Hot Tips On How To Be A Good Hunter (Setting Up Your Kit)

I am going to write several articles covering all aspects of hunting small game, mainly rabbits and squirrels, pigeon, rooks crows, magpie etc. Today I am going to concentrate on setting up your kit in order to become consistent and accurate.

One of the most important things I can tell you about hunting is that you need to know your weapon thoroughly. How it performs (groups) at the different hunting ranges you will be shooting at. For small game I tend to make 50 yards my maximum range.

In order to be shooting at these ranges you will need a decent telescopic sight. I use a Nightforce 3-15x56mm magnification, expensive but you should be able to get something decent for about £100. You will need to spend time setting up both rifle and scope to zero. I use a Ripley XL9 Carbine .177 (my choice of hunting calibre) I generally set zero at thirty yards (All though my scope parallaxes at 25 yards). I tend to use a batch of pellets JSB 4.52mm. Notice the 2 at the end of the figure. It means the pellet is fractionally oversize so will fit the barrel just a little more tightly.

To set up you kit you need to zero in from a bipod or bench rest, in other words as fixed a point as possible. Your groups should be no bigger than a ten pence piece (maximum 1.5 inches). Once you set zero at say 30 Yards you should then start to move back wards one yard at a time to your chosen maximum range.

Make a notes of the either the scope clicks to hit the bull or the divisions on the scope (if they have them) up to your maximum chosen range. Repeat the process moving the other way shortening the distance down to about ten yards.

If you have recorded at each stage you will now have a bullet drop compensation chart. When you are out hunting you will only need to know the distance to your target to know your setting for an accurate shot. I use a laser rangefinder for a highly accurate positioning of the target. You can use a range-finding scope or you can get pretty good at estimating distance with a little practice. Remember if the range to your target is approximately 25 yards to 35 yards you will probably not have to make any adjustment to your scope.

Once your kit is set up and you can repeat several hits in succession to the target zone you are then ready to go out and hunt, but not before you are experienced enough to be hitting that ‘kill zone’ repeatedly at 40 yards. Killing anything is a big responsibility and it must be done humanely. So approach hunting with a mature attitude and get your ‘kit’ set up properly to begin with. Good Hunting!

http://wabbitwars.blogspot.com/

Hal runs several limited companies and consults on a diverse range of business aspects, is a keen airgunner and sportsman and has a good sense of humour.

See Also : Best Tactical Knife