Well, this may seem a little thing but this afternoon I went out with a mate from church and managed to bag my first game for the year.....a humble bunny.
While that seems fairly mundane to many of you it was satisfying on a few points quite apart from the ongoing break of 6 months since my last hunting success.
Firstly I finally managed to blood the Cadet 25-20 which DaveH has so openly envied in many posts.
After all, if it doesn't take game it may as well not be in the locker.......for you, Dave, that means now it's staying put!
In another sense I was able to nail the little coney in what has been a frustrating location in the past.
We first saw him run as we came into a little hollow that has cheated us out of game in the past.
It's full of burrows, both rabbit and wombat, and is tangled in brush.
He moved around a little more and then turned up hill a little and moved out of sight under some bushes.
I signalled my mate to circle around try and drive him up into the open field and he started to move that direction down in the hollow while I stayed a little up the side of the hill.
Then directly in front of me I saw a flash of white movement.
Clearly monsieur rabbit had done a hard right and proceded uphill and was only 20yds away from me.
He moved again and I looked through the scope but I was stuffed if I could make him out even though I knew exactly where he must be.
Then I lined up on red piece of bracken and tried to de-focus, much in the same way you do for those trick pictures where there's a hidden image.
It took me a second or 2 but then he was clearly in view and copped a 75gn FP at about 2100fps.
Here's a pic of your's truly with the Cadet & the bunny:



The last satisfying point, however, was because of my mate.
He lost his younger brother in a freak industrial accident just over a year ago and his brother had been his regular hunting buddy.
I'm pretty sure this was the first outing with a rifle since his brother died and the whole afternoon was very satisfying even though he didn't nail anything himself.
He did however blow up a severely shaken-up can of lemon squash with the 25-20 at about 50yds and he was chuffed about that.
It just goes to prove that the walk and the search are almost more important than actually bagging game.
Hope you guys are also as lucky as I've been today.

__________________
"You don't need to be the sharpest tool in the shed if you're a hammer!"

Cheers & God Bless

Sporting Shooters Association Of Australia - http://www.ssaa.org.au/

Now normally I would have said Job well done! But Kombie just had to throw salt in the wound about owning the 25-20 !!!!! He probarly (a) found the rabbit dead on the side of the road (b) Stole it from a Grey hound racing track (C) raided a Taxidermist!

But seriously. Good work Mate! I'm glad that it all came together for you & your mate. Walking up Bunnies seems to be a dying art in the fast track world we live in these days

Dave

__________________
"ALL TIMES WASTED WOTS NOT SPENT SHOOTIN"

See, I know I've done well when Dave insults my handiwork.
Just means he's jealous.
Mind you, the reason walking up bunnies is a dying art is because there seldom seems to be any bunnies to walk up.

__________________
"You don't need to be the sharpest tool in the shed if you're a hammer!"

Cheers & God Bless

Sporting Shooters Association Of Australia - http://www.ssaa.org.au/

If I thought I could get away with it, I would send a couple of truck loads (lorries) over. I am over run with them. Of course by the time they got there the boat would be overloaded with them. (I think they are all pregnant.)

Lee L.

Lee, feel free to send them.
Especially the preganant ones!
Time was you could pick and choose between which you'd shoot today and which you'd leave until the next time and it never made any dent in the population.
Now because of the long drought we've had, myxomatosis and rabbit calicivirus(RCV) the burrows seem to be empty most of the time.
That was the reason I enjoyed blasting away at my workmate's place between September and November last year.
The little buggers were flourishing....until the mixo hit them and then the fun was over.

__________________
"You don't need to be the sharpest tool in the shed if you're a hammer!"

Cheers & God Bless

Sporting Shooters Association Of Australia - http://www.ssaa.org.au/

well done kombi!
unreal arvo out on the bunnies, good clean (sometimes) fun!
good to hear you got out your mate after he lost his bro. thats a tough one, im glad he got back in the saddle. i like the look of that 25-20, i might look up that lil cartridge in a book ive got on them. is it for sale? he he i think if it was dave def has first dibs on it.
i really do love an arvo on the bunnies with a mate too, indeed it is getting harder to find time to do it, just a matter of making it i guess. i hear you about the rabbit numbers or lack thereof. a mate and i in high school used to get about 6 or so in a few hours running them down and with dogs under a dolphin torch. they were everywhere. now wth guns and a few hours under the spotlight, and a vehicle we dont even see that many! but there are pockets of them, my uncles place not too far away had bushfires there over summer while i was overseas and there are heaps there now, presumable all the new undergrowth for cover and food.
happ hunting mate and glad to see you get something.
lockie