MY FIRST EVER FOX!

[SAVAGE HMR]

Friday the 19th of December, my flatmate had made plans to go out

with some friends in the Scottish Borders. Not wanting to be stuck up

in Edinburgh with nothing to do I decided to go out lamping for rabbits

with my Dad 'much to his annoyance' I arrived at my Dads house, had

a cup of tea and a wee chat then convinced him he'd have a great time

if he came out in the windiest weather we've had in quite a while to

hold the lamp for me.

Eventually the old man gave in and without saying a word went and got

Changed. I had intended taking my new rifle out for a trial run but with

it only being a single shot it would have been a bit of a pain fumbling

around in the dark trying to reload so after a bit of moaning from me

my Dad grunted, walked out of the room and promptly returned with

his H.M.R. he must have secretly been in a good mood, or at least quite

eager to leave the house. It usually takes a lot more that a few minutes

of moaning to get him to relinquish one of his firearms.

We headed out at around about 10.40pm and walked to our first field.

I got the rifle ready and hid the rifle case under a hedge, my Dad kindly

checked the lamp was working by calling my name then flashing it in my

face 'it worked fine' we walked about 200 yards in to the field and

stopped next to a felled tree, Dad had a quick scan over what lay ahead

but nothing was to bee seen.

The weather was getting worse by the minute, it wasn't cold by any means

but it was getting even windier, now to the point that whenever the lamp

was switched on all you could see were leaves blowing in all directions.

we made it to the end of the field with no trace of any bunnies.

Feeling a bit disheartened I suggested we just head back to the house and

call it a night. My Dad surprised me again by suggesting we carry on down

to the farm and have a scout around there. This wasn't like him at all,

usually I have to drag him out of the house kicking and screaming

I took advantage of the offer and we headed over to the farm, to get there

we had to cross an old railway viaduct that towers somewhere in the region

of 100 meters, as you can probably imagine it was even windier and at

nine and a half stone I was almost blown off the ruddy thing.

We came to the next field which is lined up one side with a wooded area,

we used this to our advantage in order to get a break from the wind plus

with it being 'as you can imagine' full of trees there was plenty of places

to prop the rifle up to get a rested accurate shot without the wind blowing

me in all directions.

We stopped at a gap in the fence to take a quick look at what was in the field.

Dad shone the lamp over the field and to my surprise there was quite a few

bunnies kicking around. I got myself in to a suitable position and had my Dad

shine the lamp over the field slowly from left to right, I shot at anything that

didn't bother getting out of the way! Four rabbits went down in the first wave

but by now they were pretty skittish. All the shots I took were between forty

and seventy yards so nothing to challenging as yet. The second swoop of the

produced only two sets of eyes, the first I missed and the second I'm presuming

I hit on account of the almighty 'whack' that followed my pulling of the trigger.

I couldn't find the bunny in question but he was found the following day missing

the most important parts of his face, one hundred and forty slippery paces which

I thought was quite a good shot under the circumstances.

We moved on up to the end of the woods to the start of the next field, had a seat

for a while and Dad being the gent that he is brought a flask of tea. He had put

sugar in it which in my book is borderline to blasphemy but I wasn't going to

complain, tea is tea after all.

After a quick cuppa we moved about ten meters to the left to the top of the banking

looking down in to the field so I could lay prone and get a better angle on the

intended quarry. Dad stood behind me to the left and again swooped over the

field from left to right, I only managed two bunnies at about eighty yards but

that was all there was to shoot at, another swoop of the field revealed just one

little bunny which was quickly dispatched. A few seconds later we heard a rabbit

squeeling, I presumed it was one that I had shot and wounded. I reloaded the rifle

and got my Dad to shine the lamp where he thought the noise was coming from.

I was still on the ground looking over the top of the rifle to see if I could see where

the racket was coming from then my Dad pipes up "Fox" to which I stupidly replied

"What"? Again he says "FOX DEAD AHEAD" I look dead ahead and there he is, the

elusive fox and he's got one of my potential targets in his mouth, cheeky *******!

I took aim then chuckled to myself thinking I might try and shoot the rabbit at the

same time as the fox but came to my senses very quickly and sent Charlie a bullet

shaped early Christmas present. He dropped like the proverbial sack of and the

rabbit made off like the clappers.

I was ecstatic, and to think I suggested calling it a night and going home. I got up

off the ground and made my way down the banking with Dad in tow in to the field

to see my prize. On closer inspection it turned out to be a Vixen but I wasn't going

to complain. I tried taking a few pictures on my mobile using the lamp but they all

came out white, I eventually got a sort of decent looking one whilst holding a torch.

I decided it'd probably be better to come back the next morning and take some better

quality ones when I was out with my new rifle.

I didn't have a knife on me to take the tail but my Dad said he'd take care of it for me.

We called it a night and headed back to my Dads house, shot a few more bunnies on

the way back which at the end of the night counted to fourteen.

So there it was, my first fox. I think I'll probably remember it for many years to come.

 

This is the first picture I took on the night just after I shot Charlie.

 

This shows roughly where I hit him, I was aiming between the eyes.

 

Foxy in all of her glory.

 

Foxy next to my new rifle 'still a work in progress'

 

And another picture just for the hell of it.

Edited December 20, 2008 by SAVAGE HMR

[lewis]

Great write up Craig- The biggest ive seen on here ,

 

And a bloody good shot too

 

Glad the rabbit made it out alive

[blackbird]

Nice shooting

[JohnGalway]

Well done on your first fox

 

What's the rifle in the photo and the stock?

 

Best way I found to take a photo at night with a mobile is to use your main lamp. You keep the beam off the thing you want to photograph and let the halo light it up. The main beam tends to wash everything out, experiment a bit and you'll get it.

[SAVAGE HMR]

Well done on your first fox

 

What's the rifle in the photo and the stock?

 

Best way I found to take a photo at night with a mobile is to use your main lamp. You keep the beam off the thing you want to photograph and let the halo light it up. The main beam tends to wash everything out, experiment a bit and you'll get it.

 

Thanks for the advice about the lamp, I'll give it a go.

The project rifle is a .22LR Walther Sportwaffenfabrik

target rifle glass bedded in to an Anschutz stock that

I've been cutting bits off.

I got my hands on a DM80 the other day but I need

to have the end of the barrel thinned on the lathe

then screwcut and re-crowned before it will fit.

It's only a single shot and it's quite heavy but

it's very accurate and a lot of fun to shoot.

I shot this the first day I had it out, prone and

rested at 100 yards with Eley Match EPS

The shot on the far left was already there

and the other one was my mistake.

If it performs as well with the moderator I

think it'll be a keeper.

 

[mossy835]

and it wont be your last.

[Edward]

Nice shooting and nice peice

[seisobs]

Cracking Story and Great pics Craig.

I've still to get my first fox.

[grasshopper]

Well done,very pleased for you

 

Love the bit where your dad lamped you in the face..my kind of humour that

[magman]

well done

remember a bad night out in the field is still better than a good night in front of the pc in any weather

[SAVAGE HMR]

well done

remember a bad night out in the field is still better than a good night in front of the pc in any weather

 

That is very true, I'll not be so quick in the future

to suggest downing my tools and retreating home.

You never know what you might miss, I'm really

glad my Dad kept me out in the field.

[Gonna Shoot a Wabbit]

great stuff!! well done

[ciltalgarth]

WELL DONE

 

One of a few

 

Great read a also a great rifle

[Imperfection]

Great shot and end result,but even better write up.

[drut]

Congratulations,nice shot,lovely rifle & enjoyed the write up

[chopper]

Nice write up mate and well done on the charlie.

Edited December 20, 2008 by chopper

[JDFrain]

well done mate, rifle looking good.

 

john

[bullet boy]

Well done mate-i`m really pleased for you.

[dead-eye]

well done

[pavman]

a very good read

[SAVAGE HMR]

Thanks for all the comments guys, I was out again Tonight

but I didn't come across any more foxes. I'm sure I'll find

some more at some point though.

Cheers.

[Mrs Sweepy]

Nice looking fox .

You going to keep her brush

xxxxSuzy

Edited December 23, 2008 by Mrs Sweepy

[SAVAGE HMR]

Nice looking fox .

You going to keep her brush

xxxxSuzy

 

I am indeed