Grass is Cut, Foxes are (were) about.

[SportingShooter 0]

I had a nice surprise on Monday night.

 

After weeks of waiting for the weather to calm down and the grass to grow, one of my farms was finally cut.

 

I was planning on lamping that night anyway but this was a bonus as I knew foxes, especially cubs would be out in force after all of the little goodies that were nestling in the mounds of damp, cut grass.

 

I phoned a fellow keeper to see if he wanted to come out and as soon as I mentioned the grass had been cut, he wanted to come! So we arranged to meet there at about 8:45. We both arrived within a minute of each other and got loaded and Lamped up.

 

We did a daylight tour of the place and saw nothing but we returned to the car with high hopes of seeing something after dark. We sat there in the car until it was pretty much as dark as it was going to get.

We did the same routine, loaded and lamped up.

 

We left the car, on the lane and entered a field through an ivy clustered gateway. This field is pretty much a rectangle with a mound in centre so you just about cant see the top hedge. We walked up the long, and gloomy hedgerow to our right to the middle where we could lamp and see the entire field. There was nothing doing in this field on close inspection so we left it and walked straight across the middle of it to the next one, which contains a small L shaped wood and is bordered by a road on the far side.

 

We walked through the gateway and up on top of a ridge in the first part of this field and flashed again. This time we had two pair of orange eyes in the not to distant grass. I dropped to the ground in the prone position while the lamp was switched off and I steadied myself of the Bi-Pod. I picked the fox to the left first as he was the furthest and Bang!! He dropped. I saw the other, another Cub, run about 20 yards up the field. I followed him in the scope, he stopped, still a safe shot, I fired , THUD!!! He flipped up in the air and down it went too.

 

On inspection they were two vixen cubs, about half to three-quarter grown. On this occasion I had no camera but I did the following night.....................

 

The following night, we did the same thing again.

 

We met at around the same time, a little later, and decided to wait until after dark this time.

The grass had now been all collected in and the fields were once again, walkable.

 

We waited and chatted, reminding ourselves of last night and that success and hoping we would have some more tonight. I was shooting again tonight, but I had been out all day with the HMR and is all I had with me, my buddy had brought along his .22-250 as requested by me when I spoke to him.

 

I loaded up, he strapped the battery pack around his waist and we set off. The lamp has a fairly new Red filter on it and it has worked wonders over the last month or so.

 

We went straight to the field where we had our successes the night before and lo and behold, there was another on the hedge, I could see it easily without the lamp.

 

I kneeled down into position, rested the crosshairs on it, still without the lamp on and with the dark beckoning wood behind it. I just whispered "OK" to my buddy, he switched the lamp on and seen as I was already on it, BANG!! Another one flipped. A small vixen cub about half grown, now with a large hole in her.

 

We pulled her to the edge and walked on. We now walked across three fields and saw nothing, all the time the moon was popping in and out and the olde Tawny was hooting away. We walked through the last gate before a large water meadow which is very very wet at the moment but all the same we lamped it thoroughly and guess what, a nice bright pair of orange eyes staring back at us. At this point we could only see the eyes moving through the hedgerow and I got my WAM call out to get it a bit closer, or even in the same field.

 

I called with the lamp off and it had come through the hedge and gone into out blindspot around the corner of the gate against the hedgerow. We hurriedly but quietly climbed over the very rickety, rusty iron gate and I kneeled down on the few bits of dry ground in this field, with the rifle on the Bi-Pod ready to go.

 

My buddy switched the lamp on and I could see it against the far hedgerow in this field and each time he stopped he would run another 20 yards soon after. I put the call back in my mouth and gave a squeak, he stopped, ran, I squeaked, then he stopped for just that touch too long. Bang!! This time I could not see if I had hit it or not. So I stood up and we trudged through the tufted, broken and deep mud across the field to where I had fired at him.

 

Bloody Excellent!! Another vixen cub lying motionless on the floor. 180 yards, not bad. She was only two feet from the hedge so we left her there. We walked back across the mud laiden field, slirping and sliding all over the shop, wellies getting stuck in the mud. We were lit up like a couple of Christmas Trees with the moon high above us.

 

We got back to the gate, climbed over and backtracked to a centre field from which we could go to one more field, the last one, before going home. By this time it was about 11:30.

 

We crossed the centre field towards another gateway which has high banks either side and looks into field which slopes down into a valley bottom. There are cattle in this field but they were hundreds of yards away in a corner.

 

We stood by the gate and flashed right to left. There he was, on the far left eating a still born Calf. He didn't even look up from his meal. I rested on the gate, lowered the crosshairs onto his chest and BANG! the 50g Accutip had done its job yet again. He had flipped into the air and landed within four inches of the Calf where he had been eating.

 

This time a full grown Dog, probably in his second year. And that was the end of that. We had both thoroughly enjoyed the night and it was a 100% success, three shots, three foxes. Now just the trudge back to the car and home.

 

These Pictures are in the order they were shot, with a Remington Model 7 in .22-250.

 

But...... After all that good news, my Head Keeper gave us a going over. He had arranged for another shooter, not a keeper nor one of our guns, to shoot the foxes when the fields were cut. Not having told us we were annoyed and seen as he was away at the time in Scotland, it could have turned into a nasty accident. This shooter had thrown a hissy fit and gone running to him and we got it in the neck. Seen as he doesn't do a stitch of work for us, the shooter was getting the cream for nothing, not going to happen. Something will be being done shortly or he'll find himself at 65 with two metal knees, doing the job of five keepers just when the season is imminent.

 

Its just not Cricket.

 

Hope you Enjoyed.

 

Regards

SS

[Terrier man 38]

Fine shooting s/s and that last fox is a grand looking size ........

[scotlandforever 0]

well done mate thats another few poult killers put to bed

 

Jason

[Terrier man 38]

Fine shooting s/s and that last fox is a grand looking size ........

he got all his practice shootin tin cans at his local fair..

guns should be banned ss needs to get a lurcher lol lol lol

 

iv said that before sp but its like talking to the wall

[rizzini 1]

I liek the bit about the shooter bieng 65 with two metal knees

[scottishlass 57]

bet the farmers were well chuffed ,good shooting

[gilly-93 31]

nice read and good shooting as usial mate

[SportingShooter 0]

Thanks for the replies Guys.

 

Dont think i'll be getting a lurcher anytime soon Spider

 

Might get a bigger gun than a .410 though

 

That last fox was a big 'un but no big enough for the .22-250.

 

Glad you enjoyed.

 

SS

[Berriow Bill 0]

Nice one SS, it was indeed a good read and a good few nights work!

[Lewdan 17]

Very interesting reading. good pics well done mate worth staying up for

[davyt63 1,845]

hi sportingshooter

nice shooting & good read & nice pics keep at em

happy hunting

 

davy

[dafmla 1]

nice story good shooting keep it up

[Jordan1992 0]

Great Shootin