Foxes .??

[Joe180]

Where are the foxes,I am in south yorks and I have not seen a fox all year ,no shoots that surround me haven’t either could it be disease or are we doing too good a job?

[Dougy]

I was out last night an knobbled 2 Dog Fox's, saw another but was a tad too far at 400yds. 

 

What we are seeing on this perm is the increased number of Lapwings and hedgehogs due to the cull over the last years, Nightingale's are also being seen which is nice. 

[old'un]

I know a lady farmer who will not allow anyone with night vision on her farm, she is a big follower of the hunt, talking to her, she tells me that most of the people involved with the hunt feel the same about night vision and the farms that have regular shooter out with night vision have done to good a job.

[oowee]

I was out last night and counted well over 20 fox and over 40 deer. Plenty about. 

[jall25]

Shot circa 60/70 on our shoot of 270 acres this year - still odd one about

Set up a bait station 

[old'un]

7 minutes ago, oowee said:

I was out last night and counted well over 20 fox and over 40 deer. Plenty about. 

Sure it was not the same fox?

[oowee]

3 minutes ago, old'un said:

Sure it was not the same fox?

🙂

[old'un]

5 minutes ago, oowee said:

🙂

As you may of guessed my post was tongue in cheek but it does make me wonder just how many people who say they seen x amount of foxes on their patch are seeing the same fox?

[yates]

4 hours ago, Joe180 said:

Where are the foxes,I am in south yorks and I have not seen a fox all year ,no shoots that surround me haven’t either could it be disease or are we doing too good a job?

I'm in a suburb of Rotherham South Yorkshire and there are plenty of them around here 

[oowee]

5 hours ago, old'un said:

As you may of guessed my post was tongue in cheek but it does make me wonder just how many people who say they seen x amount of foxes on their patch are seeing the same fox?

I know what you mean There is also so much BS that goes on in the shooting world. Last night I was out till 0200 counting deer on one of my paid perms. On that land there was only about 3 but I did not go around the farm buildings as I am sure there would be more. I tend to only shoot them where there is a problem of some sort rather than go after them specifically. I need to thin a few deer when I can get some time to sort out the carcases.

[old'un]

39 minutes ago, oowee said:

I know what you mean There is also so much BS that goes on in the shooting world. Last night I was out till 0200 counting deer on one of my paid perms. On that land there was only about 3 but I did not go around the farm buildings as I am sure there would be more. I tend to only shoot them where there is a problem of some sort rather than go after them specifically. I need to thin a few deer when I can get some time to sort out the carcases.

The reason I ask this is because some years ago I was with a keeper lamping foxes on a fairly big estate when I picked up a dog fox in the lamp, it had a distinctive white patch on its rump, tried squeaking it but was having none of it, after about an hour we drove about a mile and a half to another part of the estate and sat there lamping the fields and low and behold I picked the same fox up again, and again it was to far for a shot and was not at all interested in our attempts to call him in, the keeper did manage to shoot the fox about two weeks later.

[jall25]

17 minutes ago, old'un said:

The reason I ask this is because some years ago I was with a keeper lamping foxes on a fairly big estate when I picked up a dog fox in the lamp, it had a distinctive white patch on its rump, tried squeaking it but was having none of it, after about an hour we drove about a mile and a half to another part of the estate and sat there lamping the fields and low and behold I picked the same fox up again, and again it was to far for a shot and was not at all interested in our attempts to call him in, the keeper did manage to shoot the fox about two weeks later.

To be honest i think the opposite - having sat with thermal this year most nights for 3 4 5 hours a night i think there is far far more foxes about than any of us realise 

[oowee]

2 minutes ago, jall25 said:

To be honest i think the opposite - having sat with thermal this year most nights for 3 4 5 hours a night i think there is far far more foxes about than any of us realise 

I would agree with that. I also find if I call one in for a shot rather than simply shoot it where it stands, it will (if its wary) try to get down wind. If I cannot get it for whatever reason once it decides I am a threat it will clear the area. At the moment I am seeing lots and even if they get my scent they will often just sit down and wait till I have gone through. Particularly where they are on the maize stubbles. 

 

[jall25]

I have one currently that i have been after for 3 weeks - i have had it in the scope once and was not quick enough

i put a camera up and it comes one night at 2 am - then nothing then it comes at 4am then 12.30 am - then misses for a day or two then back at 4 am 

Obviously these times are not accurate but what i mean is its totally totally random 

We used to go out with the lamp and maybe shot the odd one - but most nights thought there was nothing about - Thermal really does open your eyes 

[old'un]

57 minutes ago, jall25 said:

I have one currently that i have been after for 3 weeks - i have had it in the scope once and was not quick enough

i put a camera up and it comes one night at 2 am - then nothing then it comes at 4am then 12.30 am - then misses for a day or two then back at 4 am 

Obviously these times are not accurate but what i mean is its totally totally random 

We used to go out with the lamp and maybe shot the odd one - but most nights thought there was nothing about - Thermal really does open your eyes 

Its possible your fox is in the vicinity the same time every night but not close enough to trigger the camera the same time every night?

“Thermal really does open your eyes” and so will a lamp when it hits a foxes eyes.

 

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by old'un

[old'un]

12 hours ago, jall25 said:

To be honest i think the opposite - having sat with thermal this year most nights for 3 4 5 hours a night i think there is far far more foxes about than any of us realise 

Unless you are seeing half a dozen foxes in the same field/s at the same time then how would you know some are not the same fox but in a different location?

[RyanMc]

1 hour ago, old'un said:

Unless you are seeing half a dozen foxes in the same field/s at the same time then how would you know some are not the same fox but in a different location?

Earlier this year i spotted x8 sets of eyes within 300 yard's, spread out around me, turned out x4 sets in the same 20 acre field, x2 adjacent to it, x2 sets on the hill further out. All foxes. Took 3 out the main field within 5 minutes but has gone fairly quite since.

Chased another couple of foxes around the fields a few times and came to the conclusion it was the same one!! They can cover ground very quickly.

[old'un]

17 minutes ago, RyanMc said:

Earlier this year i spotted x8 sets of eyes within 300 yard's, spread out around me, turned out x4 sets in the same 20 acre field, x2 adjacent to it, x2 sets on the hill further out. All foxes. Took 3 out the main field within 5 minutes but has gone fairly quite since.

Chased another couple of foxes around the fields a few times and came to the conclusion it was the same one!! They can cover ground very quickly.

The eyes have it, as they say.

[jall25]

4 hours ago, old'un said:

Its possible your fox is in the vicinity the same time every night but not close enough to trigger the camera the same time every night?

“Thermal really does open your eyes” and so will a lamp when it hits a foxes eyes.

 

 

And so many dont look at the lamp

3 hours ago, old'un said:

Unless you are seeing half a dozen foxes in the same field/s at the same time then how would you know some are not the same fox but in a different location?

Its my land - been shooting there for 30 years with the lamp and usually get 15-20 year

Had over 70 with the thermal 

Good enough evidence for me 

[FOXHUNTER1]

On 02/10/2022 at 21:29, jall25 said:

To be honest i think the opposite - having sat with thermal this year most nights for 3 4 5 hours a night i think there is far far more foxes about than any of us realise 

Not round here there isn't. 

Some areas of the country have high populations whereas others have low densities. 

Up North we have lower densities than down South.

I agree thermal spots more foxes but you can't spot them if there not there. 

[jall25]

1 hour ago, FOXHUNTER1 said:

Not round here there isn't. 

Some areas of the country have high populations whereas others have low densities. 

Up North we have lower densities than down South.

I agree thermal spots more foxes but you can't spot them if there not there. 

Indeed and most of all - you cant spot them if you are not there 

[wabbit warren]

On 02/10/2022 at 14:57, old'un said:

As you may of guessed my post was tongue in cheek but it does make me wonder just how many people who say they seen x amount of foxes on their patch are seeing the same fox?

two of us shooting three smallish farms (one shoot) have shot 179 foxes this year

thermal is a big game changer 

the other week i was out and didnt even see a fox (i was in shock) 

i saw 2 tuesday night and got 1 (a big dog in prime condition)

we cant work out where there all coming from

[FOXHUNTER1]

On 20/10/2022 at 12:28, wabbit warren said:

two of us shooting three smallish farms (one shoot) have shot 179 foxes this year

thermal is a big game changer 

the other week i was out and didnt even see a fox (i was in shock) 

i saw 2 tuesday night and got 1 (a big dog in prime condition)

we cant work out where there all coming from

Drop offs mate

[jall25]

On 20/10/2022 at 12:28, wabbit warren said:

two of us shooting three smallish farms (one shoot) have shot 179 foxes this year

thermal is a big game changer 

the other week i was out and didnt even see a fox (i was in shock) 

i saw 2 tuesday night and got 1 (a big dog in prime condition)

we cant work out where there all coming from

Good man - i agree thermal is the real game changer - it really does see the unseen 

47 minutes ago, FOXHUNTER1 said:

Drop offs mate

Where are you located Foxhunter ?

Do you use thermal or NV or lamp ?

I think the other thing round us down here where maybe its a bit more built up is foxes come from the town and the suburbs each night - maybe out in open country they dont and therefore are at lower densities because its a harder life 

Edited October 21, 2022 by jall25

[FOXHUNTER1]

On 20/10/2022 at 12:28, wabbit warren said:

two of us shooting three smallish farms (one shoot) have shot 179 foxes this year

 

Where are you located mate as those numbers are unreal.

I struggle to get 40 to 50 a year off around 15 permissions covering thousands and thousands of acres.

Best year ever was shooting 84 and that was being out nearly every night covering even more ground.

We simply have a low density compared to down South ...always been the case.

Wish we had numbers like Kent or Essex..