When foxing do you .......

[30-6]

Take any notice of wind direction ?

I've noticed when talking to people lately, the old ' must have the wind in your face ' way of thinking seems to be not so important to some.

[Walker570]

Only shoot from high seats these days and yes a fox will occasionally pick you out even up there when anorther will walk right under the seat. I think like deer stalking wind direction should be taken into consideration.  I shot a few hundred from an ATV back in the early 90s and never really had the wind in mond because always coming into fields etc from various directions.   Often around farm yards and also close to habitation foxes take less notice of human scent and just skirt around it. Have seen them walk right through a busy dairy farm yard where two or three people are working.  Shoot enough and you will see all sorts of reacrion.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Very simply, if you do not take the wind direction in to consideration you will need to be a better shot as the foxes will stay further out from you.

[Scully]

Can’t say it’s anything we’ve taken any heed of. That doesn’t mean you should ignore it, just that we’ve never given it a thought. 

[Dougy]

Depends, i normally shoot them far enough away before they get a wiff. 

 

If i am calling them in closer then yes i will check wind, but that rule tends to go out of the window when you get them creeping up behind you. 

[PelletPinger]

I was on the golf course the other night, saw one but in an area where there’s no safe shot but decided to see how close I could get with the breeze behind me. Got to within 80yds and just stood behind a tree and peeping out from behind it with the thermal to my eye, didn’t see me and was just going about it’s business and gradually moved across me, must have caught me in the breeze, stopped in it’s tracks and froze air scenting for what seems ages, she wasn’t happy and new something was amiss but slowly just carried on looking up every now and again and wandered slowly off. 
Was just about to follow for a shot and to my right a dog came into view following a similar path, the exact same thing happened, he was focused on the vixen when all of sudden he caught a whiff and stopped in his tracks in the same place, and just sat looking my way, sure he couldn’t see me tucked into the tree and with an eye cup on the thermal with no light spill. 
He eventually upped sticks and followed the vixen, caught up with the pair of them later. 

[wymberley]

I've been shooting over the same ground for some 35 years so have a fair idea of what's what. My first priority is to position myself in a spot which offers the longest possible time that I might be offered a shot for any given location. The second consideration is the wind - positioning myself when applicable in an effort to ensure that its adverse effect speaking in  ballistic terms is minimal.

[Weihrauch17]

2 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Only shoot from high seats these days and yes a fox will occasionally pick you out even up there when anorther will walk right under the seat. I think like deer stalking wind direction should be taken into consideration.  I shot a few hundred from an ATV back in the early 90s and never really had the wind in mond because always coming into fields etc from various directions.   Often around farm yards and also close to habitation foxes take less notice of human scent and just skirt around it. Have seen them walk right through a busy dairy farm yard where two or three people are working.  Shoot enough and you will see all sorts of reacrion.

I was shooting over bait a couple of years ago watching with a Thermal.  A Fox was coming straight into the bait when it heard a dog walker with 3 dogs walking down the side of a wood about 300 yards away.  It turned and ran to a fence line within 50 yards of the dogs to see what was what and didn't come back.

[FOXHUNTER1]

When I get set up for a call I always try and get the wind favourable but not always possible.  If the fox cant wind you it helps but I have also had them come in with the wind in my back but also seen them take off sharpish when they get a whiff.

I always try and get a good Vantage point where you can see them coming , nothing worse when they just appear right near you.

 

 

[Good shot?]

On 14/12/2022 at 19:30, wymberley said:

I've been shooting over the same ground for some 35 years so have a fair idea of what's what. My first priority is to position myself in a spot which offers the longest possible time that I might be offered a shot for any given location. The second consideration is the wind - positioning myself when applicable in an effort to ensure that its adverse effect speaking in  ballistic terms is minimal.

When checking the weather prior to going out with the rifle, I firstly check the wind direction in order to allow me to position myself to give me the least effect on windage and secondly how it may send my scent downwind.

If it’s raining I don’t go.👎

[wymberley]

"If it’s raining I don’t go.👎" 

Not been too well of late but am as well as I'm ever going to be now and have decided to down-size somewhat which means a reduced effective range for fox. Yep, wind especially when stronger and in the wrong direction doesn't help but unless it's all too much, loading two other senses - ears and eyes - can offset that problem. Instead of offering something that fox doesn't want to sense, offer him something that he really does. Something that looks and sounds like a rabbit in distress perhaps.

Time for Mother's 'at again I think.

[Rim Fire]

I find movement is a bigger problem than wind for foxing if you want to see wind have an effect watch a Badger with Thermal he will come down the field then stop in its tracks go up on his hind legs and start air scenting when he gets your scent no hesitation he bolts as for Deer movement again will spook before scent when it comes to Boar  they are air scenting all the time as there eyes are not as good as other animals      Hogs might not have the best eye sight out of the game that we hunt, but they do have very good noses. According the researchers at Texas A&M, hogs can sense odors that are as far away as 5-7 miles, and can detect odors underground as deep as 25 feet.30 Jan 2019

[wymberley]

59 minutes ago, Rim Fire said:

I find movement is a bigger problem than wind for foxing if you want to see wind have an effect watch a Badger with Thermal he will come down the field then stop in its tracks go up on his hind legs and start air scenting when he gets your scent no hesitation he bolts as for Deer movement again will spook before scent when it comes to Boar  they are air scenting all the time as there eyes are not as good as other animals      Hogs might not have the best eye sight out of the game that we hunt, but they do have very good noses. According the researchers at Texas A&M, hogs can sense odors that are as far away as 5-7 miles, and can detect odors underground as deep as 25 feet.30 Jan 2019

Yep. Freddy’s eyes are full of ‘rods’ which are designed to sense movement. The wind effect is old as 30-6 says and probably dates from the days of yore when shots were taken from far closer than modern guns/ammo permit us today.