News on the site and how things are changing.

As the owner and publisher of this site i want to thank you all for visiting and i hope i am posting all the right things for you to read. If there is anything in particular you want me to cover then why not send me a email or post a comment and i will try to include your request in the next batch of posts.

Also i would like to invite you to comment about my site, as this will let me know how best to produce the posts for you all to enjoy. So please take a moment of your time to add your comment or suggestion by CLICKING HERE and letting me know what you think of the site. (Scroll down past the ads to add your post)

You may have noticed that on the right side of the main page there is a new section dedicated to the best shops in the business. These have not been randomly selected and added to my site, but i have sent personal emails to the shops asking them if they wanted to be added to my list. As you can see, BAR (Blackpool Air Rifles) accepted my invitation, and the feedback i got from the shop owner was impressive, thus proving that my site is regarded as a great source of information for air gunners alike, from one of the best shooting suppliers in the business. Others will be added throughout next month.

Also, the forum is now up and running. You can join us in the forum by clicking the picture under the hit counter, and this will take you to the forum home page. Again this has been set up for you all to use as a place to find out answers to questions or just have your say on anything airgun. Why not come and join us, its free to join and you will find that we are all a friendly bunch, with a wealth of information to share. Hope to see you there soon.

Thank you to everyone who has visited over the last 17 months and i hope you all like what i add to the site



Don't forget to add your comments by CLICKING HERE and let me know what you, the readers think of my site. After all, the site is for you all to enjoy and pick up hints, tips and tricks and vital information that will keep you on the right side of the law.



Remember, the best shot is the safest shot. Stay safe and enjoy your hunting.



Richard.

Quarry

Brown Rats
Most air gunners' favourite quarry. Ugly, evil and disease spreading, the rat can (and does) live virtually anywhere. Their favourite homes are places such as pig and chicken farms (the older ones with overgrown ditches and so on, and not too much concrete) where ratty makes a very good living off spilled food, bedding and animal dung, but huge colonies also exist covertly in towns and cities. There are some 10 million rats in Britain at present, but despite their numbers, they are usually very timid, and extreme stealth needs to be exercised when hunting them. They are most active at night, but can also be seen scuttling about during the day, particularly on warm overcast evenings. They can be shot all year round, but come the colder winter months more of them will move into farms from the countryside, where their food supplies are dwindling and their lairs losing cover.

Probably the best way to locate rat colonies is by the mess they leave- droppings, spilled food and so on. Rat droppings are grey, torpedo shaped objects around 5mm long, and fresher ones are greyer and shinier. Once a colony is located (or simply when you have access to a good shoot) the next thing to decide is where you will shoot from. Rats are timid, but young ones are fairly stupid and the most basic hide will usually grant you a few kills. Evening and night hunting will usually produce best results (when rats have learned that fewer people will be around), but a few rats should be around at any quiet time, and more can be decoyed out. Mushy cat food is good for this- cheap and fairly convenient to carry around. The lack of chunks means that rats cannot carry the bait away to eat it, and must stay under your gun barrel. For a few days before a hunt it is often well worth baiting a patch of shoot, so that rats come to associate the area with a free feed. Lamping is good, particularly when combined with baiting. Rats are not "scared" of light, but they will be wary of it, so you will need to make the area attractive- go into the lit area and get food, or stay hungry in the dark... Failing this, an ambush can frequently be set up in some of the lighter areas on rats preferred travel routes (for example railings running past food bins). As ever, studying your quarries habits will help enormously.
A problem to be aware of with rats is Weils Disease (Leptospirosis). This is carried by bacteria that spread in rat urine. In rare cases it can be fatal, and its symptoms are broadly flu- like, with headaches, temperature, and joint and muscle pain. Do not handle dead rats- collect the corpses with a stick and burn them. If a rat bites you, or you have the above symptoms, see your doctor at once. (At lease for a tetanus jab).

Rabbits
Rabbits are one of nature's most prolifically breeding species. They are to be found almost anywhere, but they seem to particularly like exposed hillsides to "graze" on, and sandy soil to burrow in. I live in Kent, chalk grassland country, and rabbits are to be found almost anywhere. To find rabbits, search whatever land is available to you- usually, the signs will be obvious- patches of fur and rabbit droppings, huge holes and sometimes well worn paths between them. However, in brambly country rabbits can make very concealed burrows, and have their runs under the top layer of shrubs. These are harder to spot, but a stroll with a torch at night will usually reveal a few bunnies.
Rabbits are particularly wary from Autumn onwards. From late January onwards, most rabbits are breeding and should not really be shot. (You are only spoiling future sport). By March/April, you're likely to find pregnant does, or ones with young families, which again you will only spoil future quarry numbers by shooting. By June or July, however, most of the young rabbits have enough cunning to make a stalk challenging and enjoyable. The long, sunny evenings will let you stalk to plenty of targets, and the long grasses make concealment fairly easy (but easy for the rabbit too). As the evening passes, rabbits will move further and further from their burrows, and will hence move further out of range of cover. Ambushing the warren exits is good at this time, or in areas with sufficient cover, good stalking can be had. If you set out at around 5Pm, you can stalk your shoot, then finish up with an ambush (light allowing) as rabbits head back to their burrows during dusk and darkness. (The only thing is- you must be stealthy getting into ambush position, because if you scare the rabbits it could be an hour or more before they venture back out).
Rabbits are sensitive to weather, and try to feed around storms and similar. So, if you go hunting the night before storms are forecast in your area, you should be rewarded with more bunnies that usual. Head shots are the best, but heart shots can be attempted- see kill zone picture below. Hits in the blue will cause instant death, hits in the yellow death within a few seconds.

Crows
The most "evil" members of the corvid family. Ugly and unpleasant, with big strong beaks and sharp eyes, crows eat the eggs and chicks of songbirds and indeed anything smaller than themselves. They have phenomenal eyesight (they are capable of telling the difference between an unarmed man and a man with a rifle), and also an excellent sense of smell. The John Crow is reputed to be able to smell a dead lizard from approximately 1 mile away. Unsurprisingly, baiting crows in with dead rabbits and similar is a very good tactic, better if the rabbit is slit open as crows (and magpies) are partial to rabbit intestines and eyes. The rabbit should be firmly pegged out, and both crows and magpies should be shot swiftly, as removal of the eyes will render your bait less attractive to other birds. Road kills can be used for baiting, as long as they aren't too squashed.
A good hide is useful in conjunction with a bait. If no bait is available, your hide should be set up near a suitable tree- usually tall and old, and always with a few dead branches or other clear patches at the top (pine and other conifers are particularly popular). In these clear patches crow sentinels will sit and view the surrounding area, so you want to be in your hide before they arrive. If you don't do this, you will scare them off, and they will move to another tree, or maybe even a different area all together.

Magpies
Most of the points that apply to crows apply here also (they are both members of the corvid family), but magpies can be "called"- take a film canister, and half fill it with pellets. Tape the lid down, and when shaken, it will produce a "rattchakk" type of noise which with practice can be made very magpie-like. Try and get their call pattern- 6 short trills, interspersed with single longer trills.
Magpies if anything are more tempted by a rabbit decoy than crows, and they can also lured into range with a decoy owl. Place this on a fencepost or other area where owls are likely to be found, slip into your hide and wait. Magpies, Jays and various other birds will mob the "intruder" and try to drive it off. A flapping owl will work even better. However, be wary- other birds are keen to chase the owl away, and these (e.g. blackbirds) are not legal airgun quarry. Make sure you know what you are shooting!

Grey Squirrels
A handsome and difficult quarry. Squirrels are very sharp eyed, except in autumn when young squirrels can be quite dim. Tactics depend on your shoot- in areas where squirrels are unused to humans and do not appreciate their threat, you should have no trouble in bagging a few, particularly if you can find their preferred routes and feeding places. (Indicated by old nuts, broken twigs,ect). However, as the season advances and young squirrels learn, or if you shoot an area too frequently, they will wise up. Now some classic stalking can be employed. Camouflage is usually required, and faces and hands should be smeared with bars of camouflage paint. Full face netting and a camouflage cap are better still. (Squirrels associate the upturned pink moon of a face with danger, and will be nervous or just run away accordingly).
From their high vantage points, squirrels see almost everything. If cover is limited, getting in range will be a problem, but if you wait patiently and quietly, the squirrel may move within range, or at least move into an area where stalking is possible. If, however, the squirrel catches a glimpse of you, it will probably sprint to the nearest handy tree (if on the ground) and climb about 3M up the trunk. It will be alert, and if it spots you again, it will try and put the trunk of the tree between you and it, and climb up higher. If you have a friend with you, get him or her to attract the squirrel's attention on one side of the tree, and when it sidles to the other side of the tree, you can be waiting for it. However, if the squirrels are more nervous-natured, they will just sprint for the deepest cover and you will have a hell of a job winkling them out.

Wood pigeon
These birds are very tough, but not too observant. They like to rest and roost in thick trees, and spotting them is a tricky problem. All too often, you are only alerted to their presence when they fly off with a loud clatter of wings and a crashing of twigs. That said, once spotted, they are fairly easy to stalk as long as you are quiet and careful, and wearing face camo. If the bird you spot is asleep, you won't need to be so careful, but I don't really think that it's sporting to shoot sleeping birds. It's up to you. (Anyhow, be aware- the bird you are stalking may be surrounded by four or five other birds, one of whom is likely to see you as you are unaware of it. Off it goes, and the others hear the racket and follow it. Try and stalk birds that are definitely on their own, and also be aware that a wood pigeon with its head under its wing can look a lot like an old stump of branch).

A wood pigeons breast is armoured with thick feathers, and it will be further protected by a crop stuffed with grain or other food. (Wood pigeons can frequently be found in stubble fields, cleaning up the last of the years crop, or starting into next years). Only go for the chest if you are sure you can hit the heart- never underestimate the toughness of these birds (and crows). A pigeon shot through the lungs will probably die eventually anyway, but it is your duty as a hunter to kill it as cleanly as possible. If possible, aim for the base of the neck (or the back or side of the head itself), or failing this a shot through the shoulders with a big pellet (preferably hollow point or flat head) should put the bird straight down. The first shot often numbs the bird, and can make it impervious to further shots, so make the first one count. After death, woodies often twitch quite a lot. If you are not sure that they are totally dead, shoot them directly in the head or heart, or wring their neck.

Stalking....a basic guide.

Stalking is the only thing that will really allow you to become good at hunting. No matter how accurate you are, shooting accurately with an (12 ft lbs) air rifle at ranges longer than 45 odd metres is extremely difficult/ impossible, so you must get closer to your target. How?-- by stalking. Part of the secret of stalking is camouflage- not just the clothing, but moving so that you blend in. For this reason, always walk slowly and don't make sudden movements when quarry is in the area, wear cammo clothing if you have it (including gloves and cap) and put dark bars of cammo paint on your face. Human hands and faces are pink / white- for this reason, squirrels and birds have come to associate moving patches of pink and upraised patches of pink (upturned faces) as threatening, so make sure that your hands and face are as obscured as possible, and don't hang around staring into trees! Be quiet, too- if you hunt in pairs or groups, don't talk to your companions except when essential. Be quiet when closing car doors before you enter your shoot. Rest assured that rabbits and other wild creatures will know this sound and be wary of it. Even young animals will be basically wary of any loud noises such as this.

When creeping up on your target, always approach from downwind. Even if your quarry cannot smell you, there may well be other creatures in the area that can, and will stampede, scaring off your target. Be wary of pigeons in trees, especially at night. These are hard to spot, especially in thick vegetations, and when alerted, fly off with huge noise of wings and cracking of branches. This will alert other animals in the area. Before you put all your weight down, make sure that there are no dead twigs or leaves under your feet that will crunch or crackle when you put the rest of your weight down. If stalking through dry leaves, quietly and SLOWLY brush clear patches for your feet with your feet.

Again, stalking is all about practice. At first, you are bound to be disappointed- you set foot in one side of a wood, and all game leaves via the other side! (or so it will seem). Trust me, with practice and an understanding of the areas you hunt in, you will improve. In time, you will recognise the inevitable moments when your target becomes spooked, and stop moving, blending into the background. The rabbit relaxes again, and on you go, closer and closer until finally you are within a safe range, and your finger can caress the trigger.

Stances...for those who dont know.

There are four basic stances- standing, sitting, crouching (or kneeling) and prone. They all have good points and bad points, but you will need to know them all. Incidentally, all stances have different recoil characteristics, so there is little point in zeroing from prone position if you tend to hunt from a standing position. That said, I prefer to zero firstly from the prone or sitting positions, then move to standing position (which I usually hunt from) and finalise my zero. (N.B- these are the stances that work for me. You may find that you have to alter them slightly to your style of hunting or situation, or even to your strength/ stature etc.) When moving into any position, you should wait for your breathing and heart rate to settle down before firing.

Standing
This stance is the most commonly used stance in hunting. It is not the most stable of stances, and so should not be held for too long- ideally, less than five seconds. I.e. quarry is spotted, crosshairs placed on target, half breathe out and fire shot. If the rifle is held too long on target, muscle shakes will occur, especially if your combination is heavy (although this occurs in some degree whatever the stance). The standing stance is useful because it can always be assumed under any conditions, and it also gives good elevation to see quarry for example over a rise in the ground. The standing stance is best assumed as follows:

Place your feet about shoulder width apart at 90 degrees to your target. Raise the rifle butt into your right shoulder (or vice versa if left handed), and hold it there with the left hand on the forestock, pulling the gun into your shoulder. Grip the chin down on the cheekpiece of the rifle to lock everything solid, and to bring the sightline from the eye through the centre of the scope optics and onto the target. The trigger finger should be placed on the trigger, and the rest of the trigger hand can be wrapped around the pistol grip of the weapon, though little if any force should be exerted to support the weight of the weapon with this hand. Make sure the eye is not too close to the rear lens of the scope, or recoil could cause it to hit you in the face. The rifle can now be swung about the body, covering at least 60º to either side of the line to your target. If a shot needs to be held for a long time (and this does happen), the left hand can be pulled back along the forestock of the rifle, and the left upper arm and elbow can be rested against the chest to prop the weight of the gun. This does however cause problems due to the effects of heartbeat on the arm resting against the chest.

Sitting
This is the most stable and accurate of stances, but circumstances mean that there is seldom time to use this stance while hunting- it has more relevance to Field Target shooting.
Sit on the ground, again at 90º or so to your quarry. Bring the left foot close to the left side of the body, and allow the left knee to rise up towards your face. The right foot can either be curled towards the left side of the body (behind the left foot), but keeping the right knee flat to the ground, or it can be simply left to stick out in front of the body with the right knee slightly raised. Either way, it supports the stance. The gun is then shouldered in the same way as above, but the left elbow can be rested on the left knee to support the weight of the gun and give good stability. Reloading is easiest in this stance if the gun is broken with the left hand, and the pellet inserted with the left hand.

Crouching
This stance is only really used when the standing or sitting stances are impractical (e.g. a branch is in the way of a standing shot, and there is no time to take a sitting position). It is slightly more stable than a standing position due to the lower centre of gravity, but not as stable as a sitting position. It is a hard stance to describe, being mainly taken due to instinct.
Crouch down on your haunches with both knees out in front of you. Shoulder the rifle as described in the standing stance. Your feet will only be in contact with the ground at the front half of your shoes, and you cannot rest an elbow on your knees, so this stance is not a long term stance either.

Prone
This stance is very accurate and stable, but is again seldom practical due to time considerations. However, if your stalking is good and you make good use of landscape features, it can be a very useful stance. (For example, if you crawl up to a bank of earth behind which you know rabbits tend to be found, this stance allows you to just poke your rifle and your head over the bank and fire away).

Lie down flat on the ground with the rifle out in front of you. Your quarry should ideally be a little to the left of the line of your body- the rifle and the body should not form a straight line. The left elbow should be placed in front of the body, and the right elbow a little closer to the body. The weight of the rifle and upper body should rest on the two elbows. Again, the left arm will pull the rifle into the shoulder, and the cheek will hold it in place, together with the right hand on the pistol grip. You may find that the right hand will rest against the cheek.
Reloading from this position can be a problem. With practice, the left hand can break the rifle (assuming you are using a springer) and insert the pellet without removing the elbow from the ground (it helps to keep your pellets in a pouch on the rifle or somewhere else handy). Alternatively, you can rise to a crouching position to reload, then lower yourself back to the prone position to fire.

Night shooting.

The majority of daytime hunting practices apply at night too, but the emphasis from our point of view is more on reducing noise and smell than on camouflage. However, just because we cannot see well at night, it does not mean that our quarry cannot see us. Most animals have greater visual acuity at night than humans, as animals have more rod cells in their eyes. (Humans have more cone cells- these mean that we can see more colours than animals during the day, but at night rod cells are of more use). Animals are generally better adapted to night conditions than we are, so extreme care must be taken that we hunt even more quietly than usual. (The quiet nights in the countryside mean that any noise will carry further and attract more attention at night than during the day).

Alright, then- animals can hunt by smell and sound as well as by sight, but we are limited mainly to sight. Therefore, some form of lamp is necessary for almost all night hunting. During the summer months, a large front ended scope (e.g.. the 56mm front lens "Moonlighters") permits hunting up to and sometimes past the hour of dusk, but come September, there just isn't enough light for a scope to gather. So, a lamp is required. Alternatively, if you are relatively wealthy, some form of light amplification/ Infra red gear can be used. However, this gear (usually ex military or military derived) is expensive and delicate. Personally, I prefer a good gun lamp. It needs to be powerful enough to get a good concise beam at 50 odd yards (depending on your hunting range), but not so powerful that rabbits etc. will be blinded and forced to run away. There is little point in using a filter- rabbits are effectively colourblind, and will be wary whatever the colour of the light. The headlamps used by sea anglers to bait up etc. when night fishing are too weak for any range of hunting. I don't make brand suggestions, you must try and see what is right for you. If you hunt alone, a light that clips to your scope is usually the best option, though it can be useful to have a separate torch so you don't have to keep swinging the rifle around and tire yourself unnecessarily. I hunt frequently with a friend, and we often take one torch and one (or two) guns between us. Torch man sweeps, holds the light steady on the target (standing in front of rifleman to avoid light backwash) and provides a back up shot should the first shot miss or wound. (Torch man passes light to friend and shoulders own rifle, assuming that you are hunting with a single shot weapon).

The way to lamp in my experience is to enter your shoot very quietly, then swiftly but steadily sweep the lamp/ secondary torch from side to side to pick out the gleam of a rabbits' eyes. Do not hold the light on the rabbit until you are close enough to shoot- sweep, stalk towards the closest pair of eyes, sweep again occasionally. When within range, lock the light on your target, check again that it is a rabbit (many nocturnal animals such as foxes and badgers have similar eye shine) and shoot. If your quarry starts to move at any time when you are within range, try and keep the light between it and its burrow , as it will be less keen to run through the lighted area. If it is not too spooked, take the light off it again and it may stop- you may get a better chance later. As in daytime, you must judge how close you can get by scoping the bunny occasionally and seeing how nervous it looks. If it is head down and eating you are alright, but if it is up on its hind legs and scanning the area stay dead still until it settles again. Rabbits eyes are wide mounted on the head to watch a large area, so be careful- rabbits can see you while looking almost directly away from you. Movement is the key here- keep all movements slow and deliberate. If you are motionless and slightly camouflaged, very few animals can see you (rabbits are not one of them), but if you move, peripheral vision and the fact that you are not behaving in the same way as the background will make you far easier to spot.

As always, much depends upon your shoot and your "type" of rabbit- some will run the second the light brushes them, and others (usually the younger ones) will remain eating and unconcerned until you are barely 20 yards away. More practice with range estimation is required at night as darkness distorts distances- at first, you are likely to find yourself shooting high.

A light breeze is useful to provide background noise, and also to provide some movement in the background, hopefully making your movements less obvious. Weather conditions have little effect on rabbits- I have shot them in pouring rain and on beautiful warm evenings. As usual, study your shoot to find the times and weather conditions they prefer. In really heavy rain, the scent trails that rabbits use to find their ways to their burrows can be washed away, and you may find them stranded in fields unsure of where safety lies. Be wary of wood pigeons roosting in trees- they are extremely difficult to see at night, but when they see or here you nearby they will crash out of the trees with a cawing and a fluttering and this does not aid stealth and subtlety. One final point is do not fire unless you are pretty sure of a hit- at night, the crack of a miss (even with a suppressed air rifle) can carry a fair way, and can spoil further hunting.

Sutton Models and Hobbies

Please note : The website for this shop is down at the moment but i will update this when its back up and running. The phone number at the bottom of this post works and these are the opening times :
MON-  10 till 5
TUE-   10 till 3
WED-  CLOSED
THUR- 10 till 5
FRI-  10 till 5
SAT-  10 till 4
SUN-  CLOSED

Admin.




Hi guys

I feel my local gun centre needs a mention




For some time now i have used them for numerous air gunning pieces of kit and have also shared this diamond place with friends for the purchase of there air rifle's/knife's and other air gunning accessories

A friendly place to visit with a world of knowledge behind the counter together with a great after sales service and for those who like big boys toys they also specialise in radio controlled cars,trucks etc. and accessories

A couple of pictures showing the shop and there large selection of rifles





The latest addition by the Duckmanton Vermin Services Team

Purchased from ....Sutton Models and Hobbies

you can contact

Craig,Lynn,Kier or Roger for your friendly sales experience on
01623 557812 or visit there website at http://www.suttonmodelshobbies.co.uk/



Mike S410

The air rifle law and what you should know.

I know we are all used to reading about the changes in the law regarding air rifles, but i thought i would add it here for those who are not aware of the changes made to the rules over the last year or so.

The Firearms Acts 1968-97
Airguns in the UK are subject to the firearms acts, under the Firearms (Dangerous air weapons) rules 1969 they are classified as low powered Air Weapons and as such they are restricted to a maximum power of 12 foot pounds force for a rifle and 6 foot pounds force for a pistol. Above 12ftlb a rifle is classified as a Section 1 Firearm and requires a licence called a firearms certificate, and a pistol above 6ftlb is again a Section 1 Firearm requiring a firearms certificate in the UK. The definition of a firearm under the act is "a lethal barrelled weapon of any description from which any shot, bullet or other missile can be discharged" it further defines "lethal weapon" as "a weapon capable of firing a projectile with sufficient force to inflict more than a trivial injury i.e. with sufficient force to puncture skin". The Home Office consider the lowest level of muzzle energy capable of inflicting a penetrating wound is one foot pound (1.35 joules) hence guns producing less than 1ft/lb are not covered by the act and therefore not classified as air weapons or subject to any restrictions. The 1997 Firearms Amendment Act made handguns illegal in the UK but Air Weapons were excluded under Section 5 (1) subsection (aba) "a prohibited weapon includes a firearm with a barrel length less than 30cms and an overall length less than 60cms, other than an air weapon, a muzzle loading gun, or a firearm designed as signalling apparatus".

UK Legal Limit
To calculate the power of an airgun you need to use a chronograph to measure the speed of the pellet (in feet per second) when fired, and you need to know the weight of the pellet in grains. Once you have that information you perform the following calculation: - speed (ft/sec) X speed (ft/sec) X weight (grains) 450240 this gives you the result in foot pounds force (ft-lb). As mentioned the legal maximum for an unlicensed air rifle is 12 ft-lb which from changing round the above formula, gives the approximate values as follows:- A .22 pellet weighing 14.4 grains, maximum permissible speed is 612 ft/sec A .177 pellet weighing 7.9 grains, maximum permissible speed is 826 ft/sec The corresponding figures for a pistol are 433 ft/sec for a .22 and 584 ft/sec for a .177 The pellet weights used in the above calculation are typical weights for the sizes of pellet but you must always check the actual weight of your pellet before performing your own calculation.

Purchasing Guns and Ammunition
The laws concerning the purchase of guns and ammunition are as follows:-
Any person under the age of 18 years of age may not purchase or own guns or ammunition.
Persons aged between 14 and 18 years may not purchase guns or ammunition but may borrow or have them purchased on their behalf by some one over 18 years of age.
Persons over the age of 18 years may purchase guns and ammunition, the guns having a power less than the UK legal limit. Guns over that limit require a fire arms certificate to be granted before they can be owned.

Airguns and Young Persons
The laws concerning the use of airguns by young persons are as follows:-
Any one under the age of 14 can only use an airgun whilst under the direct supervision and control of someone over 21, whilst on private property with the permission of the owner of the premises.
A person aged between 14 and 18 can use an airgun on private property where they have a right to be, without supervision.
They may carry an unloaded rifle (but not a pistol) in a public place only if it is in a securely fastened gun cover so that it cannot be fired, an under 14 year old must again be directly supervised by an over 21 year old.
A pistol can only be carried by someone over 18, again it must be unloaded and in a securely fastened case.

Public Places and Highways
You may never have an airgun in a public place without proper reason for doing so. If you are travelling to and from a place where you have the right to shoot, the gun must be in a case as above. A gun is loaded if there is a pellet or any form of projectile in it, including an "air weapon which has a loaded magazine, is loaded even though there is no round in the breach". It is an offence to fire an airgun within 50 feet of the centre of a public highway, if by doing so you cause any member of the public using that highway to be injured, interrupted or endangered. This applies even if you are on private property adjacent the highway. Public highways include roads, bridleways and public footpaths.

Trespass
If you go on to any land, including over water and in buildings, without permission you are Trespassing. If you have an Airgun with you it is classed as Armed Trespass which is a serious Criminal offence even if the gun is not loaded.

Airgun Prey
The following pests are considered suitable for controlling using a sub-12 ft-lb Airgun. Brown Rat, Grey Squirrel, Rabbit, Crow, Rook, Magpie, Jay, Wood pigeon, Collared Dove, Feral Pigeon, House mouse, and recently Mink have been added to the list. These are not always considered pests and only Authorised Persons can shoot them in all circumstances. Please check with your local authority before shooting any live quarry.

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
All bird and animals are protected by law. Certain species are classified as pests or vermin and only these species can be legitimately shot and then only by authorised persons. An Authorised Person is someone who has the proper permission from the land owner to control pests on that land.

Rabbit hunting tips.

Rabbit hunting is a practice spread all around the world due to the range of habitats the rabbit has, allowing hunters worldwide to enjoy hunting for them. Although it might seem like an easy task, compared maybe to other types of hunting, rabbit hunting requires more accuracy, skills and tactics than most others. Some may argue that a small, furry creature like the rabbit can't possibly be any challenge for a fairly experienced hunter, but the truth is these animals have some aces up their sleeves and do know how to use them.

Furthermore, the rabbit's best and well-known weapon is its agility, speed which is critical in its survival in the wild as well. Its powerful back legs help the rabbit reach impressive velocity and you will often be surprised as to how fast they can sprint when jumping through a bush you've just come to close to. Another matter regarding their quickness is the fact that they never run in a line, but prefer making a confusing array of movements while running. But sometimes this strategy confuses them too and they end up running in a complete circle, so being patient may lead to having an easy shot instead of a tiring chase. In addition, they have pretty good stamina, which means that they can keep running for a reasonably long time without slowing down their pace at all.

An added thing that makes it difficult to successfully hunt rabbits is their ability to camouflage their presence in many types of terrain. They've adapted so that their fur matches the color of the inhabited territory perfectly. Also, being rather small in size, they manage to escape unseen even through thin bushes and other kind of cover, but usually do not wait for anyone to get close to their hide-out and run energetically when they sense the slightest sign of danger. That is why rabbit hunting should always be done in a quiet and slow manner, but at the same time being conscientious and prepared. This guides us to the rabbit's best form of defense, its highly developed senses.

Surviving in such harsh environment and with so many predators, has forced the small animal to develop not only remarkable speed and camouflage abilities, but also exceptionally perceptive senses. The rabbit's outer shell clearly indicates its keen sense of hearing, being able to hear sounds from miles away, but the other senses are just as noteworthy. For example, their sense of smell is so sharp that they can smell food that is bellow the ground. Also, their eyesight is exceptionally accurate, especially during the night time, in detecting predators from a long distance. Overall, using these hyper-senses the rabbit can manage to escape predators and hunters and many times even completely avoiding them.

All things considered, rabbit hunting is not a walk in the park and requires higher attentiveness and skill for it to be a successful experience. In other words, rabbit hunting distinguishes itself as an independent and unique practice, due to the very few aspects that links it to other hunting varieties.