calling Raynard in snow

Anto...

in the past 4 days of snow covered ground i have seen 2 foxes a day and more.:eek: so i decided to go for a bit of day time fox calling.I positioned myself well out in the open in a field with excellent cover for foxes all around me, cleared the snow on the ground and made a sort of wall of snow around me. lied down with the rifle an started up my trusty home made fox caller. bout 2 minutes into calling the red lad pops his head up at about 100 yds away straight in front of me. I send a .22wmr hollow point in his direction and thump i hit him in the chest area. only thing is he spins over and manages to make a runner based on adrenaline i think. all that was left was the trail of blood but i hadnt time to go tracking, going to try track him tomorrow maybe. pity tho they tend to run away a lot with the 22 wmr there just isnt enough power to drop on the spot unless you hit the head which i find difficult as i cant get my rifle zeroed 1 inch groups at 100 yds its about 2.5 insh groups at 100yds :mad:. anyway heres the pic of the snow


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hope to be posting the pic of the fox if i track him down tomorrow
let yee know how i get on tomorrow

here he is fella's..... took me a good 20 minutes to track him with the dog he made his way into very thick gorse and brambles

johnner1

he looks to have been hit hard, did you pull your own hair out after he ran:D

why didnt you wait to try call him in a bit closer for better shot?
if you can do 2.5 at 100 yds still would be a better to go for a head shot imho.

jap gt

not being smart but i have a 22 wmr and its more than up to the job at 100 yards, you have no business shooting at a fox if you arent sure of a kill, at least track it straight after shooting it, i have shot foxes well over a hundred yards but i have left too or 3 times that amount letting them go as i wasnt sure of a kill shot

johngalway

Anto... wrote: »

only thing is he spins over and manages to make a runner based on adrenaline i think. all that was left was the trail of blood but i hadnt time to go tracking, going to try track him tomorrow maybe. pity tho they tend to run away a lot with the 22 wmr there just isnt enough power to drop on the spot unless you hit the head which i find difficult as i cant get my rifle zeroed 1 inch groups at 100 yds its about 2.5 insh groups at 100yds :mad:. anyway heres the pic of the snow

In all fairness if you knew all of the above in bold, why are you shooting at them still? Fix the known problems on paper first.

Savage93

+1 on the last post, I'm disgusted by that post, if you couldn't be bothered your arse making sure of your kill you shouldn't be hunting. I too use .22WMR and have clean killed lots of foxes in excess of 100 yds. It's nothing but poor marksmanship and laziness on your part. Either practice more (targets), know the limitations of your firearm adn in particular yourself or give it up!!!. The antis would love this story.

snipe02

did a fox ever run on you i dont agree with not tracking the fox what about people who shoot foxes with shotguns you get some that dont go down right away should all these people give up too. eveybody has to learn we dont do that be getting stick from people who just because they have maybe more expierience and knowledge think they can tell people off like that it could be done in a constructive manner in my expierience a dog is essential for tracking wounded quarry so maybe instead of giving up shooting all together you could get one at least until you master head shots or aquire a more powerful rifle,ps we can only learn from our mistakes we can learn **** all if we already know everything

jap gt

snipe02 wrote: »

did a fox ever run on you i dont agree with not tracking the fox what about people who shoot foxes with shotguns you get some that dont go down right away should all these people give up too. eveybody has to learn we dont do that be getting stick from people who just because they have maybe more expierience and knowledge think they can tell people off like that it could be done in a constructive manner in my expierience a dog is essential for tracking wounded quarry so maybe instead of giving up shooting all together you could get one at least until you master head shots or aquire a more powerful rifle,ps we can only learn from our mistakes we can learn **** all if we already know everything

the least we can do is show anything we shoot respect, if that means shooting at a piece of paper 50 or a 100 times thats what we do, we all have to practise our shooting, we dont go out half arsed shoot a fox and then decide we havent time to track it, yet he still had time to take the photo, the op knew his zero wasnt perfect so he had no business shooting isf he wasnt 100% sure, no need to give up shooting just practise more

johngalway

snipe02 wrote: »

did a fox ever run on you i dont agree with not tracking the fox what about people who shoot foxes with shotguns you get some that dont go down right away should all these people give up too. eveybody has to learn we dont do that be getting stick from people who just because they have maybe more expierience and knowledge think they can tell people off like that it could be done in a constructive manner in my expierience a dog is essential for tracking wounded quarry so maybe instead of giving up shooting all together you could get one at least until you master head shots or aquire a more powerful rifle,ps we can only learn from our mistakes we can learn **** all if we already know everything

No one get's everything right, all of the time. I've had runners with all calibres I've shot with, misses as well. But, the problem lays with the bold text I quoted. If you've had a LOT of runners, if the gun or shooter isn't accurate, and if you haven't the time, don't go. Fix what's wrong first.

Anto...

Savage93 wrote: »

+1 on the last post, I'm disgusted by that post, if you couldn't be bothered your arse making sure of your kill you shouldn't be hunting. I too use .22WMR and have clean killed lots of foxes in excess of 100 yds. It's nothing but poor marksmanship and laziness on your part. Either practice more (targets), know the limitations of your firearm adn in particular yourself or give it up!!!. The antis would love this story.

well when i say i hadnt time i mean light was fading and i had seen he went over 200 yds of a run getting increasingly slower and then making his way into a huge bramble patch!! i will get a dog in there tomorrow thats why i hadnt time to trck him because i had no dog!!! i am not lazy when it comes to hunting and tracking its just i didnt expect the fox to run that far and into the worst possible cover. are you happy now??

snipe02

i agree it was bad practice . it was the comments that the lad should give up that i felt were a bit harsh .. as you said it can and does happen it just came across as inexperience to me.

Anto...

johngalway wrote: »

In all fairness if you knew all of the above in bold, why are you shooting at them still? Fix the known problems on paper first.

i shoot at them because i hit every time in the chest- (heart, lungs area) and i can never understand why they keep running. and yes i drop them a lot too but there are to many running away. does everyone on here with a 22 wmr hit them in the chest or is it only me, do yee go for headshots? i think myself that i amnt capable of headshots. the rifle is set fairly good at 120 yds hitting a target the size of my fist but i am not confident enough with it for headshots. I set it the best i could, I used 2 boxes of ammo setting it!

Feidhlim Dignan

has anyone here ever f**ked up and pulled a shot? i know i sure as hell have. It ruins the confidence and i always find i need to fire at a few targets to reassure myself and get back on the ball

Anto...

Feidhlim Dignan wrote: »

has anyone here ever f**ked up and pulled a shot? i know i sure as hell have. It ruins the confidence and i always find i need to fire at a few targets to reassure myself and get back on the ball

yes i think this was one of mine! at least ill post it for people to read and gain experience by my mistakes and faults thats how we learn.

declan1980

have you tried some different rounds in your rifle to see if you can get it to group better?
maybe your rifle just doesn't like the ones your using

landkeeper

where abouts in the chest are you aiming if you go too high you are only hitting lungs and it'll run a long way as you say on adrenaline ,just behind the shoulder at about a midway point and you'll hit the heart too far forward and it's shoulder blade likewise from the front you need to hit them centrally left or right and you'll miss the chest cavity and just go between the leg and ribcage
next time you shoot one skin it and have a look at what's where that'll give you a better idea as to where exactly to aim

Anto...

landkeeper wrote: »

where abouts in the chest are you aiming if you go too high you are only hitting lungs and it'll run a long way as you say on adrenaline ,just behind the shoulder at about a midway point and you'll hit the heart too far forward and it's shoulder blade likewise from the front you need to hit them centrally left or right and you'll miss the chest cavity and just go between the leg and ribcage
next time you shoot one skin it and have a look at what's where that'll give you a better idea as to where exactly to aim

in the dead center from a front sit down view and from side view just behind shoulder is where i hit them and they generally drop at that stance for a shot

Anto...

declan1980 wrote: »

have you tried some different rounds in your rifle to see if you can get it to group better?
maybe your rifle just doesn't like the ones your using

ive tried hornady v max and its gone off the taget alltogther with them! cci 40g hollow point is what im using today as ive ran out of remington 40g hp yesterday! but i had few remington hp's left (2) and thats what i hit my fox with today but using cci anymore- any difference in them? thanks

jimbrowning

Anto... wrote: »

ive tried hornady v max and its gone off the taget alltogther with them! cci 40g hollow point is what im using today as ive ran out of remington 40g hp yesterday! but i had few remington hp's left (2) and thats what i hit my fox with today but using cci anymore- any difference in them? thanks

i used a 22 mag for years on fox, and 100y i could put 5 rounds in a target and get groups inside a 2 euro coin with cci. other brands, maybe 5 inch groups. your rifle will shoot better groups with a 1 brand than others.(not necessarily the most expensive).
you said in your last post, you tried hornadys and its gone off the target alltogether. but do you realise (and i didnt when i started rifle shooting) that when you change brands, or even bullet weights, you need to start again and zero your scope. if you zero your scope with 1 round, then change to a lighter bullet, it will probably shoot over the top of your target. you live and lern.

Feidhlim Dignan

+1 on the horadys, because they fire a 35gr bullet they could be 4 inches on so high at a hundred meters. best thing to do is try them at 5om on a large target 2ftx2ft and see where their hitting. then its easy to change your zero to suit them

Anto...

jimbrowning wrote: »

i used a 22 mag for years on fox, and 100y i could put 5 rounds in a target and get groups inside a 2 euro coin with cci. other brands, maybe 5 inch groups. your rifle will shoot better groups with a 1 brand than others.(not necessarily the most expensive).
you said in your last post, you tried hornadys and its gone off the target alltogether. but do you realise (and i didnt when i started rifle shooting) that when you change brands, or even bullet weights, you need to start again and zero your scope. if you zero your scope with 1 round, then change to a lighter bullet, it will probably shoot over the top of your target. you live and lern.

thanks for that jim... yes i know that you have to re set your scope for different brands especially tipped bullets such as hornady's v-max. but do you have to set your scope if your changing from remington 40gr hollow point to cci 40gr hollow point? they dont look any different and they are both 40gr

johngalway

Anto... wrote: »

thanks for that jim... yes i know that you have to re set your scope for different brands especially tipped bullets such as hornady's v-max. but do you have to set your scope if your changing from remington 40gr hollow point to cci 40gr hollow point? they dont look any different and they are both 40gr

You should always check. There can even be differences between different batchs of the same brand and weight ammo, not often and not much but it can be there.

Savage93

Savage93 wrote: »

+1 on the last post, I'm disgusted by that post, if you couldn't be bothered your arse making sure of your kill you shouldn't be hunting. I too use .22WMR and have clean killed lots of foxes in excess of 100 yds. It's nothing but poor marksmanship and laziness on your part. Either practice more (targets), know the limitations of your firearm adn in particular yourself or give it up!!!. The antis would love this story.

I said ,practice more on targets, know the limitations of your firearm and yourself OR give it up!! Idid NOT say just GIVE IT UP!!
Nobody'd perfect and we can all make mistakes but the tone of the posts implies that this is a regular occurence. Analyse each event and take the steps suggested in the other posts by way of advice

Eddie B

Was out this evening to do a bit of gray crow shooting in a small bit of a wood, just about a five minute walk from where i snared a fox yesterday.

Got there a little earlier than expected, to catch the grays as they headed in to roost for the night, so decided to call with the palm of my hand incase there was any foxes about!

I was sitting on the side of the wood with a big open field in front of me, and beyond that a more substantial wood with heavier cover!

I presumed that if a fox did come, it would be from that direction, but i was wrong!
A fox appeared out of no where about 30 yards from me on my right and was heading into the wood so had to react quickly!
I swung the gun around and aimed! he saw me and instead of poping into the wood, he stoped in his tracks and stared!

BANG!!!!!!!



Had a touch of luck to get the better of this lad, but my luck ran out after that, didn't even get a shot at any grays!
A well, thats how it goes i suppose!:D

johngalway

Eddie B wrote: »

Had a touch of luck to get the better of this lad, but my luck ran out after that, didn't even get a shot at any grays!
A well, thats how it goes i suppose!:D

Throw him out into the field a little early tomorrow and see how many shots you get at them then

Anto...

Savage93 wrote: »

I said ,practice more on targets, know the limitations of your firearm and yourself OR give it up!! Idid NOT say just GIVE IT UP!!
Nobody'd perfect and we can all make mistakes but the tone of the posts implies that this is a regular occurence. Analyse each event and take the steps suggested in the other posts by way of advice

and i didnt say you said just give it up, if your referring to me! you didnt say who your talking to.....
dont be so harsh next time instead try and help the person and give them a litlle courage, no need for this- .... or just give it up....you shouldn't be hunting....It's nothing but poor marksmanship and laziness on your part......
them statements would only discourage the person (me) and they would lose confidence in themselves. Everyone makes mistakes as i said before.

heres the fox:D


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took a bout 25 mins to get him with the dog!

ya eddie b i was out again calling foxes and instead got grey


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FISMA

Anto... wrote: »

I send a .22wmr hollow point in his direction and thump i hit him in the chest area. only thing is he spins over and manages to make a runner based on adrenaline i think. all that was left was the trail of blood but i hadnt time to go tracking, going to try track him tomorrow maybe.

Anto,
With all due respect, as a hunter if you do not have time to track, please do not take the shot. That's both a hunting and/or sporting rule.

The time after the shot is just as important as the time before and during the shot.

Sometimes they get away, fair enough. However, you must factor in the time required to complete what you started.

More concerning is that you are not even sure if you can get to it tomorrow.

Just please consider all of the bad press that we already undeservedly receive. Imagine Charlie somehow managing to gimp over to the nearest location where school children are able to see him or the blood trail.

Not a great advertisement for the sport.

Again, I am not condescending, we have all been there. Just remember that you are [hopefully] out to hunt and not just to shoot.

Slan

Glensman

You will get some runners with a .22WMR, just a fact of life, no matter how good the shot is.
I would be concerned about your groups. As others said, hornady will go over the top of your target. And I can tell you you CANNOT interchange between ammo brands. You need to fire around 3, 3 shot groups and re-set your zero.

I have shot a Lot of foxes with .22 WMR, I never once went for a head shot. Just because I shoot sub MOA on targets doesnt mean that I can do it on a live animal on a high enough percentage under a lamp.

But you Should be able to get 1 inch groups out of a .22 WMR without much hassle.

Anto...

FISMA wrote: »

Anto,
With all due respect, as a hunter if you do not have time to track, please do not take the shot. That's both a hunting and/or sporting rule.

The time after the shot is just as important as the time before and during the shot.

Sometimes they get away, fair enough. However, you must factor in the time required to complete what you started.

More concerning is that you are not even sure if you can get to it tomorrow.

Just please consider all of the bad press that we already undeservedly receive. Imagine Charlie somehow managing to gimp over to the nearest location where school children are able to see him or the blood trail.

Not a great advertisement for the sport.

Again, I am not condescending, we have all been there. Just remember that you are [hopefully] out to hunt and not just to shoot.

Slan

your rite i cant argue, was just one of those days where the fox had to make a 200yd burst for the worst possible cover for me to find him in! but i did find him thats the main thing and this was in remote land with few houses within sight so there was no worry of him being seen by school children, but i get your point that would look bad.

FISMA

Anto,
Fair enough, thanks for the extra info - that's a bit different.

Not trying to proof-read your writings. There's only so much we can glean from written words.

If Charlie flakes off into heavy cover in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere, that's another story. If you know the lay of the land and that Charlie is in cover that is impenetrable - that's different.

I thought you were saying that you went out knowing that you did not have enough time to look for Charlie, even a few minutes.

If a shooter has a shot and sees Charlie gimping away in a beautiful meadow and that shooter decides it's time for a pint, well that's a problem.

Thanks for the clarification.

Slan and safe shooting.

garv123

the first fox i ever shot was like this. he was only 70 yards away with the .22mag and he bolted when i fired and i was told i missed. but i was 10000%sure it was a perfect shot. we actually found the fox 2 fields later and he was stone dead. and it was a perfect shot. straight in the boiler room but he still managed to run that far. i made sure to check where i hit him(and i was right) to prove the lads wrong when they said " oh u musta only hit him badly and got lucky" but no it was straight in the heart at 70 yards, and he still took off running alot more than 200 yards.

Anto...

garv123 wrote: »

the first fox i ever shot was like this. he was only 70 yards away with the .22mag and he bolted when i fired and i was told i missed. but i was 10000%sure it was a perfect shot. we actually found the fox 2 fields later and he was stone dead. and it was a perfect shot. straight in the boiler room but he still managed to run that far. i made sure to check where i hit him(and i was right) to prove the lads wrong when they said " oh u musta only hit him badly and got lucky" but no it was straight in the heart at 70 yards, and he still took off running alot more than 200 yards.

strange isn't it, happens occasionally to everyone round ere watevr bout everyone else! got another fox today with the shotgun but forgot the camera:mad: and wasnt goin draggin him back to the car.

booom

http://yfrog.com/j91000704nj

from the kids bedroom

Eddie B

johngalway wrote: »

Throw him out into the field a little early tomorrow and see how many shots you get at them then

Thanks for the tip jg!




To be honest there should be three more grays on the ground here!
Im gonna blame frozen fingers on the bad misses!:D

This is just a view of the distance between the two covers i got a bit of sport from the last couple of day's!

johngalway

Nice one Eddie.

Lead them not into temptation, for they can find the way themselves

blackstairsboy

How do you work that Eddie. Did you leave the fox out all day and just turn up later on and shoot whatever was around it or did you throw him out when you arrived and wait for the mags and greys? I just ordered the ucaller from lr active tonight so I am looking forward getting after the magpies and greys.

Anto...

Eddie B... ive the same question as blackstairsboy... how did you go about shooting the greys? did you setup near fox early in the morn or throw him out and wait for a while after u shot the fox?

Anto...

booom wrote: »

http://yfrog.com/j91000704nj

from the kids bedroom

Cheeky fox:rolleyes:

Eddie B

blackstairsboy wrote: »

How do you work that Eddie. Did you leave the fox out all day and just turn up later on and shoot whatever was around it or did you throw him out when you arrived and wait for the mags and greys? I just ordered the ucaller from lr active tonight so I am looking forward getting after the magpies and greys.

Ye after some good advise from johngalway after posting a picture of that fox, i went out one morning just before dawn!
I threw the fox out about 50 yards into the field and sat down inside the cover with full camo gear on.
Just as it began to get bright, i started to hear a couple of gray's calling in the tree's behind me and then some more in that cover across the field.

First gray to arrive on the sceen made a few circles over the fox and then landed on a stake well out of range!
This fella began to call and thats when the action started. Within minutes i had mags and grays coming from all angles, and had some good sport for a half hour or so!
As i said earlier, i missed three more handy one's and i also regret not bringing someone with me, for sometimes there was up to four grays swinging around at the same time. But then again, don't know if id find someone mad enough to sit out in the cold at that hour of the morning!:D

Anto...

Eddie B wrote: »

Ye after some good advise from johngalway after posting a picture of that fox, i went out one morning just before dawn!
I threw the fox out about 50 yards into the field and sat down inside the cover with full camo gear on.
Just as it began to get bright, i started to hear a couple of gray's calling in the tree's behind me and then some more in that cover across the field.

First gray to arrive on the sceen made a few circles over the fox and then landed on a stake well out of range!
This fella began to call and thats when the action started. Within minutes i had mags and grays coming from all angles, and had some good sport for a half hour or so!
As i said earlier, i missed three more handy one's and i also regret not bringing someone with me, for sometimes there was up to four grays swinging around at the same time. But then again, don't know if id find someone mad enough to sit out in the cold at that hour of the morning!:D

Eddie just curious to know when you fired your first 2 shots at the greys and mags surely they didnt stay around for a half an hour as you said to shoot at again??

Eddie B

Anto... wrote: »

Eddie just curious to know when you fired your first 2 shots at the greys and mags surely they didnt stay around for a half an hour as you said to shoot at again??

No Anto, saw around 20 or so grays altogether and a handfull of mag's. They were coming in dribs and drabs for a half hour or so and i just got a few shots at a couple of them!

The grays and mags in this spot aint fooled by callers and tend to scarper the minute you turn it on, so i was looking for a different approach to fool them!;)

Anto...

Eddie B wrote: »

No Anto, saw around 20 or so grays altogether and a handfull of mag's. They were coming in dribs and drabs for a half hour or so and i just got a few shots at a couple of them!

The grays and mags in this spot aint fooled by callers and tend to scarper the minute you turn it on, so i was looking for a different approach to fool them!;)

oh rite not to bad at least your gettin them, they come to the caller here fairly handy, i dont know anyone round my area that calls them electronically so there not used to it!:D