Fisherman Mike Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 Charlie will hang around his territory if it has a regular food supply and not venture too far. On the otherhand Foxes in outlying barren areas such as Exmoor and the like wont think anything of travelling around 8 - 10 miles in a night. For Your average country fox 4- 6 miles is not uncommon. Worms and insects do make up a proportion of the diet but more often it will be carrion, roadkill, mice, voles, moles, birds and a large proportion of rabbits. Urban foxes will of course eat anything we will. Charlie is very adept at catching rabbits infact. I saw one once quatering a hay field in early evening where it had obviously smelled a rabbit was crouched...When the rabbit bolted charlie was on it like a flash....0 - 60 I would say quicker than my Honda ! I once also saw the aftermath of a vixens midnight sortee to a nesting black back gull colony and it wasnt a pretty sight at all. There seems to me many more foxes around my neck of the woods than any time I can remember in the past. Cheers FM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Sarakun Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 Charlie will hang around his territory if it has a regular food supply and not venture too far. On the otherhand Foxes in outlying barren areas such as Exmoor and the like wont think anything of travelling around 8 - 10 miles in a night. For Your average country fox 4- 6 miles is not uncommon. Worms and insects do make up a proportion of the diet but more often it will be carrion, roadkill, mice, voles, moles, birds and a large proportion of rabbits. Urban foxes will of course eat anything we will. Charlie is very adept at catching rabbits infact. I saw one once quatering a hay field in early evening where it had obviously smelled a rabbit was crouched...When the rabbit bolted charlie was on it like a flash....0 - 60 I would say quicker than my Honda ! I once also saw the aftermath of a vixens midnight sortee to a nesting black back gull colony and it wasnt a pretty sight at all. There seems to me many more foxes around my neck of the woods than any time I can remember in the past. Cheers FM. This seems to be the main diet when they open a Fox on one of my permissions. They open them to keep an eye on what they are feeding on presumably so they know where to find them or if they are feeding on the game. There are often feathers in the stomach. I know the Fox is an aggressive hunter and if it wants to get into your chicken hut it will have a damn good try and will probably succeed. If there are a lot of Foxes in your area it makes sense to doubly secure anywhere they may try to gain access. They had a recent blitz on Foxes locally, not because they were causing damage to the livestock, so I can only presume it was because they could. I did post on it earlier in the year. Like you Fisherman Mike I have spent many a day watching them and they do fascinate me, considering the odds against them and I think they are a beautiful creature especially now, in their winter coats. There are so many people killing Foxes now, just look through these pages and I know that in some areas they are in abundance, so now I stick to Pigeons. I would only shoot them now with my camera. Getting soft in my old age. keep up the good work you chaps who do, because I do agree with Fisherman Mike when he says there are more of them about, probably not in the country side, more in the cities. I see a couple of Foxes nearly every night whilst doing a night shift, which involves driving through some of our major cities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie g Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Next time you shoot a Fox jamie g, open up the stomach and see how many worms grubs and insects you can find. no need mate. that is what they eat alot of the time. unless there fedding cubs of course. then they have to go fo bigger stuff. new born lambs. my mate shot one the other night when they got over to it. he had been feeding on a dead sheep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted January 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2010 5 more Ducks gone overnight... Classic work of a fox, as 3 are now headless Going out again shortly, and probably every night this week til we get him. I've got SS and Beardo in tow tonight, to cover another angle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crouch valley Posted January 7, 2010 Report Share Posted January 7, 2010 nice wright up mate good luck with getting him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted January 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2010 Well I've seen him ! 8:30pm - About 140 odd yards, sat in a dark hedge - lamp on, fox gone! Will try baiting an area in front of the hedge, where I hope the snow will mean the lamp wont be needed to see GB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A bolt 22.250 Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 If mr fox plays ball and all goes well open him up and hopefully you will see if you have your culpret. Thats if your not to sqeemish of corse. It saves a lot off greef and i now i allways sleep esyer in the nollage i have shot old Nik not just his apprentice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardo Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 apologies for not making it over - we were doing a tour of the shoot to deal with the ones there first. Drove into the first field - got 200 yards when all of a sudden, crack schlooop. 1 inch of top crust frozen, and sloppy bog underneath - we were going nowhere. fortunately i'd learnt my lesson from the last time, and had a shovel in the back - 20 mins of digging and some pushing and we got out. had a drive around and a call - SS bagged one - that was it for the night, saw a couple long distance but none played ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted January 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 I'm going to pop back around 7pm tonight and sit and wait... with 3 fresh ducks as bait. Sadly, he didn't present a safe shot yesterday - even though I was confident of taking him at 140 yards with the 223 Really need to sort him by the end of the weekend.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 (edited) we popped out on Tuesday night and saw one set of eyes for about a second, the problem seems to be the ones still alive round us are the ones that have been educated. You should see enough without the lamp bearing in mind the snow levels assuming its not bunging it down again Interestingly I walked round my local estate this morning and saw one in daylight for the first time in months, pretty much first light. Bearing in mind how many they shoot there were prints pretty much everywhere I walked so its looking like they are having to travel well to find any food, probably why your one is chancing its luck Edited January 8, 2010 by al4x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardo Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 i've seen a lot in daylight recently - on our pigeon day tuesday, 1 ran in front of me as i was setting up the hide (7.30am), and there was one mooching about the farmyard about mid-day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted January 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 Got the sod! We pulled up at the farm and got the truck in a good viewpoint of the bait - sure enough 10mins later, a fox shape object begins to run in from the right - straight toward the bait... 2 squeeks, and a squeeze of a homerolled 55grn sierra, saw the end of one lamp shy fox! Chuffed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbriz Posted January 8, 2010 Report Share Posted January 8, 2010 Well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbart Posted January 9, 2010 Report Share Posted January 9, 2010 Foxes will range a few miles a night depending on food availability but at this time of year you will have dog foxes roaming a lot further in search of vixens. The snow is too deep round our shoot to have a lamp about but last week was the first night in i cant remember that we never even seen a set of eyes. Tip of the day.....since you are talking about opening foxes up to see what they have eaten..Next time you shoot a vixen around this time of year have a look at its ladybits ! If they are swollen cut its tail off and burst its bladder onto the tail.Stick it on a pole in the middle of a big field with a safe backstop and this will bring a dog fox in quicker than any chicken kebab or any other bait......remember sex sells Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddog546 Posted January 9, 2010 Report Share Posted January 9, 2010 Well done garyb,patience usually wins,thing is with all the snow they are a bit hard to pin down at the moment,good fun tracking them in the snow though. I have one thats giving me the run around at the moment,but as soon as I see him I'll have him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Sarakun Posted January 9, 2010 Report Share Posted January 9, 2010 Foxes will range a few miles a night depending on food availability but at this time of year you will have dog foxes roaming a lot further in search of vixens. The snow is too deep round our shoot to have a lamp about but last week was the first night in i cant remember that we never even seen a set of eyes. Tip of the day.....since you are talking about opening foxes up to see what they have eaten..Next time you shoot a vixen around this time of year have a look at its ladybits ! If they are swollen cut its tail off and burst its bladder onto the tail.Stick it on a pole in the middle of a big field with a safe backstop and this will bring a dog fox in quicker than any chicken kebab or any other bait......remember sex sells I have to admit, that this seems an excellent tip. It makes so much sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magman Posted January 9, 2010 Report Share Posted January 9, 2010 Glad you got it sorted G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted January 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 Bait gone again over night. Clear fox footprints in the snow Going out again tonight - this is turning into a saga! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trapper trev Posted January 10, 2010 Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 NICE 1 :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stealth Stalker Posted January 10, 2010 Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 We went over there earlier to pick up the 3 foxes & decided to open them up, 2 of the 3 had chicken & duck remains in the gut but the bait was taken so hopefully Gary gets the fella tonight. Harfordwmj got some nice pics for you chaps :unsure: SS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy. Posted January 10, 2010 Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 Just on my way back with GaryB and I'm pleased to say a Charlie got the pleasure of meeting 130 grains of .270WIN. He crossed my path, tiny squeak and he turned on the spot and headed towards me. Rather messy, as the rangefinder made it 50 yards. Writeup and photo to come in a new thread. :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stealth Stalker Posted January 10, 2010 Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 Well done mate, was he on the guts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy. Posted January 10, 2010 Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 Well done mate, was he on the guts? Down by the sheds, dropped 10 yards from the pegged bunny. He sneaked past me at first, but it was an unsafe shot so I waited 15, nothing. So I text GB who was further up the field and told him to squeak. By the time he was reading the text he heard the bang...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stealth Stalker Posted January 10, 2010 Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 Hope there's some bits left after coming into contact with the .270 for me SS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy. Posted January 10, 2010 Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 Hope there's some bits left after coming into contact with the .270 for me SS Funny you should say that... There's not much left of the left side of the face and whilst trying to remove the brush with the thinnest piece of useless thread, the tail popped off... I've left it out in the cold in the hope it'll loosen up. I'll be taking the brush for my collection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.