Foxing with the Grim Reaper

[SportingShooter 0]

Finally getting around to writing my report on the evening's varminting

 

Grim and his young lad, Liam came across from Kent for a lamping session at the beginning of the week. It had been in the pipeline for a while that they would come over this way for a bit of vermin control, but seen as Grim and Liam had not been lamping per se and not for Fox especially, I thought it would be interesting that we get out for a chance at a Fox with the lamp.

 

It was all arranged a few days beforehand, no major planning required and they said they would be with me Tuesday afternoon. No problem, I got a few things ready on Monday night, lamp on to charge, rifle was zero'd the week before so I knew that the basics were in place.

 

They had a bit of trouble getting here through traffic and the restrictions on the M4 but they did get here eventually. They came in, had a chat and a cup of Tea after their long journey. I even managed to persuade Grim to take a look at a few of my Guns, not that it took much persuading

 

I gave him the .222 to look over and one of my O/U's and he then produced his AyA 12b from the 70's, must admit its in fine condition and points and no doubt shoots, like the old Churchill's with the 27 1/2" barrel. Good looking gun

 

We chatted for a bit about various topics After an hour or so, I thought i'd show them around the place, so off we went for a spin. We were gone a good couple of hours before coming back home. It was raining quite heavily all the way through as well, I got the feeling the Sky was going to run out of water soon.

 

We arrived back at the house and awaited it to get dark. I arranged my .410 to be brought back from the old man's so that Liam might like to have a go at a Bunny if we got the chance during the night. Was a bit long for him and I think the external hammers confused him a little bit, pointing out to his dad, "Yours doesn't have those"

 

We were killing time but had a good chat along the way, waiting for the light to go.

 

We eventually decided just after 9 that it was time to head off, so the ritual of putting everything in the car began then, must have taken half of the armoury out with us Including, the .222, the .410 S/S and Grim's AyA 12b.

 

We were eventually ready to go, arriving at the first bit of land by about half 9. As we were getting unloaded after parking up, a pair of headlights came down the lane to the farm, which is highly unusual for this place, but as it turned out, it was the landowner coming back late. Just as he passed me, he shouted that a Fox had just run in front of him back up the lane.

 

With that, we went into the first field, next to the lane, shined it all the way up to the top but nothing was showing in there. Seems he had been scared off. We wandered into the next field which has a large mound in the middle and you have to lamp it at several angles to see it all. Much the same on most of my ground.

 

Anyway, there was nothing in that field either. It was wet under foot and I'm sure that most things could have easily heard us coming. We walked into the field next door, the gateway to which is halfway down a long hedgerow. Grim had the rifle at this point. I shined across the field and spotted a pair of eyes out in the centre. There was nowhere for a convenient shot to be taken and too far for a free standing attempt, so on the second flash of the lamp, he was gone across the field into the next.

 

Hoping that we may catch up with him in the next field, we made our way to the gate which was directly in front of us. However! Before you can reach the gateway, you have to cross around 10 yards of churned up mud which, if your not used to it, can bog you down and make you lose wellies and things. Well guess what? Grim and Liam had a fun time getting through that

 

I quite happily walked across and turned to watch them both at some very funny angles and more often than not, with a welly missing, or on their arses I was chuckling to myself for quite a while, but thought that I ought to give them a hand, poor English lads not used to the Welsh mud and all

 

I put the guns on the grass in the next field and pulled them both free, though they were a sort of browny colour now Wonder why

 

Surprisingly, after all that commotion, there was nothing in the next field!

 

We walked the rest of the farm and didn't encounter mud to that degree but it was far from dry in anyplace, but as I explained to Grim, this particular farm can be in full flood when there is a summer drought its that wet. We did encounter a bull at one point and noticed that both of them didn't fancy getting much close to him, but we walked off the field without incident.

 

On to the next farm that I had planned, Maltenby has shot this place with me before. We parked up on the top yard and loaded up again. Grim with the .222 again and I had his AyA suitably loaded with No.1s. We walked back up the lane of the farm "to start at the very beginning, a very good place to start"

 

We walked along a high ridge which looks over the entire top end of the farm, we spotted a pair of eyes that I wasn't sure about, in between a large patch of bramble and fern. I whistled and it turned out to be a lamb. How deceptive the eyes can be when mixed in with foliage.

 

We moved on to a field where I had shot the most recent fox on this farm, it is wide and sloping down to a hedgerow and at the moment, full of sheep. I caught a pair of eyes in the lamp, not a Fox but a Badger, making his was around the field a fair way out. We watched him for a few minutes, seen as there were no Foxes about. He trotted to the fenceline and after a minute or two finding his way, hopped through and disappeared.

 

We jumped over the gate and made our way to the bottom right corner of the field to the next gate. As we got to the gate, I shined into the next field and about -90 yards out there was a young Fox, so Grim put the crosshairs on him and squeezed off a round. "POP" it hit home. I imagine it was a lung shot as it dashed a few yards and dropped in a bed of nettles. I wasn't going in to get a picture of it either.

 

We moved on, across this field to a gateway in the centre of a hedgerow. Once you walk through it, to your left the ground falls down to a wooded hedgerow about 100 yards down. We spied a few bunnies in the field and Grim shone down into the bottom of the field toward the hedgerow. I had the rifle at this point. I spotted a pair of orange eyes the other side of the hedge in the right hand corner. I put the whistle in my mouth and began to call.

We spied him a few times in the next few minutes and then he disappeared for a minute or two. I kept whistling while the lamp was switched off.

 

The lamp started off in the left hand corner of the field this time and we spotted him again. He had come the long way around looking for a way out into the field. There is a small patch of rush in the corner and the eyes kept disappearing through the rush intermittently. There was nowhere for me to rest the rifle and the bi-pod was useless in this terrain, so if I was going to take a shot it was freestanding.

 

Still whistling, the Fox was coming towards us, it stopped, looking straight at me. "Click" Bollocks, bloody misfire, all I needed. I cycled another round and the Fox turned to walk away. As he did, I locked the rifle into my shoulder and let one go, "POP" Whether I had missed was not an issue, I knew he was hit, but in the darkness of the rush I couldn't see a carcass.

 

Down we went, lamp still on, another round cycled. Liam was first on scene and confirmed we had one down dead. As I had hoped and expected.

 

A young Dog, around 3/4 grown. The shot had entered below the shoulder and gone up through the neck and obliterated the skull and brain, there was nothing inside the head, it was a shell.

 

Suitably happy, we walked on through the rest of the farm and down into some large open fields. Liam had his first go at lamping for me and did well, listened to everything he was told, good lad

 

We didn't spy anything further and Liam was beginning to feel the toll of the few miles that we had walked so far, so we decided to head back to the car.

 

We didn't get the chance for Liam to get a Rabbit with the .410 as he was too tired by this point but there's always next time. We went back to the house and unloaded. Grim and Liam got out of their Green, now Brown clothes and washed all the mud off their feet. Was quite a bit of it, must admit, though mine was just on my wellies where it should be.

 

They had to be back home for the next day so they left around half 1 for home.

 

All in all it was good to put faces to names and was a good shoot for me and I hope for the lads. Though I did specify that any mud that was found to be in their possession I wanted mailed back to me as it was on loan

 

ATB

SS

 

A picture for you;

 

[clay man 0]

nice one ss

[dave1372 83]

Good job, sounds like you all had a laugh.

[SportingShooter 0]

Thanks guys, good to get someone their first on the lamp

[jenksi87 3]

nice read mate. sounds like you all enjoyed it