Fox control job!

[ianm 2,594]

I had a phone call last week from the bloke in our little syndicate that also has another couple of shoots that i shoot foxes on for him. The farmer had been onto him that there where two litters of cubs on the ground and could he sort it out. Anyway i couldn't go straight away as i was tractor driving on the silage. The story went that an ex gamekeeper that lives in a cottage approximately two hundred yards from a wood had seen the vixen and three cubs sat out regularly through his binoculars, fair enough. Then the farmer tells us that whilst silaging he has seen the grass flattened by a litter of cubs adjacent to a small wood where they cub every year but hadn't seen the cubs. I didn't bother on Friday or the weekend as the winds where horrendous but made arrangements to go Monday night. I was supposed to meet the bloke at ten o,clock but got there at quarter to and he was already there. After a discussion with him i chose to go to where the cubs had been seen rather than where the grass had been flattened. The reason i did so was i didn't believe there where two litters on this ground within five or six hundred yards of each other. I have hit the foxes hard on there for several years but every year a pair manage to sneak in around March time and cub in the little wood where he had seen the grass flattened. This land is a mixture of arable and grazing for cattle and sheep. There are no rabbits but plenty of hares and the fields aren't the type to support a large mice or vole population so in my opinion there isn't enough food for two litters. What i presumed had happened is the foxes had cubbed in the usual wood and been disturbed so relocated to a different wood three fields away. I knew where the earth was and i wouldn't be able to get the jimny in to a close distance because the field on one side had been planted with oats and the field on the other side was planted with maize. This meant that i could only park on a grass field on the backside of the wood or walk in and shoot off sticks. I opted to stay with the vehicle because although this would mean longer shots it is far more stable than sticks and cubs aren't the biggest of targets.

I set up on the backside of the wood and put the foxpro out to our left about fifty yards. I spent about fifteen minutes scanning with the thermal spotter to see if there was any movement. There was a heat source  further down the wood moving away about two hundred yards away. Having switched the scope on i could see it was a cub mooching about inside the wood. I didn't want to shoot any cubs till i had dealt with the vixen. The reason being if she was close and sensed danger she would call the remaining cubs back to her and move them as soon as i had left. I decided to use the juvenile fox distress call to see if i could lure her out. It was quite a still night so the sound would travel a long way which was ideal. I began to play the call and in less than a minute had a reaction. I was parked alongside a deep ditch facing the wood which is about one hundred and eighty yards away. However from this point i can also see right up the sowed oats field in front of the wood and beyond another deep ditch that bisects the oat field and the maize field beyond. On the maize field was an adult fox coming like a train and making for a wooden plank come bridge affair over the far ditch, it had in tow a cub with it. I switched on the scope and illuminator and waited for them to come in a bit closer. Eventually i shouted and the adult stopped after running on for a few more paces and turned broadside to look towards the caller. I didn't need anymore of an invitation so as soon as the reticule was behind the shoulder i squeezed the trigger  and saw it go down. I quickly cycled another round round into the chamber and found the cub running away in the scope. It reached the ditch and turned to look along it and in doing so offered me a a side on shot which i took. The loud pop and dark mist above the cub told me all i needed to know, the cub had been dispatched.  After half an hour or so another cub appeared along the ditchline where it's sibling had succumbed  previously. Again i switched the Drone on and waited for an opportunity to present itself. I didn't have to wait long and the result was another dead cub. I continued to scan the fields and wood looking for the other cub. forty five or so minutes later i spotted it down the other end of the wood which sticks out ninety degrees to the rest of the wood. I thought it was pushing the boundaries to try and shoot a small cub at three hundred and fifty yards when i didn't need to so i packed up the rifle and drove a couple of hundred yards down the grass field to close the gap. After setting up again it took a while to find it again but i did eventually. After watching it for a while mooching inside the wood it decided to come out and started to walk away from me. I quickly found it in the scope and again waited for my chance. it didn't take long before it stopped to smell something on the ground side on and the ending was inevitable. 

I had accounted for what had been seen so decided to pick up the carcasses and measure the distances involved. The last cub was one hundred and eighty four yards. I drove back to where i started and picked up the foxpro before setting off on foot to retrieve the adult and the cubs. I found the adult fox at one hundred and sixty yards and the two cubs on the ditchline at two hundred and thirty seven yards. Now here is the surprise the adult was a dog fox. I waited around another couple of hours and called but no sign of a vixen. I think some misfortune has happened to her and that is probably why the cubs had been moved. I also checked out the other "flattened grass wood" but no sign of anything there. I don't like to destroy cubs really but i would rather do it than have some farmer make an half arsed attempt and finish up with shotgun pellet wounded cubs all over the place.

[Sausagedog 7,381]

Gotta be done.

The Suzuki's are nice and quiet for sneaking about with.

[shovel leaner 7,650]

That was a good read , and a good result. 
It’s nice when a plan comes together. 

[Stavross 16,065]

I’m all excited now for an ianm write up, I’m saving this for when I get home

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

Epic write up that was , felt like I was there.

[si brown 8,486]

Got to agree with the lads that was a great read.. and a well executed session

[BenBhoy 4,706]

Great stuff Ian, thanks for the re-telling good read.

[Stavross 16,065]

Well I wasn’t wrong, that was definitely worth waiting to read when I could give it my full attention, nice work

[BenBhoy 4,706]

6 hours ago, ianm said:

have some farmer make an half arsed attempt and

[Sausagedog 7,381]

20 minutes ago, BenBhoy said:

Nothing wrong with 21g #9 at 60yards! I knew they would come in handy one day.

[philpot 5,027]

Nice write up Ian, I felt like I was there.

Phil

[Longshanx 833]

You should start writing your memoirs Ian, bet they'd make a cracking read. 

Good result and great write up

Edited June 1, 2020 by Longshanx