Off Hunting and General Practice.

Any time i Can.

Testing her Ladyship's SMK 15.

I like a bit of hunting, it's very relaxing and helps relieve stress, it helps with self discipline and concentration, and when finally you get to take a successful shot you feel you have made an achievement and get to make a lovely stew to boot. You have to put in the practice before using any air rifle on any prey, and that in itself is the the best and most enjoyable part. Last year i only shot about 10 bunnies and the same in woodies which all ended up in a stew or curry, even the dogs and ferrets got to eat what was left over so nothing went to waste. I even got a couple of hares as there were a lot about last year, though they are pretty hard to kill cleanly past 20 yards with a sub 12 ft/lb air rifle so i tend to leave them be.

Okay pooche, let me get a lead and some rifles.

After fixing up one of the many air rifles i appear to be amassing i have to take it to my permission to test, as we have a neighbor who moans and complains every time he thinks he hears one of my air rifles fire in the back garden. Luckily this permission is literally on my door step and is accessable within minutes of walking out the front door, so for the sake of diplomacy and keeping her ladyship happy that's where i go.

For testing, practice, and general plinking i usually take one or more of the dogs with me as they get a bit nutty being indoors all the time, it's a great excuse to get out with a rifle and they are well behaved and resting behind me when i eventually get down to actual shooting. 

A 30 yard shot to a target on the tree ahead.

I always check around to see if it's safe to take the shot before i do, any body could wander into the woods without you being aware of it. Having a keen eared dog with me is a bonus in this situation which luckily hasn't as yet been put to the test, i've been going there two years now and in all that time only come across one other person and that was while still walking the dogs.

Edge of a field, good for stalking and good for 'Scatterbone' to go rabbiting.

I tend to have a slope of earth as the back drop as well as a lot of trees, though i feel happier seeing that the pellet can only hit ground if i miss a target. This is a safe shooting practise and takes no extra effort prepare in advance, it would be bloody stupid to have a hedge as a back drop as you can't see where your pellet goes on the other side.

Just part of the woods that has a slope i can use for a back drop.

The woods around the fields i can hunt in are perfect for this, plus there are plenty of sticks to throw for the dogs before i get down to shooting. I find the trees handy for support, range finding and trajectory, sighting scopes, and attaching targets on to, though i usually take a resettable knock down target with me most of the time. 

My resettable target needs a repaint i reckon.

It's a very relaxing place to be and very sheltered, it can be blowing a gale up the top in the village but down in the trees there is hardly a breeze.

The trees encompass a number of fields where i can stalk prey or build a hide. The crop fields are ideal for catching bunnies on their way back home or going out to raid the crops and woodies down from the trees in the morning, i can also set up a longer range at the edge of fields with a safe back drop which tends to be plywood then a stone wall.There is also a nice large field of grass which is splendid for a spot of lamping, though in high summer the grass is a bit long for hunting. If i'm just out to put a couple of rifles over the chronoscope, this is where i go. It's sheltered, nice and light, and the view is amazing.

One of many field looking out from the edge, natural cover all around the edge.

There are a lot of deer on the land which sensibly keep their distance and loads of pheasants which don't, the later are kept, fed, and shot in season by the land owner and his buddies. Badgers and foxes are seen on a regular basis along with a couple of birds of prey, all in all it's a pretty cool place to hang out with an air rifle and the pooches. Due to the land owner and his buddies out shooting, the rabbits are a bit shy by the time i get there, but i only want the odd one for the pot and this puts my skills to the test which is a good thing.

Targets, pellets, and a couple of rifles ready for some practice whilst the dogs rest behind me.

 So this is where i go with my air rifles and i count myself lucky to have it, when the land owner is out shooting i stay away but in two years this has only happened twice and is no biggie. I just grab the dog leads, a rifle, and off i go.

TTFN

Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe. 

My Hunting Set-up Cheap and chearful

When i purchaced the Air Arms Shamal for £300 last year it came with a 4-12x40 Nikko Sterling scope and a sling, now being a heavy old sporter the leather sling was a godsend. Just to top it off for now i mounted a 120 lumens SMK spot lamp on the scope with a switch taped to the forestock, but being a .177 PCP a bipod would be ideal for those long shots, but that will have to wait. I just love the flatter trajectory of a .177 over the .22, but nothing beats the knockdown power of the .22 except .25 of course.

A lot of hunters prefer multi shots on their air rifles but for me the Shamal is superbly accurate and one shot one kill always does it, though i would certainly appreciate a bipod for those 50 yard shots but until then i will make do with a shooting stick made from some old straight branch with a fork in the t. The shooting stick certainly helps when trying to get a bunny in the longer grass, as they are hard to target in a kneeling position and impossible when lying prone. Air Arms diabolo's and H and N field trophies both work best in the Shamal and both have the same POI without any adjustment to the scope, which i got to admit is a bonus.

Clothing wise i find black Dunlop steel toecap work boots, dark jeans, and an army DMP lightweight jacket over a green T shirt does me fine for general easy going hunting. But a German full length paratrooper coat with hood which was £26 off E bay, combat trousers of which i have various as i like that style, lightweight black gloves, a large camo bandana to tie around my lower face and cover my neck, and a black rucksack for odds and sods. I also have some 80's British army webbing and pouches i got for a fiver from a carboot sale which i could find a good use for (this also came with an 80's army helmet but that would be a bit overkill for hunting, but pretty handy if i took up airsoft or paintballing.), but for now i have done fine with what i'm using to date.With the German camo pattern being quite dark and mottled i have found this works well in woodlands, and the DMP of the British army works well in  almost any where.

I like the DMP Kit as a traditionalist so i went and bought a pair of River Rock combat trousers for £14, and a River Rock  temperate combat smock for £22 from my local Stove Centre. You have to understand that this is the Cotswolds so they sell all sorts of stuff, including gardening stuff, fencing, animal foods, sheds, large garden ornaments, stone, tough  quality outdoor clothes and boots, and i think stoves as well. The smock jacket is what you would expect from a decent army jacket, its loaded with deep pockets and is very tough, i slipped and grazed my elbow last week but there wasn't a mark on the jacket at all. What i discovered was most impressive was that i could fold my gun slip up and fit it into the button up poacher's pocket at the back, this both keeps it tidily stored and makes a really comfy seat as well.

For gloves i have a pair of very tin Thinsulate gloves, a pair of fingerless gloves, and a pair or thick woolen gloves in black, also a pair of fingerless mittens in different shades of autumn brown. I can choose to wear these in any combination to suit the weather, such as a black woolen glove on my left hand and a black Thinsulate glove on my right giving me the ability to handle pellets. If it's even colder i can put the brown fingerless mittens over the top.

Mind you getting realtree leafy gloves and baraclava for my birthday could sort of count as hunting kit on the cheap, but that's only because my wife paid and presented them to me. In fact the gloves were a prezzie off Rosie my three year old, and the good thing about them is that they can fit over other gloves.

The best move i have made recently is to trade smoking roll-ups for electronic cigarettes, animals have a keen sense of smell and roll-ups just make you stink. I would also say there is a marked improvement in my fitness and stamina, but then i do cycle 11 miles to work and back up and down some iffy hills so that's helped. I just have to remember that the ends of electronic cigarettes light up, so i cup it in my hand when doing a spot of lamping.

That's it for now, i'm just glad i remembered to refer to cigarettes in the correct term and not the British slang word of 'fags' so not to confuse any American readers of this blog.

TTFN

Best wishes, Wing Commander Sir Nigel Tetlington-Smythe