riparian regeneration projects, and the planting of numerous small native blocks. The area in general has improved immeasurably over the 15 years I have owned property here. In the early noughties, it was a large rundown old dry stock farm with abundant gorse, wilding pines, shite pasture and millions of rats, stoats, ferrets, cats and rabbits. I spent five years cleaning out these pests, before moving to Australia for a while. When we got back five years later, there were tales of woe from neighbours old and new about sapling damage, and I was very surprised at how much general ignorance there was about the European Brown Hare. In the five years since I’ve been back from Australia, we’ve been very tough on the hares and sapling damage is now largely a thing of the past. One of our neighbours is re-planting pine on an old harvested pine block, first thing he did was line me and the wife up to come sort out the hares. Once bitten, twice shy.

Lastly I am very surprised that you cannot see hares during the day. Two hours before sunset and there are one or two hares visible on most sunny faces around here.

Old man is a commercial shooter and he runs torch on his helmet, takes a bit of naffing about untill you get it mounted right so 99% of the time when you're in a shooting position it's pointing down your line of sight but seems to work well and it's all he uses if not using thermal scope

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Old man is a commercial shooter and he runs torch on his helmet, takes a bit of naffing about untill you get it mounted right so 99% of the time when you're in a shooting position it's pointing down your line of sight but seems to work well and it's all he uses if not using thermal scope

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I was just reading about a setup like this. Maybe it was on this forum, but I can't find it. Maybe it was somewhere else or I dreamt it! Anyway, seems like a good solution.

the helmit light idea been around for 30 years...used to have big spotlight up there on bike helmit and you grabbed handle and swung it on tracked rail when wanting to shoot...I just hold torch in left hand and rest forestock across wrist of right....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

the helmit light idea been around for 30 years...used to have big spotlight up there on bike helmit and you grabbed handle and swung it on tracked rail when wanting to shoot...I just hold torch in left hand and rest forestock across wrist of right....

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Lot longer than 30years


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Underneath is what we have done for many years. Probably the best option. Do you have a sing mount on the fore end of the stock? You can use the screw hole to fit a mount for your scope. We used to take the sling mount out and replaced it with a bolt/screw with the same thread. Use a washer and do not over tighten.

If you are using shooting sticks, then you could fit it to the sticks.Or best option yet, find an assistant....A great way to introduce young relatives to shooting- it gives them something to 'help' with.

the $20 mounts from @teffyf on here are a lot easier :P

Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions.

I've been reflecting upon this subject quite a bit today. I had the thought that if I got a factory-made mount and a decent light I could fit it to any rifle I might have or borrow. i also have been repeating the mantra 'this is not a dress rehearsal'.... so I figured that I might as well go for one of the best options to make things easy and to help create some enjoyment and success in what might be my last thirty-five years of hunting. I can always break into my Kiwisaver.

So I just ordered a Nitecore P30 and accessories from a very pleasant NZ dealer who was quick to respond to my queries. After doing some research, I can see I got a good deal. Gotta say i like the look of those Nitecore headlamps too.

It will be so good to walk around without a heavy battery in my pack. (Heh... I recall going spotlighting in my youth and bending over to check something on the ground and feeling battery acid trickling down my back).

I've seen a lot of hares out in the open at dawn or dusk.... and even, occasionally, nearer the middle of the day. Where I'm currently trying to shoot the hares, they seem to be a lot shyer. I doubt that I disturb them much myself. I take my 8 x 42 binoculars with me and survey the open paddocks and edges of the bush from a long way off and I have only had three sightings (which could have been just two hares).... one of which I shot.

This is a great forum.

truck battery in wheelbarrow spotlighting possums was fun,till barrow filled up with possums too.....
the big jim torch with stereo wire to battery on your belt was good
dolphin torch great till battery went flat
you got to feel for the old timers who used shuttered tilly lanterns
modern torches put the spotlights of 30 years ago to shame.
Im finding when the hares get a bit gun shy...the last 15 mins of light is pure gold....shot one at 150 yards 2 nights ago..his mate bolted and stopped at 225yards and suffered same fate,he was just a dark blob in the grass,if I hadnt been tracking in scope ,no way wouldve still seen it in the gloomy dark...looked awesome when the 22-250 round connected,big vapourcloud and bits of fur flying.

That description of the hare's encounter with a 22-250 projectile was poetical Micky. I've never owned anything with that calibre, but I'm guessing you could use the same point of aim to maybe 250 yards. Ideal.

Regarding light sources, I think vehicle headlights should get an honourable mention. And those good old plastic Ever-Ready 2 D cell torches that were common in the seventies.

the 2d were the big jims I believe...handle and reflector in one piece and battery screwed on underneath,till you got cunning and used stereo wires.
the 22-250 is sighted in inch high at hundy,is inch low at 200...so yip point n shoot....the 223 isnt far behind but the rifle platform I have just makes the bigger one so much fun to use,first time in my life Ive set up with a bipod,with heavy barrel and chunky stock,rifle doesnt move when fired.
we see far more hares than rabbits around here and sniping them is just plain good fun,the nearly 40 Ive taken off boss's farm must have made dent in the winter crop....or wouldve had they not been sent off to big clover patch in sky.

Another one under the trampoline this morning WTF

Ive seen photos from the states of buck whitetail under trampoline.....your hares possibly like the shade,360 degree view and grass,it still gets rain through mesh,dew too but not as much sun so will grow better than rest of lawn during dry spell....well thats my guess anyway LOL.

My Nitecore 'New P30' arrived yesterday. So I charged the battery and mounted it on the scope of my old Anschutz.

https://i.imgur.com/U0Rxz4T.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5YD8eIn.jpg

I sent Terry, who sold me the torch, (Knives4Africa) a picture of the rig, and he suggested I should mount the torch on the forward part of the scope and rotate it over to the right for better results. So I will try that next time.

Keen to try it, I went up to the farm where the hares were damaging the garden. There was a bright moon (something that I always thought was less than desirable for spotlighting) and a bit of fog. I crept over to the garden area and attempted to load the rifle. As sometimes happens, the top bullet in the magazine got an erection and flew out on to the ground. So I had to fluff around for a few minutes until I finally spotted it.

https://i.imgur.com/RYFpGqL.jpg

I saw three hares and shot at two of them.... and I got them both. The first hare required only one shot. The second needed more. I was shooting down a grassy slope near the bottom of a gully. I was surprised that two of my shots apparently went through the hare then ricocheted off the wet pasture. The first bullet I heard smack into something on the other side of the gully, but there was no 'whine'. The second made a loud noise as it spun through the air. While the situation was relatively safe with a high hill covered in macrocarpas as a back stop, it was a sobering experience to realise that even though the hollow subsonic bullet had passed through the animal it still bounced off a wet grassy slope.

https://i.imgur.com/XamT6YL.jpg

I got home some time after 10 pm. I hung the hares up, then pottered about for a bit.... getting into bed well after midnight. Our daughter is a nurse and some days we look after her young whippet. This morning she dropped the dog off while I was still snoozing, and I was treated to an enthusiastic damp nose in my ear hole. I took this photo once I'd acheived full consciousness.

https://i.imgur.com/JbGZ5Ij.jpg

I am delighted with the P30. It has five power settings and I found that the third highest setting was plenty. It is amazing how much light this little unit produces.

nice dog, why don't you try some coursing?

I'd love to try coursing. And so would the dog. But there are too many electric fences on the property I am currently visiting. I'd just love to see what happens if I let him go in a wide paddock containing rabbits.

My father use to tell me way back in the 30s,they use to call them neck breakers around central otago.The whippets ran that fast,they hit the fences or rabbit burrow entrances so fast,theyd break their necks.They were use to stones wall fences but not wire fences.

Thanks for telling me that Trout. Seems like it might be a risk for the breed. It reminded me that the dog already had an accident running flat out into something. Fortunately it seems like no permanent damage was done, but I can now see it would be wise to keep him away from fences altogether. I'd love to watch him chase a bunny on open ground.

Are you still experimenting with subsonic loads for deer?

Hi Coote,na still got about 6 subs left.Tryed them on roos,but no luck.I think they go thru and roos hobbles away.Id never try them of deer,use to use Hornady 165gr and 150gr superformance.But then i find them pencil the odd deer and they getting expensive.Now i got a few packets of Hornady Whitetail 165gr SP.Good stoppers out to 300yds all tho most deer inside 200yds,they mushroom well.
Lovely dog,look after her.
Good luck for the hunting in the next few weeks.

Heh. Hunting seemed a lot simpler in my youth. There were basically just the three types of firearm we could use... shotgun, .22 or .303. Didn't spend any time agonizing over projectiles, although I was aware that you could drill the army .303 ammo to make hollows. We shot things and they fell over.

Now I'm obsessing over projectiles and loads... mainly because I want to keep things quiet and still knock down the target. I have not yet shot at a deer with a subsonic load.... if I'm hunting deer I generally use the best option at hand as I would just hate one to get away wounded. I guess I had that drilled into me as a kid.

However a deer did pop up in front of me once when I was carrying a .22 so I shot it in the brain. I have never seen a deer drop quicker.

I am still on the quest for an accurate, effective, subsonic cast bullet load for my .357 magnum. I have a couple of subsonic loads that will do the job, but there is always room for improvement. I haven't yet reached the level of confidence where I'd happily fling one at a deer.