Leporidae Leicas and a CZ
A warm overnight breeze always helps with an early start, slipping through the shelter belt I pushed the rifle out in front while my overalls soaked up dew from the wet grass, nothing moved
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First I scan close in then work the binos out further, orchard rabbits have a life saving habit of using the base of a tree to hide behind and can be very hard to see
A lone rabbit nibbled away 90yrds to my right, a very small target when they stretch out.
Setting the bipod at the best height Helped me settle in behind the CZ, an 80yrd zero with Winchester subs meant this bunny was in trouble
Giving him a little whistle to make him stop, then a few more to make him curious had him sitting up, softly softly on the trigger and a lil thump floated back as he flipped over. Blackbirds shrieked out of the shelter belt but otherwise nothing else moved.
20 mins passed as I scanned for more targets but that was it, time to move on
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Crawling through the next shelter belt I kept a low profile and set the rifle up in front as before.
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Scanning I found two rabbits out to my left and decided to wait a bit to see if anything else was around before disturbing the area with a suppressed shot.
Very small birds that I only see in summer were flitting around and came very close on occasion, the two bunnies followed each other around and could well have been a breeding pair, 20 mins passed as I quietly surveyed the place.
Slowly panning from left to right (which is easiest as we read in that direction) I picked up something I had been trying for on this property for a year now, Ol man Hare
He had slowly lifted his head as he thought the coast was clear, cunning basket
120ish yards straight out in front of me he was going to be a tricky shot, his head obscured by 25mm irrigation pipe
Settling in behind the rifle I could now see the irrigation was not going to be a worry and aimed at the gap between his ears, another "thock" and he flopped over.
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Both rabbits were on full alert, one flipped over and remained motionless as the other made a dash for the shelter belt 60 yards to my left, typically he stopped just on the edge of cover, I swivelled around and sent some bad news his way, and missed :)
Laying motionless I let the area calm down to see what stirred but apart from a 1/4 grown rabbit nothing else showed.
Time to move on.
The last shelter belt has old man beard growing through it and is a little trickier to navigate, nevertheless I set the rifle up in front of me on the other side and hoped this would be the last lot of wet grass my overalls would have to soak up :)
As a fluke as only flukes can be I could immediately see a second hare, at the far end of a row, 185 yards, but only subs in the pocket, studying the drop chart showed I might be ok. He/she fed out prone no doubt enjoying the dewy dressing on its salad. I held the Leupolds crosshairs the right amount over its chest and touched the trigger -and missed !!!
That made Ol Hare sit up straight and look around which is a far better target to aim at, settling the crosshairs on the tips of its ears I sent it, dropping it on the spot as a little " tick" sound came back to signal a hit.
Again I waited as the area settled, lil quail went about their busy day as they do
Walking around to pick up the hare I startled a few more rabbits but I had shot enough, my little fox terrier at home will have enough to get through with this lot.
Once I reached the hare I could see the Winchester sub had completely passed through the chest area and done its job, long live the humble .22 !!
Back at the ute the haul was looking respectable and after tidying them up its off home for some brekky.
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