dissapearing fox act

rugerman

went for a ramble last night with my 22 moderator p7 and subsonics shot 12 rabbits in first field beside my house and heading towards the farm next to me with lights of farm standing in a gap flicked on the light to expect rabbits to be running everywhere but standing 30 yards 2 rabbits sitting up looking at me pop first headshot reload pop second headshot while i was looking through my scope at the 2 dead rabbits i could see a figure about 150 yards confirmed a fox feeding on something not even taking a blind bit of notice which is strange taught i had them all cleared but i stepped to one side bipods down gave a quick squeel turned on the lamp there he was standing over the 2 dead rabbits id just shot two glaring eyes looking at me from 30 yards crosshair between the eyes thump fox bowled over.i gave a quick jig on the lane then leg over the fence walked up to where i thought lay my fox and nothing went home very puzzled for my springer back to site of alleged shooting springer took off and three fields away straight to a burrow in heavy cover with traces of blood at earth. ARE THEY THAT TOUGH:mad:

Hunter21

You'd nearly want a head shot with a .22 to kill a fox stone dead from my experience

rugerman

Hunter21 wrote: »

You'd nearly want a head shot with a .22 to kill a fox stone dead from my experience

thats whats puzzeling me i did and the 22 is vvvvvvery accurate i was very sure of the shot maybe i should of pumped the fu**er with all i had in the mag i will in future

dev110

I can't understand how he didn't drop on the spot from a 30 yard head shot even if it was from a .22. Maybe you slightly pulled the shot?

landkeeper

a foxes head is quite flat especially front on i'd say your bullet probably went slightly low and hit him through the snout
can you find a lad with a terrier and sort the poor bugger out

dev110

At 30 yards with the p7 you would see as clear as day so should have seen every detail on his head. I prefer chest shots as more area and abit more room for error.

Tackleberrywho

At night due to shadow etc there is more room for error.
A .223 would be a safer option as it gives you more room for a small bit of error on a fox sized target IMHO

landkeeper

yes tack we all know that :rolleyes: everytime there is a thread about foxes and .22s someone :rolleyes: spouts out you should use a 223 its much better
that's not what he was asking was it

garv123

whats the 22 0'd at? would it be high at that distance?

Remmie 223

landkeeper wrote: »

a foxes head is quite flat especially front on i'd say your bullet probably went slightly low and hit him through the snout
can you find a lad with a terrier and sort the poor bugger out

I had experience of this with the 223, much better going for the chest shot

rugerman

shes 0 at 50 yards i just shot 2 bunnies headshots 30seconds before i know tac the 223 would be a better option but if i knew id meet the red lad the 22-250 and 30-06 was only 200yards from me jsut sayin i went for headshot as it was only thing u could do with a little 22

johngalway

rugerman wrote: »

ARE THEY THAT TOUGH:mad:

They are you know. With a .22lr sub you'd need a brain shot to kill, not a head shot. There's SFA expansion in those lumps of lead to cause internal damage. I have shot greycrows through and through, only to see them fly off 70 or 100 yards then fall out of the sky, so you can imagine a fox.

Headshot a rabbit once with an Eley sub. He fell over, nice. When we had a look, the bullet had actually glanced off the rabbits skull, resulting in a stunned rabbit with a reverse mohawk. So I think yeah, either snout shot or it glanced off momentarily stunning the fox. Only way to tell for sure is if ya find the fox.

Tackleberrywho

landkeeper wrote: »

yes tack we all know that :rolleyes: everytime there is a thread about foxes and .22s someone :rolleyes: spouts out you should use a 223 its much better
that's not what he was asking was it

I've NEVER had any animal get up after a .223, that was my point.
.22 @ nightis putting the shooter on the extreme limits of abilities.

You yerself shoot foxes .222 so what are you giving out about??

clivej

I've only killed one fox, a bigish cub, with the 22lr @50y and that was a side on head/brain shot after I had just spent the afternoon zeroing the rifle @50y and taking shots every 10y out to 110y to make a drop chart up. You could of glanced off the skull, real easy to do. There's very little between the skull top and nose of the fox when its looking at you, best to wait and take the side on head shot just below the eye and forward wee a bit.

johngalway

clivej wrote: »

There's very little between the skull top and nose of he fox when its looking at you, best to wait and take the side on head shot just below the eye and forward wee a bit.

Way I used to figure it, foxes head side on to the shooter, draw a line from the bottom of the ear to the eye, aim slap bang in the middle of the line and shoot.

garv123

ive seen a fox run about 300 yards from a shot from a .243 with half its heart and insides left on the ground where he was shot and the rest hanging out as he ran. if it was night-time he would have been lost.
shot was perfect
strange things happen and that wasn't even a very big fox.

Tackleberrywho

rugerman wrote: »

shes 0 at 50 yards i just shot 2 bunnies headshots 30seconds before i know tac the 223 would be a better option but if i knew id meet the red lad the 22-250 and 30-06 was only 200yards from me jsut sayin i went for headshot as it was only thing u could do with a little 22

When I had a .22 and I shot several foxes with it, I used a min of High Velocity and mostly Hyper Velocity

@50 yards a Hyper velocity is very dramatic on a fox or bunny

To me, Subs were for shooting short range bunnies with a mod on

clivej

johngalway wrote: »

Way I used to figure it, foxes head side on to the shooter, draw a line from the bottom of the ear to the eye, aim slap bang in the middle of the line and shoot.

That is a better explanation than my attempt.

clivej

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

When I had a .22 and I shot several foxes with it, I used a min of High Velocity and mostly Hyper Velocity

@50 yards a Hyper velocity is very dramatic on a fox or bunny

To me, Subs were for shooting short range bunnies with a mod on

There's still plenty of energy left in a subsonic round at 100y and more to kill a fox or a lot of other things as well.

johngalway

clivej wrote: »

There's still plenty of energy left in a subsonic round at 100y and more to kill a fox or a lot of other things as well.

Firstly, I don't recommend this:

The farthest fox I shot with my .22lr was an 80 yard side on brain shot, slightly uphill. The bullet, and I know this as the fox was examined by the Zoological Dept in NUIG, entered through the right hand jaw bone, destroyed between 10-30% (I forget which) of the brain, then proceeded to exit through the skull.

Result is entirely dependent on shot placement.

Tackleberrywho

clivej wrote: »

There's still plenty of energy left in a subsonic round at 100y and more to kill a fox or a lot of other things as well.

What is the Energy of a .22 sub @ 100 yards

garv123

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

What is the Energy of a .22 sub @ 100 yards

dont know how accurate this is

http://www.gunsmoke.com/guns/1022/images/22_subsonic_table.gif

landkeeper

tack the op wasn't talking about a 223 or a 308 or a 222 he asked the question about a fox he hit with a 22 subsonic bullet at 30yrds and asked if they were really that tough they could survive a headshot and make it three fields to an earth
we all know most things don't get up after being hit with a 223 and we all know that using a a 22 is less than ideal for foxes at night
why do you allways state the obvious and the answer the unasked

Tackleberrywho

landkeeper wrote: »

tack the op wasn't talking about a 223 or a 308 or a 222 he asked the question about a fox he hit with a 22 subsonic bullet at 30yrds and asked if they were really that tough they could survive a headshot and make it three fields to an earth
we all know most things don't get up after being hit with a 223 and we all know that using a a 22 is less than ideal for foxes at night
why do you allways state the obvious and the answer the unasked

Because I do not endorse night shooting foxes with a .22lr and subsonics.

Many a fox in Ireland died a slow death due to underpowered gut/head/body shots.

Hit in Ballpark with larger rifle gone. Ideally .223/.222/.204/.220 Swift

(and I never mentioned .308)

landkeeper

oh i give up go back and read the first post will ya

garv123

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

Because I do not endorse night shooting foxes with a .22lr and subsonics.

Many a fox in Ireland died a slow death due to underpowered gut/head/body shots.

Hit in Ballpark with larger rifle gone. Ideally .223/.222/.204/.220 Swift

(and I never mentioned .308)

he wasnt out shooting foxes, hence why he'd the .22 with him
he went out for a few rabbits and spotted a fox at 200 yards.
he chanced calling it and it came to within 30 yards of him.
are you saying tac if you were in the same position when you had your .22lr and looking at a fox at a fox 30 yards away just after killing 2 rabbits in the same spot you wouldnt have took the shot?

rugerman

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

Because I do not endorse night shooting foxes with a .22lr and subsonics.

Many a fox in Ireland died a slow death due to underpowered gut/head/body shots.

Hit in Ballpark with larger rifle gone. Ideally .223/.222/.204/.220 Swift

(and I never mentioned .308)

I DO NOT ENDORSE SHOOTING FOXES WITH SUBSONICS EITHER BUT IF FOX STOOD IN FRONT OF U AT 30 YARDS ARE U TELLING US UD HUNT HIM AWAY.ID DOUBT IT VERY MUCH.

Tackleberrywho

rugerman wrote: »

I DO NOT ENDORSE SHOOTING FOXES WITH SUBSONICS EITHER BUT IF FOX STOOD IN FRONT OF U AT 30 YARDS ARE U TELLING US UD HUNT HIM AWAY.ID DOUBT IT VERY MUCH.

I actually let a brown fox cub go @20 yards last summer as it was too easy, considering he was growling at me defending his den.

I have let many game animals off if i did not feel confident with the shot.
and no need to shout my man.

I was only voicing my opinion.

landkeeper

face palm number 1

BELOWaverageIQ

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

I actually let a brown fox cub go @20 yards last summer as it was too easy, considering he was growling at me defending his den.

I have let many game animals off if i did not feel confident with the shot.
and no need to shout my man.

I was only voicing my opinion.

Do I take it from that statement that you shoot fox for sport rather than for vermin control then ?

johngalway

Mod note.

Enough of the bickering, Tac, the topic is foxes with .22lr and why it didn't drop. Lets get back on topic.

Spunk84

im not going to talk about what type of rifle you used as i can see this thread has become a bitching match about it, "lads put your handbags away" :mad: i know if i was in your situation i would of shot at it as well.

at 30 yards with the rifle you should of at least planted it, could you maybe of missed or flinched? causing the bullet to graze the foxes jaw or maybe another piece of his upper body? could be the blood trail you followed.

Very weird but things like that happen, i shot a pheasant once 2 hours later put it into the car, when i got home i opened the boot and the thing flew out:eek:, now to me it was dead and gone but apparently he wasn't!!!!! he never moved or anything in the bag or when i placed it in the boot.

Tackleberrywho

johngalway wrote: »

Mod note.

Enough of the bickering, Tac, the topic is foxes with .22lr and why it didn't drop. Lets get back on topic.

It may not have dropped for a number of reasons
It moved, the Round was a flier
We chroned ammo Sunday and found many differences in Standard Deviation.

Many years ago we chron'ed .22lr

Some Winchester ammo had huge variation.

The .22lr proved that it will not always cut the mustard.

What would have happened if the round was a CCI Minimag??
A Remington Yellow Jacket
CCI Stinger just to name a few.


15 years ago nobody used sub's on foxes.
Very few used them on bunnies either, unless they were using a mod/Silencer as they were known back then.

I think this is case and point of the limitations of a .22lr EVEN @ 30yards

rugerman

i saw the head fly back heard that thud of a head shot as lads said just one of those things just lesson learned put another one or two in him if using 22 or carry 22-250 with me aswell.not a hope

Tackleberrywho

rugerman wrote: »

i saw the head fly back heard that thud of a head shot as lads said just one of those things just lesson learned put another one or two in him if using 22 or carry 22-250 with me aswell.not a hope

any chance there was no hollow in the round and it did not expand just punctured?

I've had hollow points that were not hollow :eek::eek:

Remington yellow jackets would have 2-3 per box 50.

rugerman

Tackleberrywho wrote: »

any chance there was no hollow in the round and it did not expand just punctured?

I've had hollow points that were not hollow :eek::eek:

Remington yellow jackets would have 2-3 per box 50.

30 yards tac 30yards

garv123

rugerman wrote: »

30 yards tac 30yards

i think youll have to head out with a shovel tomorrow and dig him out since he's most likely dead if your confident of the heatshot and get a grinder and do a homemade postmortem.
if he's alive and you see him again go for a heart shot with the bigger rifle so you can study the head

Tackleberrywho

rugerman wrote: »

30 yards tac 30yards

A young and innocent Tack fired a FMJ 6.5 straight through a fox, he is still running

Lesson learned.
I worked as a knacker briefly, sometimes the closest shots are the hardest to drop, if the round went through without expanding

I can't comment any more as I was not there, only you were

ianoo

you probably just missed !!!.....:D

Tackleberrywho

ianoo wrote: »

you probably just missed !!!.....:D

Well maybe the OP did!

rugerman

ianoo wrote: »

you probably just missed !!!.....:D

i new u couldnt stay away:P:P u know me ianno i dont miss:o:o:o

Spunk84

garv123 wrote: »

i think youll have to head out with a shovel tomorrow and dig him out since he's most likely dead if your confident of the heatshot and get a grinder and do a homemade postmortem.
if he's alive and you see him again go for a heart shot with the bigger rifle so you can study the head

+1 dig him up and take a looksy;) best way to clear this matter up,if you werent so far away i would give ya a hand :mad:

rugerman

it was hardly that BIG CAT roaming around and i just took a life off him