1 Man, 1 Hunter, 1 Nomad.: Sharing The Wealth- Tuesday 03/05/11

04:49 : Up and out to walk the rifle.
07:15 : Back for a coffee.
07:30 : Scythed the orchard.
08:25 : Coffee.
09:10 - 11:15 : During my coffee I learnt how to range find using my mil-dot scope. Set about measuring my shooting range. Happy to find the formula and my calculations worked and were accurate.
The theory is this:

You take a measurement of your target. This was 3". This needs to be converted to yards, so divide that by 36". Divide 1000 by how many mil-dots the sight picture spans/covers. For me, the circle sat snugly on the first mil-dot. So one. Divide the factor of magnification by 10, and tag that on the end of the equation and my sum looks like this.

(3"/36")*(1000/1)*.4 = 33.3 yards.

By measuring, not pacing 25 yards, I revealed why my range finding was so bad. I hadn't previously realised how big a yard was. Roughly 90cm. This also meant that I'd vastly underestimated the effective killing distance of the rifle.
40/50 yards is a fair old way and makes for a lot less stalking.

13:30 - 18:00 : Went a-fishing. Caught a medium brown trout. Gave that to Nick as a trade for the pellets he gifted to me. Later I caught a small Rainbow Trout. Had he had not been such a greedy beggar and swallowed the whole hook I would've been able to throw him back. The damage done meant it was kinder to end his life with a sharp tap on the head. A shiver down to the tail and he was gone. He became a gift for Simon and Jasmine who are expecting a visit from Mark Boyle (author of The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living) later today. Thought the trout would be a nice touch... plus I'm very much aware it is not my millpond so it's only right to share the wealth. If anything it's labour saving, as by giving everyone a fish. I don't have to re-describe ours was!

19:00 : Walked the rifle. Absolutely nothing. Nada. Zip. Was fine by me. I was pooped and nature had already provided more than enough food for my family.

21:00 : Bed