garyb Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 (edited) It was Monday evening, and I was happily relaxing on the sofa in front of the Cricket when my phone rang... It was the land owners Daughter from one of the local farms I do a bit of shooting on. Foxy had managed to break in, via the smallest hole I’ve seen into their chicken, duck and goose pen and destroy all but 5 of them, somewhere in the region of 30 odd birds She asked me if there was any chance I could pop up with the rifle for a while? - Is the pope catholic - I would be met by the gamekeeper who runs a syndicate on the land and we'd plan tactics from there, I gave my mate Charlie a call and requested his services on the lamp for the evening. We got ourselves up to the farm in the daylight to find the keeper already setup waiting for the Fox... We made our way down the field and did similar, In all honesty I had an idea that we we're in the wrong place to try and apprehend the culprit, so when darkness fell and I got word that the keeper had, had enough and was heading home - We upped sticks and moved round to the other side of the farm, so that I could cover the chicken pen and the now great hole it has in the wire where our friend Fox had got in.... Probably no more than 30-40 mins passed, and after plenty of calling, myself and my man on the lamp we're conscious of a figure moving along the hedgerow... "Lamp on" I called - Sure enough.. 40 yards there he was, no sooner had the lamp lit up the back of his eyes - he had turned and was running.... I tried to stop him with a squeak long enough to get the shot off, but sadly he declined and slipped away under the gate... You can imagine my frustration! - Still we kept at it... calling, sure enough 10 mins later he was back - again lamp on, fox gone - I've shot this farm for a year or so now, and nearly every fox we meet runs at the sight of the lamp, there's a local ***** camp just over the way and I’m 110% convinced that someone has been educating these foxes either with rifle or Dog. We waited another 45 odd mins, and with no sign, decided to pack up and call it a night - I felt so cheated on the drive back home, but pleased our field craft had found us a fox... We arranged to get back up there for round #2 last night, I met with Charlie and the land owners son around 9pm and we hatched a plan... This time I’d put the red filter on my lamp, and moved us another 30-40 yards further down the dust track. All setup with the rifle on the bipod, and Charlie at my side on the lamp - we quietly sat and waited, giving the odd squeak every now and again. A few fox shaped rabbits in the fading daylight had been and gone, causing both our hearts to race... Suddenly - I can see the tell tell sings of Fox ears coming up the track, doing that kinda foxy bouncy run they do.... I gave a squeak and he looked right at me with his head held heigh into the wind - and with that he turned heals and started heading off back the way he came!! I knew this was our only chance, so I got straight back on the hand call and managed to stop him - he turned round again to face us and trotted in another 10 yards or so... This was going to be my only chance, and I knew it.... He wasn’t showing me a great deal by now, the long grass had made pretty much only his fox torso visible.. I quickly settled the crosshair between his eyes and squeezed of a 55grn Norma Softpoint towards him. THUD I still maintain that "thud" to be one of the best sounds in the world - and I know any fox shooter will sympathise with me on that one. We paced the shot out to 135yards, and my shot placement couldn’t have been better - between the eyes dropped him like a sack of spuds! One less chicken eater, One very happy land owner Glad to be of service Here's a couple of pics of the culprit, and one showing the hole in the wire. Edited June 10, 2009 by garyb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardo Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 nice write up and a succesful night there Mr B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 An excellent write up Gary, and well done on getting the fox. I agree with the sound of bullet making contact with target. It's great. Good luck with your future shooting. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Nice one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willcsmith Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Well done Gary . The thud allways makes me smile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Nicely done, except that now I want to eat a roast chicken dinner... ZB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banger316 Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Nice one, love that thud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shot shot Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 great write up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WGD Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Good write up mate and good result in tricky conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted June 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 (edited) Cheers all... We knew that Mr Fox would want to get back in the pen for an easy snack, so before we left on the 1st failed night I made sure that the entrance hole to the pen was closed and no bait was left lying about - true to form he showed up looking for a quick snack the following night, but this time was met by a 55grn starter .... In my opinion and experience, one of the best ways to deal with a lamp shy fox is, to bait the area and get out before sunrise or dark without the need for the lamp Edited June 10, 2009 by garyb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silpig5 Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 great reading !!! great shot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marlin vs Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Good post and well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pavman Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Fantastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Nicely done, except that now I want to eat a roast chicken dinner... Just got home and asked whats for tea... (Yes, it is roast chicken before some comedian asks!) Sorry for the wildly off topic posts btw. ZB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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