On June 5th my missus gave birth to our 4th son Alexander Henry and ever since then I've been busting to get out in the field again.
I was really hoping to do so last Friday night.
As it happened things came together at the last minute and my mate Carly and I got out onto a 1000 acre property owned by a friend of mine not far from the town of Collector, about 40 minutes north of Canberra.
Some properties breed rabbits, and my friend has his fair share, and most sheep farmers get foxes, of which we've bagged a few there.
He has a regular supply of roos too.
But mostly his place stands out for the number of hares it breeds.
It really is odd that, despite the fact hares pretty much mate for life and they only have one young a year in a nest in the grass, his place seems to fill up with them again and again.
Friday also signalled the first real opportunity I've had to try out my k98 actioned 8mm Mauser project since its radical upgrades around new year.
I was using 150gr Sierra ProHunter SPs pushed along to about 2900fps with a liberal amount of ADI AR2206H.
Carly was using his trusty Carl Gustaf M96 sporter in 6.5x55 with it's utilitarian Tasco World Class 6x40 scope and he had his standard load; a Nosler 100gr Ballistic Tip pushed along to 3020fps by a healthy dose of ADI AR2209 powder.
It had been a good 12 months since he'd last let any blood so we were both enthusiastic to get out in the fields.
Our first forage after dropping into the homestead to let my friend know we were shooting was among the stockyards with a hand spot and some low powered rounds; Carly using his Lithgow Model 12 .22lr and myself with my Martini Cadet sporter 25-20.
We could've nailed at least 2 rabbits.......if our aim had been in.
But those little long eared bandits lived to fight another day and we headed back to my '68 Land Rover pickup a little disappointed but looking forward to other quarry.
From there we took our positions for the night.
Carly took his station standing in the bed of the truck and as he was shooting first I spotted and drove - quite a trick when your average olympic wrestler has a job on his hands with the Landy's heaving steering!
It wasn't long before we came upon our first hare.
Unfortunately Carly's shot went wide but I chased the hare and we got him bailed pretty closely near fence and the second shot found its mark.
Carly was stoked.....first game in over a year and using his beloved 6.5mm.
Whilst finding this hare we thought we may've found it's mate so we turned around and drove down the hill toward the bottom of the paddock, this time with Carly spotting and the 8mm across my lap with a couple of rounds ready to go.
Sure enough there it was, clear in the light, so I leant on the wheel guard and took my shot.
To begin with it seemed I'd missed as it bounded away and we lost sight of it for a few moments.
When it showed up it was in a dry stream bed just sitting still, despite the sound on the truck and the light.
So I took my second shot and it crashed down.
That was a pretty happy moment.
I've poured a lot of money into the Mauser and it shot well.
When we got to the hare the damage was, well, palpable.
I've heard people say larger calibre pills leave an animal so you can eat right up to the hole where smaller ones just detonate and cause a lot of blood shot meat.
When you see the pics you'll see the Mauser simply guts them in an instant, not that the 6.5 is any less dynamic, but it was spectacular.
And I hadn't missed the first time.
The hare was short a front leg.
Here is it as I approached it:
And on closer inspection:
From here we checked along another fence boundary and spotted some another pair down along the river flat but the gates were locked so we headed back uphill and into another paddock in which I've bagged hares before.
In fact I blooded my 22 Hornet Martini in the same paddock on a pair.
Sure enough, after a little searching, we located a pair of hares and once they stopped moving Carly took his shot.....and missed.
We chased them some more but they disappeared only to see a rabbit pop up.
Carly took aim......and missed again!
Before we'd started I'd had concerns about his rifle being off zero due to a long gap and little range checking and this confirmed it.
I rarely like to zero in field as it scares off game but I decided that horse had bolted.
Sure enough the 6.5x55 was shooting 4" to the left.
Some tweaking with the scope put it right on and after a sandwich and a can of drink we moved out again spotting one of the earlier hares quite quickly.
This time the M96 was deadly.
It never ceases to amaze me that animals actually kick more after a head shot, when they are completely dead, than after a shoulder shot that might make it last 10 or 20 seconds before they die.
Here's hare No3:
Note the head almost completely detached.
From here Carly took the light again and we went looking in the next paddock, a huge field.
Soon enough ANOTHER hare appeared and I was tempted to take the shot but the animal was skittish and headed in the direction of buildings so we circled around and drove it back into the centre of the paddock.
Once again the 8mm roared and the hare was pole axed and gutted:
Carly was now back in the hotseat and I took the spot and drove again.
We didn't have far to go however.
Only about 100yds down the paddock ANOTHER hare appeared and scooted across, about 100yds away to pause half hidden behind a dam wall.
It was no challenge for the M96 and the 100gr BT took another hare......a total of 5 now on our tally.
Our agreement was now made that if a pair popped up together the person shooting would take both rather than muck with turn-about when the pressure was on.
So it was that I was on shooting detail when we found the pair through the next gate.
The first of the pair fell hard next to a fence and the 8mm did the familiar gut and fluff trick:
Unfortunately my efforts with the other of the pair were less impressive.
My first shot missed and must have passed close by as the hare took to its heels. :
Unfortunately my second shot also missed.......as did my third.
I even thought I'd missed a fourth time as the hare ran a good 10yds and then fell over.
When we found it we were staggered it was even able to move from the spot:
You hear of buffalo and other big animals not knowing there are dead but this was ridiculous.
More of a concern though was that I was using a larger calibre hi-powered firearm over reasonably flat country.
If you're hitting things that's ok but when you miss it has that much more momentum and energy and it takes much more to deflect a bullet.
Suffice to say that put a bit of a damper on things for me.
It was already pretty late and so we looked around for fox or 2.
There were none to be found but we did spot another hare which Carly duly knocked over with the Swede.
So we packed up and pointed the prow of the Landy to our home port.
Carly's 4th hare putting our final tally at 8:
Note the perfect head shot.....unfortunately Carly's missus isn't keen on hare.
So all in all a good outing for us and our rifles although the 8mm will in future be reserved for range use or hunting medium to big game like goats, pigs and deer.
And in our own way we certainly wet the baby's head!
