record week

abolter · October 22, 2012

Record Week On the Foxes

My Missus was away last week so the perfect opportunity to get a serious session under way for the foxes. It has been a pretty good year after a slow start and the tally has been rising steadily. In fact coming to last Saturday I was only 1 fox short of my previous best years tally (Jan to Dec)!!

Saturday morning saw me out stalking and looking to get some signs of the fallow rut. After about an hour and with the time at almost 8 o’clock a fox stepped out onto the ride at about 60m. A snap shot with the 30-06 left a lot of fur and innards on the track but the fox made it into a heavy bracken bed on a steep slope. Couldn’t pick it but done for for sure. Record now equalled!!

That night I was due out with a mate and we decided to do bit of a tour. The chicken farmer had reported a last light sighting so I went down and waited. Nothing showed and then my mate turned up. We decided to move on and return later. However as we left we used his thermal stuff and saw a fox trotting towards the sheds. A quick u turn in the truck and we scurried across the field to the sheds. The fox was lurking around the sheds in a grass pasture. There was another a way back in a wheat field. It took a moment or 2 for me to find the near one in the NV as my mate was viewing through the thermal and it gives no indication where it is pointing. The shot was good and we had a vixen!! The other one scarpered

We then moved on to look around another farm where the farmer claimed to have seen a fox on his lane end. 2 hours with thermal/NV/and lamp showed nothing at all. At least we must be getting on top of em there.

Back to the chicken farm and there was another fox sniffing around the shed hatches. It seemed to spot us at 200m regardless of the fact we had no light and cleared off REAL quick!! As we went around the other side of the farm there was another one (same one looped around?). I thought it was going to scarper too but then it stopped and scented a rabbit I had shot before I left the first time. It went straight to it and started eating. Another shot and we had a dog to go with the vixen. Hopefully the hens are safe for now (a return later in the week showed no foxes). We have only had 15 foxes of that farm this year so hopefully that also shows we are winning.

Next onto another farm with a sighting. However nothing showed and I was home in bed for 3.30!

Sunday was a blank

Monday I was meeting a guy who wanted my old 22/250. He hasn’t done any lamping so I agreed to nip out for an hour or so and show him the ropes. We went to a farm locally where I believed there was a wily fox. I took the NV too and gave the guy the Archer to spot through. I thought we would also shoot some rabbits but all the grass has been sprayed off so that nailed that plan.

I set up on a suitable vantage point and started calling. There were a few rabbits and hares showed themselves but not much more. We moved a few hundred yards and tried again. This time after a couple of minutes I could see the guy studying something through the NV. I put the rifle in that direction and there was a fox sat looking at us. I shot it, a vixen with half a lower jaw missing (healed) which would explain her wariness. The guy said “I wondered wether to tell you but I wasn’t sure what it was!!”. So a bonus fox

Tuesday saw me out with a farmer friend on his ground. I had snuck a fallow pricket in the early evening so I was already on a high. We started on his neighbours farm and no sooner had we pulled through the gate as there was a fox. Lamp off, NV on and a vixen in the bag. There was a second one on the same field but needless to say it didn’t hang around.

We then did a boundary tour. There was a young dog in a gateway and he was an easy shot. The next one sat up on rising ground and was a good way off but he was down too. As we returned into the heart of the farm we discussed the fact a usual suspect hadn’t been seen for a while. Almost instantly we saw a flash back from a gate. I assumed it was a parked trailer. I was assured there were no trailers there so I set up on the bonnet and started calling. A fox appeared and started cutting across us pretty fast. I still don’t know if it was calling or clearing off on a preferred route. I had to whistle to stop him and dropped him at about 200m. An old dog with a healed but malformed back leg. 2 injured foxes in the week!! As we got back into the yard we got a final set of eyes but they were hidden by a tree. My mate was tired so we left that one for another night. Four at this time of year is a right result!!

Wednesday saw me back out with the keeper and his thermal. We went back to the last farm from Saturday. Into the first field and he thought he saw a flash of eyes but we couldn’t find a fox. Into the second field and another flash. Even with the NV and thermal we couldn’t find it, mind you stone walls everywhere don’t help. Into the third field and even I saw the eyes in the headlights. I was very quick and dropped the young vixen before she fled.

We then sat atop a high point using the thermal. My mate decided a suspicious blob a kilometre away was a fox so off we went. A long walk and he was proved right. I took the shot off a wall top t about 180m, we got a good smack and the fox slid/slipped down a steep slope. It then seemed to walk slowly off. We couldn’t get down there so that will have to count as a miss.

Nothing more seen that night.

Thursday was poor weather but I popped down to the chicken farm but nothing showed.

Friday and I was back out for fallow. As I snuck along a deer track in the woods a fox stepped out of a gully not 20 ft from me. We both froze!! I decided to try and get set up, I used my tripod sticks as a monopod for speed and whipped the 30-06 up. She stood looking for cover. A quick shot, a bit far back, but a young vixen taken none the less. A bonus!! Needless to say the deer didn’t play ball.

I then went on to a mates farm with him. Half the farm was deserted. We crossed the road to the other side and we got a set of eyes in the lamp about 400m away. We only use the lamp on his as he likes to see what is going on. I started squeaking and the fox came in as if on a draw cord!! In the end it was 40m away and I had to shout to stop it. Easy shot and a young dog, it has been a long time since one called as confidently as that!!

Saturday and I was due to meet a friend on his pheasant shoot. There has been very little fox activity but its always worth a look. At the last minute he called off so I dusted off the archer and went alone. I walked for 3 hours and didn’t even get a hint of fox, although I did see a good lot of roe. As I started the home run I thought I got eyes from over the river but lost them again. More squeaking and they came and went, was it an owl? I moved coser and called and again got a flash of eyes. Again they went. It was in longish grass so I concluded it was a fox curled up and not bothered to come but curious. I used the river bank as cover and got as close as I could. Using the NV and laid prone on the bank I squeaked again. This time the fox sat up. I aimed just below the eyes and the smack confirmed the 50gr Vmax had done the job!! I left it to pick this week as the river was far too deep to cross and I was knackered for walking all the way round.

So that is it. A superb week. 12 foxes in all, breaking my record for a week. A new annual record 85!! And still counting. We have cleared up 3 foxes that farmers were complaining they had seen, and that’s good for relations and reputation, and I have had 2 interesting injured foxes. I was hoping for a couple more nights to extend the run but the fog has come in BIG STYLE, so a week or so off is on the cards now.