Fox cubs an badgers

[Daniel cain 45,356]

I'm praying for some snow.....

few days off and hopefully get a few dug

[trapliner 92]

Had a litter in an artificial  wiped out by a  brock a couple of years ago so it does happen but would say the night vision boys are the ones having the biggest impact on the fox numbers round here especially 

[jiggy 3,209]

Vixens will pull out several earths but only use one this time of year in preperation if she had to move cubs. I've been there done that thinkin there was going to be foxes in each one. I find this time of year that a live looking earth doesn't mean it's live. I also find that when you eventually find a litter it's usually in a spot that is well away from major badger setts that you could dig adult foxes in all year round. Normally old quiet earths or widened up rabbit burrows in hedges running away from badger activity. They will return to large burrows when strong enough. I've also seen this time of year last years badger cubs have been evicted by Mammy to make room for the new batch and you can run into the lost souls looking to establish their own turf asleep on top of ground in cover when out bushing. Plenty of foxes around me, very little game for them to eat but they find a way . No gamekeeper or estate ground near me either. Foxes are thriving but if you live in an area that a mans proffession is to eliminate them then the numbers will be low or he isn't doing his job. Trapping, Snaring, Houndwork, Terrierwork, Bushing, Lamping, Night vision and god forbid illegal poisoning all going on at the same time in some areas would obviously hammer them. I watched a litter grow 200 yards up the road from me last year behind a free running poultry owners holding. He lost 40 chickens,turkeys and geese. My neighbour told him I could fix it but he said no and bought a fox trap to catch and release in another area and bought a crow banger. He caught one of the 8 fox family there I'm quiet happy lamping the surrounding land as he hasn't much ground and I've permission on the surrounding 500 acres so I tip away with the lurcher now that they are mature and get a run every windy night. I heard them squealing last week and they are ready to mate again. Happy days. He is one of these weird jehovah or born again Christian types so hopefully he will fatten them up for me again next season. I doubt he is making a profit on the fowl though. One mans loss is another mans gain and there isn't any rabbits so he is doing me a favour. How they survive with the lack of pheasants and rabbits I don't know but they are foxes in fine condition. Fat with great coats. A fox will survive on frogs and worms quiet well and only take fowl when cubbing. 5 mouths to feed instead of one makes them braver.

[dogmandont 9,821]

42 minutes ago, Dig-deep-draw-charlie said:

We haven’t had a great season running the fox to lurcher, but checking holes has been good, we put it down to the cover being constantly tourtured and they just ain’t resting in it, but for me it’s juat not cold enough to check earths,

We had a week of almost constant rain a few weeks before Christmas and between four of us we must of tried over eighty earths in two days without so much as a sniff, another problem we’ve had this season is the lack of a couple of good marking hounds. 

Edited January 16, 2019 by dogmandont

[Liamboy 1,266]

5 hours ago, dogmandont said:

Getting hammered year round here. We done five bits of cover at the weekend that nearly always hold a fox or two, nothing. Something is causing a drop in numbers and it definitely isn’t us. 

Most teams of cover men around here are really struggling this season. Most are in the same situation by the sounds of things

[jiggy 3,209]

3 minutes ago, dogmandont said:

We had a week of almost constant rain a few weeks before Christmas and between four of us we must of tried over eighty earths in two days without so much as a sniff, another problem we’ve had this season is the lack of a couple of good making hounds. 

Can't beat marking hounds but if none available and working solo then a good wet week will put them to ground if cover is saturated.

[dogmandont 9,821]

1 minute ago, jiggy said:

Can't beat marking hounds but if none available and working solo then a good wet week will put them to ground if cover is saturated.

We thought the same jiggy but they just aren’t there. It’s funny you should mention poisoning as a friend was on a partridge shoot before Christmas and heard a couple of lads chatting about lacing rabbits on their shoot and the same lads are mates with lads that have a small shoot in an area that we’ve noticed the biggest decline in numbers. 

[jiggy 3,209]

11 minutes ago, Liamboy said:

Most teams of cover men around here are really struggling this season. Most are in the same situation by the sounds of things

I always found that February was the prime month for bushing and more foxes took than the rest of season combined. Dog foxes mostly and the bitchs have slipped away to a quiet area. We hammered our area before with rifles when releasing pheasants and it destroyed our Sunday's bushing. I stopped rifle shooting after that and numbers have recovered but it took nearly 10 year for them to come back. No interest in pheasants now or protecting them and fox numbers are therefore as good as I've ever seen them. My own father was constantly hunting the same ground for fox week in week out but due to illness he can no longer hunt and new foxes are setting up and thriving on ground that he hunted for 50 years. Before if they moved into that area they would be gone within weeks as he was bushing to gun packs. 

[ziggy 619]

Katchum saw a few when i was up your way that time...  Rember round the fishing lakes sat ther like dogs looking at us hahha...  Still laff about gary hahaha

[jiggy 3,209]

6 minutes ago, dogmandont said:

We thought the same jiggy but they just aren’t there. It’s funny you should mention poisoning as a friend was on a partridge shoot before Christmas and heard a couple of lads chatting about lacing rabbits on their shoot and the same lads are mates with lads that have a small shoot in an area that we’ve noticed the biggest decline in numbers. 

If they are talking about it then how many are doing it that are keeping it quiet. Since the ban on poisioning came there is plenty using everything from carrot pesticides to fader beet. If your near a shoot and they are doing their homework then your fcuked. A good gamekeeper wouldn't have too many foxes in a 5 mile radius to protect whatever. That's his job and he will lose his house and employment if he fails. I hunt mostly bogland or loads of farmers ground I've permission on to eliminate pests so there isn't any competion as edible game is scarce and only wild birds. I even get invited into them lads ground because they know I won't touch their birds. Took decades and more than one generation to earn their respect because they know I'm just there for foxes.

[gnipper 6,467]

1 hour ago, dogmandont said:

To be honest I don’t think so gnipper as the fox population has never been fully reliant on rabbit numbers in a lot of places that we hunt. 

I wonder if everything moved onto rodents etc instead and they have been thinned out? I've not seen a stoat for a good while now.

[dogmandont 9,821]

10 minutes ago, jiggy said:

If they are talking about it then how many are doing it that are keeping it quiet. Since the ban on poisioning came there is plenty using everything from carrot pesticides to fader beet. If your near a shoot and they are doing their homework then your fcuked. A good gamekeeper wouldn't have too many foxes in a 5 mile radius to protect whatever. That's his job and he will lose his house and employment if he fails. I hunt mostly bogland or loads of farmers ground I've permission on to eliminate pests so there isn't any competion as edible game is scarce and only wild birds. I even get invited into them lads ground because they know I won't touch their birds. Took decades and more than one generation to earn their respect because they know I'm just there for foxes.

No professional gamekeepers on any of the ground we hunt jiggy but a lot of small syndicates. 

[jiggy 3,209]

29 minutes ago, dogmandont said:

We thought the same jiggy but they just aren’t there. It’s funny you should mention poisoning as a friend was on a partridge shoot before Christmas and heard a couple of lads chatting about lacing rabbits on their shoot and the same lads are mates with lads that have a small shoot in an area that we’ve noticed the biggest decline in numbers. 

Which end of country are you if you don't mind me asking? I'm in midlands so pretty much the middle of the bog of Allen. Technically all cut away bog is bord Na mona and therefore government sanctuary but nearly all gun clubs base their clubs, release pens and shooting areas around a certain area and have an agreement between clubs of where those boundarys are. My small club that my grandfather founded and he was dead before I was born has the distinction of never having a member called in for overstepping boundaries and I can pretty much hunt fox in any neighbouring club and get invited because we never messed anybody around and I don't tend to be the one to break that trust . We just happened to be a fox hunting family so poaching game wasn't an issue. All other clubs I go to have only interest in pheasants so they are delighted to see me coming.

[jiggy 3,209]

7 minutes ago, dogmandont said:

No professional gamekeepers on any of the ground we hunt jiggy but a lot of small syndicates. 

So plenty of unpaid pest controllers.

[dogmandont 9,821]

3 minutes ago, jiggy said:

Which end of country are you if you don't mind me asking? I'm in midlands so pretty much the middle of the bog of Allen. Technically all cut away bog is bord Na mona and therefore government sanctuary but nearly all gun clubs base their clubs, release pens and shooting areas around a certain area and have an agreement between clubs of where those boundarys are. My small club that my grandfather founded and he was dead before I was born has the distinction of never having a member called in for overstepping boundaries and I can pretty much hunt fox in any neighbouring club and get invited because we never messed anybody around and I don't tend to be the one to break that trust . We just happened to be a fox hunting family so poaching game wasn't an issue. All other clubs I go to have only interest in pheasants so they are delighted to see me coming.

I’m in the north jiggy and I’m pretty much the same as yourself as I’m only interested in fox myself, we have a fair bit of bogland and vacuumed peat bogs to go at ourselves but they just aren’t holding anything like the numbers they did in the last 15 or 20 years which brings me back to the rifle and poison because as the number of syndicates have risen the fox numbers have disappeared.