Fox club

[racing snake]

A quick visit to a permission I haven't been to in a while tonight. Just trying to get around everywhere before I leave them alone until the end of the summer. Only a 45 minute wait before I see a dog fox come p from my left and make his way along a fence about 100 yards in front of me. Let him get to a nice convenient gap and gave him a shout. Solid thump and down he goes. Nothing else seen. Will probably call it quits after this weekend unless someone starts losing lambs. Been lucky not to get a milky vixen so far but can't help but feel I'm pushing my luck. 

[NE david]

Message from farmer saying he had lost a lamb to a fox so headed up last night said he had seen it between 1 and 3 going to be along night got up for 9 set everything up ready and sat and waited nothing till 2.10 then this big vixen turned up hunting around where lamb had been stopped and looked up bang down it went 1happy farmer 

[racing snake]

Mini beast from the east made things decidedly uncomfortable tonight! Wind was biting cold. Kept on the move as much as possible though, up around the big hill. Nothing seen on the hill but a dog and a vixen causing some grief around the bottom field when I came down off the hill. Couldn't see if they had take any lambs but the ewes and lambs were bolting in all directions. Managed to drop the dog in the first field which caused the vixen to bolt around the back of me. Quick scramble up the slope and was able to get her at the top of the next field. Not carrying cubs nor did it have any in the earth. Happy that there doesn't appear to be any litters on the hill but they're still coming in!

[bumpy22]

9 hours ago, racing snake said:

Mini beast from the east made things decidedly uncomfortable tonight! Wind was biting cold. Kept on the move as much as possible though, up around the big hill. Nothing seen on the hill but a dog and a vixen causing some grief around the bottom field when I came down off the hill. Couldn't see if they had take any lambs but the ewes and lambs were bolting in all directions. Managed to drop the dog in the first field which caused the vixen to bolt around the back of me. Quick scramble up the slope and was able to get her at the top of the next field. Not carrying cubs nor did it have any in the earth. Happy that there doesn't appear to be any litters on the hill but they're still coming in!

well done stu. i would imagine there would be a few heavy in cub now not that any we have shot of shown signs. to be fair we have been busy on the rabbits of late on new ground. Grant is of doing dsc this weekend. called into a newish farm yesterday morning while stalking and farmer has told me they are busy round the yard and lambing field so hopefully get a few on there this week

[Dougy]

Was out last night with fruitloop on a patch of land, I was as bit dubious about the weather, 20+ mph winds, -1 and feeling like -10 and snow flurrys. Well getting there was fine very little snow but a biting wind in your face was kind of uncomfortable. 1st Fox appeared but certainly didn't like a red light from a led, off like a rocket. 

2nd Fox seen was about 170yds out, snow was now coming pretty heavy, spotting the fox with thermal was OK but with an Archer and dragonfly all I could see was the snow whizzing past horizontal. I got a rough idea where the fox was from the thermal  and back on the archer again I just waited to see if there was a chance to stop this fox. The snow slowed to give me a chance for the shot, and missed. No excuses i just missed.  But the fox having no idea what the crack was ran to the left to stop for too long, 2nd shot it was down, fruity spotted with the thermal confirmed nothing had ran,and I saw the drop,  but couldn't find the fox in the crops. Rather annoying but the way the snow was coming down it was just becoming too silly.

The fox in the photo was shot within a few minutes of the one we couldn't find, it was maybe down to the fact that I spotted that one so shortly after,  that took us away from the impact point of the one we lost 

It was 180 yards about the same as the previous so no issues with elevation and the windage was, well as you can see pretty good too in the conditions.  

 

If it was perm I would be out looking for the one we didn't pick up, but as fruity is far too far away it's unfortunately stopping in the field. 

 

[racing snake]

2 hours ago, bumpy22 said:

well done stu. i would imagine there would be a few heavy in cub now not that any we have shot of shown signs. to be fair we have been busy on the rabbits of late on new ground. Grant is of doing dsc this weekend. called into a newish farm yesterday morning while stalking and farmer has told me they are busy round the yard and lambing field so hopefully get a few on there this week

Cheers Ed. Think I've had 2 so far this year that were obviously carrying cubs, but none lately. Hope to see you get some this week.

Nice work Dougy.

Edited March 18, 2018 by racing snake

[FOXHUNTER1]

You keep knocking them over Stu

Gone pretty quiet up here , not seeing them although I know they are there.

Pretty much finished with them now unless get any callouts , just hope the weather improves for the start of the buck season.

[racing snake]

A call from a bit of a panicky farmer on the big hill this morning. He went down to the lambing shed at 3:00am only to be met by a fox coming out of it. Eeeek! Dashed up there tonight and caught up with the culprit after only an hour's wait. Another dog.

[oowee]

Been a bit quiet on here . Not for want of trying but weather and other stuff seems to get in the way sometimes. Anyways out with Bumpy 22 last night for what turned out to be an eventful night. 

First up Bumpy shows off new Cerakote finish on rifle. What a corker. It looks very smart.

Then off to first field which is accessed through a garden. Its a lovely spot on top of a small hill with high hedge and safe shooting position. Pheasant distress and in he comes. A little bit of Phaff from the shooter fiddling with IR which meant a one handed shot but down he went. Great way to christen the new paint job.

Then off to start back on the rabbits and all was going well and we spot a fox up in the lambing field. A mouth call seees it running in but way too close. At 20m its not a sporting shot so a warning shot is fired to encourage it to move away . What happened there says the spotter  It stops out at 165 m and a mil and a half holdover and its down. **** you got it says the spotter 

We carry on with the rabbits then spot another fox on the hill. Two mins later its on the ground having raced in to a hand call. 

23 rabbits was a nice bag.

 

Then off to last farm and car emits a cloud of steam as we pull into the gate at 1230 in the middle of nowhere. Turns out radiator cap is not on so we wait 30 mins for it to cool and spend our time looking for foxes. Nothing showing so we start the long process of filling the radiator from a nearby puddle and home we went. 

 

 

[bumpy22]

very impressive shot by the main man last night. not so sure about first one but second one made up for it He also liked to tell me after passing his dsc 1 course last week {well done}that he is now the senior hunter and i need to take a back seat and listen to him as he is a pro hunter all joking aside great night hopefully not boiled truck.

if any of you guys of fox club are interested in the cerakote for your rifles drop me a pm. 

[Strongman]

That’s a lovely finish on you rifle Ed. I take it you stayed with the Tikka then and weren’t tempted by the Sako?

Well done with passing your DSC1 Grant, you’ve got yourself an apprentice now then .

[oowee]

13 minutes ago, Strongman said:

That’s a lovely finish on you rifle Ed. I take it you stayed with the Tikka then and weren’t tempted by the Sako?

Well done with passing your DSC1 Grant, you’ve got yourself an apprentice now then .

Cheers bud  Managed to get a bursary from Stalking Directory to cover the cost so very grateful to them. 

If I say so myself,  Sako looked great but but bolt was pretty shocking. 

[bumpy22]

1 hour ago, Strongman said:

That’s a lovely finish on you rifle Ed. I take it you stayed with the Tikka then and weren’t tempted by the Sako?

Well done with passing your DSC1 Grant, you’ve got yourself an apprentice now then .

just not impressed to be honest Richard as Grant said bolt was not great at all so slack. even trigger did not feel great if you had a blind fold on you would think it was a very old rifle everything was so slack. guy bore scoped mine said it was fine so why waste the money.  have you been out?

where is mike not been on here for ages??

Edited March 24, 2018 by bumpy22

[Strongman]

I’ve been on holiday in the lakes last week. Been out a few times before that but all pretty quiet round here. Had a few reports of fox sightings but not any trouble so all good. Will be out a few times next week to check on things.

Sometimes it’s better the devil you know & it sounds like you’ve made the right decision to swerve the Sako. Years ago a mate of mine changed his rifle for something better. He always regretted it as it turned out to be a right pup, too late then though!

Been putting up duck nesting tubes today, the work never ends!

[bumpy22]

look forward to hearing about your outing this week mate

[racing snake]

Nice gun Ed, liking the cerakote. Been toying with the idea of getting a lighter MDT chassis for the Tikka for a while now. If I ever do take the plunge I'll get in touch about the cerakote.

Probably final night out for me last night until August now. Had a call off the smaller farm on the big hill yesterday saying he'd seen a fox in the lambing field on Saturday morning, and there were two dead lambs and he thought at least one gone. Plan was to get up there before it got dark and sit and wait but because of one thing and another I didn't get up there until 9pm. Got geared up and circled around the outer edge of the farm checking the fields that had no lambs in first - no sign  of him. So walked up the slope to the two fields that had the lambs in and had a scan. Always difficult to pick out a fox when there's lambs in a field, size and heat signature not vastly different, but movement generally tells them apart without having to check with the Drone. Scanned the 2 fields and there were lambs everywhere - some running about, some curled up sleeping etc. Only hope to spot a fox was if it was moving through one of the fields. Had a good scan around for 5 minutes but everything looked like a lamb. Then at the top of the field I noticed something a bit odd. Just looked like another lamb curled up asleep against the fence , except it was the wrong side of the fence. Thought it might have been a lamb that had got through the fence somewhere but worth a check anyway. Got laid down, gun on bipod and fired the drone up and scanned where the heat signature was - a fox curled up looking at the lambs! Goodnight.

 

As that one didn't take as long as I thought it would I decided to jump in the car and drive around to the big farm on the other side of the hill. Given that I'd had 3 from around the lambing sheds in a week I wasn't really expecting to see one, but might as well check. Went over to the quarry first and had a sit for an hour, nothing doing. So down the track and over to the farm. Checked the first 3 fields, nothing but lambs. Up the lane and had a sit down in the gateway that looks up towards the hill, waited for another 45 minutes but again no sign of anything. Was just contemplating moving off when it became noticeable that a couple of lambs were making a bit of noise back at the sheds that sounded a bit more frantic than the usual random bleat. Picked the gun up and walked back down, not really expecting to see anything - a quick scan and see a ewe charging at a fox with her two lambs running around behind her! Fox was so preoccupied with dodging the ewe and trying to grab a lamb that she never noticed me getting the gun on the gate. Found her in the scope contemplating her next move, and made the decision for her - it was straight down. Been letting the farmers know this morning that I'm done now until August unless they start getting any trouble from foxes. Sad to say the vixen was milky and had cubs in the earth. Really leaves a bitter taste in the mouth when I get one of those. I thought I'd put enough pressure on that farm to stop them from getting set up, but she'd obviously moved cubs in from somewhere else when space became available for her. I reckon I know where she's put them, so off out later. I'm done after that.

[FOXHUNTER1]

Top work again Stu.

Im finished with them now too unless get any callouts , did see one last night right on dark when out stalking but it was heading into distance,

 

[oowee]

Top work Stu. 

[WelshMike]

Sorry boys.....Ed reckoned I had run off with a wooly lover which made me chuckle  I havent been on for a while as between a week of man flu, snow, and then playing catch up with work I havent been out. Also I am having a few issues with my N750A and getting a clear image...excuses over. 

Got a call from one of the farms on Saturday (whilst demolishing part of the house) saying he had seen a couple of foxes. Dusted off the x bolt and lamp and headed out. Got to the farm about 9 and had a nice walk round. It was very still and mild compared to late so nice to be out. I picked up some tell tale eye shine in the one field with the red torch. Set up the stick and got ready to go...wheres the fox gone? Quick squeak and checked and it was in the next field. Bit of a position change, light on and picked the fox up heading for the hedge. She stopped and down she went at about 95 yards to a 100 grain .243. 

One of the other farmers I shoot for has purchased another 130 acre farm so over for a look on the weekend. Between shooting, work, bees and house renovation I need to cut down on sleep  

[oowee]

MIKE good to see you back  I guess you can have too much of a good thing with your wooly's 

Bit old school using a lamp, but sometimes it's nice to go retro or is that vintage?

Certainly knocked that one over.

We go and see some new park land on Thurs. Fingers crossed it should be good for Fallow.

[WelshMike]

8 minutes ago, oowee said:

MIKE good to see you back  I guess you can have too much of a good thing with your wooly's 

Bit old school using a lamp, but sometimes it's nice to go retro or is that vintage?

Certainly knocked that one over.

We go and see some new park land on Thurs. Fingers crossed it should be good for Fallow.

Cheers Grant. I use that rifle for the odd deer foray and use 100 grain rounds so dont like to shoot anything else through it as I know it is spot on with the ammo I use. She certainly didnt know anything about it. 

You boys must now cover most of Somerset  Good luck with the park ground mate. I do think that you boys have too easy a job with the deer...carrying Roe is pleasant but a big old fallow buck or a red stag will make you work nice and hard  

 

[oowee]

35 minutes ago, WelshMike said:

Cheers Grant. I use that rifle for the odd deer foray and use 100 grain rounds so dont like to shoot anything else through it as I know it is spot on with the ammo I use. She certainly didnt know anything about it. 

You boys must now cover most of Somerset  Good luck with the park ground mate. I do think that you boys have too easy a job with the deer...carrying Roe is pleasant but a big old fallow buck or a red stag will make you work nice and hard  

 

Been trying for a munty but no luck. I see them on occasion usually running for cover. I have tried waiting down wind, stalking, sitting in wood but they dont want to play  When I met Edd he had never shot one and now he has three including one out of my back garden. They looked easy but i am starting to realise just how hard they can be.

Have left the roe for last few weeks waiting for Bucks. Need to check the ground to see what access is like for getting stuff out. It looks a cracking place.

[WelshMike]

19 hours ago, oowee said:

Been trying for a munty but no luck. I see them on occasion usually running for cover. I have tried waiting down wind, stalking, sitting in wood but they dont want to play  When I met Edd he had never shot one and now he has three including one out of my back garden. They looked easy but i am starting to realise just how hard they can be.

Have left the roe for last few weeks waiting for Bucks. Need to check the ground to see what access is like for getting stuff out. It looks a cracking place.

You need to rain Ed in and tell him to stop shooting your munties until you get one  One of my mates goes shooting on a large estate in Hants and will pretty well leave everything else in favor of muntjac. He shot 4 last time he was there...lucky devil. 

When I was down in Devon and shot 2 roe does there was a cracking 6 pointer in velvet. I think his days are numbered...not at my hands as the house has taken over life at the mo. 

Keep up the good work mate 

[WelshMike]

Back out last night to a couple of farms , one which is lambing and one which is a chicken farm. Given the issues they have with foxes I have reconciled the moral issues of the potential to orphan cubs as I have been caught out in the past. All quiet at the chicken farm which is good. 

Arrived at the other farm, past the lambing shed and spotted some eye shine in the field below. Quick backtrack to get to a shootable position and the fox was heading off. Quick squeak, lamp on, fox sat about 70 yards away wondering what was going on, 100 grain soft point in the chest, game over. Apologies for the lack of pic, phone was at home. The fox was an absolute beauty of a vixen, very heavily in cub. Took her up and presented her to the farmer...once he had finished pulling 2 live and 1 dead lamb from a ewe. He was well chuffed so all good.  

[ShootingEgg]

Have had a trap at one perm for about a month, have had three so far. 

 

Two this week, the first a vixen going in after a crow i put in, and today found a dog, that must of gone in due to the vixena scent, no bait in trap last night