Another long night.

[DAMAGE]

Went out on the weekend as I always do started of at 5:00pm the sun was still up but I like to sight in before I start and have some Kai and a coffee.
Just as the sun was almost gone and it was getting rather hard to see I saw a rabbit  dart past me about 20 meters away and over a the hill in front of me but it must have been on drugs cause the fool came back and sat down about 25 meters away side on, Now I don't usually go for rabbits but if the opportunity is there I will take it and I did.
Now because of the light I couldn't see the whole rabbit very clearly so I had to go for the main mass and was right on with a heart shot, He ran for about 10 meters then rolled over so thats one rabbit for the ice box sitting on one of the turkeys that I shot in winter.
We also took 40 + possums that night but I was to busy shooting and de-furing to take many photos.

Plus some footage here of me and the boys out doing what we do best.
You will have to excuse my nephew and his retarded finger when he tries to remove a baby from the pouch he handles it a bit like a little girl.
As for the music well that was our only choise at the time as we were in a rush to test the film it will how ever be changed when we do the full 60min DVD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_WV82ADPrM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz7Qpde7QHM

Do ya'll have weird grits to go with those weird possums.

Good video.

Thanks,
Dookie

[Big_Bill]

Great Videos Sean,

You fellows do somereally fine shootingin New Zealand!

And as for your nephew, Those little critters have razor sharp teeth, and never cooperate with you. hehe

Great post, and thanks fr sharing these videos with us !

[shadow]

Fine night of hunting Sean, the rabbit look's tasty too. Loved the vid of the hunt, great shootin guy's. Ed

[CharlieDaTuna]

keep lookin' in my mail box everyday fpr the plane ticket but it ain't never there. Or did I misunderstand you when you said "come on down"???...lol... How about ifn' I bring a pocket full of triggers......You guys must really have a ball down there and the hunting must be excellent.

[longislandhunter]

Excellent videos,, enjoyed that :)

Always enjoy your hunting posts....

Jeff

[DAMAGE]

Thanks guys and yup we do enjoy it some of the people start to wear thin after 6 hours and are really in pain when we hit the 10 or 11 hour mark but I try not to break to many people I just seem to function better at night and don't want to stop And it's good to have people that can keep up. Over my last 3 hunts I have gathered 3kg of fur from the possums I shot that will give me $315.00 dollars to put on my gun and re stock the pellets and had tons of fun doing it.

DAMAGE - 10/2/2007  2:46 AM

...Over my last 3 hunts I have gathered 3kg of fur from the possums I shot that will give me $315.00 dollars to put on my gun and re stock the pellets and had tons of fun doing it.

Too bad squirrel tails and groundhog skins don't go for that kinda money-- Ed (shadow) and Jeff (longislandhunter) would be rakin' in the dough LOL!

Bryan

[johncedarhill]

Wish you were here to take care of my muskrats.

You've probably mentioned this before, but what is the fur used for?

[DAMAGE]

The fur is spun with merino wool in fact the possum fur makes up for 80 percent of the wool industry and without it the NZ wool market would be in the poo.
also the skins are used for everything gloves hats even under wear  hug boots  duvet covers thats the skins with the fur still on.

Here are some links to check out the products that are made in NZ and some have a bit of info about the fur it's all very interesting.

http://www.nznature.co.nz/ecofur.htm

http://www.possum-nz.com/

http://www.glenorchy-fur.co.nz/

These are but a few and the products are many so check it out.

Gotta get me some of those possum underwear. Then I can show my girl the "squirrel".

[only1harry]

Nice videos!  How far were they?  Like 5-6 meters?  Looks they will let you get very close to them.  

How come it took 6 shots to bring the last one down in the 2nd video?  What kind of gun did you guys use?  What is the velocity and energy (FPE)?  You need to get a PCP or a 20 FPE Magnum Springer to take them down fast without worrying about reloading or them climbing higher or running.  I like quick 1 shot kills.  My RWS Diana 350 .22 springer would have taken them down quickly with 1 shot from 30 meters out, if I could see that far at night  :)  Are you guys aiming between the eye and ear, or between the eyes when they are facing you?  It looks like it kept getting hit in the mouth or lower jaw.  No doubt it's hard to shoot accurately at night.  I forgot about that.. (doh!)

Pretty cool that you can take 40+ of these animals in 1 night and make some decent $$.  Do they have a bag limit on those?  BTW, I hope you know they look a lot different than the possoms we have here in the US.  Not sure which ones are uglier, yours or ours  :)

Ours man, definately ours. Damage's possums are actually kinda cute. But not that cute.

Dookie

[DAMAGE]

I have shot these things in the head three or four times with a powder burner 22 of course and in the head believe me they are tough buggers and it don't matter how powerful your airgun is .177 .22 1000 fps 3000 fps sometimes these things are just to dumb or stubborn  to die and sometimes it just takes a while for them to know they are dead.
Now I have hunted many beast from Deer to wild pig and on the pigs we just use knives and dogs also wild goat n stuff but have never come across a critter as tough as these possums they are TOUGH I wish you guys could have a crack at them.