UPDATE 26 April 2012

Afternoon all just a quick post I have not been able to update my blog for the last few weeks or so due to an injury that has meant I have been unable to go out shooting,hopefully I will be out again soon

Update

Ok so the Sengenedd Farm Night didn't take off,bad weather meant we had to go indoors to shoot,so it was back to the Nelson Farm (Old Reliable) park and shoot indoors,even after shooting 180 rats since before Christmas they were still plentiful,I shot again with my Sony Camcorder Night vision set up my mate with his laser and nightvision monocular by the end of the night we accounted for eight between us  

New Farm Tomorrow (Weather Permitting)

Last week I paid a visit to another farm we had picked up in Sengenedd to have a look around and familiarise myself with the surroundings and any hazards we are likely to come across during darkness when we start shooting,it looks quite promising as there are large buildings including housing for cattle and sheep,chicken and dog pens,general feed stores and various smaller outbuildings used as storage.

The buildings are very old with thick stone walls which are a haven for Mr Rat that is if there are any there,the downside is the other farm we normally visit is all indoors we even park the landrover under cover so we are spoilt a bit,this new Farm is mostly outdoors with a walk from where we park near the Farmhouse to a lower level where the outbuildings are,so if the weather is fine tomorrow we will have a look around and see if Mr Rat is in residence and report back. 

Update Nelson Farm 23/2/12

Ok,a quick update on last nights shooting,arrived at the farm a bit later all ready to go,slight problem the farmer had delivered a load of sawdust and had dumped it right in front of the access gate to the barn we normally parked the Freelander in,now parked outside on the yard we set about zeroing in our scopes,I was still using the Air Arms S410 in .177 cal with the Sony camcorder with Nightshot and Dipol Laser fixed to my SWAT Scope,Shaun my son was using my other dedicated nightvision set up with my Air Arms TDR in .22 cal topped with a Yukon Sentinel Pulsar dedicated scope,I also took along my new purchase A Bushnell Trophy Stealth Camera, have a look at the results on the Video Page under Nelson Bushnell 1.

We Zeroed the scopes to a distance of fifteen yards as that's the distance the new rat runs were,put down a small amount of bait Crushed Biscuit that seems to work well,well after a very slow start they started to feed on the bait but were a bit wary,so the shots were few and far between for a while,after three hours I managed to only shoot two probably due to me spending some time altering and playing around with my Camcorder,Shaun shot seven so not a bad couple of hours,an early night it was so home by 11.45 PM.

Just checked our shot count sheet and from September 2011 until 23/2/12 the count shot was now 170

Update Nelson Farm 16/2/12

Just a quick update on our nights shooting last Thursday 16th February 2012,myself and my son who has accompanied me for the last two weeks arrived at the farm usual time 7.0 pm,unloaded and zeroed in the guns the one I was using an Air Arms TDR in .22 cal topped with my Sony DCR-SR32E Camcorder with Nightshot Mode and a Dipol Laser for added illumination took a little longer due to the focus on the Camcorder was awkward to set.

Now all set we took up our positions Shaun (my son) went to an area on the top yard and set up looking at some containers and old drainage channels,I stayed on the bottom yard covering the stables and duck sheds,it wasn't very long before the familiar sounds of rats squeaking came a bit closer to,an area we had baited earlier with crushed biscuit inside the stables had attracted "Mr Rat" my first shot had killed him outright we measured the distance and it was 22 yds not a bad shot considering it was done by looking through a camcorder screen, Shaun's night was even better than mine as all I could hear is his pellets thumping into "Mr Rat",the final count at the end of a three hour shoot was ten,Shaun had shot eight and I had two mine were recorded on the camcorder, have a look at my Video Page and see what you think.   

Update 15/2/12

Evening All

I have just bought a Bushnell Trophy Stealth cam, for those of you that haven't seen one of these little cameras working have a look at this link   http://www.bushnell.com/products/trail-cameras/trophy-cam/ the reason I bought this,firstly the price was right at £80 second hand instead of anything from £180+,also it will hopefully be invaluable to use on my rat shoots,I can place this where I finds either runs or feeding areas and the camera can either video or photograph any movement , I hopefully will try it tomorrow night and post any photos or videos

Camcorder Shooting Recording Update 9/2/12

My night didn't start well as when I arrived at my Rat Shoot and unloaded the "Kit" one of my two batteries for the Sony that were fully charged on leaving was completely discharged probably due to it being accidentally switched on when I closed the lid of my carry case,down to one battery we started to zero in, Ok down to business,I had made up a "Steady Rest" out of a camera tripod and set about scanning an area where they normally come out to play,bit of cat food put inside a bird feeder cage to stop them running off with the bait it wasn't long before them shiny little eyes were poking out from under the duck shed door and a single shot from my AA .177 laid him to rest, lasered the distance at 27 yds.


I was very pleased with the quality of the recording as a first proper trial but I now need to change the automatic focus to manual and also sort out a better more secure mount for the laser,I have posted some pictures below showing how the camcorder was mounted to the scope and also the finished product.


First photo shows how the camcorder fits to the scope,I have used a 30mm-52mm step up ring that screws onto the front of the camcorder lens,then I have used an camera adapter tube from an Olympus camera that screws onto the step up ring,then cut strips of rubber from an old cycle inner tube and slid these over the end of the scope eye piece,then pushed the adapter tube over the rubber for a tight fit.

This photograph shows the camcorder set in place on the gun and also fixed to the front of the scope is a Dipol laser for added illumination

Have a look at my Video page for updated tests using the camcorder Night Vision Set up