It poured here all day yesterday, I mean buckets and buckets, which was fine cause it was warm and dry inside and the turkey was hot, but today was a beautiful sunny day so I decided to do a little rabbit hunting with the Gamo Black Shadow .22
I've found one of the best times to go rabbit hunting is the first warm, sunny day after heavy rains. The rabbits can be found out in the middle of the day soaking up the warm rays of the sun and drying out from the deluge.
There is a section of woods near my home that has some large overgrown fields bordered by thick hedge rows. My tactic is simple, I slowly work my way through the fields and along the edges of the hedge rows hoping to spot rabbits sunning themselves. Most times the rabbits see me first, but not always. If I'm quick sometimes I'll get a shot.
Well, I worked the fields and hedge rows for about an hour, and did see a couple of rabbits, but never got a shot. As I was walking through the tall grass of one of the fields I looked up ahead and spotted a beautiful cock pheasant standing under a small pine tree that was growing in the middle of the field. He was about 30 yards away, just standing there watching me. He ran away after a few seconds, which is fine since in NY it's illegal to shoot pheasant with anything except a shotgun or a bow, but the sight of him standing there made the entire hunt worthwhile.
When I got out of my truck at home and walked into the back yard I saw a flurry of birds take off from the bird feeders and land up in the trees, among them were a bunch of starlings. I put the crosshairs on one perched on top of a tree, squeezed and BAM...... a starling fell to the ground. For some reason the other birds just sat there so I wound up taking 2 more shots resulting in 2 more starlings lying dead on the ground. After the 3rd kill all the birds took off and the shooting was over. The predator pellets were a little overkill for a starling, but they sure sure as heck knocked em down hard :) I sat on the deck hoping the starlings would return, but they weren't that stupid.
Jeff
