Out for a wander on a mates land..........

August 27, 2008

I went over to Foxdropper's(a mate of mine)to go out for a wander on some of his permission last night,and(again)we were hoping to come across a Buck or two,but,as has been the trend lately,they seem to be very hard to find.The farm we went to is certainly not short of deer,and,we actually saw 4 seperate Does with kids at heel,but,the only Buck we saw was on a neighbouring field,and,he already had two does with him,so,he wasn't going to leave them for the Buttolo call,and,I don't think I blame him either.On the way back after doing the rounds we were going through a gateway when the unmissable stench of Charlie filled our noses,so we got into position and started to squeek for him.After a few minutes,'FD' motioned me,to say that the fox had gone through the hedge,but,I think he just went into the hedge and used it to get away,going down the length of it,anyway we didn't see it again.As the light was starting to fade,we had decided to go out with the lamp on another farm to look for another Charlie.We walked through the first field,and,into a field of cut wheat,'FD' swung the lamp round the field while he squeeked,and,I was to be the rifleman tonight.I must say the field absolutely screamed 'Charlie' and,I wasn't surprised to see a set of eyes right at the top of the field,maybe 350yds away.At first he just wasn't going to move,and,we both had a go at squeeking him,because sometimes a slightly different method will do the trick.Then he started to move to the right,just as 'FD' saw another set of eyes coming in fast from the left,well,whether the original fox saw that other fox or not we won't ever know,but,it seemed to get him running in anyway(almost competing to get there first).He came in quite fast to start with and then he became a bit shy again,as I was resting on a round bale I said to 'FD' leave him where he is,I'll take him there,so he flipped off the red lens,and lit him up,as he did this he started to shoot off again over to the right and away,but,another quick squeek stopped him for a second,which was just enough to snuff him out,a very dull thwack echoed back to us,and,it was plain that it was a good hit.'FD' said I'll go and get him,and,you stay here,which I did,but,he was looking in an area that was nowhere near where I thought the fox had been,so,I followed him across the field,and,I said it was much further out mate.I don't think he was totally convinced,but we headed out across the field to where I though it was,and,he said ####### Hell mate,fair play to you it was farther than I thought,and,when he paced it back it was 160yds dead,so to say I was pleased is an understatement.There was a shaking of hands,and,a lot of smiling on my behalf,and,then we remembered the other fox,but,he must of gone off to the left and away after the shot.We did the obligatory photos,and,we went on around the farm to add(hopefully)to our tally.Oh,I almost forgot,when we had first started to squeek in that field a Barn Owl had come into the call,and,as I made a noise like a mouse 'FD' had the red lens on him,and,he came right above us and no more than 8 feet above our heads for about 5 seconds.It was absolutely brilliant to see,and,I only wish I had had the presence of mind to get out my camera because it would of been an amazing photo with the red shimmer of the lamp.

Anyway,we carried on around the farm,and,we saw a few hares,and,a few rabbits,and,a Buck and a Doe led down under some willow trees(where was he in the daylight),and,as we returned to the farm,it was a shame,but,that was to be the lot for tonight,even though we did stop off at a few fields near to where 'FD' has a lock up,but,again nothing doing.Well as they say,you can't win 'em all.On the last couple of fields of the night there was a GLUT of rabbits though,so,a bit of lamping with the rimfire will be in order soon.Here is a pic of the nights work....................