No firearm involved here, but I just nailed a fat rat with my flounder spear. Pinned the batsrad to the ceiling then transferred straight into the wood burner . Cheap pest control :thumbsup:
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No firearm involved here, but I just nailed a fat rat with my flounder spear. Pinned the batsrad to the ceiling then transferred straight into the wood burner . Cheap pest control :thumbsup:
Must have been magpie stupid day, as I shot 12 one day and 6 the following. Just kept coming back to the same trees. Numbers have definitely skyrocketed over this last couple of years. Would have shot mid thirties last year, but now half that in two days. I don’t know if many locally are going after them.
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1st for the evening with the .204
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Really nice rifle, and nice rabbit, and nice view you got there......:oh noes:
Very pleasant little shoot this evening on site near Christchurch. Fog covered much of the farm presenting a very unusual sight. With almost no wind the mists lay like a blanket across some fields at 1 meter height, or in other places lay like thin veils across the road and pasture about 2 meters up - clear underneath. Ethereal, very beautiful, constantly changing, and with colours in the spotlights. Boys stopped shooting to take photographs it but it changed so quickly. Mmmm..
Had to work to get some bunnies and much fewer than usual, but still 29. All with 223s from the Cruiser. I didn't bother to shoot tonight - really enjoyed the driving. Memorable outing - have never seen fine layers of mist hovering over the ground like that.
And now for Tekapo..
good old scotch mist. remember it well from the coast up the grey valley during winter evenings
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Had a fun hunt yesterday. Saw a flock of gobblers off in the distance but decided I didn't really want to go chasing them.
Then of course came across one sticking her head up not 75m from me. 17hmr accuracy worked it's magic:
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Is this the time of year when turkeys are still shit to eat? I vaguely remember something about months with A's in them being bad?
I was told the same about months with a R and turkeys.
Also the months that crickets are out in force.
Truth of the matter for me has been I've eaten turkey everytime Ive culled them due to numbers, or shot them for food. I've never found those saying to be true.
Others may disagree but that's been my findings.
Ahh maybe it was R's. I couldn't remember.
turkey was a bit gamey, dogs love it.
"I knew that last night's curry was dodgy" !!
Best turkey I've eaten was one my brother inlaw raised.
Got a colleague who says if turkeys were really that good to eat. We would eat them more often.... :thumbsup:
If I could find more I'd eat more.
I've noosed them out of trees at night, run them into 7 wire fences (they can't get through the bottom 3 wires) shotguned them, 22lr them but all North of Auckland haven't seen that many South, none I've had access too.
I love em. Right up there with pidgin, hare and goat (and possum now I've finally tried one) not as good as pheasant or quail, but better than rabbit which I'm not to fussed on but eat.
Never anything fancy, roasted or cooked over open fire/charcoal bbq. Mmmn now I'm hungry.
There's a couple of pics I've seen of wallabies being very dead from a .25 air rifle, that have been shot in the right spot.
Spud gun is a new derogatory description, I've not heard before.
Rather amusing.
The possums around home have been feeding well this summer, have bagged some particularly big specimens just lately, that's a 50 gallon drum!Attachment 223215
My son visited so we got out for a quick hunt and bagged a couple of rabbits. I filmed him using the Sytong XS03-35LRF thermal monocular.
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1st of the evening with the 12g.
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bit of useless information . . how far can i see rabbits under ideal conditions with 10X binos.
1735 yards on the hillside directly behind in this pic.
That's pushing a 12G, good spoting though. What are the Binos?
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Super satisfying long head shot with the 17 tonight, don't see many hares round these ways so this one going in the pot
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They Run, but can'tAttachment 224944 hide from the Hornet
Another head snipe yesterday, this time conveniently presented 60m from my shooting bench
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EDIT > and another pic just to show off how happy old mate is
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A slow night tonight. Was told ‘heaps of hares about….’ Thinking they might be day time hares seeking the sun…[emoji848]
No regrets going out though.
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1st for the evening with the .45Colt Rossi
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A bit better tonight….
4 hare n 6 possum
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Enjoyable shoot night on farm near Chch. Its been doing well for us this season - since lambing we've done 9 visits for 456 hares and rabbits at average of 50+. A far cry from recent years when we'd average hundreds per evening on north Cantab sites - but still good fun. Last night was all shooting from Cruiser, covering big acres on the fairly flat terrain. Boys shot 67 there a week go but this time many bunny areas were dead - literally - virus had kicked in and wiped almost all the rabbits. Again..
This time mate bought his new handheld thermal which I used for the night as driver. Interesting experience. Yes they certainly save time and driving to locate hares/bunnies. As I entered a new paddock I'd stop and scan with this handheld thermal, then drive towards the heat signature, whereupon boys would locate bunny with torches for shot. First time for me to use a thermal and while I can see big advantages for eg professional pest control, its not equipment I'd buy. First on price - at $5-7k its the price of a good car, 5x the price of a good 223 setup - not great value as a pleasure hunting tool. Second - I far prefer the hunt. The walk and stalk, working the lay of the land as you move into likely places, the driving and quartering ground from trucks, the searching with the lights etc - that's a key part of my 60+ year hunting tradition/skillset, and a part I really enjoy. Not so interested in coming into an area, looking through thermal, identifying, then just shooting them. No. Have shot gazillions of animals but always enjoy the sport of it, the challenge, the hunt where animal has a big chance also. Just one single opinion and can understand why many would disagree in this tech age. For me - fun to use once, but no. Will not buy one, and for newbies I'd recommend you don't focus on them as a necessity - that you spend years learning to hunt first. Grandad/kaumatua speaks.. :)
Very pleasant evening - all enjoyed it. Boys all popped a few and we ended up with 31. PS Moro Gold bars are a dam good snack at midnight! :)
Was thinking as going around last night a hand held thermal would be handy to have to assist the spotting of game/ pests. I find in my situation i get a lot of 'white out' basically glow back from spotlight against deer fences. A thermal would allow me to look through n see if it's worthwhile going into a particular paddock. Still on my to get list.....
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I was out the other night with a land owner. I had my handheld thermal and spotted 7 pigs on the edge of a paddock in amongst some bracken at a distance of about 350m. We slowly drove over to about 80m away and I could clearly see them in the thermal but when I flicked the light on for him to shoot, not a thing. I turned the light off and had a look through the thermal again and there they were. Light back on, nothing? After doing this 4 times we could eventually make one out in the light, which he shot. Without the thermal we wouldn't have even known they were there.
TI is not for everyone obviously but you cannot deny it's efficiency and I personally don't find it detracts from the hunt. Once you have seen the game you still have to do all the same things to secure it (or leave it). It's just that you find more game.
A good thermal starts at around $2500.
We are also experimenting with some new gear for well under $1k, which we will have at fieldays. I’ll post some results.
Pretty chuffed with my shooting yesterday afternoon. Usually I suck on magpies but everything was in point, rifle, shooter, quarry.
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bad day to be a maggie or a plover at your place