Fox identification at night

[liampatterdale 0]

Well im no pro my self but you should buy a good enough scope to tell the target species and if in dought dont pull the trigger

[DaveK 0]

We sat in the landy one night lamping a fox but my gut feeling was something not right.

 

Height above ground was right, colour was right, blink was right but something was wrong.

 

My mate kept saying its a fox, shoot it but I wasn't happy.

 

45 minutes later I realised it was a roe laying down watching us.

 

It would have been so so easy to pull that trigger.

 

On the issue of eye colour. It can depend on whether you're using white light or coloured filters as to what you see.

[Tallyho 181]

if ever unsure dont shoot.

[DaveK 0]

if ever unsure dont shoot.

 

 

I think that's been said several times but it's so SOOOOOOOOOOO important.

 

NEVER shoot at a pair of eyes, as the lamper that shot a man with night vision goggles watching badgers found out. Luckily noone died but it was down to shooting at a pair of eyes.

 

ALWAYS identify the quarry beyond ANY doubt before putting your finger on the trigger.

[Vulpas 0]

I mostly use nightvision on foxes these days and due to the power of the lazer illuminator i see the eyes long before the body. But i will NEVER attempt the shot until i have either moved up on it or let it walk in to me. Even though i use modern nightvision there is no substitute for good old fieldcraft!!!!!

[garyw 0]

easiest way to id a fox is to shout out very loudly "ARE YOU A FOX"?

this may seem stupid but a fox is not stupid so it wont reply if it did it would give its self away!

they are crafty them foxes.

[sikastag_1 689]

You should ALWAYS identify the WHOLE animal when shooting at night, if you can't, don't shoot it! Simple and safe.

 

 

 

true mate, never fire if you aint certain of quarry or a safe shot, if you cant identify these animals at night mate maybe up your scope or up your lamp to one with more cp if im out i can normally identify from a good distance, the other week a mate had the big lamp so we used a smaller 1 we seen a fox it ran then stopped it wasnt that far away and i couldnt even make it out through the scope because of lack of light so if i was you i would try a brighter lamp cos if theyre only 100 yards away you should see them perfect through your scope if its a good scope.

[Yokel Matt 918]

I know im getting of track a bit here but this post just reminded me of an article I was reading in the indipedant or guardian newspaper. (Dont know how I found it as i normally read the sun) but it basically went as follows.

:- An experienced fox shooter was lamping with his mates when he lamped a fox in a particular field. he lost the fox untill later that night when he saw a large set of bright orange eyes moving and blinking. He pulled the trigger of his centerfire and heard agonising screams of pain. It turned out that a nature watcher was out with nightvision equipment that glowed orange when in use. ! The bloke lived so he was luky, and I think he didnt get charged. Some of you probably know about this incident already but for those who dont......................

 

Yep... the bloke lost a lung. Stupid bugger was looking for badgers, did not have permission to be on the land and was well off the footpath. Still no excuse for the guy who pulled the trigger... just goes to show that you can't be too careful.

[Fidgety 8]

I'll bet the shooter no longer has a licence - or particularly wants to shoot again! Any links to that story?

[Finkley 1]

Found this report.

 

A hunter who shot a leading wildlife expert after mistaking his night-vision binoculars for a fox's eyes was cleared of assault on 27/8/04. Anthony Burns (52) from Prestwood, Buckinghamshire, was out "lamping" for foxes late one night last year when he shot and seriously injured journalist Trevor Lawson. Aylesbury crown court heard Lawson had been looking for barn owls along a footpath through farmland when he was shot in the chest with a hunting bullet designed to disintegrate inside the body of an animal to kill it more effectively. The court heard Mr Lawson spent two days in intensive care, lost a lung and still has part of the bullet under his skin. Burns had two decades of shooting experience, including "lamping" – a form of night hunting using a red filtered light which is difficult for the fox to see - without incident. Under an arrangement with the farmer on whose land the accident happened, Burns and a group of friends rear pheasants in pens and organise small-scale shoots. With the farmer's permission, he and his two fellow lampers would go on periodic expeditions to shoot foxes.

 

Whoopsie. If it's possible it sounds like both were lucky, one could have ended up deaded and the other in the clink for a very long time.

 

At least it serves as the mother of all cautionary tales.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Guest JohnGalway]

For identification only; Foxes will tend ot have golden/orange eyes, blinking is a good give away especially walking a few paces then looking at you again, to me their eyes appear to look like ovals set high in the head and close together.

 

For shooting; Make 100% sure you can see it's a fox through your scope, no if's and's but's or maybe's, you gotta see it and know it's a fox before shooting.

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

A little tale will serve to back up the NO SHOOTING AT EYES rule .Years ago ,maybe 20 or so ,i was on the back of a subaru lamping foxes with a head keeper and a beat keeper like myself .I had the estate .222 and my mate was lamping with the head driving .We'd had a brace already and shot dozens more on other nights so those doing the lamping/shooting knew what they were at but on this night, the head keeper had to have his say .We drove into a field on the boundary and a set of eyes were seen on top of a dry stone wall ,at roughly 200 yads .I looked through the scope ,something which i still regret now and admitted to my mate that i couldnt identify it as a fox .The head keeper whispered as to what was wrong and said shoot it ,cats were ok quarry there mind, but what i could see didnt fit with either .He drove closer and stopped at just over 100 yards and again whispered to shoot it .I was studying the eyes when a shout split the night ,a womens voice from behind the eyes Feck me did i start shaking .It was only a women holding a goat kid at chest level ,just the other side of the wall .We were near one of the tennant farms ,not that it stopped us shooting there as we often had one on the end of their garden .The women was taking in a sick kid and had stopped to see what we were doing !!!!!.

Never did get an apology from the keeper but he never doubted me afterwards .

[mattydski 560]

A little tale will serve to back up the NO SHOOTING AT EYES rule .Years ago ,maybe 20 or so ,i was on the back of a subaru lamping foxes with a head keeper and a beat keeper like myself .I had the estate .222 and my mate was lamping with the head driving .We'd had a brace already and shot dozens more on other nights so those doing the lamping/shooting knew what they were at but on this night, the head keeper had to have his say .We drove into a field on the boundary and a set of eyes were seen on top of a dry stone wall ,at roughly 200 yads .I looked through the scope ,something which i still regret now and admitted to my mate that i couldnt identify it as a fox .The head keeper whispered as to what was wrong and said shoot it ,cats were ok quarry there mind, but what i could see didnt fit with either .He drove closer and stopped at just over 100 yards and again whispered to shoot it .I was studying the eyes when a shout split the night ,a womens voice from behind the eyes Feck me did i start shaking .It was only a women holding a goat kid at chest level ,just the other side of the wall .We were near one of the tennant farms ,not that it stopped us shooting there as we often had one on the end of their garden .The women was taking in a sick kid and had stopped to see what we were doing !!!!!.

Never did get an apology from the keeper but he never doubted me afterwards .

Jesus, that was a close call. I hope i have the same precense of mind as yourself in that situation.

Good call..

 

Matt