Whst rifle is that, savage?
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There's something deeply satisfying about shooting magpies. All these were taken from the same two trees, one at 80m, the other at 96m, using a single decoy bird at first (the really rotten one), then adding other birds over the next several days. This morning I smacked three new birds who'd come for a look, obviously keen on moving into the recently vacated territory... There's a couple more that are just scattered feathers now as the hawk was on them first thing.
Magpie hunting is something of a craft I reckon, you get to recognise the different types of calls and what they mean, how many birds there are, where they are. I can listen in the study while I'm working, and quickly pop out for quarter of an hour when I hear they're close. It's getting a fair bit quieter...
Thanks to @GWH for sending me a distress call media file, played that on the shed hifi at max volume this morning, worked a treat! Three birds came into the garden, first one landed about 30 seconds after I pressed play on the remote... it bought a CCI right through the engine room. Brilliant. Won't play the distress call very often, as don't want them becoming accustomed to it.
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I find the distress call works great for bringing them back after you've shot a couple and the rest scatter, play the call always a couple cant resist and get added to the talley
Quote.....There's something deeply satisfying about shooting magpies.
Definitely a book title,I cant stop laughing.....Premo mate..lol
Set up the hifi in the garden last night to broadcast magpie distress, and got two more. This morning I waited a few minutes until a big mob came looking for the neighbours... hit play and it was all on! The response is incredible, they make an immediate beeline for the distress call. Shot four out of the five that came in, in less than five minutes. Will give it a rest until late afternoon, as don't want to overplay the call. Thanks again Clint @GWH. No footage of the actual shooting unfortunately but the vid shows what we've done.
Far out this magpie shooting is great fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PibTbs9uZn0
bloody good :thumbsup:
Just back from the big old family get together/batch clean up. You know the type...the once a year weedeat, chopback, spray etc.
Anyway i noticed a few broken branches on some of the fruit trees so set 5 possum traps last night just in case.
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Bingo...the first one for 2019. A gold medal winner [emoji3]
Area is, SI upper west coast (full native) bordering Kaharangi NP.
We hardly ever see a possum and when we do the sad thing is it usually means a letter in the mail soon, re: more 1080 drops [emoji107]
@Mrs Beeman @BeeMan @Mooseman i must say I'm looking forward to catching a few more. Also hoping for some more good yarns and pics from you three [emoji106]
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Went for a rabbit shoot Thursday where I took the Sako .222 CZ455 .17 HMR, Ruger 10-22 and the Benelli .12 gauge all for a bit of a play.
I used the .222 for some long range bunnies with some 50 gr V-Maxs before going for a walk carrying the .17 HMR and .12 gauge.
Must say I haven't shot bunnies with a shotgun for nearly 20 years and forgot how much fun it is as there were some great running shots and ran dry in a few spots as the gun only holds 4
I've been thinking of a .20 gauge shotgun to help get my boys (13 & 11) into it... Thoughts?
All up it was a great day running around with a total tally of 88 rabbits, 3 wallabies and missed out on a feral cat!
Just some of the critters shot
https://i.ibb.co/bJCmBxF/IMG-6585.jpg
I kept a magpie diary before I left the family farm,the magpies keep coming back I got nearly 1000 one year and 7 and 8 hundred for the two years before that all the trapping info is on this thread in the first few pages,never used a distress call but a decoy works bloody well.
Me n mrs northdude went out sat afternoon and night got 3 turkeys with 243 and 26 possums with our 22lrs and used one of my 22 hornets on the longer range ones
Christ... really???
I can't get my head around where they're all coming from. Every morning, the hole we made in their territories the day before is filled with another mob.
The 'new' mob that arrived this morning is now a dead mob. Me and the lad got 12 more with the .22LR already today, plus another 2 with the .223 Rem.
Fair way to go if its gonna be like @Dundee's place.
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Well after yesterday's full bag of magpies I was wondering whether we'd see more of the same this morning. But it was silent at dawn, so I went out about 30 minutes after sunrise and played my little tune. Immediately three birds came for a look, which I wasn't expecting as they hadn't made a sound up til then, so obviously they were wary and knew something was up. But still, they screwed up, and two of them went down to the .22LR, the third one I missed and he buggered off sharpish. Since then, you could hear a pin drop...
Its incredible what a difference no magpies makes to the ambient sound of the place. They drive me fucking bananas usually, especially at dawn, one of the reasons I'm waging war on them. That and wanting to give the native birds a fair go this spring. But suddenly its just little tweeters and the occasional myna. Could just about hear a couple of magpies in the distance at dusk. So we've made a hole in the territory map for sure, will be interesting to see how long our little area stays quiet. Probably until tomorrow morning first thing...
Try and thin,the mynas,down as well
Have a go with a myna distress call @Flyblown
Problem is with the mynas is that they are generally congregating around the buildings. Whenever I line up on one, there seems to be a reason why I shouldn't take the shot. An air rifle would be a better option for mynas on this property at least.
There's air rifles, and then there's air rifles, of course. I've been watching the Air Arms Hunting SA channel on YouTube, man he has some cool air rifles. Variable power PCP would be important for me, I would need one that can be tuned for low power, and cranked up for maximum blitz when required.
Magpies generally inhabit the best patches so when you take them out, the next bunch are waiting to claim the territory. Lots of fun bombing them though. When I was working in pest control we used to do a lot with the Larsen magpie traps and it was amazing the numbers farmers would catch, as Dundee said thousands. You would wonder where they keep coming from.
For mynas and magpies a 7,5-10J (0,5 gram pellet at 170-190 m/s) breakbarrel airrifle in 4,5mm is sufficient out to 25-30m. More power gives you more knock down and less wind drift at distance, but isn't needed for these small birds at shorter distances. Because of the limited energy chances of unwanted damage to buildings and other risks are minimized.
This is getting ridiculous. Heard some birds at dawn, cold one today, so got up and dressed in something suitably warm, set up my tunes in the driveway, got a chair, and brewed a coffee.
Sat down and pressed play. No time for the coffee. Three birds came in immediately to the distress call, and sat on top of fence posts at 56m, three in a row. I started on the left post... pop... to the middle post... pop... to the right post... pop. Each bird fell off their post, stone dead. WTF? I have never seen magpies stay put at the sound of even a well suppressed sub. The second and third ones just gawped at their mates. POP! Stupid birds. I thought they were meant to be smart. Highly entertaining.
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Irresistible distress call! Beats your mates dropping off the fence!
Went out last night.
7 possum
1 rabbit
1 hare
1 turkey
....all going for pet food..
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Training opportunity.
Live capture rats - one a night at the moment. They get released again... on the lawn... but they don't get far!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0XEMHW7dxg
The main reason to do this is to teach the terrier not to eat the rat. It's not like they need much training on how to catch it. That is a hard wired instinct.
went out again yesterday 3 goats with 243 and 25 possums with the annieAttachment 109360Attachment 109361
Sorry I meant to put this in the pest trapping thread. I need two hands to release the rat @dannyb, and an extra one for the phone. Not possible unless I wear a GoPro. Its all over in milliseconds anyway, rat makes about 3 metres then all of a sudden its been pulled into two halves. The objective then is to stop the male taking his half into the flaxes... disgusting dog... the bitch drops on command but old Soutie sometimes reckons he knows best. Which never ends well for him. Possums make for a good tug of war though, tough animals that they are. The most violent are ferret-polecat hybrids, few of those around here, the dogs flush them out and all hell breaks loose.
They were in good nick farmer wants them gone had nice coats as well would of been good to skin except for the big hole in it
Took my youngest for an Easter bunny hunt this afternoon, safe to say she's not worried about Easter eggs ! Only managed 3 before she'd had enough.... Plenty more for me to come back for
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Bought the big doe home, back legs and back fillets soaking in milk overnight, left the kits for the property owner's dog.
Yep @kukuwai we are preparing to start our trapping in May. Been too busy with beekeeping and trying to find a buyer for our honey!!!! Could be a hard year money wise so trapping will pay the food bill😊 Kev and I have done a few night shoots and usually get about 12 to 15. Last week we went out with 30 bugs , needed one more for a total of 20 to make up our 5kg bag at home, shot a big one then couldn't find the bloody thing - no more bugs so had to go home hoping we made the weight, noooooo we were .06 grams short plus the bag. Took it in anyway and the buyer paid us for the full 5kgs. He's crying out for fur so we need to hurry up . We can't wait to get started - there are some big ones out there waiting. 💲💲💲💲The week before we were out near some of our beehives, shot 2 then Kev saw another one. While he was yelling at me to bring some more bugs and I slammed the door (by mistake ) I started plucking the first 2 and Kev heard something so walked around the back of the site - right in front of him was a huge stag !!!!! While he was debating with himself whether to shoot it or not it took off anyway but we both couldn't believe it had been there all that time we were making so much noise. Fun times.
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I have a close mate down from the NI for a weeks rabbit shooting , just afternoon shooting as we are to bloody hungover in the mornings :sick:
Mainly 17 hmr work with varied ranges of 50 mtrs out to 206 mtrs so far. Perfect shooting weather with Central really turning on it's stunning Autumn colours.
3 days in now and we have shot just under 500 rabbits so far, 4 cats and 3 black rabbits.
Trip to Tekapo tomorrow for a fish in the canals then another shoot Wednesday before he fly's out Thursday , we should go close to a thousand for the week.
The landscape shot is for the NI boys to show the typical country side I shoot.
Is that a night eater on that 17? They are a bloody good scope arent they.
@Marty Henry , yep it sure is , actually got it off one one the other forum members.
It has the LRX recticle which is awesome for long range varminting .
Good scopes that shoot well above their price point.