Gday guys,

Tuesday morning saw me hopping in my 93 Camry and heading down near Yass (NSW Aus) for a bit of shooting and to get away!

After stuffing around all day and going for a walk in the arvo which saw nothing being shot I waited till the night and mounted my Lightforce SL140 to the Leupold 3-9x40mm scope on my CZ 452 22lr and go for a stroll!

Shot one bunny on the hop straight in the chest... "beauty one for the pot" I thought..

Then went for a walk down to one of the only known warren's on the place and found a nice big tussock to use as a rest whacked on the light knocked over one bunny then they all went into hiding for a few mins.. I sat there for 5 mins and then turned on the light again shot at another bunny hit him in the back legs then gave him another shot to the chest "oops that ones dog meat" I thought!
So that was enough for me for one night and I went back and cleaned the 3 I had shot!

Next day saw me sleep in to 8:30am get up and plod around for a bit and the bloke I was staying with had to go into the ACT and pick up some tree's from Greening Australia... I stayed at the farm went and checked the sighting on my new 222rem and it was out... 15 shots later was spot on and ready for action later on in the day!

I passed the time by plinking with my 22cal pcp air rifle (RWS Rapier) and 22lr waiting for it to get a bit later for the bunnies to come out so I can test my new (bought 2nd hand) Winchester Model 70 Heavy Varmint in 222rem.... It's just a heap of fun plinking a great way to pass by a few hours when the hunting is off!

4:30pm came and I thought alrighty I'll take a stroll down at about 120m -150m away from the warren and sat there with the 222 waiting for some foolish bunnies to come out... Was probably a bit early and not much happened so I went back up and watched some tele for an hour or so!

5:20pm came so I went back down to the same spot and bingo one lone bunny chewing some grass.
Here was the result:

Was extremely happy first shot at any game and nailed it from 120-150m away!

A Close up:


Waited around a bit more nothing else was game to come out so Pete (the farmer) arrived back home and I went up and had a yack to him for about 30mins and decided to go back down for another look with the 222...

Same spot as before setup and now with a bit of confidence in the 222 I wanted to attempt a headshot on a bunny so I could use him for meat....One rabbit looking at me straight on just outside his hole, I waited for about 15 minutes to see if he would come out and give me a side on shot no avail... I then lost my patience and blew him away not worrying about keeping him for meat.

I waited for another 5 mins or so and no more action so I decided to go take a photo of the bunny to show you guys what damage the 50gr Nosler BT behind 24.5gns of ADI BM2 does but then I see a fox coming straight for the warrens which was like the last time I was there but this time I had decided to take my rifle with me and not leave it at my sniping spot... he looked straight at me and I only had a chance at an offhand shot which proved a failure with the big Heavy Varmint rifle and he took off and dissapeared into the tussocks I whistled a bit and he eventually came back climbed through a fence and was in a nice big open paddock with short grass...
He was walking slowly as if he didnt know I was there and wasn't just shot at... This gave me a chance to get into prone position and load the last round I had in the mag! I whistled and yelled and he just seemed to ignore me but he was walking slowly I lined the crosshairs up on his chest and pulled the trigger.. He dropped I stooped up and yelled "YES" as I had just shot my first ever fox.

To get over to the fox I had to climb a fence and avoid the electric fence. So I placed my rifle over the fence and got thru it without being Zapped!

I found the little bugger... I had done him a favour I think he was riddled with mange and didn't even have a tail worth keeping! Nonetheless I wanted to get a photo of my first fox no matter how scummy he looked so I set it up with my rifle and a round infront of the dead fox, turned the camera on then it switched itself off before I could get a shot! Bloody dead batteries. So I went and checked out the rabbit I shot before I headed back to the house for more batteries! He was a mess shot him just in the chest and blew out from his neck to the middle of his back, those Nosler BT's are destructive buggers!

I walked up to the house and got some fresh ones but didn't bother taking my rifle back down to the fox!
Anyways after all that yarning here is the pictures of the bloody thing!
Entry side:


Exit side:


Then later on that night I went out and shot another bunny with my mounted spotlight and 22lr to seal off quite a fun 2 day trip!

The total was:
6 Rabbits
1 Fox!

Then I left Thursday morning to enter the real world again!

Cheers Fella's have a good Easter!

Kjd84: WOW! Great posting - great pictures - lots of information! I am gonna stop right now and go read it again!
Thanks for the great posting - more later.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Kjd84: Congratulations on your first Fox! Good for you! And thanks again for the great Hunting report! I really enjoyed your tale and your success afield!
I also use and greatly enjoy the (Australian product by the way!) NightForce spotlights and rheo-stat adjustable power packs for them! They are first rate and I highly recommend them!
Could you clarify the Rifle on the bi-pod you have pictured! Is it a re-barrelled Remington? It looks like a Winchester Model 70 a bit with the jewelled bolt and the safety (not quite able to make it out). Is that Rifle your 222? Please give particulars on it. The stock looks like the tried and true Winchester Marksman style stock. I have several stocks of this style and they perform really well in all manner of Varminting situations as well as at the range.
Again thanks for the great pictures and for recounting your Hunt and your Hunting styles (methods!).
Keep after them!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

quote:

Originally posted by VarmintGuy:
Kjd84: Congratulations on your first Fox! Good for you! And thanks again for the great Hunting report! I really enjoyed your tale and your success afield!
I also use and greatly enjoy the (Australian product by the way!) NightForce spotlights and rheo-stat adjustable power packs for them! They are first rate and I highly recommend them!
Could you clarify the Rifle on the bi-pod you have pictured! Is it a re-barrelled Remington? It looks like a Winchester Model 70 a bit with the jewelled bolt and the safety (not quite able to make it out). Is that Rifle your 222? Please give particulars on it. The stock looks like the tried and true Winchester Marksman style stock. I have several stocks of this style and they perform really well in all manner of Varminting situations as well as at the range.
Again thanks for the great pictures and for recounting your Hunt and your Hunting styles (methods!).
Keep after them!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Thanks for the kind words..
Sorry mate I didn't realise I never mentioned what my 222rem was as the forum I originally posted it on ( The Hunter's Hut ) the guys all knew what it was!
But you Nailed it... its a Win Mod 70 Heavy Varmint in 22rem.
Such a beautiful rifle to shoot!

Stay Tuned as the next time I go down to that farm I will be attempting fox whistling and will have a shooting partner and we will be armed with a video camera which I hope to be putting the video's up on the net! We will be gone for a week of Rabbit, Hare and Fox shooting and a little bit of fishing, so we should get some good stories, pictures and footage next time around.

Glad you enjoyed the story!
All of the stories can be found on The Hunter's Hut too!

Cheers,
Keith.

Reloading for my 222rem

Theres a load development post I did just incase it interests u guys too