Great nights foxing

[henry d]

As it`s a bit more northerly than where the majority of PW members live, the combines have been busy just this week and as each field has been cut more opportunities have opened to us and we now don`t have to rely on snares and sitting up highseats with a caller.

Anyhoo, I met up with the `keeper at 9-30 and we checked all our gear and set off. The previous evening he had been out with another `keeper and saw 4 and only shot one

So we were going to lamp the same area and see if we could mop them up, first field was next to a free range chicken farm which occaisionally gets losses to Mr & Mrs Todd and the Toddettes and they shot one there and saw another.

Lamp on and we worked to the corner and there they are shining back big as saucers. The wind wasn`t right and we had a bumpy ride across the stubble lines and stooks. We used the caller after a 5 minute quiet spell which helps us and the fox to adjust to the quiet and dark, the call we used first was a "jackrabbit" and alternated it between 3 different type of call(distress/scream and little I think).

He came so far but held off moving about behind the bales and if we turned the volume up he moved away and came back to the same spot when lower, so the `keeper tried a rodent squeak and he stayed in the same area. I suggested he use the chicken clucks and distress and this did it. After a 5 minute quiet spell he set it off again and he came downwind & towards us and just before he got into our scent trail he stopped for a second and I shot him, he was a big cub, very well grown, probably chicken fed

 

We work through a few other fields and see nothing but deer and hares. Evebtually we work up towards the big wood where we have been picking away at them from the highseats and 3 fields away we see the bright lights of a pair of eyes ! We stop as we are well downwind and I get set on the bonnet. 1 minute later and he switches the lamp on and squeaks from his lips and the eyes start bobbing toward us and he isn`t worried in the slightest. He stops for a second and number 2 hits the stubble

This one is an BIG old fella and had no upper canines and several other teeth missing and must have seen many a lamp and squeak in his time yet he came along the beam and into the squeak no bother !

 

Next we work up to the dual carriageway and this means a fair detour and we see nothing until we get to the far corner of the first field and see 600-800yds away and 2 fields from where we just shot the big lad a roe and a fox.

Quick pee break and we are heading back

We kee p the lamp off the field as it is right next to the wood and we didn`t want it running away into it. We get 1/2 way round, next to the wood , there we see the eyes and we stop and I get lined up and we give it a minute to settle before starting the caller and checking where it is. It just walks up the beam no bother at all and a quick check and no.3 is dropped. I`m just moving back toward the cab and he hisses"Another one!"

I cycle the bolt and set up on the bonnet again and this one isn`t having it, back and forward along the end rig it goes and doesn`t want to go into the light (no pun intended) so we try a few quiet spells and dropping the light infront of it it eventually walks slowly forward. It seemed ages for it to cover 70-80 yds and the lamp is raised 20 yds from her sisters dead body and she follows her into oblivion.

 

4 from 4, is my best night yet and we had a quick shine back to his house but see nothing......... great !!!

 

:D

[Paddy Galore!]

Nice write up henryd, and well done chap

It never ceases to amaze me how these animals work sometimes, i was out last night and saw 4, one i managed to stalk up to around 30 yds, another was watching me from the top of the lane near the main road, i must have walked nearly 400yds before he just turned, flicked his tail and headed off into the neighbouring field, he was approx 100yds away and not fussed in the slightest. I'm not allowed to shoot the foxes on this permission yet, but fingers crossed eh?

[toads]

Congrats 4 from 4 is very good any night. Its funny how an old fox will come into the lamp like a cub one night but take off another.

[HW682]

Good write up

What caller were you using out of interest and how do you rate it?

 

HW682

[got_the_eye_in]

This one is an BIG old fella and had no upper canines and several other teeth missing and must have seen many a lamp and squeak in his time yet he came along the beam and into the squeak no bother !

 

Sounds like the RSPCA have been releasing urban foxes in your area aswell. We have had a few around our area like this 2