Fox with 9 lives

[nemasis243]

Well again I set out in pursuit of a wiley old fox.

My mate ,who also lamps rang me yesterday and asked if I could try my hand to see if we could catch up with a fox that he had had a go at a couple of times before.

So I met up with him at 10 o'clock and set the landrover up and away we went,

Now I know the ground well having shot there for many years,but I havent shot it since before xmas as I had been,ill,so my mate had been out a few times with some mates to do some fox control there.

My mate is not the not the best rifle shot in the world and will addmit it to you and his mate who came and had a go is about my friends standard ,but needs must at times of need.

They had had a few goes at this fox ,he missed it in the daytime and twice at night with the lamp, His mate missed it using Night Vison and a week later missed it while sittting out in the evening, so eventually it was my turn to have a go.

 

You may ask how did they know it was the same fox,well one of its front legs is white all the way 3/4 of the way up it, you cant miss the thing it stands out that much ,

So we are off out and about, it was a strange night, 3/4 moon,not a breath of wind and only seen 4rabbits ,2badgers and 1 fox all nite ,which on this ground isnt the norm.

We drove up a track onto the top of a large hill, my lamper flicked the lamp on and a pair of eyes ,blinked at us and then started to trot away,over the top of the hill, now we dont speak when we are lamping ,the lamper guides the truck to where I want him to go,he uses an up and down motion in the direction that I would like to get to,following hand signals that I give him, if we need to turn 180 or 360 degrees this is done by using the lamp to draw a circle on the floor in front of the truck, in the direction we need to turn,when we need to stop the roof is tapped twice and all things grind to a halt.

So we set off after the fox,nice and slow we moved into a good vantage point , eased up and flicked the lamp on, the fox was trotting off about 150yrds away through some long grass towards another field which had stuble turnips which the sheep had to graze on.

We drove quietly to the gate of that field and stopped and the lamper flicked the lamp about ,the fox was now about 200yrds away in a small hollow, but he was slowling down, I tapped the roof of the truck to turn the engine off,(3taps for this)

I settled down behind the rifle and as the lamp followed the fox I ease the illuminated dot on it .

He was down to a slow walking pace now and I closed the bolt and started to make a small sqeek, this got his attention and he stopped and looked straight at us, as I say he was in a small hollow in the field and was surrounded by big lumps of half eaten turnips.

The fox was standing looking at me ,I sqeeked again as the lamper held the lamp just above him not to spook him that much , the fox just sat on his ass and his eyes glowed at us, I adjusted the focus a little and I had a clear picture of the fox,

I couldnt go for a chest shot as there was to much in the way,half eaten stubs of tunips seemed to build a wall in front of the fox ,which I never saw before ,that wasnt a problem to me, at 200yrds I feel confident at putting a round rite between the eyes ,as I do so much practise at shooting eggs at that distance as Dave will tell you, anyway I flicked off the safety and put my finger inside the trigger guard and rested it just on the cold metal of the trigger, now I set my trigger to a pound in the summer and pound and a half in winter, when your hands are cold its so easy not to feel the trigger in the way you would like and I find that half a pound makes a big difference to me,

I eased the red dot onto the mask of the fox ,this all seems to take ages ,but it happens in seconds as we all know, I gently took pressure on the trigger and the next thing I knew as I was sqeezing through the trigger was "A-choo" comming from the driver's seat of the truck, you could not have timed it better and I watched the 58grn vmax go about an inch over the foxes head and explode into a turnip behind the fox, my mate who sneezed appologised but I was gutted, that was my chance and old charlie was still in the game,lol.

We started up and got across the field pretty sharpish but I caught a glimps once more of it as it went off into woodland,

So this was the only shot of the night and the fox with 9lives still lives to fight another day..lol.

I had had a good run till then , this was 52foxes on the trot, but then if we dont miss we are not human .

So im here now thinking of which way to tackle this fox, I have nightvison kit ,but I do like using the lamp, but as the evenings are getting lighter it maybe a case of a good old sit and wait over a nice tastey bait,

cheers Andy

[Alycidon]

Thanks for sharing, we all miss them I am afraid. I got to 27 last year before a simple shot miss, such a downer having to start at zero again !.

 

A

[Barrelsniffer]

Great write up andy and yes we all miss from time to time..was going to suggest sit and wait over a baited area but you beat me to it, good luck with it im sure you will get it soon.

 

Mick

[CZ Varminter]

Hi guys,

 

Great read mate.

 

Can i make a suggestion, as the nights are getting lighter you could lamp like normal if you spot him and he doesnt play bll so to speak, u have narrowed him down to a certain area, the best thing to do is to sleep it off until just before light and wait for him to come out of that area (this also work if you know his normal route i have ahd to do this on two foxes before that are lidiculously lamp shy! and it works takes alot of planning and figuring out but patience is a virtue in this game.

 

The other is to bait the area regulalry with dead crows rabbits etc in the same spot for at least two weeks and make sure they are going regulalryl if you feed the spot at the same time the fix will eventually become wise to the times give or take and hr and any easy meal is a better meal for him/her over a long drawn out one. then when you know he is taking th ebait regurlaly you can sit out one night and whack him. A very good and very fox wise frind of mine once told me he had to do this for two months before catching up with a very wiley old dog fox! I said two months man! Now that is dedication. lol His words back to me were,

"I have been after foxes for years and I'll tell you something when you think you can understand a fox, think again! because your wrong!"

 

Hope this helps mate, all the best.

 

CZ Varminter

J