Airgun Hunter: Woodland Hunting

Granted, there are times the airgun hunter sets out to target certain species in a specific location – the most popular being shooting wood pigeon as they alight in trees in a certain sector of the wood that they use to roost for the night.

Another of course is the yearly tradition of shooting young rooks at a rookery on the 12th May as they leave the nest, or ‘Brancher Shooting’ as it’s commonly known. I’ve dealt with these and with lots of other woodland shooting scenarios but the particular situation I’m going to detail here is possibly one of, if not the most difficult I face on this particular permission.

SPACED OUT

The wood in question is long and oval, so relatively narrow at both ends; it’s also surrounded by large flat fields that are used for grazing sheep. Running the full length, and dissecting the middle, is a private pathway often used by farm workers and this causes regular disturbances. Also, in many areas the trees are spaced quite far apart; which means any quarry sitting high up can easily spot you as you make your way over to the wood.

Even once amongst the ‘spaced out’ trees, you’re still vulnerable, as it’s difficult to mask your approach; so overall it’s quite a tricky wood to shoot! But after much experience I’ve eventually devised a plan!

However, the wood is there and provides the local woodie and corvid population with prime spots to rest after feeding or sit before flying further out.

CHALLENGING, BUT!

Challenging but not impossible, even though every avian pest species in the wood flies away as soon as it sees me walking down the fence line of a grass field that backs onto the far side of the farmyard. The walk to the wood is 300 yards, so there’s no point trying to be stealthy. For this reason, the wood is always devoid of targets when I arrive. Making the most of this, I leave my static shooting accessories – a ‘rump rest’ seat and double leg shooting sticks at the base of a large beech tree on the edge of a medium size clearing that has a commanding view of an area of trees. From past experience it’s used by woodies throughout the day as sitty trees.

This is a typical area I will more often than not return to for the last few hours of any hunting foray in this wood, because after unburdening myself of my ‘bag of tricks’ - I adopt my first hunting tactic. That being ‘walking at snail’s pace’ to other likely areas - the trick (now while wearing full camo) is to carefully stalk forward, ensuring I don’t make any noise by inadvertently stepping on fallen branches that can ‘sound out’ my presence. Also, it’s imperative that while using this first line of attack that I stop and stand stock still at regular intervals, to slowly and vigilantly scan the tree tops ahead as well as the sky above. It’s not only what could already be holing up in the trees I need look out for but also what could well be arriving, to sit in this unique and quite isolated area. So, at any moment, as long as I keep my wits about me and stay as unobtrusive as possible – hence the full camo and what can best be described as my ‘slow-motion’ stalk and stop routine, I’m in with a chance.

PATIENCE AND DISCIPLINE!

Infrequently I catch glimpses of woodies coming in from the sides of the wood, but if moving and I’m spotted, they always veer away or fly straight over. As you can imagine, even slowly making my way through the wood in this way requires a lot of discipline and patience. On this occasion it took at least an hour of walking, plus as much, if not more, stopping and just watching before a pair of plump woodies alighted in the upper most branches of a very tall tree up ahead of a position, where at the time I was having one of my statue impersonating ‘stopped and watch’ moments.

As any airgun hunter who’s attempted stalking up on woodies will know, this technique is difficult, even in dense woodland! But here I have to take even more care as I choose my path to a range I feel comfortable taking a shot at any potential target. The only cover to use are the trunks of larger trees on the ‘heading’ I decide to take to mask my approach. On top of that is the fact I’ll more often than not need to use the tree once I reach it – partly for forward cover but of more importance to give me a steady rest to take a considered and often longer range awkward angle shot.

Fortunately, though, a lot of the trees seem to have obliging limbs at a height that can be used for supporting the rifle forend, so that my aim is rock solid.

WELL SUPPORTED

As I reached a large oak I slowly brought the rifle up and rested the forend in the fork made by a branch at approximately shoulder height. From the woodie’s perspective if I get it right and use the utmost stealth, it should see little to disturb it as I sight in.

Guesstimating range at 35yds I carefully adjusted my aim for this quite difficult shot. However, this natural rest meant my aim was rock steady so a miss would be pilot error! Thankfully in a situation such a this I never need rush the shots.

The bird looked relaxed as I carefully squeezed the trigger, that ended with a perfect headshot and it tumbled to the deck stone dead. Countless others I’d not even seen in the trees took off immediately, their wings clapping loudly as they flew away. I know from experience not to spend too much of the time I have on any foray here ‘stalking’, so I retrieved the bird and decided to head back to the place I’d left my accessories, to sit out the rest of the session.

However before settling into this static shooting position I’d placed the dead woodie out on a low branch approximately 30yds from where I’d be sitting in wait. When positioned correctly I’ve found it acts as a superb natural decoy, giving birds alighting in the higher branches more confidence that the area is safe. This is something I recommend others try in situations such as this. I don’t use a pop-up hide in these situations, as in this wood even crows don’t accept anything out of place, even if it does look like a bush and you have full cover! So as long as I keep perfectly still, using a large tree trunk as a backstop and using full camo to blend in with my surroundings the woodies do eventually alight in the trees, often not paying my shooting position any attention. In the case of corvids, it’s rare they even make an appearance once I’m in the wood anyway, except for the a few foolhardy magpies I’ve bagged in the past.

TAKE A SEAT

Now back at the ‘ambush’ site it’s just a matter of sitting on the rump rest, setting the sticks to the height I can rest the rifle on in readiness of a shot and patiently waiting. The rump rest is little more than a low, four leg moulded plastic seat which has a nicely curved upper area making long waits more comfortable. You could use a shooting bean bag, but I prefer this, as it elevates me high enough to put my back flat against the tree trunk and operate the sticks for different angle shots by either pushing them forward for birds sitting lower or further away, or pulling them back towards me for those that have alighted in branches of trees either closer and/or higher from my position.

Sure enough birds eventually arrived, easily seen as they flew into the trees I was concentrating my attention on. Even the closest was a long shot but confident in the steadiness the shooting sticks offered, I adjusted the rifle to the correct angle, sighted in for a heart/lung shot and hit the mark perfectly, the bird crashing down into ground foliage, hidden from view meaning I needn’t leave my seat to retrieve it.

Thankfully all had gone to plan (again) as I took another few woodies in a relatively short period of time, shooting in this manner but then all went very quiet - so after a long but this time barren wait, I decided the best of the day had gone and decided it was time to leave. All shots were challenging, testing my fieldcraft, aim, and accuracy to the limit. But in this type of hunting situation it isn’t about big bags or quick easy targets – any level of success gives extreme satisfaction that I’ve solved the problem of shooting in an area where some might feel is almost impossible.

KIT BOX

Custom Stock Air Arms S410K
MTC Viper 4 – 16 X 50 IR with SCB reticle
.177 calibre Bisley Magnums
Rump Rest seat
Stoney Point Double Shooting Sticks
Various Camo from Rocky Clothing,
Sportschief and Deerhunter