ianm 2,594 Posted February 17, 2020 Report Share Posted February 17, 2020 I have been itching to get out foxing for a good few days but was unable to due to the weather. After checking the forecast for tonight i rang my mate to see if he fancied a few hours out . Well of course he did, so we arranged for him to pick me up in his adapted for shooting land rover at seven. I had decided to go to a particular land owners farms tonight in a village about eight miles from my own. The first port of call is actually two farms together but owned by the same family which makes for a decent expanse of land. We started at the back of the farm which is arable and consists of three very large fields all adjacent to each other separated by low hedges in between. Two of these are still stubble and the other has been ploughed but left as the weather has been so inclement as to hamper further work. There is a track that runs down the side of all three fields so enabling us to to travel through all of them. Our first stand was to take place at the far end of this track, as it is a good place for fox traffic due to there being a wood two hundred yards further on plus a river that runs around the far side of the wood. It had hail stoned on the way to this place and i had hoped it was an isolated shower which it turned out to be. I set the foxpro out fifty yards from our position on the track and started with "vixen in heat". I had told my mate to set himself up in the shooting position through the land rovers specially adapted roof. The call had been going for about ten minutes when a fox appeared out on the plough to our rear about one hundred and twenty yards away. It had obviously winded us as it was downwind and it sat down to weigh up the situation. I left the caller running and glanced up at my mate to check if he had spotted it. He had as his rifle was pointing in the direction of the fox and his laser illuminater was switched on. A few seconds later i heard the rifle and almost simultaneously a loud pop. He cycled another round in and i kept the caller going for another ten minutes to see if anything else was about. It proved not to be the case so after he had made the rifle safe we went to retrieve the fox. It turned out to be a dog 19lbs in weight. After nothing showed at our next stand i decided to go to another farm owned by the same people but at the opposite end of the village. There is a large wood that bisects this farm and it generally has foxes in it as well as Roe deer and an abundance of squirrels which i will set about shortly. A lane runs down the length of this ground parallel to the wood separated by a field. There are several gates into this field along it's length and i always go through the middle one which is a double metal affair. After i had opened the gates the land rover was parked just inside the field in the gateway. The caller was placed out at fifty yards in front of us and the wind which was very strong was blowing left to right. We where facing the wood and every fox i have shot here has come from that wood. The caller was set off with the same call "vixen on heat". After a few minutes i saw something in the next field to us, a heat source through the hedge. As i was trying to make out what it was my mate hissed "fox". I thought he had seen the same as i had until he again hissed at pointed towards the wood at an angle of about forty five degrees. I looked in the direction he was pointing with the XQ50 and saw a fox racing in. The scope was switched on along with the SRX illuminater and i panned round to find the fox. I found it easily and it had stopped running and was only around a hundred yards away. After pushing the safety off and setting the trigger i placed the reticule on it's bib and squeezed off a shot. I saw it go down convincingly and heard the shot had been good. I immediately cycled another round into the chamber and applied the safety. We both resumed scanning with our thermals. Less than two minutes elapsed when i detected another heat source approaching from the direction of the shot fox. It disappeared into some dead ground out in front just to the left of us. I kept scanning left to right quickly when i saw the unmistakable shape of a fox sat out in front at about one hundred and fifty yards. The scope was still switched on so i lit the illuminater up and pushed the safety off. I soon found my target in the "green daylight scope" and set the trigger, as soon as the reticule was on it's bib i squeezed off a shot. Down it went without so much as a twitch followed by that satisfying pop that confirms all is well. At this point i knocked the caller off and made the rifle safe. After locking up the vehicle we set off to retrieve the foxes. The one that ran in first proved to be the vixen which tipped the scales at fifteen pounds and was in cub. The second fox was the dog who weighed sixteen pounds and all of them where in good condition. Things worked out well tonight and we where back home for nine thirty, an early night for a change. 13 Quote Link to post
Squirrel_Basher 17,100 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 Nice write up mate 1 Quote Link to post
Stavross 15,065 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 A cracking result, they have shy’d off the mating call up this way, we’ll hopefully be up at the sheep farm this week giving the lost lamb call it’s first outing 2 Quote Link to post
Dervburner 2,549 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 Good write up Ian and a good result. Please let us know how you get on with the squirrels when you get around to it 1 Quote Link to post
ianm 2,594 Posted February 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 17 minutes ago, Dervburner said: Good write up Ian and a good result. Please let us know how you get on with the squirrels when you get around to it I certainly will, but the weather will have to get much better before i go sitting in a pop up hide. 2 Quote Link to post
Sausagedog 7,381 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 They are good foxes mate. 19lb is very good. 1 Quote Link to post
David.evans 5,323 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 Great results and a brilliant write up well done mate 1 Quote Link to post
ianm 2,594 Posted February 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 2 minutes ago, Sausagedog said: They are good foxes mate. 19lb is very good. He looked to be a few years old and they are best out of the way now before they start lambing. 1 Quote Link to post
Longshanx 833 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 Top result, good going for only a few hours out looks like they are in good condition. (or should I say were) 2 Quote Link to post
philpot 4,965 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 Very nice write up Ian, and a good result. Phil 1 Quote Link to post
FOXHUNTER 5,021 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 nice result 1 Quote Link to post
bumpy22 414 Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 Top job. I had a pair last night using vixen on heat 2 Quote Link to post
Recommended Posts
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.