Hare Today - Gone Tomorrow
The first outing on new permissions is always a little daunting, doesn’t matter how experienced you are.
As a service provider we aim to solve problems not become one, however when firearms are involved getting the lay of the land and ensuring you know when and where a safe shot can be taken and a reconnaissance and intelligence gathering is vital.
The problem: Hares, and big ones at that.
The solution: .22 WMR
The permission is quite sizable, circa 500acre and the starting field 20. Normally the farm isn’t that bothered about hares, however over the last few years there numbers have risen, and the damage and loss is now a concern, and boy are these beasts big!
It is known that two adult hares can graze as much as a sheep. These things are the size of spaniels, I half played with the idea of training one up for the shoot season!
The .22WMR even moderated isn’t that subtle, not like a .22 LRF with subsonic. The crack of this will startle, so setting into a long evening/night is essential - however I feel the reach and power of the .22 WMR outweighs the negatives. After visiting the location on several occasions I chose a suitable spot next to an electricity pole that would help hide me, and gave me a great position shooting into a perfect shallow in the land, that acted as a natural and effective back stop, whilst being close enough to the dividing hedge line to enable me to reach out and touch the fury little critters when the time came.
Setting up on a tripod next to the pole enabled me to use a little section of camo netting to provide some concealment within some rough grass around the pole the tractors couldn’t turn over. All in all, the spot gave me a beautiful location nearly central to the field to wait in the evening sun for the quarry to present whilst lost in my own thoughts and the silence of the countryside that is so addictive.
Attached to the northwest custom rifle, was a wildcat .22 moderator and my Hik Micro Alpex 4K digital day/night scope, enabling (like most modern hunters) to transition from day to night easily and continue well past sunset.
As the sun began dipping towards the horizon, the hares came out to play in groups of 2-3 at a time, now these things aren't shy, and I knew where about they loitered; as during the recce in the prevailing days, the hares were quite comfortable being out in the day.
I didn’t have to wait long and to my right several of them were in a position which was not favourable for them to continue there crop destroying shenanigans, and would prove very quickly that Hares are terminally allergic to Hornady 30gr V-Max ammunition.
A squeeze of the trigger and Hare1 [H1] Jolted before ending its campaign of terror on the lush crops in the field. Of its companions one of them [H2] ran a few meters before stopping to asses the danger. Big mistake, given that as I was tracking with the gun, the second shot on H2 hit it in the neck and dropped. H3 by this time has scarpered…. until next time!
I had expected the 2 successive shots to have really spooked the rest of them, however, within 30 minutes there were signs again that they were beginning to creep back out in search of food. I suppose it did help with the sun setting and the dark providing a false sense of security. This is where the Alpex comes into its own. providing an exceptional picture in low light situations.
It wasn’t long before more of them began to move into my designated kill box.
By Midnight, I had bagged six big hares. Given that I hunt for food not just for sport, 6 would be enough for the night and packed up my makeshift mini-hide tuning on my lights to ensure all casings had been retrieved and began moving both my kit and hares back to the car.
A successful first night if you ask me!
