I feel like chicken tonight !!!!

[shovel leaner 7,648]

Well , yours truly is off on his last holiday before the birds come , off to sunny Dorset , or maybe not so sunny ? The good lady wanted to do some baking and so I was sent to see my mate at the free range poultry farm and get a couple of trays of eggs . No money changes hands for my fox control , he says “don’t go buying eggs , you can have as many as you want” , and I hold him to it . All my family and neighbors never buy eggs . But the tight git  doesn’t give me grade A eggs they are the rejects , the odd shaped shells or gritty shells , but they taste the same I suppose. Anyway , I digress, the visit was made and the eggs put in my truck . I always have a natter and the conversation always gets on to foxes and has he seen any lately. He hasn’t seen any for ages and he told me there were regularly birds out in the morning, indicating that no foxes had been around the units at night . The way these units work is  , the chickens lay in the morning, so the hatches don’t open till midday, and then they close automatically at this time of year at 10.15 pm , what often happens is some birds don’t go in and the foxes will sneak these off during the night , but if there are birds out in the morning, It can mean that no foxes are about . I told him that I would pop around on Sunday evening and have a look before my holiday, as we have changed the way I deal with foxes from “reactive “ to “proactive “, and I get around the units about once a week. I turned up on Sunday evening as promised at about 9.0pm , still light and still chickens out . I was getting my gear out of the truck and looking around at the some time , and there in the chicken run was a fox . I quickly got the rifle out and crept over to an IBC (1000 litre fluid container) and put the bi-pod up there is an undulation in the field which means there is “dead ground” or an area where foxes disappear and can turn up anywhere along its length, I concentrated hard and was determined not to miss it reappearing. It was gone for ages and I thought it snuck off and I haven’t seen it , when it reappeared almost exactly where it disappeared. My 223 home loads haven’t let me down yet , and neither did this one as the shot rang out loudly off the sides of the units . It was a tiny vixen, she had had cubs but was dry now . I took a picture but it was staged , I shot it away from the unit but I thought I’d take a picture of the fox with it’s intended dinner . I waited until the hatches closed and then a bit longer because very often they will pop out the minute the hatches shut , some foxes you can set your watch by . But nothing showed and I decided to call it a night , but I didn’t empty my rifle as there are some paddocks I pass on my way out of the farm and I always check them . Sure enough the first paddock I pass had not one fox but four . I picked the biggest and drew a bead on it from off my wing mirror but it was trotting towards the hedge ..... feeling confident I followed him and squeezed  the trigger. Whomp ... sounded like a gut shot and it staggered to the hedge . I scanned around for the cubs but they had long gone . I grabbed the thermal and my torch and slung my rifle and went to find it , I found the blood trail and Before long I found a huge dog fox , still breathing but going nowhere . I put him to sleep and gathered up the body . He was a big boy 20lb + that’s big around our way . I text the farmer and called it a night . Two down and more to deal with when I get back . I will be living on omelette for ever .

Edited June 2, 2019 by shovel leaner

[Alsone 789]

Are you sure you shot him? Looks as if he got a chicken bone stuck in his throat. Dangerous things those chickens.

[Sausagedog 7,381]

Well done bud. 

I have similar arrangement but this unit has also been quiet. I was very "proactive" in December/January!

[Stavross 13,743]

A job well done and another cracking write up, you should write your memoirs of a fox controller, you tell a story very well

[Rimfireboy! 1,463]

Good shooting fella, good result

[Baldcoot 2,352]

Happy farmer ,happy mrs sad foxes oh well "2 outa 3 aint bad "

[BenBhoy 4,706]

6 hours ago, Baldcoot said:

Happy farmer ,happy mrs sad foxes oh well "2 outa 3 aint bad "

Cant beat a bit of meatloaf!