After failing to blood the mamba and bring home some meat the day before I was keen to have another go now that I was properly sighted in to 40 yards. With only a few hours before the day ended I was hopeful and headed out to the property. Taking a quick look through the bino's I could see a few out having a feed about 120 yards away and immediately started to move closer. I had my eyes on one in particular and by the time I’d closed the gap some there were none to be seen. I still headed towards the direction as slowly as I could, constantly scanning as there had to be one hanging around...I just couldn’t see him. Sure enough my eyes finally spotted one but he seemed onto me so I stood still for a moment, his head finally went down and my arm went up with the rangy, 33 yards is what he was at so I knocked an arrow and drew. I knew this time I only had myself to blame as the bow was sighted in and shooting well out to 40 yards. I put him where I thought he should be between my 30 and 40 yard pins, steadied and squeezed....bam! the arrow hit its mark alright but he was lively and seemed to do a backflip at the same time, unfortunately he bolted under the fence and into the thick never to be seen again. I walked up and found my arrow and the signs that he was a dead rabbit told the tale….a complete pass through.….no meat yet but the mamba m6 had begun to earn its worth. Intent on coming home with meat I headed further up the back of the property and bunnies just seem everywhere on this property at the moment, those warm days have really brought them out and there just seems to be more than ever. Although there were plenty about unfortunately no opportunity presented itself for a short while, I got busted a number of times even before I’d spotted one. About 45 minutes later and after sitting within range of some warrens hoping for an ambush I decided to take a walk around the other side of this property. I headed off slowly and came to an open area where there are a number of large mounds of dirt piled up….walking a little further I spotted 2 rabbits on a 2 odd feet high mound of dirt...one spotted me at the same time and took off but the other just seemed to look at me…..or was it? I couldn’t be sure. When I had seen them I’d stopped immediately, but my left leg was forward and my bow at my side...I reached slowly with my left hand for the rangy and brought it up and got a range....bunny hadn’t disappeared yet so all was good. The range came back and found him at 34 yards, putting the rangefinder away ever so slowly...suddenly my top pocket started to vibrate and ring...blasted phone going off again lol. I ignored it and very slowly brought my bow up, as I did I flipped the screen on the video camera which was bolted over my stabilizer and pressed record. I decided to zoom in with the camera on the rabbit to get a better look and he still didn’t budge. I already had an arrow knocked and found myself drawing within a moment as well as getting my footing right....still not a movement from the rabbit so I still had a good chance. I didn’t spend much time at full draw, probably just a few seconds or so, just enough to get him in the right spot in my sight, I steadied and squeezed....bam! got him. I quickly moved to get a visual around the mound for a follow up as I could hear him sending out his distress call but he’d bolted into the blackberries not a couple of feet behind the mound. I caught him moving deeper into the thick of blackberries as he had the arrow still seated in him. The back legs were gone so I left him a couple of moments to expire then got to getting in there after him. 2 and a half meters of blackberries now out of the way I had my rabbit. A little more video and I got to cleaning him up. Back home I gave him a wash and left him sit in the fridge for a couple of days with a cloth over the top. The video will show the rest of how his life served me lol. So the Mamba finally got blooded and I got a bit of fresh air, a few prickles and some bunny meat...life's good, hope you enjoy the video and give the recipe a go, it’s great, cheers Doz.
