1 Man, 1 Hunter, 1 Nomad.: trout

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

Small Rainbow Trout.

Medium Brown Trout.

M Jones

Have spent a fair few idle moments pondering the facts over and over in my head. The wind was strong so I adjusted my position. Once fully satisfied I was safe I proceeded to relieve myself against the earth bank. My LED head torch illuminated the droplets of rain that missed the back of my head. A strong lengthy gust forced me to lean back into the wind to regain my balance. At the same time the flurry of droplets increased, and started hitting my face. This was most strange being that the wind direction had remained unchanged. A dreadful thought occurred to me so I stopped mid flow. The 'rain' slackened off. I resumed the flow, the rain increased.
Try as I might to dissuade myself from the truth, the only conclusion I can unavoidably draw, is that for the first time in my life, thanks to the gradient of the earth bank and the high winds, I do believe that I did piss in my own face.

In other less disturbing news my new book and purchase Basic Butchering of Livestock and Game arrived and has been a fantastic resource. Accurately describing and illustrating not only how to dress a carcass, but best procedures to humanely despatch the animal. Also followed by some really intriguing recipes.
Aside from brewing some beer yesterday and gaining permission to hunt across the one thousand acre farm next door. This week has been mostly similar to the one before. Bricklaying predominantly. Nick planted some broad beans, erected his awning with my help (I identified the reason he was having difficulties attaching it to his caravan, was the fact he'd failed to read step 1 of the instructions), helped plant the orchard, then, possibly due to a late last night, Kit reached his limit for the day. Early to bed tonight however, we're hoping to make the 08:00 low tide tomorrow and go foraging for razor clams.