Live action: Laying down on the job

Never get in the way of an Eastern Brown snake and his female target when he's looking for hanky panky after a long winter hibernation.

galenkp

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I've been making a habit of beginning most of my posts with a relevant quote however I have to beg forgiveness for this one. I couldn't recall or find something that worked for this post so I made one up. It's terrible I know. Please don't judge me too harshly. 😁

Anyway...Laying down on the job probably isn't the done thing in most jobs and I'd say the boss would get a little annoyed at an operator doing so but for me it's totally legitimate; in fact it's actually what's required - That's my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it vehemently.

It's been a little while since I've been out to the farm and performed my culling duties; the control of feral animals. There's a reason of course and that's snakes. The deadly Eastern Brown snake in particular is a problem and in September and October they move about, after exiting hibernation, looking for mates and some inevitable rumpy pumpy.

Laying down prone in the grass at this time of year isn't well-advised and can be fraught with danger so I've made excuses not to do it with the best one being, I don't want to get tagged by one of these snakey bastards and die. A fair excuse I'd say. But I had to make it happen eventually so here I am laying in the grass.

I'm a long range shooter and whilst I'll not divulge my longest shot here on the blockchain, or anywhere else for that matter, suffice it to say I can place rounds accurately on targets at over a mile (that's 1609.34 metres). Of course the size of target matters and when shooting at range one generally shoots for centre-mass and with a mind to obtaining a kill shot. When culling I don't shoot at anything near that range with 500 metres being about the limit and 300-350 metres the average. I have to make head shots and a kangaroo head isn't all that big so the range matters.

Just in case you're wondering, laying prone when shooting at long range provides a more stable shooting position increasing ones hit-percentage and allowing one to range out to greater distance. It brings other snakey-bastard issues at this time of year though.

I'm here now, at the farm, and it's not too bad of a day. Cool of course, but still fairly green as the winter grasses haven't begun to die off just yet. Eventually it'll get brown and crispy here and then muzle flash starting fires is the main issues but at the moment it's nice, green and super peaceful. A nice place to be right about now, unless you're a kangaroo.

I've made my way to one of my favourite vantage points and set up. It's too early for the wildlife to be moving about yet so I have a book to read whilst I wait and thought I'd get a live action post in at the same time. Yes, there's snacks too. I've come out quite early today and did a bit of a hike around before getting settled into position.

I chose this position as the down-angle slope isn't too great so when I'm laying prone behind the rifle my back isn't too badly bent backwards. I hyper-extended my spine once whilst shooting and, trust me on this, you never want that to happen as it is very painful.

I also liked this position as the grass isn't too long and as you can see in the image I have a very nice view. The arc of fire is actually almost 180° and I ranged it with my laser rangefinder at 800 metres to the most distant safe shot I could make - Of course I won't take shots on kangaroos at that range. A deer probably as I can shoot centre-mass on them but culling kangaroos requires head shots as the requirement.

Another reason this location is good is that only several metres away from my shooting position is a fallen tree, now just dead wood. It makes an excellent shooting position for closer-range shots so I can kneel and not have to lay prone in the grass with snakey-bastards.

I'll have to shoot prone if I'm to engage targets ahead on those low hills you see in the main image. Of course, I'll not engage anything above the crest of the hills as a miss would allow the bullet to travel into the scrub behind and there's a road behind there. However I'd say most of my targets will be below me in that tree line where the creek runs.

I'm hoping I don't get surprised by any snakes whilst laying behind the gun as I'll lay there stock still glassing the area for targets. If one came along to say hello? Well, you'd probably hear my screaming from kilometres away.

I'd better get on with it - Typing this on my phone is slow going; I don't know how people post regularly on their phones as it's so annoying! The animals will start moving about soon and I'll have to start putting together strategies to maximising my effectiveness. Besides, I also want to read a chapter or two of my book before things get lively...And east some snack too.