On the farm they have taken off the Rape. Now for a bit of farming talk first. The combine has a 45 foot header, so where a field naturally undulates they have to set the table a bit higher. What this means is that the Rape stubble is about 15 to 18 inches high. Its hard to walk over and a pain to shoot over as it is hard on the car, and makes an awful lot of noise as you drive over it. Far too much noise !
Because of this I decided to get to the field well before dark and sit up at a strategic spot. Very little wind and a big full moon last night, but plenty of cloud cover, and even a bit of lightening here and there. I shoot off the wing mirror, so I sat tucked into a hedgerow, facing the boundary wood. I have a vast field of stubble all around me, and directly in front of me I have stubble that runs from just over 100 yards away to over 400 yards away, as the wood curls away to the left.
As darkness descended a fallow buck wandered out of the wood. He was huge with a lovely spread of antler, very pale, almost, but not quite, white. He wandered slowly along the edge of the wood and then off into the night. Out with the lamp, and the first pass hit an eye shine about 100 yards away. Up on the rifle, turned on the torch, and could see.....nothing. Then a quick flash, then nothing. The stubble was so long it was really difficult to see him, even though I knew exactly where he was, and could track him by the occasional eye shine.
The fox was not interested in me but was working the stubble and there was an awful lot of it between us. I came prepared for this though, I was using my 30-06 with a 125gr Nosler solid base (43980) bullet. I sat on him and waited, and waited, and waited. He was only walking across slowly, working the field, but I could never see all of him. I gave him a lip squeak, which he totally ignored, and a shout, which he also ignored.
Eventually I trusted the 30-06, and thumped one into his chest at about 120 yards and he was dead on the spot without a twitch. It does make a bang though, even with a good mod, and echoed round the field. I was very satisfied with the shot, and just about to get my dog out and retrieve it, when I did another pass with the lamp. Well bu66er my boots, there was another eye shine, and another, and another.
It turns out there was a family of well grown cubs there, all very dark in colour. I shot one more through the stubble at about 150 yards before their caution returned and they scarpered. Guess where I will be tonight ?
If I had been using my regular 222 and 50gr V-MAX I would not have attempted either shot. Good old 30-06 !
Because of this I decided to get to the field well before dark and sit up at a strategic spot. Very little wind and a big full moon last night, but plenty of cloud cover, and even a bit of lightening here and there. I shoot off the wing mirror, so I sat tucked into a hedgerow, facing the boundary wood. I have a vast field of stubble all around me, and directly in front of me I have stubble that runs from just over 100 yards away to over 400 yards away, as the wood curls away to the left.
As darkness descended a fallow buck wandered out of the wood. He was huge with a lovely spread of antler, very pale, almost, but not quite, white. He wandered slowly along the edge of the wood and then off into the night. Out with the lamp, and the first pass hit an eye shine about 100 yards away. Up on the rifle, turned on the torch, and could see.....nothing. Then a quick flash, then nothing. The stubble was so long it was really difficult to see him, even though I knew exactly where he was, and could track him by the occasional eye shine.
The fox was not interested in me but was working the stubble and there was an awful lot of it between us. I came prepared for this though, I was using my 30-06 with a 125gr Nosler solid base (43980) bullet. I sat on him and waited, and waited, and waited. He was only walking across slowly, working the field, but I could never see all of him. I gave him a lip squeak, which he totally ignored, and a shout, which he also ignored.
Eventually I trusted the 30-06, and thumped one into his chest at about 120 yards and he was dead on the spot without a twitch. It does make a bang though, even with a good mod, and echoed round the field. I was very satisfied with the shot, and just about to get my dog out and retrieve it, when I did another pass with the lamp. Well bu66er my boots, there was another eye shine, and another, and another.
It turns out there was a family of well grown cubs there, all very dark in colour. I shot one more through the stubble at about 150 yards before their caution returned and they scarpered. Guess where I will be tonight ?
If I had been using my regular 222 and 50gr V-MAX I would not have attempted either shot. Good old 30-06 !
