Yesterday, for the first time this year, I finally managed to bag some game.......a humble bunny at very short range.
I headed out with a mate from church to another friend's property in search of rabbits and all in all it was a very satisfying afternoon for a number of reasons, aside of the fact I had my first hunting success since November last year.
First of all I managed to blood my BSA Martini Cadet sporter in .25-20 which I picked up last September.
It was excellent to have it perform especially considering the fact I had to promise my better half I wouldn't buy any more guns until 2007 if she let me buy the BSA.
And besides, having a "virgin" rifle is frustrating in any case.
I also managed to bag the bunny in a location which has formerly frustrated us.
We first saw movement as we headed down into a hollow which has cheated us of game before.
It's full of burrows, both rabbit and wombat, and is covered in brush.
We froze as soon as the rabbit moved and he then hopped a little further but moved out of sight before I could get a fix on him. I directed my mate to go down into the hollow and try and drive him up onto the open ground in front of us and I remained halfway up the hill.
Then directly in front of me, only about 20yds away, I saw a flash of white.
Clearly monsieur rabbit had taken a hard right and headed up the hill.
I knew where he must be sitting but he was well camoflaged in the undergrowth so I couldn't get a fix on him. :|
So put the crosshairs on a piece of red bracken I concluded he must be close to and tried to de-focus, much like you do with those trick pictures where there's a hidden image.
It took me a few seconds but suddenly his shape popped out, clear and an obvious side-on shot.
He copped a 75gn FP at what must've been close to the 2100fps MV and never knew what hit him. :twisted:
Here's a pic of me with the bunny and the .25-20.
Admittedly the 14 round buttstock ammo-band is pretty optimistic considering the general lack of rabbits(
I nailed the only one we saw) but it would be the day I was only carrying 3 or 4 rounds that I saw millions of the little beggars! :roll:
But probably the most satisfying aspect had to do with my mate.
Just over a year ago he lost his brother in a freak industrial accident and his brother was his main hunting buddy.
As far as I know it was his first outing with a rifle since his brother died and he found the afternoon really satisfying and enjoyable even though he didn't take any game himself.
He did however blow up a severely shaken-up can of soda at 50yds with the BSA and was chuffed.
I've tried it before and it literally rips the can apart so I knew it would tickle his fancy.
In fact he enjoyed the trip so much he's spoken of keeping his rifle here in town instead of having it live at his father's place a few hours south where he can only get at it a few times a year.
Anyhow, it was an excellent outing all around. :wink:
