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When to shoot a fox


benn
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Morning all

 

I usually shoot foxes over December time

 

I just about start lambing and see there are a lot of foxs around

I'm always thought they were maiting around this time of year but couple people said they have Cubs down then den?i always thought it was later than Feb?

 

Cheers Benn

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We shoot them all year round, at every opportunity.

Ditto .

 

However in my case i dont tend to go out just for fox so to speak . I spend three night a week out bunny bashing . If when im out and i see a fox i will go another night and take him out . But i dont spend nigyt after night going out looking for them .

If that makes sense .

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I was brought up try not shoot when Cubs down in den unless got terrier men around.

So always shoot as much as can around when there mating and also thin them out around Autumn when Cubs grown aswel

Many landowners wouldn't tolerate us leaving cubs until they had grown; they're all to feed. We tend to shoot the cubs first as soon as they start to venture out, and then take care of the adults., but if it turns out we get the chance to do it the other way round, we will.

Edited by Scully
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Killing them all year often don't cure the issue.

 

Nesting and or lambing are peal times. Here that means April

 

If I go mad now another will likely come in to fill the void. Once settled it's a different matter

 

Some do them all year all times but is it for conservation or thier idea of sport?

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Any fox, any time on sites where they cause a problem.

 

Commonly the golf courses, stables, county estates, etc have no issue with the fox, so they get left alone!

 

If I turned round to my Free Range, Chicken, Geese and Duck farm and said I'm waiting for the cubs to grow up then they would quite rightly show me the door!

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Yes, they do.

 

But if they are a problem for the farm you shoot the on, and the farmer wants them wiped out, th n you do it. Or he'll kick you off and get someone else to do the job

Totally and it's not a case of getting kicked off either. I have given up lots of permission because I don't agree in certain practices.

I am referring to killing foxes next to a pet food factory or dump etc. Kill 100 one month do the same the next etc - pointless killing

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Totally and it's not a case of getting kicked off either. I have given up lots of permission because I don't agree in certain practices.

I am referring to killing foxes next to a pet food factory or dump etc. Kill 100 one month do the same the next etc - pointless killing

There speaks someone who doesn't have free range chickens and ducks!!

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if the farmer want's them shot then shoot them, the farm i work on don't worry if they are not near the turkey pen's or buildings so i don't shoot them unless they come in,

other farms want them gone so it's shoot all i see on their farms,

ask your permission farmer what he want's

 

colin

+1 land owners choice not mine:if you can't accept that give up the permission!

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Top barrel @1/2" choke....Winchester Super X 00 Buckshot:............bottom barrel @1/4 choke.........No.5 or No.6 shot................don't hit a pigeon at 25 yards with top barrel.............You won't find much of it...........

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Any fox, any time on sites where they cause a problem.

 

Commonly the golf courses, stables, county estates, etc have no issue with the fox, so they get left alone!

 

If I turned round to my Free Range, Chicken, Geese and Duck farm and said I'm waiting for the cubs to grow up then they would quite rightly show me the door!

 

+ 1.

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No but that's not relevant at all I shoot foxes were thier is need and leave them be were there is not. Please read

Some of the land that I shoot over is only arable and the farmers don't want the foxes shot at all because as far as they are concerned foxes don't eat wheat, barley or rape but rabbits and pigeons do so the fox in this case is the farmers friend. the fox in this case is a 24/7 sentry out on the land doing good. The fox may be out patrolling the free range chicken over the boundary but that is no concern to the arable farmer. Personally I don't like to shoot a vixen and leave cubs to starve underground but I try to wait until they surface and then stalk them of a early summer evening around the den. the only problem is that you have to take them all out and wait for the vixen because I have known the cubs to be taken out and the vixen go on a mass killing spree as if to get revenge. The other thing is that foxes are territorial and if you take one out another will just come in to take the territory over. I knew a gamekeeper that was out night and day after foxes on his patch and surrounding areas and he shot in the region of 250 fox a season. He always had a problem with foxes. It would have been cheaper and more efficient to buy the resident foxes dog food and keep them well fed. Most of the time the foxes were only out after worms and beetles on the fields and not taking his pheasants.

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I see both sides of the argument. I do find it amusing that this is only applied to foxes though. I have never seen a post about orphaning in relation to rats, pigeons, crows etc...maybe they are not as cute and fluffy.

 

I do not like to orphan cubs and will try and do everything to avoid this happening but we live in the real world and this isnt always possible. There are many who will only shoot later in the year when there are plenty of foxes around and plenty of easy cubs to shoot. I try and get out as much as I can early on in the year to get them shot prior to them having cubs, and then later on in the year, however when I have a problem with foxes they will get shot regardless of the time of year (I will always try and deal with the cubs one way or another though).

 

A subjective moral discussion that we all need to have with ourselves and make a decision on.

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I see both sides of the argument. I do find it amusing that this is only applied to foxes though. I have never seen a post about orphaning in relation to rats, pigeons, crows etc...maybe they are not as cute and fluffy.

 

I do not like to orphan cubs and will try and do everything to avoid this happening but we live in the real world and this isnt always possible. There are many who will only shoot later in the year when there are plenty of foxes around and plenty of easy cubs to shoot. I try and get out as much as I can early on in the year to get them shot prior to them having cubs, and then later on in the year, however when I have a problem with foxes they will get shot regardless of the time of year (I will always try and deal with the cubs one way or another though).

 

A subjective moral discussion that we all need to have with ourselves and make a decision on.

 

Well said. In summer and autumn I don't tend to shoot foxes, because they keep on top of rabbits, etc. In fact, all year round I'll shoot rabbits, and regularly leave them under a hedgerow for the foxes or badgers.

But when the foxes are hungry - and it's been a horrible wet winter, and they've now probably got cubs in the den, so they're getting bold and taking lambs - any and every fox above ground gets shot. If I can get the cubs all well and good, but I'm also not going to lose a lot of sleep over it if I can't.

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I will slow down around this time on game shoots, unless I am asked or there is a reason. I still go out and about to see what's around, noting the spots where Fox's are seen. It makes it easier to sort them out as once the cubs are out and about you have all the eggs in the one basket, or at least around it.

On lambing perms I will pop round before the lambs are put out into the fields. And that will be this coming few weeks.

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