Lamp Shy Fox

damo03

Hello lads,
Have a farm at home sheep lambing at the minute. Usually dont have much trouble with foxes and lamp the ones i do have trouble with. The unfortunate thing is some cowboy whos identity is unknown to me has taken to lamping our land(found two dead foxes) and must have missed two foxes as they are extremely lamp shy. I have a green filter and tried that but the result is the same. Does anyone have any solutions.
Thanks

foxhunter

Maybe you could try baiting an area with a dead lamb or something like that.
Give it a night or two and you should be able to draw him out .
Other than that find the local hound population and get them in for a couple of sunday afternoon shoots this would soon sort out the fox problem.

foxshooter243

foxhunter wrote: »

Maybe you could try baiting an area with a dead lamb or something like that.
Give it a night or two and you should be able to draw him out .
Other than that find the local hound population and get them in for a couple of sunday afternoon shoots this would soon sort out the fox problem.

+1 on that , another trick is to take him at first light in the morning , we would often go out just before dawn and its amazing how easily foxes can be called,youll need to pick your set up/position etc but they somehow feel safer at that time and throw caution to the wind-then you introduce
them to v max technology.

ivanthehunter

Drag some sent lines across the site if you want to draw them in closer to your calling zone or within reach of your light..
A towel soaked in water vinegar and some tinned Salmon works fairly well. Roll the towel up with any solid bits of fish food and tie a small length of rope around it.. Walk down the far end of farm and start dragging the bait ball along the ground.. Every so often give it a squeeze to bring some fresh smelly liquid to the surface and continue dragging.. A few lines that lead up to a baited area work well.. but keep the area baited with a small bit of food even if you are not out hunting,, The fox wont be long learning that the smell means dinner.... Any way you get the picture.:cool:

meathshooter

foxshooter243 wrote: »

+1 on that , another trick is to take him at first light in the morning , we would often go out just before dawn and its amazing how easily foxes can be called,youll need to pick your set up/position etc but they somehow feel safer at that time and throw caution to the wind-then you introduce
them to v max technology.

+1 them 58grain work are the bis,also try baiting with fish, rotten fish they smell for miles works for me,get a can of fish throw it to an open spot where you can get a shot at the can retreat to your spot where you will take the shot shoot the can this serves three purposes first you leave no sent trail to the can,second by shooting can you let the air at the fish, rots quick and third you know you are zeroed I usally do this in daylight and come back that night

foxshooter243

meathshooter wrote: »

+1 them 58grain work are the bis,also try baiting with fish, rotten fish they smell for miles works for me,get a can of fish throw it to an open spot where you can get a shot at the can retreat to your spot where you will take the shot shoot the can this serves three purposes first you leave no sent trail to the can,second by shooting can you let the air at the fish, rots quick and third you know you are zeroed I usally do this in daylight and come back that night

nice on the the can trick-must keep that one in mind -are you using the 58 grainers in the 243.

damo03

Thanks all for the advice so far. The can seems interesting. I will also try the morning /evening method as there will be no need for the lamp.:)

ivanthehunter

meathshooter wrote: »

+1 them 58grain work are the bis,also try baiting with fish, rotten fish they smell for miles works for me,get a can of fish throw it to an open spot where you can get a shot at the can retreat to your spot where you will take the shot shoot the can this serves three purposes first you leave no sent trail to the can,second by shooting can you let the air at the fish, rots quick and third you know you are zeroed I usally do this in daylight and come back that night

Good idea(the can-KISS),, something similar to my idea but it sounds a lot cleaner on the human:D

jwshooter

ivanthehunter wrote: »

Drag some sent lines across the site if you want to draw them in closer to your calling zone or within reach of your light..
A towel soaked in water vinegar and some tinned Salmon works fairly well. Roll the towel up with any solid bits of fish food and tie a small length of rope around it.. Walk down the far end of farm and start dragging the bait ball along the ground.. Every so often give it a squeeze to bring some fresh smelly liquid to the surface and continue dragging.. A few lines that lead up to a baited area work well.. but keep the area baited with a small bit of food even if you are not out hunting,, The fox wont be long learning that the smell means dinner.... Any way you get the picture.:cool:

putting down poison is not the way to go as its not species pacific to easy posion your own dogs or birds or birds of prey ..try a amber flasher for a few nights leaving it on all night in the laming field ,then get the wind in your face and lamp the field using a amber fliter on your light .with out going into it and keep quite

damo03

Thanks for the advice jw.
I know ivan can post some strange arguments but my understanding of his post did not mean poisining. As far as i can tell

Terrier

Use dogs to flush local covers\woods

Use a night vision (cheap one from lidi) scan the field with this, identify if a fox is present. Align yourself to the correct position, you will have that few seconds before he bolts when the light is switched on.

Use a live Fox trap

Snares - not a fan but if you know what you are doing and what other wildlife is around it's an option!

Trojan911

meathshooter wrote: »

+1 them 58grain work are the bis,also try baiting with fish, rotten fish they smell for miles works for me,get a can of fish throw it to an open spot where you can get a shot at the can retreat to your spot where you will take the shot shoot the can this serves three purposes first you leave no sent trail to the can,second by shooting can you let the air at the fish, rots quick and third you know you are zeroed I usally do this in daylight and come back that night

I like this idea. Will give it a go on the buddies farm. He should be lambing soon..

pestshooter7

Traps, snares, bait or time with a quad if the land is suitable!
We use the quad on lamp shy foxes and it works well most of the time!

Slug chucker

Try this one, but you'll need a buddy with you:
Get your hands on a night vision monocular and an infrared filter for your lamp.
Call the fox in as usual while your buddy is observing the fox’s progress through the monocular. When he gets really close your buddy indicates the fox’s general location and when you’re ready he pops the filter off the lamp and you blast the fox. A shotgun works really well for this type of hunting. If you keep the noise down the fox literally come right up to you.
It does require spending a few quid though, but its well worth the cost.
Cheers Slug.

pestshooter7

Are you allowed night vision in Ireland?
Just wondering?

meathshooter

foxshooter243 wrote: »

nice on the the can trick-must keep that one in mind -are you using the 58 grainers in the 243.

I have a rem700 243 and find the 58grainers great, very flat also used rem 75grain also good,I find sometimes its hard to get the 58grain

meathshooter

pestshooter7 wrote: »

Are you allowed night vision in Ireland?
Just wondering?

Only handheld, scopemounted are illegal afaik.the infa red lights the eyes up in the monocular like lamping if you know what I mean

jwshooter

meathshooter wrote: »

Only handheld, scopemounted are illegal afaik.the infa red lights the eyes up in the monocular like lamping if you know what I mean

i picked up a few boxes last week just to try em 30 bucks a box

foxshooter243

meathshooter wrote: »

I have a rem700 243 and find the 58grainers great, very flat also used rem 75grain also good,I find sometimes its hard to get the 58grain

yeah theyre flatter than the swift over 400 yards, class bullet in 243 for fox/greys:D

.243

pm sent

Slug chucker

Hi .243,
While I have you, hows yer mate John Greene of Southern Rifle and Optics getting on with the midway site?
Any news on a start date?
Cheers,
Slug

.243

nothing yet slug but when i get some news ill put it up.

bunny shooter

.243 wrote: »

nothing yet slug but when i get some news ill put it up.

I'm waiting patiently too

Spoke to John before xmass and he reckoned be April.

ivanthehunter

damo03 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice jw.
I know ivan can post some strange arguments but my understanding of his post did not mean poisining. As far as i can tell

Agh well who could blame the bloke: First impressions last,:D

Slug chucker,
i have often called young fox to within 10 yards, only using the back of my hand on my lips: Anyway as far as i am aware you can buy a IR light array in Maplin Electronic which is invisible to the human eye,, IR comes in two main wave lengths on is 860nm and the other is 940 nm,, one of which is invisible but doesn't provide as much illumination, and the other is vis, and is brighter but if like me you keep a low profile then you know what option you will need...........:D

johngalway

Lol, I had been looking through the thread to see who mentioned poision first. Can't see where JW got that.

Any bait you put out, make sure you peg it down so foxy can't snatch and run.

ivanthehunter

John- i never thought of something so simple, very good point.. simple but brill;)

johngalway

Another trick is fish, say mackerel caught last year, wrapped in chicken wire. Again peg it down, but the fox has to do a lot of messing around.

Then, there's a "stink tube" Bit of pipe, drill holes in it and get end caps. Attach a chain via a bolt through the pipe and fill the pipe up with rabbit guts or whatever (Chain is there to yet again anchor it to something, foxes tend to steal stuff otherwise). This can also be dragged around the field first to make a trail.

Another one is more fish, this time in a hessian sack hanging from a tree just out of jumping reach for the fox. It's a good idea to cut the fish up small in that case for two reasons. If you hang it too low and he rips the sack he can't grab a full fish and run. Also small bits should leak smelly stuff better, this drips onto the ground below, sniff sniff bang.

I've mentioned fish a lot but if he's coming in after hens (or whatever) and ones died, better to use that.

If I think of/remember anything else....................

pestshooter7

Another trick i used on a fox arround the house which i had missed previously is to leave out a live hen in an open area, i had the hen in a old rabbit cage with a block on top to draw the fox! After the third night he got nosy and my bro shot him on the run with the 223! Wasnt a clean kill but we had the shotgun for the dispatch! Live bait will work once its safe in its cage! The hen was none the worse off and continued to lay after so wasnt traumatised in any way!! Cant say the same for the fox.

foxshooter243

pestshooter7 wrote: »

Another trick i used on a fox arround the house which i had missed previously is to leave out a live hen in an open area, i had the hen in a old rabbit cage with a block on top to draw the fox! After the third night he got nosy and my bro shot him on the run with the 223! Wasnt a clean kill but we had the shotgun for the dispatch! Live bait will work once its safe in its cage! The hen was none the worse off and continued to lay after so wasnt traumatised in any way!! Cant say the same for the fox.

This reminds me of a guy from my part of the country who used to take a banty hen in a bag out with him on his lamping expeditions, when mr fox was picked up in the lamp he would proceed to swing the bag round his head and the poor oul banty hen would rise a serious racket:eek::eek::eek: the
guys who witnessed this reckon it was all they could do to try and not fall down laughin their heads off, but they said the foxes came like greyhounds..:D:D

damo03

Got one of the foxes three nights ago. Not as soon as i would have wanted but a lot of pressure on at college. Anywho got a lamb that died and put a stake in the ground and tied the lamb to it. Went out later that night and got myself ready downwind. Turned on the lamp and sure enough there was himself. the fox ran about ten yards i let out a quick squeak he stopped and goodnight.
Thanks for the advice lads its always much appreciated.;)

johngalway

Well done That's the beauty of securing the bait. At worst it slows him down, best it confuses him that he can't just grab it and make off home. I've a couple of lamp shy fellas to take care of myself as well, methinks there are some right good "sharpshooters" around at the moment :rolleyes: Here's hoping the bad weather knocks the lamping bug out of them

foxshooter243

damo03 wrote: »

Got one of the foxes three nights ago. Not as soon as i would have wanted but a lot of pressure on at college. Anywho got a lamb that died and put a stake in the ground and tied the lamb to it. Went out later that night and got myself ready downwind. Turned on the lamp and sure enough there was himself. the fox ran about ten yards i let out a quick squeak he stopped and goodnight.
Thanks for the advice lads its always much appreciated.;)

Good stuff ! a bit of planning is the way to get them alright.

meathshooter

johngalway wrote: »

Another trick is fish, say mackerel caught last year, wrapped in chicken wire. Again peg it down,

+1 have done this also with great results,have tried magpie,crow,rabbit slice the belly open,frozen chickens wrapped in chicken wire I usually tie to the base of tree and sometimes hang