Women and tech in the field - rabbit control in Derbyshire

I recently admitted to someone that I was really afraid of the dark as a kid. They asked if I'm still scared of the dark. I couldn't answer them, but I've just realised the answer is yes, I am. But not when it's outside in nature...

There’s something magical for me about the silence and temperature drop that comes just before sunset. As I prepare to go out into the field, I always take a deep breath to steady my mind to focus on the task at hand, and it's like the field and trees take a deep breath with me. Even if I am in a more man-made environment like a golf course.

This very private, grounding moment is usually the moment someone spots me and assumes I’m “having a go” rather than doing serious work. I've had the pat on the back and the 2 thumbs up. I've heard 'go get em lad' and 'good effort' and 'what I would be doing is...' These phrases, always from men, I understand are supposed to be encouraging. But they're often just patronising and are definitely unnecessary.

Being a black woman in the field still comes with a strange kind of background noise that I have to drown out - raised eyebrows, unsolicited advice, the occasional assumption that the technology must be doing the thinking for me. Even people assuming I'm a scientist because I couldn't possibly know how to shoot. But when you’re tasked with rabbit control, especially around crops, assumptions don’t work. Results do.

Rabbits Don’t Care Who’s Holding the Rifle

Rabbits have no idea about gender, ego, or Instagram debates and followers. They respond to food sources, light, weather and timing, and if I mess any of those up, I'm not hunting - I'm educating pests about what to look out for next time I'm around!

When it comes to Winter crop protection from rabbits, it can feel repetitive and a chore. The best time to catch them is at awkward hours when the light is unreliable and the margins for error are slim. And when you're hungry. That’s where preparation, determination and patience, not bravado, makes a difference.

I spend time watching before I ever raise a rifle. Using a thermal spotter like the HIKMICRO Falcon has changed how I read a field, not because it makes things easier, but because it makes my work more efficient by removing guesswork. I see what’s actually there, not what I hope is there, and can focus my work in a certain area rather than trying to cover 100's of acres in just 2 hours.

I can also read their behaviour better, knowing when to move another few steps in the darkness. Rabbits tucked tight into hedgerows are only any good when I have my thermal scope. Others that are already alert and on their back legs stop me moving for a few moments, while also giving me an opportunity to use the range finder and check their distance. Using a thermal doesn’t always make things quicker; if anything, it slows me down.

Seeing clearly isn’t cheating, it’s ethical and for hunting at night it's practical. There’s a lazy argument that advanced optics “do the work for you.” Anyone who’s actually done night or low-light pest control knows better.

The HIKMICRO 4K Day-Night Scope doesn’t pull the trigger for me. It doesn’t decide when not to shoot. What it does is remove uncertainty in low light or no light, when rabbits disappear into the background and when you can't tell if there is a safe backdrop - or another person in the background.

In my opinion, good optics make me more accountable. There’s nowhere to hide sloppy decisions when you can see properly. It helps me to take fewer shots, not more. It also helps me to make a decision to stop when conditions aren’t right, activity has dropped and when continuing would cause more of a disturbance than anything else.

When I think about fieldcraft, I think about my ancestors and what it meant to them. To me, fieldcraft is about respect; for landowners, for the wildlife, for the quarry and for the work itself. And using technology doesn’t replace fieldcraft when it comes to pest control at night, it improves it.

I’m not out to prove anything by controlling rabbits efficiently and humanely. I’m there because I like to eat wild food, because the land needs managing, and because doing it properly matters. No chest-beating. No performance. Just methodical work done well.

Being a (black) woman in the fieldsports world isn’t a statement, it’s just a fact. I'm just a woman, in a field, trying to get my hunting done properly. The optics are my tools but all of the decisions are mine to make. And the rabbits? They remain entirely uninterested in anything anyone has to say about it!

If you have a question about night vision optics or hunting at night, feel free to get in touch!