Rabbit Shoot at local Vineyard!

Friday 11th Jan 2007 - My good mate Kevin (his boat in some of my posts) called me up to say there are heaps of rabbits at a local vineyard where he is doing some maintenance.

After getting the owners permission - I'm off for an evening shoot - taking the .22 Savage Bolt Action. Going by myself this time.

Taking a good Cuban cigar too!

Although I'd told Deb I wouldn't go shooting again until after returning from India, this was just too good to miss!

Loading my day-pack with equipment, I decided to use CCI Quik-Shok high velocity bullets as my ammunition of choice. I've had these bullets for a couple of years now, and haven't used them yet.

The beauty of these bullets is that they split into three upon impact. 32-grain bullets at a blistering 1640 fps - transferring 193 foot-pounds of killing power - more than enough to effectively dispatch those pesky bunnies!

Arriving at the Vineyard on a clear and cloudless evening, I found the business card of the local security company - and phoned them to advise there is now a guy on the property with a firearm!

Setting up my rifles, I quickly sighted in the Savage at 50 meters. Never having shot hyper-velocity bullets, the scope needed just a bit of vertical adjustment.  Using a piece of 4x2 leaned against a grapevine strainer post, I didn't realize the bullets were going straight through my back-stop into the post behind! Oops. Sorry Soljans Winery - I tidied up the post and put some dry mud in the small holes. Only around 8 :-(

Time to walk the vineyards. Signs of rabbit were everywhere - especially with them burrowing into the bark gardens around the cafe/winery.

Only five minutes later - the chest of a light-brown mid-sized bunny filled my Bushnell 6-24x50 at a distance of around 35 meters - shooting from the standing position (not my favorite) - I steadied the rifle and my breathing, slipped the safety to danger, and my first bunny for 2008 quickly breathed his last!

Don't you love the 'thup' of bullet hitting target - catapulting the bunny into the air.

Wow - these Quik-Shok's are awesome bunny busters. The shock is enough to kill instantly.

Walking the boundary, I met one of the neighbors who had come to investigate the noise. Turns out she is the owner of a property I shot last year with some mates.  Nice lady.

Walking along the ends of the rows of vines gave me optimal cover - as the vines hid my approach until I was able to look down the row. Awesome - two bunnies eating grass side by side - a larger brown and smaller black one.  If I could only wait until they are in a line - I might be able to get two with one shot!

No such luck with them separating, and at about 67 meters - I opened my bipods and lay in the prone position, sighting the larger brown bunny in my sights.

The Quik-Shok's announced the report of another delivery, and bunny number two somersaulted into the air!

The smaller black bunny ran away - and was now at a distance beyond my comfort zone.  Extending the bipod legs to maximum - I again laid in the prone position and positioned the crosshairs at the top of the bunnies chest - allowing around 1" for bullet fall.

Breathing in, pausing and breaking the trigger - another crack echoes from my muzzle - with a pause of around two seconds until that beautiful 'thup' accompanied by an explosion of black fur - and another bunny is added to my tally.

Trouble is - that I couldn't see the body with the naked eye or find it in the scopes. So - I started walking. 50 meters - still no sign. 75, 80 - 85, 90. Still no sign, so I figured it must have run away wounded. I was just about to turn back when a few meters ahead I saw the body of a small black bunny - shot in the chest at around 102 meters!

Probably saw around 18 rabbits throughout the evening - and shot 10, most at around 45 to 65 meters with a combination of prone and standing position.

Heading back to the place where I started, and with darkness falling - I spotted one medium sized bunny around 120 meters away - too far for a standing shot, and unfortunately with a small rise between us - preventing the use of bipods - even fully extended.  Happily munching away on grass - she was oblivious to my stealth as I commando crawled closer - to the top of the rise, only 55 meters away.

Opening my bipods and turning the crosshair illumination to 3, I positioned her chest in the center of the milldots, exhaled, paused and broke the trigger like a piece of glass.

So cool to watch the impact send these bunnies around 500mm into the air in a mighty display of impacting power!

It's hard to leave a shoot knowing that there are more targets running around.  The good thing about leaving live game behind - is summed up best by the famous words of Arrnie:

'I'll be back!'

Having a well earned rest and drink of cold water after almost four hours of walking and shooting, I reflect on an excellent evening of adventure and fun - wondering what on earth could ever be better than this.

And then I remember. My Cuban vanilla waiting patiently in my back-pack.

Ah, it doesn't get much better than this.

I think it's going to be a great year.

Catch up with you soon - and might even be able to post some photos over the next few weeks while I am in Thailand/India.

Wodger Wabit