closed season on foxes??

[paynts 0]

I've only just joined this site but i've been lamping and pheasant shooting for 25 years, i have noticed just how much more popular foxing has become in all its forms. I would like to start a discussion on whether we should be shooting foxes all year round,

Foxes mating in december & jan will mean heavy vixens in february and march and some vixens feeding young cubs underground. Most of the Hunts stop hunting at the beginning of march. Should we stop shooting foxes from February to the middle of May. so's not to orphan the young cubs I add a huge proviso to this which is that the foxes arent causing problems like taking lambs or outdoor piglets in which case no mercy should be shown, but if a milky vixen is shot an effort should be made to find the cubs.

 

what say you?

[JohnGalway 1,043]

As a sheep farmer who lambs in March/April I think it's a terrible idea

[Deker 3,478]

I've only just joined this site but i've been lamping and pheasant shooting for 25 years, i have noticed just how much more popular foxing has become in all its forms. I would like to start a discussion on whether we should be shooting foxes all year round,

Foxes mating in december & jan will mean heavy vixens in february and march and some vixens feeding young cubs underground. Most of the Hunts stop hunting at the beginning of march. Should we stop shooting foxes from February to the middle of May. so's not to orphan the young cubs I add a huge proviso to this which is that the foxes arent causing problems like taking lambs or outdoor piglets in which case no mercy should be shown, but if a milky vixen is shot an effort should be made to find the cubs.

 

what say you?

 

 

This is a debate with no answer.

 

If you are a farmer, whatever, with a fox issue which costs you, the simple answer is get the ******** and I don't care about milky/young anything.

 

No shooter has any desire to cause cruelty!

 

But we go back to Vermin Control and "Sport", the debate will rage on!!

[deerstalker32 0]

its alright to say that if you only shoot for sport, but if your a farmer or keeper its neceserry vermin control so a closed season just wont work. i do agree though if yo shoot a vixin in milk an efort should be made to find the cubs.

[waidmann 105]

on the sporting side i would say that any quarry in kindl should not be pursued untill the young can sustain themselves( physicly and socially).

on th pest controll side i would have to say that we are coming up to the time where the most damage is caused(lambs,chicken etc being taken to feed cubs).

and so most of us will be in a situation where we must decide which we are following at the time(sport/controll).

 

unlike most other species foxes will raise the young together(dog,vixen and possibly other family members as shown by the rheinhardswald study in germany)this should not be counted on and all effort should be made to find orphand cubs.

 

i prefer to shoot them when the pelt is good but will not let one go on chicken farms

 

each to their own.

[FightTheBan 1,147]

I wont shoot a fox part march/april unless i realy have to. If i get a call out i will rattle all the earths untill i find them. The effort should be made to do the job properly.

If you cannot get them underground, then as a last resort

Have had to shoot sooked vixens in the past, and i hate doing it but thats life.

Most of the time its the dog taking livestock anyway, and brining it back to the vixen.

FTB

[paynts 0]

I should probably make my position clear. I have shot 2 heavy vixens in the last week, both foxes were shot at about 15 yards with a .22 and a night sight while i was out rabbiting.(i use a .243 and night sight when im actually after foxes) We have 1 flock of sheep in my parish which are lambed indoors and no free range chicken farms. Bearing this in mind the need to kill every last single fox in my parish at this time of the year is questionable. I have a pheasant shoot over 750 acres. Myself and a part time keeper control all vermin on this land plus 500 acres of outlying land. We are pretty efficient in keeping all vermin numbers down. But we are happy to see the odd fox around during the hunting season to support our local hunt.

 

this was really a topic to see what other people thought

[jamie g 17]

soon as the foxes on the shoot dont show as much then we stop. as the ones you more then likely see are the dog foxes getting food for the vixen.

 

so we leave them alone till the cubs come above ground. if a farmer rings tho and says he is having trouble with them then we will go shoot them. we are off sunday night over 3 new farms that are having problems. the farmer said he lost 30 lambs last time round !

 

this soon adds up so they need to be controled. i shot on the other night that had cubs in her by the look of it. yes it doesnt seam nice but it could be worse. they could have been under ground born allready.

[danw 1,748]

If we need close seasons on fox because they may have young then we should for pigeon,crows,rabbits,rats,mice and every other quarry you care to mention fecking stupid idea :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

[dicehorn 38]

Hm.....This is perhaps a pretty immotive subject. I suppose fox shooters could be catagorized into three groups - ones that shoot foxes for sport because they have the tools to do it, ones that have a duty to farmers particulary at this time of the year when lambing and finally the group of people who consider that foxes have a part to play in our environment keeping rabbits, rats etc numbers down, so there is no real need to shoot them at this time of the year.

 

Personally, I fall into the 2nd but mainly the 3rd group. I think that the more experience you gain and the more foxes you shoot the more you consider the balance of foxes within the environment. Unless I get a call from a farmer (like I did last week) my fox control does not start until the beginning of July when pheasant poults start arriving and I usually call a halt to foxing around mid November.

 

During my 'season' last year I shot 73 foxes - if I had started at this time of the year, I would guess I would not have reached 73

 

Maybe, just maybe it is an age thing - perhaps the more mature amongst us think that shooting foxes at this time kills your 'sport' for later in the year?

 

There is a book titled 'Running with foxes' - I forget the author but if anyone would read this who shoots foxes for sport, I am sure they would change their minds and end up in my 3rd group of fox shooters.