A new Rifleman

[kip270]

A friend of mine (Jas) has had a long interest in shooting, having had Air-rifle’s and moving on to shotgun’s, after finding out I was into Deerstalking he wanted to get into it as his further progression in the process of shooting.

 

So after a chat with the landowner where jas is the assistant gamekeeper,(my brother in-law is the head keeper), they had no problem with him applying for his FAC, and he has chosen a .243. So a few pointers from me he sent off his application, and within weeks he has been granted it, so he was set on a RPA woodland stalker, and ordered it. The only condition being that he must be accompanied by an experienced ticket holder (not a problem as both I and my brother in law have had our tickets for a few years.

 

On Wednesday, we went off and zeroed it in, and I must say at 100 yards he was doing his bit also, and it was a good zeroing session, and jas was more than happy with his grouping and shooting, so as we were both off work I asked if he would like a lamping session for some foxes, “err yes”, so took that as a yes.

 

 

So we headed up the farm for just after 9pm, hoping for jas to get his first fox with his rifle, I would be the lamper, and give him a few pointers.

 

 

Off we went in the mule, the method for the night would be a bit of drive around and then a look on foot, the weather was looking good but as we were getting all sorted in came the rain!!! Thankfully it passed in no time, and we were off.

 

 

Driving up around the farm track we came to our first spot for calling, after a few minutes we spotted a fox up across the valley, so a few calls and it just sat there, a few tries with a different call but still no interest, and then it was gone. I quickly had a look behind us and there was a fox just sniffing about in a hedgerow on the edge of a pond, but again wasn’t at all interested in any calls I was blowing and was gone without the chance of a shot.

 

A bit disappointed but that’s shooting, never always go’s your way, so now off to the other side of the farm, and hopefully a better chance of getting something.

 

As I drove into the first field a quick scan and we spotted a fox on the edge of the wood at over 300 yards, so I gave a few squeaks, and off the fox trotted and out of site, so off with the lamp and a few calls with the Fox Whistle, and the fox started to come back to take a look.

 

I told jas to get ready so he was down prone and deployed his bi-pod, the fox slowly headed towards us then made off to our left on the ridge of a small rise so not giving a safe shot so we waited and carried on calling, watching the fox just hanging out of range and ended up behind us, and not a safe shot at all.

 

I carried on calling and scanned back to the original point and there was another fox heading towards us, so now it was a case of scanning all around and seeing which fox would come in the closest and offer a safe shot.

 

Luckily it was the one out to our right because of the lie of the land it offered an 100% safe shot, it kept coming to the call, and when jas was happy I shouted “Oi” and the fox stopped in it’s tracks, then “thump” the sound of the bullet connecting came back to us, the fox dropping on the spot, his first kill with his new rifle, a good shot at over 150 yards.

 

We made our over to the fox and got out to examine it and have a few pics, and while jas was grinning ear to ear I had a scan around with the lamp, and the first fox was still sat out in the field wondering what was going on. The dead fox was a vixen and his shot was a good broadside shot, the 90gn bullet doing its job.

 

Few squeaks on the call and the other fox just sat there looking at us, so I decided we would try a stalk on it, but the stubble under foot wasn’t making things easy, but we kept going, reaching a good vantage point I scanned and there were three!!! Yes three foxes sat looking at, but they were all different ranges, so we tried to stalk closer for the second one, two made off, but the other one was looking for food in the kale field.

 

So slowly we made ground and jas got ready for the shot, the fox was moving about so I shouted and it stopped and looked at us, jas squeezed off his shot and the fox dropped in its tracks, No 2 in the bag, a very good way to christen his rifle.

 

 

We had a look around the rest of the farm but a large amount of it has maize, and hopefully they will start to cut it next week which will open another few hundred acres to lamp over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bri2506]

Excellent night bet he was chuffed to bits.

He is doing better than me, just missed 2 in 2 nights with new pulsar 550. Think bit of fox fever has set in

[243ack]

Excellent night bet he was chuffed to bits.

He is doing better than me, just missed 2 in 2 nights with new pulsar 550. Think bit of fox fever has set in

 

Don't get downhearted. It took me ages to get to grips with the dark side, but now I feel confident and can clean up. Had five in one night without moving last week!!. Back of the village playing field; the council won't let me shoot on their property 'in case of repercussions'!!. I use pulsar, doubler and one of Clive Wards lasers atop an old Remmy 22-250.

[bri2506]

Don't get downhearted. It took me ages to get to grips with the dark side, but now I feel confident and can clean up. Had five in one night without moving last week!!. Back of the village playing field; the council won't let me shoot on their property 'in case of repercussions'!!. I use pulsar, doubler and one of Clive Wards lasers atop an old Remmy 22-250.

 

 

When you say doubler do you mean on a pulsar 550 and how far can get with the laser