Mauser M03 Accuracy - The Second Shot

I returned to the Landcruiser after stalking for a couple of hours, just as the last light of day was fading. I put the Mauser M03 with its 270 Winchester barrel back into the rifle box and made sure the 30-06 I'd checked earlier in the day was ready, along with my favourite fox rifle, a Sako Vixen in 17 Remington.

A slow bumpy cruise down the length of a valley, along an intersecting creek and back over a ridge was entirely free of any excitement, which is so often the way with spotlighting. But those who go out at night on farms know that things can change in a moment. I drove across a few paddocks which overlooked a large flat, all the while heading nearer to one of the farmhouses. I could see the house lights but didn't know that the farming family was gathered on the front deck around the barbecue, watching my headlights weaving and my spotlight scanning. They watched when I stopped a few hundred meters away, adjusted the light, lifted the 17 from the rifle-box and onto the engine hood and shot a pair of foxes. I'd made a squeaking noise by sucking air in through my pursed lips and it brought the foxes in to about 150 meters. I'll be trying that again. I stopped at the house soon after for a chat and learned that my spectators could also see the foxes' eyes. We talked about how the thump of the bullets impacting was delayed by the extra distance to their viewpoint. I bravely knocked back the kind offer of a beer - I would be spotlighting and hopefully shooting for some time yet. Beer, an empty stomach, darkness and firearms are not a good mix. Maybe next time, when I'm all done.

Avoiding the beer was a good decision as I was soon dropping another fox, then another, a few paddocks away. Then I waved the light down and along the flat of a nearby creek and saw half a dozen pigs scurrying along, about 70 meters away. By the time I had the light fixed in position and a rifle lifted, they were gone, into the tea-tree scrub. So frustrating. I drove around the hill in case they popped out on the other side, but they had escaped. I used the road to reposition to the other end of the farm where pigs had been seen recently by another hunter, as well as by myself the weekend before. I moved through a couple of gates quietly, to avoid spooking what I might find on a flat by another creek. It was always worth checking out. Once I'd manoeuvred the Landcruiser through a wooded area I came to a shelf overlooking the flat. A wave of the light found a fox's eyes, 200 meters away. I needed to adjust the car to get into a better position, after which the eyes were not seen again. But in scanning for the fox while squeaking with my lips I saw what was a slightly more solid shadow amongst the others, between the clumps of grass. There wasn't much in it but I looked carefully each time the light passed over that area. I registered the position of the shadow relative to the other light and dark features - the landscape is always tricky under spotlight - then switched the light off for a minute. Once it was on again I felt sure that the shadow had moved. I might be wrong but it was worth persisting with. I set the light up on the car's roof, resting it over a sandbag and propped on my elbows over the warm engine with my binoculars. I watched closely and carefully for a few minutes. There was such a mish-mash of shadows and contrasts it was hard to figure out what I was seeing, if anything. But then I saw what could be a pair of black ears, changing angle under the spotlight. This was looking more and more like a solitary boar, standing still in the light, as they do.

I put the binoculars down and walked to the rear of the Landcruiser. On the way I decided it would be the 30-06 that I'd lift out, given how perfectly it had placed the test shot fired earlier in the day, through the same hole as a previous test. At 200 meters the impact point would be zero relative to the line of sight. With the Zeiss Victory HT 3-12x56 sitting on the Mauser M03 I saw the shadow move again, just a turn of the head, until I could clearly make out the shape of the boar's head and ears. Then I saw the tiny glint of a red eye, looking up at the spotlight. The improved view provided by the big scope, which was perfect for this situation, allowed me to make out the body position of the boar. It was angled a quarter towards me, standing still with its head low. I pushed the cocking lever to the right and took final aim, the Mauser resting perfectly still on front and rear sandbags. This time I didn't use the set trigger - I wanted the firmer 950gm release of the normal trigger. The shot was good, right into the head-body junction. A loud thump reached me a moment later as confirmation, clearly heard through earmuffs and ear plugs. The weight of the M03 soaked up the recoil perfectly. The boar ran out of the spotlight beam. By the time I'd opened the action and settled the rifle safely on the bags, to then stand up in the doorway and adjust the light, it was gone, into the blackberries about 50 meters away. A fair assumption - I couldn't see it anywhere. How on earth can they run like that when hit by a well placed 180 grainer?

A week later I was there again on a sunny afternoon, this time with my son for company. We drove to the same shelf where, with my more experienced eyes and familiarity with the land I've hunted for years, I picked out a shape and colour that looked out of place. My son looked through the binoculars and focussed on the remains of the boar. It had moved only 10 meters from where it was hit. Clearly, there were plenty of other pigs in the area. The boar had been well and truly chomped by his friends, who'd made the most of the meal served up by my Mauser M03.