Boys First Kill / Rabbit Opener

[TheGDog]

The encounters were...
Miss (We think, looked but didn't find), hit-kill, hit-n-disappeared(couldn't find, we looked like crazy because I heard the hit!), hit 3x + coup de grace (Tag Teamed this one, was all wondering WTH he was shooting at so close to himself. He took 3 shots and this Rabbit didn't flee, later saw among his 3, probably 1st, he went thru gut n blew out knee. On his 3rd shot, the Rabbit hopped like twice so then I could see there actually was a Rabbit he was shooting at, so figured he needed help, so got up outta my sit and had to quickly put a 60yd standing freehand into him. The rabbit goes around the scrub oak out of my view. As I jog over to make sure we don't lose him, I arrive in time to see the boy plug him again, and see it go thru him). This had him doing the crawl on just his fronts. The boy was a little thrown-off by the situation "He's still crawling!" So I tell him "You're going to have to put your rifle right up to his head and shoot to end his pain."

Afterwards he says "I didn't like that. It makes me feel bad." So I said, "I know, nobody wants that to happen, but sometimes it will, so that's why we hurried up to finish his suffering as quickly as possible." And then went on to discuss better shot placement with him.

CZ 452 American Scout .22 LR Copper-22's. For the record I am defitinely NOT a fan of the Copper-22's. On prior outings noted they make narrow wound tracts.

Obligatory "bloody rock" pic Coached him beforehand on this part.

 

[Carr5vols]

Awesome. Congratulations.

 

[Cameron945]

That's awesome! I'd be proud too.

 

[Deer&Ducks527]

Sounds like a great hunt! I remember being kind of nervous the first time I had to dispatch a wounded dove, but over time you get more confident and then its not a big deal.

 

[TheGDog]

Sounds like a great hunt! I remember being kind of nervous the first time I had to dispatch a wounded dove, but over time you get more confident and then its not a big deal.

Last year did my first dove hunt. Really enjoyed it, but I'm significantly less experienced with shotguns so judging leads was challenging at first. One of 'em I got... saw him drop into this dried up tree/shrub with tall grass at it's base. While I'm all looking and looking around where I'd seen him go down at... I then catch something moving up above me on the slight slope. It was him, trying to sneakily walk away quietly, one wing hanging. Thankfully was able to carefully place a 2nd shot so it'd take him out clean and only take out his head with that follow up shot.. because I was so close I knew if I just aimed for his body it'd be a waste of shredded meat.

Last year Rabbit hunting with the .17 HMR I had to do one of the shots freehand about 60yds so I decided to let aiming point be a little more toward the body to give some wiggle room for error due to freehand amount of unsteadiness in the crosshair. Plus I had my pack on and had been hoofin' it a bit so pulse pumping.

That one I felt bad about. That shot literally completely gutted him from below the diaphragm downward! And even split apart his pelvis. And he was trying to do the front-legged drag yourself away crawl. And then when I went to do a headshot, was forgetting about how when you're close ya gotta remember about the 1.5 inches below the light of sight, so was missing for a couple of shots, before it dawned on me I had to hold-over a bit.

On another prior time just before that, had another one that was freehand that was doing that front-legged drag crawl, on that one I just took out my knife and went in from under the chin into brain area trying not to waste a cartridge. I didn't care for the feeling of doing that, so that's why that next time I opted for a follow up shot instead.

 

[Hogyotedeer]

Excellence choice of Camouflage, Congrats to both dad and son.

 

[Rob5589]

Nice work young man! I hear the copper and tin .22 are terrible hunting rounds. The .17 hmr non lead stuff are reportedly pretty reliable killers. I have a lifetime of mini mag hp we can no longer use. California sure sucks a lot of the time.

 

[TheGDog]

Excellence choice of Camouflage, Congrats to both dad and son.

Thank you, from several awesome experiences I HIGHLY recommend this very inexpensive suit! It's like NOTHING sees you! Not people, not critters, nothing. I got about 15 minutes of cellphone video footage of a Mama Doe and her young daughter passing in front of me at 17yds... with a bow on my lap! Nothing in-between us. Just me backed up into a scrub oak with the leafy suit on.

Also while out at that same spot for rabbits... the wind was in my favor, and I have the cutest bunny ever come out from around the back of the scrub oak I was sitting backed up into that day... he literally came to within 4ft of my leg... even raised up on his hind legs to try and sniff at the air. Probably had caught some tiny amount of scent from me and was trying to confirm I imagine, but wind was working against him in that regard. Was such a delight having such an up close experience with the cute little guy! But... he did eventually fall to my .17 HMR later

Only thing I will say though, it if you're on a sit with this gear on... shove a blaze orange hat into your pack standing upright so some buttheads 15yo daughter 200yds away by the road doesn't mess around and point her rifle DIRECTLY at you using her scope as the optic to look for the deer they saw cross the road up ahead, and that same deer was working it's way up to 20yds behind me, so she was looking for it. I cannot tell you the terror I felt at spinning my 15x HD Binos around to see what they were doing only to see her pointing her rifle Dead-On at me.. and I mean Dead-On! Had to yell out to them so the idiot didn't kill me! Like 2 minutes later, she actually shoots and I jump-scare at the sound of the bullet hitting 20yds behind me. And right away.. my heart sunk because even though I didn't know about the buck they'd seen at the time.. I put two-and-two together and figured out she must have just shot a buck... by the way they were doing jumping up and down and hugging each other. So with my spot obviously blown, I made sure to go over to their prize andtalk to the Father to make sure he knew what went down and what she did and just how damn dangerous it was. That's the whole reason why you're not supposed to use your rifle to scan the terrain. Your rifle is for when you've found the animal and it's go time. I sincerely hope none of you has to experience such a pucker-factor moment.

 

[TheGDog]

Nice work young man! I hear the copper and tin .22 are terrible hunting rounds. The .17 hmr non lead stuff are reportedly pretty reliable killers. I have a lifetime of mini mag hp we can no longer use. California sure sucks a lot of the time.

Dude... the 17 HMR Hornady NTX's are such a joy! So precisely accurate! To date the farthest Ground Squirrel off shooting sticks has been at 104yds!

I even found an old 12ga spent shell one time, and for Spits and Giggles I set it up on a log, and was able to hit it off the shooting sticks at 80yds!

 

[Hogyotedeer]

Thank you, from several awesome experiences I HIGHLY recommend this very inexpensive suit! It's like NOTHING sees you! Not people, not critters, nothing. I got about 15 minutes of cellphone video footage of a Mama Doe and her young daughter passing in front of me at 17yds... with a bow on my lap! Nothing in-between us. Just me backed up into a scrub oak with the leafy suit on.

Also while out at that same spot for rabbits... the wind was in my favor, and I have the cutest bunny ever come out from around the back of the scrub oak I was sitting backed up into that day... he literally came to within 4ft of my leg... even raised up on his hind legs to try and sniff at the air. Probably had caught some tiny amount of scent from me and was trying to confirm I imagine, but wind was working against him in that regard. Was such a delight having such an up close experience with the cute little guy! But... he did eventually fall to my .17 HMR later

Only thing I will say though, it if you're on a sit with this gear on... shove a blaze orange hat into your pack standing upright so some buttheads 15yo daughter 200yds away by the road doesn't mess around and point her rifle DIRECTLY at you using her scope as the optic to look for the deer they saw cross the road up ahead, and that same deer was working it's way up to 20yds behind me, so she was looking for it. I cannot tell you the terror I felt at spinning my 15x HD Binos around to see what they were doing only to see her pointing her rifle Dead-On at me.. and I mean Dead-On! Had to yell out to them so the idiot didn't kill me! Like 2 minutes later, she actually shoots and I jump-scare at the sound of the bullet hitting 20yds behind me. And right away.. my heart sunk because even though I didn't know about the buck they'd seen at the time.. I put two-and-two together and figured out she must have just shot a buck... by the way they were doing jumping up and down and hugging each other. So with my spot obviously blown, I made sure to go over to their prize andtalk to the Father to make sure he knew what went down and what she did and just how damn dangerous it was. That's the whole reason why you're not supposed to use your rifle to scan the terrain. Your rifle is for when you've found the animal and it's go time. I sincerely hope none of you has to experience such a pucker-factor moment.

Wonder experience, Thanks for sharing. I didn't know bunnies have such acute sense of smell. with the wind against it, it could still pick a few scent. Now you got me think of a scent repellant for rabbits are i am thinking of hunting them soon.

 

[TheGDog]

Get a leafy suit. North Mountain Gear Ghillie Woodland
Get a comfy pack-in chair that puts your head above the grass. (REI FlexLite Macro!)
Get a bipod /some shooting sticks. Cabelas-kwik-stik-bipod-shooting-rest

Find a spot where the bunny bushes butts up against a stretch of open area. And you can clearly see that there are bunny trail holes going thru the bushes leading up to this open area.

Pick a spot where you can sit a ways away, so you won't spook'em, even if they do see you move. Like 50-80yds. (Which this will also help with your scent not being in their noses.)

Get your butt in there by beginning of legal shooting time, and wait. And have some binos with you, so you can confirm something that you might see is or is not a possible bunny holding still.

They come out to warm up in the morning, especially if sunlight falls upon an open area at the edge of their bushy areas. And in the PM right about the time the shadows cover the area, they'll come out to fraternize with each other, sometimes in a very playful kinda way!