Last trip out until Autumn

johngalway

5th May 2010

John sent me a text earlier on asking had I any plans for the night. I had to go see a couple of people about different things as it happened, so I wasn't able to meet him until around 11.30pm. His father reckoned there were lambs being taken from behind their home place. We have both had run ins with a fairly cute dark fox over the past fortnight. Both times our sionnach was well out of range and not interested in playing the fool to any of our tricks.

The farm is awkward for rifle shooting. It's relatively flat for this area, with lots of high stone walls, which have tied makeshift gates in each gap, and there are a good number of tall furze bushes which John's Dad insists on leaving for shelter. Fair enough in respect to the sheep as there's lots of grass growing underneath them, and they do indeed provide excellent shelter. It doesn't half make our lamping job difficult mind you.

There's a change in the weather tonight. It's over cast and threatening rain, and the wind has found it's usual West coast high spirits again. At least the wind will be good news for us, it's a great comfort when we have to close the gap on a fox, trudging through boggy ground or accidentally cracking creeping furze braches burnt from another year doesn't usually tip off our four legged friends on nights like these. But, Murphy is still alive and well, as it's blowing exactly to where we've seen the fox come from! Like the Rolling Stones said "You can't always get what you want..."

When I arrive back, John is buried in a high furze bush. Great spot for shotgunning, useless for a rifle! We head off down the land with the wind in our backs and set up camp on a very low bump on the ground. Looking back up at the farmhouse, we have a wide tract of very rough ground to our right. Behind us we have tightly grazed improved land, ahead of us are the lambing fields with all those high walls. The one advantage we have here is we can see most, not all, of the approaches into those walled fields. You'd want to be looking in the right spot at the right time all the same. To our left we have a certain amount of scope on tightly grazed land, but the neighbours land next field over is pretty rough and filled with furze.

We passed part of the night talking about this and that. A lot of the conversation fell back onto John's brothers place, all the foxes we saw there the previous night out and how to better our tactics for our next trip. I feel a tap on my arm, "What was that up in the corner there?". As usual I had been looking in the wrong direction. John was looking to the left of the farmhouse just into the lambing fields. I had a look through the rangefinder to see if I could pick anything out, we couldn't see any eyes other than those belonging to ewes and lambs.

I guess we were four or five minutes examining the area closely when all of a sudden there was a pair of eyes bursting out from behind a hillock and motoring down a hill. There was no mistaking those eyes for anything else other than our friend the fox! By the time I had dropped with the rifle the eyes had moved the wrong side of a stone wall. I stayed put to keep an eye from my low rise aerie, the two of us are out at this craic together long enough that we've a fair idea of what to do when something happens without needing to talk about it. I would cover what I could see of the lambing fields, and all the ground on our right hand side with the rifle.

John, was off walking up to the drain, and crossed the fenced moot. The man with the shotgun was a lot better suited to prowling the high furze and walled fields. And indeed as he approached the first wall, I saw the shotgun level and heard the thud of the cartridge being fired. When I arrived up at the scene, there was our dark dog fox sprawled out dead. John, who's lamp was kind of dim tonight, had kept the main beam up out of the fox's eyes right up until the last moment before the shot. He told me how the fox had looked right at him as he pulled the trigger, sure sign he was about to bolt. A nice side on shot at around the fifty yard mark he estimated.

Odysseus

Excellent read John, what shot would you use for foxes?

johngalway

Odysseus wrote: »

Excellent read John, what shot would you use for foxes?

36 gram BB's

Vegeta

That shotgun looks a well used tool, I'd say it has accounted for many a quarry. Great read as always John and especially helpful on a dull Monday morning

johngalway

Oh, I'd say he has been using that for 16 or 17 years easy. And it was bought second hand! Dealer agreed £140 for it and they paid the full amount up front, got a receipt. License took a while to get through. When they went to pick up the gun dealer reckoned they had only paid a small deposit, and wanted £160 for it! Got proper thick about it I'm told.

I wouldn't have minded being there when they pulled out the receipt from months previous Stick that in yer pipe and blow bubbles with it.

By the by, does anyone know what make or model shotgun that is, cos John doesn't!

.17hmr

I would put money on that D/B would be the man to ask .love reading your posts john nice work once again.