You're not safe in the fog you know

johngalway

Saturday February 6th

The fog rolled in slowly off the Atlantic all afternoon, I watched it move up the bay and start swallowing the island across the way. It's hard to predict whether it'll stay for the evening or not, but I thought I'll head out and check a few places anyway as it's rarely in every corner bad enough to stop play.

The first port of call was my own farm, I checked it over from another spot that gives a good vantage point. Unfortunately it's one of the worst areas for fog and didn't disappoint on that aspect tonight, it's a no go for shooting.

My second call was where I last shot a fox, it's close enough to another bit of my land and a place my Dad also has sheep. There's a lot of mountain and a small wood nearby. But, just like earlier the fog is good and thick and it would be pointless to stay.

I'm 50/50 on whether to give in or check one last spot nearby. I could check others but I don't want to travel tonight. I make my decision to go when I reach the turn off and head out on my final destination of the night. It's foggy in patches but not nearly as bad as the other two areas.

I pick a place where a second cousin of mine is wintering ewe hoggets. They're being meal fed so as soon as I pull up beside the pen I'm surrounded by an instant, if noisy, fan club. Once I walk past the feed troughs they lose interest in following and bleating at me, which suits me fine. I get set up about eighty five yards from the road and start off the rabbit distress call.

It's foggy in fits and starts. The breeze direction isn't ideal. With the road to my back I'm facing the small river which runs parallel, I'm expecting any fox to appear either from my right hand side along the river, or from over my left shoulder and across the road from the furze (gorse) plantation.

I'm there less than five minutes when low and behold a fast moving eye breaks through the fence along the road over my left hand shoulder. I get the rifle onto the rock beside me and find the fox again. I'll have to check my barking as three separate loud YAP!'s failed to stop this predator. I resorted to roaring HEY! upon which my fox promptly stopped dead behind the only little tree in view...

I picked a flight path through the branches and *BANG* - THUMP! Another vixen bites the dust at all of fifty yards.

sikastag

Fairplay John! Not gonna get out at all this weekend at anything, got some breed of a dose of flu/cold gack. Good read. Thanks.

mallards

Excellent work John, it's a pleasure to read about your hunts and see the end result. Can I ask what kit your using apart from the rifle? I have the best of intentions of making a dent in the fox population up here this year. Visiting conamara, I can say the terrain up here is very similar and I hope to be as successful as you. Do you follow a regular pattern of places and times?

Mallards.

johngalway

Sika,

:eek: That there's a definite case of "man-flu", most likely terminal. I would say get yourself to A&E, but let's face it, hospitals here are more likely to kill ya than cure ya! The only known cure for man-flu is to complain bitterly to the wife or girlfriend at least 25 times a day, describing all the symptoms, in detail if possible. Best of luck!

Mallards,

Alright, kit...

Lightforce Striker with a 50W bulb and(with my own cabling - see my thread on rewiring) an inline dimmer unit and an 18amp battery in a backpack. Spare bulb, insulating tape, screwdriver, and extra rounds in the backpack pockets.

A Callmaster/Technoest/Mini Colibri (they're all the same thing) digital caller using decoying.co,uk's predator chip.

A Leica CRF 900 rangefinder, which wasn't needed tonight.

An EagleTac back up torch (another thread on that somewhere as well). Plenty of rechargeable spare batteries.

Warm, water resistant jacket. Water proof would be better, but this thing could house a family so it's nearly as good. Besides resisting the elements, cold, rain, wind, the most important part of clothing and kit is it must be noise free, any jingles, jangles, creaks or squeeks will give you away. Warm hat/cap, mine has furry ear flaps... Thermals, polo neck jumper... Clothing depends on the person, I feel the cold, others don't. I will wear waterproof oiler type trousers on certain bad nights.

Muckboot wellies, love them! Thin pair of leather gloves, good enough to break the wind, thin so I can attach the lamp and shoot while wearing them.

All of the above are essential IMO.

There are places that will be better for foxes than others, whether that's because of a terrain feature giving you a good vantage point or whether it's because of fox paths or food sources is for you to figure out, time spent out will let you know which. Time annoys me. I hear a lot of lads asking almost for a particular minute to be out. My strategy is broadly this...

Go out when it's dark.
Do that for several nights.
Shoot what you can or need to.
If you're not seeing them, you're either in the wrong place, or, they're coming out earlier/later. Or they're are no foxes there at the moment.

Some people swear by the early morning before dawn, catch them going home so to speak. I like my bed so I will never find out.

Lambing time is easy. Find out where the ewes are lambing, or what field the damage is being done in. Scout it in day light if you can first. From there you can pick where you want to set up and time spent out will tell you what you need to do after that - i.e. Different place, different time, fox had surprised you coming from a different direction.

Time spent in an area is the most important thing. Foxes will use the same paths and areas year after year after year.

sikastag

:D Yup! Amidst the incessant complaining a couple drops of the quare stuff and a drop of honey never hurt neither! Might get out tommorrow with the little yoke to punch a few holes in paper.

mallards

Top man, thanks very much John.

Mallards.

clivej

sikastag wrote: »

Fairplay John! Not gonna get out at all this weekend at anything, got some breed of a dose of flu/cold gack. Good read. Thanks.

The only cure for the common cold is:

A hot woman 3 times a day with plenty of rest in between, double the dose if you feel UP for it. Plenty of hot food, good soup is great, to keep you going.

EPointer=Birdss

clivej wrote: »

The only cure for the common cold is:

A hot woman 3 times a day with plenty of rest in between, double the dose if you feel UP for it. Plenty of hot food, good soup is great, to keep you going.

clivej

John.
Cracking write up and a good read as ever, and photo's to cover the story.
I hope your keeping track of all these posts, here and other the forums, about your foxing adventures as they will read well if and when you put then all together.

It'll make for a good web site read on foxing.
Better than the Warrener and Bucknell put together.

Did the lambing start yet?? Seen a good few newborns down here now.

johngalway

clivej wrote: »

John.
Cracking write up and a good read as ever, and photo's to cover the story.
I hope your keeping track of all these posts, here and other the forums, about your foxing adventures as they will read well if and when you put then all together.

It'll make for a good web site read on foxing.
Better than the Warrener and Bucknell put together.

Did the lambing start yet?? Seen a good few newborns down here now.

Thanks for that Clive, very kind of you (tenner in the post in the morning ). Yeah, I have kept the stories safe

Ye're way ahead of us down there when it comes to good grassland and good weather. My sheep won't start to lamb until the last week in March. April is the big month, but there'll be lambs around in March.

tikkamark

Persistance paid off for you john!We were gonna head out last night but fog got severly bad here-we decided it was getting a bit too heavy so retreated for a chat and cup of tea,on my way home about an hour or so later heading back you could barely see the front of the car!

Are you lambing down your way yet??Shanes aunt's sheep are after having about 15 or so lambs in the last couple of weeks and lost 1 to a fox wednesday night :mad:

johngalway

Heya Mark,

I won't have lambs until the last week in March, by my reckoning anyway. There'll be a few farms dropping ahead of me, but that just gives me a chance to pop off a few problem red lads before my own come along

Is it my imagination or does Wendesday nights seem to be a foxes favourite feeding night up your way!

gavlaw

thats a mighty fine rifle you have there:cool: