Drew Jaeger
Member
- Location
- Southern Tablelands, NSW, Australia
Another couple of hunting reports I’m a tad late with, a thousand apologies. 
Leading up to the Festive Season, the Heritage Trust had been asking Kombi and I for another blitz on the bunnies.
With my 22LR out of action I was fortunate a mate kindly loaned me his lefty CZ452 and a box of CCI Subsonic HPs for the evening's engagement. The Led Lenser P7 was attached to the 3-9x40mm VX-II Leupold and I packed both of my 10-shot magazines. Kombi was using his Anschütz 1400 and Remington Subsonic HPs.
The night was a good opportunity to test the Crooked Horn carbon fibre shooting sticks. They are as convenient as the Stoney Point Stix II, but 3" shorter and 2oz lighter.
By midnight the bunny tally was 38 with the CZ dominating the night. Shooting the lefty CZ was no problem at all and we were able to retrieve 28 rabbits. The other rabbits were diseased.
The photo below was a 60 second exposure on F3.0.
**********************
During the Festive Season, I spent time with the family on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales.
In general conversation on Christmas Day, my parents mentioned that the Rainbow Lorikeets and Eastern Rosellas have not frequented the gardens in the last month, and Willy Wagtail feathers have been found in the gardens.
This prompted me to setup the Bushnell and Spypoint trail cameras to see what was lurking around the gardens. After five days the mongrel was finally caught by the Bushnell. Also to my Parent’s surprise, a Brushtail Possum never before known to be present was also photographed.
My brother had just got back into hunting and wanting a light weight sporter in 222 or 223 to complement his 7mm-08. I had packed the Brno Hornet and ten rounds for him to try on a rabbit. Unfortunately the wet weather had prevented that happening. However, the chance at nailing a cat was far more exciting and presented a challenge being in an area consisting of small rural acreages.
The plan was to lure Puss into a safe location with bait, watched over with the Hornet set up with the P7 light.
New Year’s Eve was a was not very productive, with fireworks in the nearby towns ensured Puss did not show up to feed on chicken scraps. The Possum had a free run in the wee hours. That was a long night. The trail cam revealed the Magpies made short work of chicken scraps at first light.
New Year’s Day lunch, we enjoyed fresh Silver Perch slow cooked in foil (olive oil, smoked garlic vinegar sauce, spring onion, cracked pepper and salt) on the BBQ,... absolutely lush! Afterwards I utilised a head & pectoral fins for the night’s lure. I decided to drive a tent stake through the head into the ground a few metres from the Bushnell trail cam.
At around 21:15, I retired to the hide and placed the Hornet on the Crooked Horn shooting sticks and cycled a round. I was not waiting long when I noticed movement under the dim moonlight. The P7 light revealed the grey tabby and almost immediately he looked straight back at me. In that instant I had set the Brno hair trigger, and Puss starting to move off when I placed the crosshairs on the left shoulder and touched off. The Hornet barked and Puss was down.
My parents were absolutely ecstatic with the result and stated without the trail cams, they would have never known of the existence of the feral cat.
Within a week the King Parrots, Rainbow Lorikeets and Eastern Rosellas had returned.
Leading up to the Festive Season, the Heritage Trust had been asking Kombi and I for another blitz on the bunnies.
With my 22LR out of action I was fortunate a mate kindly loaned me his lefty CZ452 and a box of CCI Subsonic HPs for the evening's engagement. The Led Lenser P7 was attached to the 3-9x40mm VX-II Leupold and I packed both of my 10-shot magazines. Kombi was using his Anschütz 1400 and Remington Subsonic HPs.
The night was a good opportunity to test the Crooked Horn carbon fibre shooting sticks. They are as convenient as the Stoney Point Stix II, but 3" shorter and 2oz lighter.
By midnight the bunny tally was 38 with the CZ dominating the night. Shooting the lefty CZ was no problem at all and we were able to retrieve 28 rabbits. The other rabbits were diseased.
The photo below was a 60 second exposure on F3.0.
**********************
During the Festive Season, I spent time with the family on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales.
In general conversation on Christmas Day, my parents mentioned that the Rainbow Lorikeets and Eastern Rosellas have not frequented the gardens in the last month, and Willy Wagtail feathers have been found in the gardens.
This prompted me to setup the Bushnell and Spypoint trail cameras to see what was lurking around the gardens. After five days the mongrel was finally caught by the Bushnell. Also to my Parent’s surprise, a Brushtail Possum never before known to be present was also photographed.
My brother had just got back into hunting and wanting a light weight sporter in 222 or 223 to complement his 7mm-08. I had packed the Brno Hornet and ten rounds for him to try on a rabbit. Unfortunately the wet weather had prevented that happening. However, the chance at nailing a cat was far more exciting and presented a challenge being in an area consisting of small rural acreages.
The plan was to lure Puss into a safe location with bait, watched over with the Hornet set up with the P7 light.
New Year’s Eve was a was not very productive, with fireworks in the nearby towns ensured Puss did not show up to feed on chicken scraps. The Possum had a free run in the wee hours. That was a long night. The trail cam revealed the Magpies made short work of chicken scraps at first light.
New Year’s Day lunch, we enjoyed fresh Silver Perch slow cooked in foil (olive oil, smoked garlic vinegar sauce, spring onion, cracked pepper and salt) on the BBQ,... absolutely lush! Afterwards I utilised a head & pectoral fins for the night’s lure. I decided to drive a tent stake through the head into the ground a few metres from the Bushnell trail cam.
At around 21:15, I retired to the hide and placed the Hornet on the Crooked Horn shooting sticks and cycled a round. I was not waiting long when I noticed movement under the dim moonlight. The P7 light revealed the grey tabby and almost immediately he looked straight back at me. In that instant I had set the Brno hair trigger, and Puss starting to move off when I placed the crosshairs on the left shoulder and touched off. The Hornet barked and Puss was down.
My parents were absolutely ecstatic with the result and stated without the trail cams, they would have never known of the existence of the feral cat.
Within a week the King Parrots, Rainbow Lorikeets and Eastern Rosellas had returned.
