it has been rather a long time since i went out for 1st light, so long in fact that thinking about it means getting a headache. Me and tony had made all the pre arrangements and were on the road at 4:30am heading for the fields.
once we had arrived de-bust and squared away the kit we needed we headed out on foot, asking tony what he wanted to hit on 1st " maggies or bunny " the response was pretty clear cut, "MAGGPIES will do".
i was loaded with the AI700 and so moved off to another part of town, theres no point in having a redundant when it could be utilised elsewhere for the next 30 mins.
tony was left in situ looking at some trees and i went on my wander. i was stopping every 10 yds and having a good ol look around when after about 6 times doing it i noticed something that didn't quite sit right, you know when you see something and immediately you think somethings not right there. it moved and i got a good visual through the range finder that was telling me this rabbit ( big bugger ) was 213yds away and comfortable.
there comes a time when you need that perfect 1st shot and this was one of them times.!
The winds were blowing in excess of 12mph so i took on a heart and lung from a prone supported stance, 55 gr seemed to delay midflight like it just stopped and then sped up again. a fraction later and the bunny just rolled off the hill.
can't see it ? maybe this helps.
i made my way back round to Tony with the hope of seeing a smile from ear to ear but he had missed two maggies and was a little sore about it but thats hunting.
we strolled round some more and ended up under our tree. i spotted a bunny 130yds away and told Tony, we decided to give it a shot and put some of his stalking skills to test and i was very pleased to him down on the buckle getting the range down.
unfortunately the shot missed and the bunny lived to eat another day.
i went back to get the bag and turned to see one huge bunny up on the high grounds to the right and ran back to grab tony who was eyeing up a rabbit in the bush.. time to play top trumps and mine was beating this no argument. we got back under the tree and set-up, 4 mph cross wind up to 7-8 on the gusts, my target was 202yds on the finder and as i just got settled he dropped off the scope .. dame..
Tony who was using my bino's comes in with come left there's one near the hedgeline. " is it the same one" ( yea i know a silly question, not like i can PID a flipping rabbit from another lol ) i asked .. but i could tell it wasn't, it was the same size but the body position and fact that it was 196yd away ment it must be a different one.
we watched for awhile as i did the adjustments, 3 clicks right for wind, 0 for elevation and watched till the position got better, he was face on and i told myself, now or never lad as the head rose up to look, my ret followed and as he stopped i exhaled and squeezed.
Picture from target to FP
a full double backflip and half twist later she landed on the green. then i spotted my 1st target,
he was right still 202yd and head up back on his mound ready with score cards 9.5 he gave and my round gave him 10 for effort, he jumped and fell and that was that.
Tony just turned and smiled and we did our usual fist bump.. ROMEO Down ...
3 rabbits from 196yd to 213yds not a bad morning even better as the storms role over us as i type
atvbr
max...
once we had arrived de-bust and squared away the kit we needed we headed out on foot, asking tony what he wanted to hit on 1st " maggies or bunny " the response was pretty clear cut, "MAGGPIES will do".
i was loaded with the AI700 and so moved off to another part of town, theres no point in having a redundant when it could be utilised elsewhere for the next 30 mins.
tony was left in situ looking at some trees and i went on my wander. i was stopping every 10 yds and having a good ol look around when after about 6 times doing it i noticed something that didn't quite sit right, you know when you see something and immediately you think somethings not right there. it moved and i got a good visual through the range finder that was telling me this rabbit ( big bugger ) was 213yds away and comfortable.
there comes a time when you need that perfect 1st shot and this was one of them times.!
The winds were blowing in excess of 12mph so i took on a heart and lung from a prone supported stance, 55 gr seemed to delay midflight like it just stopped and then sped up again. a fraction later and the bunny just rolled off the hill.
can't see it ? maybe this helps.
i made my way back round to Tony with the hope of seeing a smile from ear to ear but he had missed two maggies and was a little sore about it but thats hunting.
we strolled round some more and ended up under our tree. i spotted a bunny 130yds away and told Tony, we decided to give it a shot and put some of his stalking skills to test and i was very pleased to him down on the buckle getting the range down.
unfortunately the shot missed and the bunny lived to eat another day.
i went back to get the bag and turned to see one huge bunny up on the high grounds to the right and ran back to grab tony who was eyeing up a rabbit in the bush.. time to play top trumps and mine was beating this no argument. we got back under the tree and set-up, 4 mph cross wind up to 7-8 on the gusts, my target was 202yds on the finder and as i just got settled he dropped off the scope .. dame..
Tony who was using my bino's comes in with come left there's one near the hedgeline. " is it the same one" ( yea i know a silly question, not like i can PID a flipping rabbit from another lol ) i asked .. but i could tell it wasn't, it was the same size but the body position and fact that it was 196yd away ment it must be a different one.
we watched for awhile as i did the adjustments, 3 clicks right for wind, 0 for elevation and watched till the position got better, he was face on and i told myself, now or never lad as the head rose up to look, my ret followed and as he stopped i exhaled and squeezed.
Picture from target to FP
a full double backflip and half twist later she landed on the green. then i spotted my 1st target,
he was right still 202yd and head up back on his mound ready with score cards 9.5 he gave and my round gave him 10 for effort, he jumped and fell and that was that.
Tony just turned and smiled and we did our usual fist bump.. ROMEO Down ...
3 rabbits from 196yd to 213yds not a bad morning even better as the storms role over us as i type
atvbr
max...
