Four out of five foxes prefer...

johngalway

Late night last night so a few details escape me this morning.

John and myself were on the road again last night. His brother had quite a number of losses to foxes last Spring so we thought we would start early on them this year - saw 15 foxes the first night we were there last spring from 10.30pm - 2.30am. I brought along my S-Boston handwarmer as the night was pretty cold. Showed it to him after it had heated up, apparently now I'm "spoiled"

Our first port of call was to a neighbour of John's brother. We parked up the van and headed off down the field, "crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch" :rolleyes: We were on a hill which has a small boreen on top hidden down under a bank, so we put that well to our back and watched the large area of rough ground in front of us.

After a couple of calls John spied a fox to our right barreling in to the call. The rushes on that part of the hill were a complication and the fox took fright at something and took off back the way it came, then turned and headed down into the open area. By then I was down with the rifle and I tried a vixen call, our fox stopped on a rock and I sent him the good news.

Dog fox at 170 yards.



Off to Johns brothers place next and we weren't out of the van five minutes when we saw an eye on the side of a hillock not far from us. It's an awkward spot as there was nowhere I could lay prone and see the fox. The alternative was an old concrete wall which I had some bit of a rest on. On went the caller and in came our fox like a rocket.

She was weaving her way through low rushes and I could only see her now and then. John had circled off to my right in case he could get in shotgun range. I think she was confused by two lamps in two different spots and stopped for a moment in a clear spot, and with a loud thwap! she fell to a Vshok. I'm not sure of the range, perhaps 60 yards or so, vixen.



As we were leaving the place John spotted a pair of foxes out to our right. On went the call and one of the pair started circling us while the other looked to have run off. The first fox went left, then seemed to come back right again along some pretty broken up boggy hillocks. He was traveling rather fast and I managed to lean up against an old post to stop him with a federal just as he started going away from us. Dog fox, again not sure of the range to be honest but in fairly close like the last one.

Again John circled off to the right with the shotgun and I headed directly off out after the other fox we'd seen. Ahead of me are two long lakes with a narrow point between them where a stream connects them, figured this is where my fox would head for. Saw a fox across the lake, and eventually after a lot of repositioning I went for a head shot. Went over across the stream and lost my bearings quite well indeed. Had a long fruitless search in very bad ground :rolleyes: Haven't found the fox so far, but I'm unconvinced I did not kill it.

John had arrived by this time and on out way out of that spot we saw another fox near where I'd just shot that last dog fox. Again more repositioning BS as the land is cut away bog but flat enough in this area of it so while I could see the fox standing up, I couldn't see it laying down with the rifle.

Got into a better position and all I could see was eyes and a head. Identified as 100% fox as soon as he turned his head to the side. Steadied up with the bean bag under the butt and squeezed one off. Not sure on the range, another dog fox.



We saw and heard several more foxes but by this time my battery was losing power and we called it a night. Very slow and careful drive home on heavy frost!

CJhaughey

Good shooting John, you will be in a better position come spring with regards to vermin.
I was out last night as well, crunch, crunch! I saw nothing though.
What call are you using on the Colibri 7 or 8?
Very easy to turn an ankle on that hard frozen ground. Especially where cattle have poached it.

crackcrack30

Satisified for a while.........? or just getting started?

poulo6.5

Good shooting John. And and another story well told. Keep up the good work:D

kildare.17hmr

Good night out! how many foxes have ya shot this year??

johnner1

Brilliant report, and great results well done.
they all look to be in great condition and well fed with lead:D

johngalway

That makes 29 now. A fair few smaller foxes lately. All seem in good condition though. There were a lot of other foxes out screeching around us.

I had a look for that fox across the lake, and after extensive looking I can only mark him down as a miss. As far as I can work out from where I was looking and the direction I was shooting I may have hit some branches of burnt creeping gorse on a bank in front of the fox. Certainly didn't hit him as I was happy with my aim.

CJ, I've a few different cards. I'm using the predator card I got from decoying.co.uk, I don't believe they do those callers any more in that company. I use the vixen call and rabbit distress mostly, I'll photograph the card later on, too lazy now, just in home

Birdnuts

Given that the country appears to be awash with foxes we need to utilize this resource as best we can via the fur trade etc. - this I beleive will tick loads of boxes including displacing product coming from dodgy fur farms and much rarer species like Lynx and Wolf:)

PS: Well done again JG;)

Eddie B

Those foxes look like they've struggled to survive in the bad weather! NOT!!!

declan1980

great shooting john, that was a productive night.
myself and dad are heading out tonight, he saw one lying out in the sun today and found loads of fresh tracks this morning so it looks like we've got a bit more work to do (not that i'm complaining or anything;))

Anto...

great read JG! 29 foxes since when?? how many days ago?