Lamping The Night Away

[JohnGalway 1,043]

Sunday, October 2nd.

 

First proper outing of the foxing year for me tonight. I had done one half hearted stint a week or two ago, but that was more to do with looking after a friends place while he was away than anything else.

 

Nice night out, breezy but mild, good and dark too. John had told me there was a fox visiting his place just after dark, he has a good few hens now so there was reason to keep tabs on this one. From Johns description of where the fox would come from and go to I figured it's just a matter of time before he reaches my place which is a few fields away. John had told me that while this fox wasn't lamp shy, he didn't much like it.

 

So, the plan was for me to walk up my own farm and check on the situation there. I saw nothing except sheep and hares. Then I crossed over into the neighbours and made use of a fine rocky hill which over looks a piece of my land, the neighbours and a couple of other fields as well as parts of the hill outside the top wall.

 

As happens when on the look out for a particular fox, nothing happened for quite a while

 

Then I spotted a flicker off out to my right in the neighbouring holding. I only see the flicker so I'm confident, but not sure it's a fox. He's in a marshy area often prowled by the red fellas, looking for frogs maybe. The he moves uphill near a broken down old stone wall that's becoming overgrown by furze bushes. By now I can see eyes and body, but he's moving in and out behind this wall so I let him be for a while.

 

After a time he moves further uphill rather quickly. I bark at him to stop him, and he does stop...

 

...With his head poking out from behind one side of a boulder and his tail poking out from the other side of it...

 

I know he's a ways off and I'm not about to shoot at his head. He stops for the bark then, predictably takes off. I try barking again to no result. Then, as is their habit, he stops at the top of a large slate of rock for a look.

 

Bye-bye.

 

Ranged from where I picked him up to the hill from where I took the shot, 240 yards, dog fox.

 

[dave1372 83]

Nice shooting as ever John.

[kenny14 656]

Good stuff, John.

P.S Looks like the Foxes round your way are collecting scrap metal now!

[sibaldib 6]

Excellent shooting, John.

 

Sib

[sounder 9]

great write up yet again john !!! well done mate

atb sounder

[dogs and quarry 40]

good write up and shooting, all the best for the rest of the season mate

[Malt 379]

Nice one John, always enjoy your write ups!

[artic 595]

That's how a write up should be..no waffling and a feeling of great realism.

 

[JohnGalway 1,043]

Thanks everyone

[the cheater 1]

Sunday, October 2nd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ranged from where I picked him up to the hill from where I took the shot, 240 yards, dog fox.

 

 

Have you been getting a bigger rifle then???

 

Nicely done sir

[JohnGalway 1,043]

Bigger rifle? Nah, I can use what I got (mostly)

 

Giving the specs their annual cleaning helped a lot too

[East coast 2]

Bigger rifle? Nah, I can use what I got (mostly)

 

Giving the specs their annual cleaning helped a lot too

What calibre off rifle is that, nice looking bit off kit, Is the thumbhole stock better than other stocks? Was looking at one other day

[JohnGalway 1,043]

It's a .223. Everyone is different but I really do love the thumbhole stock. Next rifle I get will also have one, couldn't go back to the more traditional type stock now.

[JohnGalway 1,043]

Monday, 24th October.

 

Headed out for a look around the commonage on my own. Had spent the late afternoon with John thinning out the bunny population with the HMR, didn't bring the camera as I thought he was in a hurry away home again. Turned out not to be the case

 

Long boring story turned into a short boring story I saw precisely nothing besides sheep on the commonage and two other places I checked out.

 

Decided the I would head for my own farm. There's a high road across the little valley that I often go up to just to have a scan of the farm and surrounds, has paid off before. And indeed, it did so again tonight.

 

I spied the glint of a foxes eyes out in the hill above my top wall. He seemed to be moving out towards the hill. This was perfect as there's rugged but decent shooting ground out there. Plus the wind was blowing in from the hill towards my own place. I had a good feeling about this.

 

So I sped off in the car down the high road and parked up at one of my pens. Gear up, over the gate and out onto the hill. I stayed close to my own wall because of the wind, it's lovely and dark, but a bit quiet.

 

There's a risk he'll come down along the wall instead of being farther out on the hill but nothing I can do about that so no point sweating over it. I had to keep an eye uphill along the wall ahead of me, and also across the little lake into the boulders. There's a decline to my left he can use without me seeing him but I haven't perfected my bi-location skills as yet!

 

As it turned out, he appeared in pretty much the perfect place. I saw bright eyes looking right at me out of nowhere to my left. There was a nice stumpy square rock beside me, partially covered in creeping furze but I couldn't have it all my own way.

 

No time to clip on the lamp so I left the rifle down on the rock, kept the lamp in my left hand shining well up over my little red friend. I cosyed up to the thorny rock as best I could and found my fox in the crosshairs. He's standing and looking right at me. Putting the crosshairs on his chin I squeeze the trigger sending a Hornady Vmax walloping into his snout. There wasn't a lot of it left.

 

A small dog fox at ninety one yards on the nose, so to speak.

 

[mattydski 560]

nice one JG

matty