Saturday Nights Lamping

[timwest 8]

On Saturday night i decided it was time to set off out after Charlie. The weather was just perfect, it was very dark with slight drizzle and a light breeze. It was the night after heavy rain and strong winds. Getting ready i grabbed the 222 out of the cabinet and screwed on the T8 whilst deciding which bullets to use, due to windy conditions i went with the Remington Express 50gr PSP. I grabbed a few calls, snacks and was ready for take off, when all of a sudden my girlfriend insisted she accompanied me. After what felt like 2 hours she was finally ready. When we walked outside the door it was absolutely p*****g it down but this didn't bother me the slightest. I had one goal on my mind and that was to get the fox that had been taking the neighbors hens.

 

We jumped in the Land Rover and drove up to a spot where in previous nights i had seen it lurking around. Sweeping the fields with the lamp revealed a couple of eyes, but they were only hares so my lass turned off the lamp. after about 20 seconds of calling we gave it 5 minutes before scanning again. Turning it back on revealed a badger. So we continued up the road. Because it was late we both decided we weren't going to stay out as long as usual so we drove straight to the moor in which the fox had been seen last. Driving up the track i noticed that my girlfriend had fallen asleep, so i had to open all the gates myself. We traveled about 600 yards along the track at the bottom side of the moor. i got out and swept the lamp across the open land. Nothing was around so i decided to call. i use a pocket call 3n1 on the cx setting. With the lamp still on, i let the rabbit squeal into the night, after about 5 minutes a set of eyes appeared over the top of the quarry around 900 yards away. so i turned off the lamp and woke up sleepy head lol. She passed me the rifle and i cycled a round into the chamber as she quietly wound down the window, opening the bipod legs i continued to call. Instinctively my girlfriend turned on the lamp and we both watched him running in towards us, she had the light slightly above his head just enough for us to see his eyes glowing. When he reached around 300 yard i watched him come in through the Schmidt & Bender, when all of a sudden he disappeared, so i squeaked with the back of my hand and all of a sudden he emerged. He stopped still in his tracks at around 150 yards away looking directly at us trying to figure out what it was, before he had chance i let rip a 50gr, with a sudden thud confirming a hit. It was a clean kill straight to the chest. I was chuffed with how my lass handled the lamp as she didn't spook it. On closer inspection it turned out to be the fox id been after! a big dog fox!