A Fox to Remember

[sandersj89]

Set out tonight with Sussex Lad my usual lamping partner but did not have high hopes as although it was very windy there was a near full moon and zero cloud cover. As we met up near the Church we were joking about needing no lamps and sun glasses.

 

But a night out I in the pursuit of charlie or bunnies is never to be missed when we get the chance.

 

SL had to do a quick running repair to the landies rear working light and as he made a good attempt at frying his fingers I got the 243 ready for the off.

 

At about 8pm we mounted up and pulled into the first gate and started to head up onto the top of the Downs. A good few bunnies around but we get a fleeting glimpse of a pair of amber eyes on a ridge which we both suspect is a fox but it does not stay around for long to confirm or line up a shot. As we crest the first big rise we get another set of eyes way out on the side of the downs.

 

Fox or badger, too far to tell so Brian drives as close as we dare, any closer and we would have met a near vertical drop down a couple hundred of feet!

 

The eyes are still there and I can see it is a fox sat looking around the hill and not too fussed by the lamp.

 

But it looked a loooooonnngggggggg way out there and with a good strong wind, 20 to 30 mph gusts, it was hard to hold a bead on him.

 

I asked Brian to ping it with the range finder to see if he could get a reading which he managed and we then had a few minutes discussion about drop, wind allowance etc.

 

We decided on about 4” hold over with 3 to 4” allowance for the wind but hoped to pick a time slot when the wind died a little.

 

I settled down behind the scope and started to control my breathing ready for the shot, the fox was side on and looking at us at times or scouting around for something interesting.

 

A couple minutes passed and the wind died a little and I took the shot, with the wind we could not hear a clear positive impact but I was certain it had been it and there was no sign of anything running off.

 

Time for a walk.....

 

We locked the lightforce lamp off on the roof and left it on the spot so we knew where to head and started to long walk around the contours of the hill to get to the spot, no way you can walk direct and not a great place to fall over as you would slip and slide a long way!

 

I had the 243 incase a coup de grace was needed and Brian carried a spare lightforce for illumination. With me in front we start the trek and 10 mins later are at the edge of the beam. I pull my small LED torch from my pocket and we start a search.

 

Within a minute I had found the fox laid over on it's side exactly as it had been shot, clean kill and the 75gr Vmax had stuck perfectly mid chest, the dog fox did not know what hit him. To say I was happy is an understatement, longest shot I have attempted with the 243 and a perfect result in testing conditions.

 

The range?

 

Well Brian will confirm it but the range finder was displaying 296yards, so missed the chance of a 300 yard fox by just a small margin!

 

Back to the landie and we head right up on top as usual and I swap to my shot gun to see if the rabbits are silly enough to be out in what is now a howling gale! There are a few out but not normal numbers but I get a few before heading back to the bottom of the hill to swap into the drivers seat whilst Brian takes on the shooting role with his .223 and .22LR if any bunnies appear.

 

First stubble field and nothing, not even a bunnie. We cross a track into the next field and get some eyes a good 300 yards out to the right but cant confirm what it is as Brian can only see the top of the head most of the time.

 

I ease forward slowly but it is rough going across the tramlines and furrows but the eyes are still there and not moving. At about 200 yards I stop on a level area and Brian assesses the situation through the scope, fox but he is sat in a tramline and not much showing other than head.

 

He settles to take the shot as it is well within his capabilties, squeezes it off and I get a great view of the round in the beam of the light as it heads to the fox but I think the fox puts his head down just as Brian squeezes the trigger, no impact sound and Brian thinks he sees it run to the left.

 

We lamp the area but nothing so move forward to look in detail. Nothing to be found, looks like a clean miss.

 

We carry on around the low fields but no more fox to be seen so Brain decides to take a rabbit out of frustration, find a nice down hill shot for him at about 250 yards and he executes a perfect shot putting the round between the rabbits shoulder blades from behind.

 

We move location for a final walk around the last few fields, me on the lamp and all we see are a good few rabbits and nothing else, Brian takes a nice shot at 100 yards off sticks as we head back to the landie, as he takes the shot a set of eyes pop up right behind the rabbit and we box say fox at the same moment, he must have been hunkered down in the hedge waiting for supper.

 

We call for a few minutes but nothing doing so call it a day and head home.

 

Great night made all the better by my long range success, happy chappy tonight!

 

Here the fox is sat in the landie being carried home:

 

 

Not huge but in fine condition:

 

 

Thanks Brian!

 

Jerry

 

Can I join the 300 yard club as it was very dark and windy.........

[nemasis243]

Nice one there buddy , great write up.

the old charlie seemed quite at home there tucked up by the nice warm radiator

[SteveW]

Great read Jerry.

Almost buddy, but still a great shot.

 

Steve

[sandersj89]

Great read Jerry.

Almost buddy, but still a great shot.

 

Steve

 

I would love to say it was 300, but I will stand by Brian's measurement, just chuffed as hell to pull it off in those conditions.

 

Still smiling!

 

Jerry

[Oly]

Great write up and well done there Jerry. Shame about the 4 yards, what's the margin of error on the rangefinder?

[sandersj89]

Great write up and well done there Jerry. Shame about the 4 yards, what's the margin of error on the rangefinder?

 

It was one of the Bushnell yardage pros, I have the same one in fact

 

Brian told me last night he tested it against a decent Leica in the summer and it was reading 4 to 5 yards under that.

 

We will never know for certain so I cant claim it at 300 really.

[Oly]

You need to call the Ordnance Survey and get them to survey it properly!