Look for a fox and..........

Tackleberrywho

I was out for a stroll this afternoon/evening. I went out during daylight ~4pm. I was tracking mostly, I saw tracks of a deer, deffo fairly fresh as we have only snow 36 hours here, so there is a deer, but the tracks seemed to disappear.

Anyway, I knew on my way back ~ 1/2 way there was a field with one high bank at one end and rushie bottoms at the other.

I have never been much of a fox caller.
Most of my Fox kills are actually during the day, as I find the local foxes are quite active during the day.

So I go up on teh high bank, and make myself a viewing point of 320 degrees.
At this point on 5.5x on my Nightforce NXS I could still clearly see the length of the field ~5:30 So I take out my Acme caller, and I make a few squeaks, but to no avail.
Then the hunters worst enemy, self doubt.
Do I flash the LED Lenser P7 now, or do I squeak some more first.
I could still clearly see the field through my scope, and I had teh Reticle Illum on so I was confident that even though it was heading for 6pm on a December evening; I could confidently get a shot out to 150-200.
So I decided, I'd give it another go squeaking.

This time I turned my head in all directions in case Fantastic Mr Fox might not be able to hear me.
So I start shreeking on the Acme caller whilst articulating my head and keeping an eye out for movement.
From the corner of my eye I see movement.
I turn my head and here is a Thorny Owl about to come in for what I'm guessing is a handy dinner.

Never in my life would I have thought that an "Owl" could be attracted by a Fox caller.

About ten minutes later, I reckoned that Mr Fox was not coming my way I decided to pack it it.
Seemed a good idea as I was getting a burning sensation of the onset of frost bite in my toes, knees,elbows and Mickey
Not even with all the layers of clothing I had on could keep out Jack Frost.

I might give it another rip around 10pm.
The Farmer informs me that they often lately see Foxes in the Farm yard at Night.


Side note, the snow is only 36 hours old so that is the max this set of tracks could be.

kildare.17hmr

Have you had any luck with that acme caller? i had one for a while and chucked it in the bin because i found it crap! have one of these foxcalluk ones now seems pretty good!
http://www.foxcalluk.co.uk/

was buyin bullets today and talkin to a farmer in the shop said the same thing, the last week or so he has noticed foxes hangin around the yard from the time it turns dark, said he scared them away but they came back after a while! he was there stockin up on cartriges incase he has any visitors tonight

Tackleberrywho

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Have you had any luck with that acme caller? i had one for a while and chucked it in the bin because i found it crap! have one of these foxcalluk ones now seems pretty good!
http://www.foxcalluk.co.uk/

was buyin bullets today and talkin to a farmer in the shop said the same thing, the last week or so he has noticed foxes hangin around the yard from the time it turns dark, said he scared them away but they came back after a while! he was there stockin up on cartriges incase he has any visitors tonight

I might go back to the Aeroboard and a bit of spit

No foxes called this year, the only foxes I saw appeared after I popped a few bunnies, the feckers I reckon follow me:eek:

Problem with farmyard is Livestock is all housed so anything strong enough for a fox could cause serious harm if one was careless

The P7 Lenser is a great yoke, especially in snow, I could clearly see 250-300 yards when the light was being helped with the fresh snow on the ground

deeksofdoom

Good man Tack, glad to here your learning to Lamp foxes.
The acme caller can be quite effective, if you cup your hands and and kind of tilt it between your lips blowing accross the top of it you can make some quite convincing rabbit/hare in distress type sounds.
I've often called in owls at night time and grey crows during the day.
Wrap up warm and don't be lying on the ground, your knob is actually very important and can be used for a number of things not just pissing!

deeksofdoom

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Have you had any luck with that acme caller? i had one for a while and chucked it in the bin because i found it crap! have one of these foxcalluk ones now seems pretty good!
http://www.foxcalluk.co.uk/

was buyin bullets today and talkin to a farmer in the shop said the same thing, the last week or so he has noticed foxes hangin around the yard from the time it turns dark, said he scared them away but they came back after a while! he was there stockin up on cartriges incase he has any visitors tonight

i have one of them foxcall things and they're a pile of junk their too loud and scare foxes away, that's my experience of them anyway. I find the wam call pretty effective.

endasmail

deeksofdoom wrote: »

i have one of them foxcall things and they're a pile of junk their too loud and scare foxes away, that's my experience of them anyway. I find the wam call pretty effective.

the wam caller does the job
had foxes sprinting towards me with it

kildare.17hmr

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

I might go back to the Aeroboard and a bit of spit

No foxes called this year, the only foxes I saw appeared after I popped a few bunnies, the feckers I reckon follow me:eek:

Problem with farmyard is Livestock is all housed so anything strong enough for a fox could cause serious harm if one was careless

The P7 Lenser is a great yoke, especially in snow, I could clearly see 250-300 yards when the light was being helped with the fresh snow on the ground

This farmer was lookin for somethin that would kill a fox and a problem dog thats been helpin himself to the sheep, he ended up gettin a box of 10 remington slugs. off topic i didnt think you could get slugs ere? must look into this wam caller you speak off

yeah ya gotta love the P7, its just the handiest thing to have

deeksofdoom wrote: »

i have one of them foxcall things and they're a pile of junk their too loud and scare foxes away, that's my experience of them anyway. I find the wam call pretty effective.

yeah i found it loud too but fixed that by not blowin so hard:p i bite mine hard and sort of breath through it and i reckon it sounds pretty good, only time will tell tho!

johngalway

Slugs are restricted ammo now AFAIK, I don't know what reason a person would have for buying them - that's not an opinion against them, I just don't know what they'd use them for.

I've been buzzed by an owl before, rabbit squeak on the caller brought him in.

Looking to get out tonight, but it's snowing hard and doesn't look like letting up. Should be good for tracks in the morning.

We never get snow

Tackleberrywho

deeksofdoom wrote: »

Good man Tack, glad to here your learning to Lamp foxes.
The acme caller can be quite effective, if you cup your hands and and kind of tilt it between your lips blowing accross the top of it you can make some quite convincing rabbit/hare in distress type sounds.
I've often called in owls at night time and grey crows during the day.
Wrap up warm and don't be lying on the ground, your knob is actually very important and can be used for a number of things not just pissing!

I don't do much fox calling as I prefer long range daytime varminting.
I never really did calling or any animals or birds. I prefer to see without being seen, sneak up and bang

Just in this frosty/snowy period the crunch,crunch,crunch does little to help a stalker

So I gave up on the deer stalking and found a place to set up.
I was on a raised bank looking out over a large field ~15-20 acres of visibility.

It was fresh in my mind from the Fox Guru JG, about finding a Hillock.
I only had one pair of trousers on as I had walked 3 miles or so and I find long walks too difficult on rough ground with more than on trousers on.

I also was not wearing my stalking boots as I chose wellies (perhaps a bad idea)
However it was nice to get a few hours out, my hands were lovely and oasty with my Seeland gloves, and once I was moving my toes and rest of me was warm too. Thanks to my Laksen Goretex camo Beanie cap.;)

I'm nice and toasty now, so I could go for one last recce tonight

kildare.17hmr

one of the lads in the shop recomended them to shoot the dog.

Very clear around me and no snow fall since yesterday so might head out in a while myself!

Tackleberrywho

johngalway wrote: »

Slugs are restricted ammo now AFAIK, I don't know what reason a person would have for buying them - that's not an opinion against them, I just don't know what they'd use them for.

I've been buzzed by an owl before, rabbit squeak on the caller brought him in.

Looking to get out tonight, but it's snowing hard and doesn't look like letting up. Should be good for tracks in the morning.

We never get snow

The crow I shot 2 weeks ago was in Pelting snow
I found it great in the snow as the sound was muffled of crunch crunch crunch

Get out there JG, Work your magic

foxboy

was out today about 12 noon and went into a small wood as I entered I saw a grey crow picking at something on the ground took a shot with the .223 and busted him
after the shot I could hear magpies calling and thought the shot had disturbed them but no it was charlie and he walked about 15m from me didnt look or run put the gun up again and got him in the scope but couldnt fire as I had no backstop and he was leaving the wood he turned to his right and dissapeared behind some briers now there was another gap and I had a good backstop but waited and waited and he never appeared so went to see if he was still in the briers but no sign of him he must of sented me and used the briers as a sheld for his getaway across the middle of the field. clever fox !!!!!!
going to go back tonight and see if I can call him

Tackleberrywho

foxboy wrote: »

was out today about 12 noon and went into a small wood as I entered I saw a grey crow picking at something on the ground took a shot with the .223 and busted him
after the shot I could hear magpies calling and thought the shot had disturbed them but no it was charlie and he walked about 15m from me didnt look or run put the gun up again and got him in the scope but couldnt fire as I had no backstop and he was leaving the wood he turned to his right and dissapeared behind some briers now there was another gap and I had a good backstop but waited and waited and he never appeared so went to see if he was still in the briers but no sign of him he must of sented me and used the briers as a sheld for his getaway across the middle of the field. clever fox !!!!!!
going to go back tonight and see if I can call him

I followed a deer tracks to a dead end. They just disappeared, so much Tracks out there, Badger,Hare,Rabbit,Fox,Deer, and millions of bird prints

Anto...

foxboy wrote: »

was out today about 12 noon and went into a small wood as I entered I saw a grey crow picking at something on the ground took a shot with the .223 and busted him
after the shot I could hear magpies calling and thought the shot had disturbed them but no it was charlie and he walked about 15m from me didnt look or run put the gun up again and got him in the scope but couldnt fire as I had no backstop and he was leaving the wood he turned to his right and dissapeared behind some briers now there was another gap and I had a good backstop but waited and waited and he never appeared so went to see if he was still in the briers but no sign of him he must of sented me and used the briers as a sheld for his getaway across the middle of the field. clever fox !!!!!!
going to go back tonight and see if I can call him

post your results foxboy....

Tackleberrywho

Anto... wrote: »

post your results foxboy....

Any Foxing/Hunting yerself Anto?

crackcrack30

I had a fox pull a hodini on me in this weather last spring, I copped him late of course, and was sure he copped me even though he kept his nose to the ground as if tracking a rabbit or rat whatever, by the time I was in position to sight him he had made his way into the only hollow in almost centre of a large field and out of sight, not too bad I was thinking this gives me time to get over the initial shot of adreneline and prepare for the reappearence..in the bag I thought.....time was on MY side I thought for once...... after a few minutes I felt something was wrong, I started to walk towards the dip and fook me the sneaky baxterd had disappeared. I done a full 360 and twiged him bolting along the headland and gone. This gave me a renewed sence of respect for their cunning and long deserved label of cute as he had copped me and used the hollows and slight dips of the field as an escape route but duped me into thinking he was just pondering along.

johngalway

Well, snow blizzard stopped play.

foxboy

Anto... wrote: »

post your results foxboy....

just back and not a fox in sight, think the moon is too bright and the ground too crisp
very heavy frost -6

Tackleberrywho

foxboy wrote: »

just back and not a fox in sight, think the moon is too bright and the ground too crisp
very heavy frost -6

My thoughts exactly, so I went out after a two legged fox lol

I do think that Hunting in the snow is a new skill required.
currently ~-1 here
Great thaw on in the sun, however still freezing in the shade

Eddie B

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Have you had any luck with that acme caller? i had one for a while and chucked it in the bin because i found it crap! have one of these foxcalluk ones now seems pretty good!
http://www.foxcalluk.co.uk/

deeksofdoom wrote: »

i have one of them foxcall things and they're a pile of junk their too loud and scare foxes away, that's my experience of them anyway. I find the wam call pretty effective.

This is a great call in my opinion! I've tried a lot of different calls over the years and rate this as one of the better ones.
It's just a matter of knowing how to use it right!!!:p

johngalway

Foxes gone to ground here methinks. Seeing nothing early or late into the night, I figure they're on the move early morning and day time. Oooooooooo cold out there tonight, lots of snow on the ground and no thaw here, makes driving the fun part of the evening though

Tackleberrywho

johngalway wrote: »

Foxes gone to ground here methinks. Seeing nothing early or late into the night, I figure they're on the move early morning and day time. Oooooooooo cold out there tonight, lots of snow on the ground and no thaw here, makes driving the fun part of the evening though

Hill on and off my road, sisters car could not climb the hill today, spinning rearwards.

Even with 4x4 driving can be tricky, gas part is lots of grip if driving across fields

There was nothing out yesterday except mr Owl.
I'm home again Tuesday afternoon so I might give it a bash again.

I'd like to get one of those electronic callers. I just hate carrying gear,as I like to travel light.
less gear ya carry the longer you can walk without getting tired.