Jump to content

Lamping last night.


lazza
 Share

Recommended Posts

Well the poults went out yesterday and we'll soon see if we've been successful in keeping down the local fox population.

 

I had a sit out near to one of the pens yesterday evening. A family of owls kept watch for me and all was quiet, apart from a big rat feeding 10 yards away from me I tried to not look at him as I really don't like them :lol: , but the more I tried to ignore him the more I looked. I wished I'd taken the .22, or a hand grenade :lol:, and got rid of him.

 

I heard a shot in the distance and waited for the phone to buzz. It did and the game keeper let me know that he'd had a fox by another pen, great news!

 

We were out lamping as soon as it got dark. The mood changes at this time of the year, everyone is tired and until the poults are roosting, things are quite serious.

 

We hadn't been out long and I caught sight of a fox. I tapped the roof and the van swung in to where the light was. Just then the keepers phone went off :lol: By the time the light came on again the fox had gone and normally I would have taken the p**s, but as I said before, things are different for a few weeks.

 

We went off for a look around somewhere else and said we'd come back later as the fox was only 5 fields away from the pen. The good news is we didn't see any more foxes on the estate. I think we'd done a reasonable job on the vixens earlier in the year.

 

Eventually we got back to where I'd spied the fox earlier, the lamp was turned on and we started moving through the fields. Then I saw him :lol: , he was running across a field towards the pen which was only two fields away. :lol: I tapped the roof and the van stopped, the rifle was placed on the roof and the safety clicked off. I could hear the keeper muttering something about *****d fox going to his pen :lol: , no pressure there then :lol:

The light went straight over the top of the fox, I said "back" and I heard it repeated to Stevie Wonder, the lamp man :lol: . The light went back........straight over the top of the fox again :lol: I said "forward" then that was repeated. The fox glanced back as it was running and they saw it :rolleyes: Now we were in business. I heard the squeaking start and that faded as the concentration took over.

The fox was a fair way off and running towards a hedgerow. If he got there I knew he would pause before going through, but it wouldn't be a good shot. Then he changed direction and stated running up the field at a right angle to us.perfect B)

The red dot in my scope was on the top of his chest, the front of the rifle moving ever so slowly to keep up with him. He'd have to stop soon as I'd be out off of the rest.

He stopped..........and the bullet was on it's way............my hearing came back to normal as I waited for the sound, it was soooo quiet. Then I heard it ..........THUD.......then I heard " That was a great shot, well done mate!"

 

In actual fact, it probably wasn't that great, it was just the relief.

 

Anyway, here it is. The picture shows the exit wound, if it's still around today, I'll have a look at the entry.

 

At a guess I'd say he was around the 220-240 mark, but it is just a guess.

 

fox10.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were out lamping as soon as it got dark. The mood changes at this time of the year, everyone is tired and until the poults are roosting, things are quite serious.

 

I know what you mean. Long hard days at the moment. Up at daybreak, feeding & dogging in, trying to find time to clean & put away the rearing field & a

hundred other jobs. Lamping is just a chore at the moment. Still good story and I am glad you got the ****** :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thankyou fellas

 

After a day of pushing the poults back to the covers so the combine wouldn't decapitate them, I went for a sit in the evening and didn't see anything :lol:

 

When it got dark we went out on the lamp. Only saw one fox on a rape stubble field and he was a long way off. The keeper stopped the van and I whispered to him , that it was too far away. The van started up again and moved about 20 yards and stopped again. :lol: The light came on and the fox was still there, again I whispered it was too far away as I could only see eyes with normal vision. The reply was "Do It" I replied that it wasn't a good shot, however I'd have a go.

 

When I looked through the scope I could see the white on the chest and just make out the body, the fox was sitting. I asked everyone to sit still, bearing in mind there were five other people in or on the truck and squeezed the trigger :rolleyes: ..............eventually the thud came back and I breathed a sigh of relief :lol:

My mate who was sat on the back with me told me that was a hell of a shot, the keeper said " I knew you'd hit that" and I said to the keeper that the shot was 70% luck and 30% judgement and not to do that to me again, :lol:

 

Anyway here it is, another vixen...distance B) :lol: .....gods knows, a long way! :lol:

 

 

fox2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its like groundhog day at the moment, go to work, go to sit around a pen , go lamping. :good:

 

I had no joy at the pen in the evening, although I know the little ****** is there and sooner or later it'll slip up. :lol:

 

As soon as it was dark I was in the hot seat on the back of the van. We hadn't been out long and spotted some eyes by a pit which is very close to the boundry hedge. The van was switched off straight away and I looked through the scope straining my eyes to see what it was. :) Sure enuogh it was charlie and he turned away and started to make his way across 70 yards of wheat stubble to the boundry hedge. I asked the keeeper to get a bit closer, which he did, by a whopping 20 yards :good: I thought about asking him again and decided we wouldn't have the time to debate the ballistics of a 22-250 before the fox reached the boundry. I settled down for the shot and waited as the light went on and off the fox :lol: until he showed an eye. He was only 10 yards off the hedge and I knew he would pause before he went through..........he did....there was a crack and he took a permanent pause. :lol: I'm not really sure what distance he was, but it was a long way and certainly 200+..............we didn't see anything for a while after that, because the keeper was shouting his head off

in the cab about the shot :good: . I think the poor blokes under a bit of pressure :lol:

 

A little while later we pulled into a field and started lamping. There was a fox running away from us and I lined him up, waiting for him to stop. He didn't show an eye and he didn't stop , disappearing behind a barn. :lol:

We sat for a minute or two and started to sqeak. Sure enough he came back out and started coming towards us. He wasn't going to get away this time :good:

At about 130 yards he paused..........then he went into a permanent sleep.

He was a big ******.

Here's the pics, the nearest one was the last shot.

 

 

fox4.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its like groundhog day at the moment, go to work, go to sit around a pen , go lamping. :good:

 

I had no joy at the pen in the evening, although I know the little ****** is there and sooner or later it'll slip up. :lol:

 

As soon as it was dark I was in the hot seat on the back of the van. We hadn't been out long and spotted some eyes by a pit which is very close to the boundry hedge. The van was switched off straight away and I looked through the scope straining my eyes to see what it was. :) Sure enuogh it was charlie and he turned away and started to make his way across 70 yards of wheat stubble to the boundry hedge. I asked the keeeper to get a bit closer, which he did, by a whopping 20 yards :good: I thought about asking him again and decided we wouldn't have the time to debate the ballistics of a 22-250 before the fox reached the boundry. I settled down for the shot and waited as the light went on and off the fox :lol: until he showed an eye. He was only 10 yards off the hedge and I knew he would pause before he went through..........he did....there was a crack and he took a permanent pause. :lol: I'm not really sure what distance he was, but it was a long way and certainly 200+..............we didn't see anything for a while after that, because the keeper was shouting his head off

in the cab about the shot :good: . I think the poor blokes under a bit of pressure :lol:

 

A little while later we pulled into a field and started lamping. There was a fox running away from us and I lined him up, waiting for him to stop. He didn't show an eye and he didn't stop , disappearing behind a barn. :lol:

We sat for a minute or two and started to sqeak. Sure enough he came back out and started coming towards us. He wasn't going to get away this time :good:

At about 130 yards he paused..........then he went into a permanent sleep.

He was a big ******.

Here's the pics, the nearest one was the last shot.

 

 

fox4.jpg

 

 

good shooting mate what rifle is that ? looks nice :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...