Jump to content

Recommended Posts

With all the fog we've been having over the past week or so I felt like I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms, so even though we were getting frequent heavy showers of sleet and freezing rain (which I'd been out in all day), I decided to try a spot close to home where a lot of Pheasants and Partridge had recently fallen prey to 'Charlie'.

As soon as I scanned the first valley I could just make out a set of eyes in the distance on a bankside, even though I couldn't see an outline I was pretty certain it was a Fox, but not sure enough to risk a shot, so I started calling, and after about half an hour it hadn't moved an inch. The rain had come with a vengeance, and I was starting to feel my luck just wasn't in, so I decided to try and get a bit closer by approaching along the top of a small cliff, behind some thin cover to the left. As soon as I set off the rain stopped, the sky cleared and the area was bathed in moonlight. Great! I thought, but decided that this was my best chance of getting a shot, so I continued slowly getting closer.

When I thought I was close enough to where I'd seen the eyes, I carefully peered over the edge down into the valley and scanned the area only to see the back of a Fox trotting up the hill and out of sight. By now the rain had started again and was being driven horizontally on a strong northerly which made viewing through the Yukon NV impossible, so I decided to scan with the lamp as I re traced my steps and headed home.

I'd barely gone 20 yards when I spotted some eyes moving across the valley from my right, so I quickly got the rifle rested on a large stone and flicked on the lamp again. Looking through the scope almost directly into the rain, I could just make out the outline of the Fox as it drew level with me, so I steadied myself and gave a short squeek. The Fox turned it's head towards me but carried on moving. I definitely didn't want to miss this opportunity, and as it would've been out of sight very soon, I quickly gave a longer series of squeeks which made it stop and stare towards me. As I eased the safety off, it sat down and I got the shot off. As we all know, these things happen very quickly but sometimes seem to be in slow motion, and the Fox appeared to just lie down, then I heard the unmistakeable 'THWACK' as the bullet struck.

When I got to the Fox I found it was one of the biggest I've had, and by far the biggest Vixen. Unfortunately I only had a mobile to take a photo, but I was well pleased with the result, more than worth getting soaked for.

post-25880-0-20028500-1290595792_thumb.jpg

Edited by kenny14
Link to post

Well done Kenny for being out in awful conditions. Im not that keen any more !!!

Looks a good size vixen :thumbs:

 

Cheers.

I can't say I'm that keen of those conditions either but as I said, I really was starting to get withdrawal symptoms, and a successful outcome does seem to warm you up (though I've had plenty of failures too where I've gone home feeling cold, damp and miserable! lol).

Link to post

Well done lad,she does have a good girth to her,did you weight her at all? I've started to carry a small set of scales with me,just out of interest if we get a big'un,they were about £4 on EBay!

 

Martin

 

At the time I wished I could've weighed it, as she was big in size and weight, but all my shooting's done on foot so I've got to try and keep what I carry down to the essentials ( a small digital camera's something I want to sort out though as my mobile's crap especially in the dark).

Link to post

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...