Today was a work day, but I decided to hit a field at the south end of town near what used to be a nice home about 80 or so years ago. The walls around the yard are still there, as well as some trees from a long ago orchard. My son and I got there at 7:30, perfect for trying to see some rabbits. We jumped one as we were walking on a path through some hedges, but no shot. As soon as we came upon the field, there was a rabbit sitting about 25 yards away. I set up the shooting sticks and let my son have the first shot. I told him to aim a little low of where he wanted to hit, as the pellet would probably hit a little high at that distance. His shot went right by his head, so I took the RWS 48 and reloaded a .22 pellet in it and was going to take an off-hand shot, but I noticed the rabbit really wasn’t doing anything but sitting there. I used the shooting sticks that I made from .50 cent dowels from the home improvement store and laid the crosshairs below his shoulder. There was a loud “thowamp!†when the pellet hit and the rabbit went down. I used the old stick through the back leg trick again to carry our game as we walked a circle around the field looking for more cottontails, but no luck, so we headed back to the car. When I cleaned the rabbit at home, I saw that the pellet had completely exited through the far shoulder; the RWS 48 packs a pretty good punch. These short hunting trips right around the outskirts of town are great fun, and my soon-to-be eleven year-old son is learning about hunting and enjoying our time out there together.
