Late Spring Jack at 50 yards

[PBJ]

>> Have been bored to death, nothing to shoot and so I rolled out my target bench and thought I would re-zero my CDT tuned CFX. After about an hour of punching paper, the sun was right behind the targets and I was getting tired so I was ready to pick it up when I noticed a small shape; young cotton tail sitting at the base of the target bench. Well, they are out of season and I had no pellet in the chamber so I just waited a bit and he hit the road.
>> Next I saw a flash of red way out in the wash next to the driveway. Sure enough, it was a large jack rabbit with the sun shining through his ears!! I put a JSB Predator in the CFX (they shoot to the same point of impact as RWS SuperDomes in the CFX), dialed the AO, set the distance at 50 yards and put the center Mil Dot on his neck and squeezed off the CDT trigger. Fur flew and the pellet went all the way through and kicked up dirt from the bank behind the jack. He walked 10 feet and sat down. They don't do that if they are not well hit, they can run like a greyhound with a bad shot in them and they don't stop for anything. I walked out for a clear shot and put two more pellets in him, one at about 35 yards and the other at 20 or less. He had moved about 100 yards by now across the street into heavy brush and I only found him because he started bleating and boy are they loud.
>> Note the lung/heart shot in the picture. I don't have much success with head shots on jacks, they are too tough boned!! The visible wound is on the entry side. Predators are accurate in my gun, at 10 yards all the holes touch. SuperDomes are alot cheaper and almost as accurate in my gun
>> The scope is a Leapers 6X Bug Buster and it is the only scope I have that does not shift zero. It does not range well past 25 yards, not enough grunt but the sun was right behind the jack and I could see him well; all my variable power scopes would have flared out an hour earlier or more even with extended sunshields.
>> I attach two other photos, one of what I saw from the garage from my shooting bench on the shot and another of what the jack saw looking towards my shooting position in the garage (I lower the door to cut down the glare of the afternoon sun - our house faces West).
>> Paced off the distance twice, it was right at 50 yards. Sure would like to have a laser range finder, I should have held 2-3" higher for a better kill.
>> Also put up three related posts on CFX barrels/pellet sizes, pellet traps/lead debris and my modified shooting bench.

[Big_Bill]

Great account of your hunt Bob,

And real good shootin there, 50 yards, wow !

I wish we had some jack rabbits here in jERSEY, I THINK ? They would go nicely with our politicians, there jack a$$E$, lol I'm startin to think the squirrels in my area have posted my place !

I can see that you don't have to change targets often, what a set up you have there !

[shadow]

Fantastc shootin Bob, 50yrds !. ;} Great pic's also. Ed

[PBJ]

My wife believes that the jacks and rabbits have a news network and that our house is now on a list of places to avoid!! We have only had one inch of rain this season (8" or so in more normal) and so the rabbits know not to have so many babies. Last year was wet and we had everything breeding like flies. Also, we had temperatures in the low teens in January and that caused a lot of mortality on the wintering over game. Good news is that the dove never migrated South to Mexico and our quail are everywhere. I may get an Upland Game Bird Stamp this year as we can hunt quail in California with air rifles. Dove are Federal migratory birds and cannot be hunted with an air gun. Makes no sense as they don't migrate but who can tell the politicians what to do??
One good thing about no jacks in New Jersey, all your trees stil have bark at their bases!! Good hunting!

[dw33]

Congrats on that jack.  Hope it tastes better than mine did, lol.  Quail everywhere?  Well, I guess that's not too far from Riverside, hehehe.  I will probably have to go out that way as it looks like they are talking about closing down the forest.  But, not before the summer tourists have spent their money I am willing to bet.