Out for Charlie & possibly out-foxed!

[markha 99]

A phone call the other week from a friend being bothered by Charlie.

Information was a vixen with cubs and in recent days had taken around 20 chickens/hens and was getting a bit bold.

Naturally I offered to come over and have a mooch at some point.

 

The weather hasn't been great for the past few days, but last night was rain free and fairly clear with a 1/2 moon so I took the drive over.

Now, miss fox had been spotted walking brazenly up the track at mid morning without a care in the world and word had it that she would be out and about from 9pm onwards.

 

A lamb had just died that morning so it was left out on one of the fox tracks and I set up on an opposite hill around 120m away and settled in for the wait.

 

Around 9.30pm sure enough off starts miss foxes screaming fox scream, echoing all around the woods and hills, this was directly in front of me and I would say at the 11 o'clock position and around 300m away. The vixen called for about 10 seconds then was quiet, all except the dogs in the farm at 10 'o clock barking off, then the sheep and lambs in the fields about 900m away and at 9 o'clock all bleating and blarting, then the rest of the fields at about 8 o'clock all making a racket, shouting their warning that miss fox was on the prowl. This went on for about 1/2hr. So she was taking a gentle evening opportunistic stroll.

 

It all went quite for about an hour and then at around 22.30 the vixen was at my 5 o'clock around 250m away and giving a good old scream again for about 15 seconds before it all went quiet again apart from the odd bit of barking and some nervous bleating from the adjoining field around 180m away.

 

It was all quiet again and I had planned to leave at 23.00 anyway so packed up and went for a silent 'shine' around to see if anything was about. Nothing doing and off home I went.

 

Now having never been there before I wasn't too sure whether the cunning vixen had completely boxed around me or whether she was on one of her normal trips round the block.

 

The most exciting thing happened while I was on my shooting mat, hidden under camo, I popped up on to my elbow for a quick glass around with my bins and noticed a grey blur fly silently from right to left over the top of me at about 8ft up, then it silently wheeled round and hovered just a split second as it looked down on me with its large white face and silently but quickly flew on deciding I was probably far to big to carry!! My jaw had dropped as I really did think for a split second that I was about to be snatched by my scalp and carried off by a barn owl!

[air gun ant 1,666]

Sounds like a nice evening anyway mate, sure you'll get her soon enough

ATB ant

[zx10mike 137]

i shoot by twycross zoo and was out one night led on my belly with a rabbit distress wailing away about thirty yards away.i led there and coul;d here lions raw and monkeys scream.i thought i hope they never get out . i while passed . then all of a sudden i nearley fired out a turd an owl had come down un noticed and it was about five ft above my head when it thought better of it ,but let me tell you in the dead of the night a pair of wings flapping over your head can make any man fart at least.

[willum 89]

ha ha lol when out lamping last year was squeaking away spotted eyes in distance lamp off carry on squeaking next thing i knew bloody barn owl swooped at my open window i nearly shat me self n same as me mate i just looked up out of the window n bang there it was lol

[Wullz 408]

Same same, sitting in a duck hide this winter past, just waiting for it to get dark......spooky, you know owls calling light failing bit of a wind rustling the bushes behind me....next thing, GROOONNNKKKK, fekkin big heron about 2 ft above me, nearly died, jumped, swore and nearly sh@t me cammos.........then I heard the laughter coming from the hide on the other side of the pond, my mate pi$$in himself laughing, I mean dyin, he was watchin old nog comin in right over me and had been praying for a gronk......scumbag! Took years off me.....