The best Slinky Ever!

[ianm 2,594]

I sometimes bait a tidal brook near my house for foxes. As the crow flies it is about three hundred yards from my front door. The place i choose to shoot from is with my back against a thorn hedge and behind that is a six foot high chain link fence which surrounds a treatment plant. Where i sit is looking straight at the brook which runs left to right and is one hundred yards away. Beyond the brook the field rises gently for another one hundred yards till it meets a wire fence and a line of trees along the fence. It is possible to see into the field behind the trees as the ground continues to rise. Sixty yards to my left is another thorn hedge which runs at ninety degrees to the hedge my back is against and goes as far as the brook. Behind this hedge is a set aside field. At the end of the hedge next to the brook is a broken down wooden fence. The field on the far side of the brook continues to the right for another seventy or so yards before it meets a double wire fence. Some two hundred yards away from my position is an overgrown disused orchard at an angle of forty five degrees. It has been overgrown for the last thirty eight years that i have known about it and every year there are cubs in it. It is impenetrable as i have tried several times. The blackberries,nettles and blackthorn see to that. The hedge to my right is in the East to my left is a big open field. Foxes coming to bait here invariably either come straight in from the tree line two hundred yards in front or they pop out from behind the broken down fence following the brook.

In October 2013 which is when i first encountered this fox i didn't own any trail cameras. Instead i used those cheap plastic travel alarm clocks to find out when a fox was visiting the bait. At the risk of boring people that already know how to use them i will nevertheless explain there use. I knock a stake into the ground a yard or so away from the bait so that i can attach the clock to it. I remove the long cover on the back exposing the AA battery that it runs on. Next i have a piece of garden string and tie a large loop into one end. I fit the battery into the clock with the battery through the loop. After tie wrapping the clock to the stake i tie the other end of the string to the bait. When the fox turns up and takes its meal the string pulls tight and it flicks the battery out of the clock thus stopping the time. If you have made the loop big enough the battery will be very close to the clock and can be recovered for the next setting. When the bait has gone it is a simple matter of sliding the clock up the stake till it is free of it then you can see what time the fox stopped the clock. Another piece of string reset the time, rebait and off you go again. I tend to cover my clocks with a couple of sods of earth so as not to spook any foxes.

So on October 22nd 2013 my clock told me i had been visited at eight fifteen the night before. I like to get at least three times before i go and wait and this occasion was no different. This fox had taken my bait three nights running between eight fifteen and eight thirty so i would wait for it on the fourth night. At seven thirty i was in position sat down on a game bag with my rifle on a thirteen to twenty seven inch bipod and a camo net slung in front of me. It was a NW wind of seven miles [per hour which blew onto my left cheek. I knew i wouldn't be winded as no fox had ever come from downwind of a N Westerly. As i sat there i fully expected a text book approach from the fox and i would kill it and be home for nine o,clock. I was spotting with a Pulsar digital spotter with a Xsearcher infra red illuminator attached to it. I scanned continually from the minute i was set up, left to right in a sweeping arc then back again. I had just scanned right and was sweeping to the left when i saw an eyeshine out to my left in the field. It must of taken me a minute to realise it was a big hare i then proceeded to scan back to the right. There it was a fox had chosen the very moment i was distracted to make an appearance. It seemed to have come from behind the broken fence and was following the brook but it had passed straight by the bait and was making it's way to my left. It wasn't very big but seemed cautious in the extreme, it was constantly looking around and trying the wind with its nose. I had instinctively swithched on the Pulsar N750 scope and my other Xsearcher i/r attached to it. I had continued to watch it through the spotter when it turned its head towards me from one hundred and fifty yards away and without pausing it bolted. This was no fast trot away, but a full flight with tail straight out behind it.

How had it known i was there, i pondered on it for days. Eventually i thought maybe the wind had swirled or changed direction and i hadn't noticed. I t had come back for the bait later that night or early morning i should say. I continued to bait it for a further week and every night the bait would go between eight fifteen and eight thirty. I decided to try again and as before i set up at seven thirty and proceeded the vigil. At eight twenty it made a very cautious appearance from behind the broken fencing stopping every two steps or so to have a good look around. As i was switching the scope on whilst watching it through the spotter it looked straight at me and again bolted off. To say i was disappointed was an understatement. However i had realised what was happening. It was being spooked by the red glow from the i/r. This was something i hadn't encountered before so it took a couple of times for me to catch on to it. 

I continued to bait this fox daily and wait for the conditions to be right so that i could shoot without i/r. This meant at least a half moon would be required. Eventually a sort of half perfect night presented itself. I say half perfect because although the moon was in a good phase the wind was marginal. It was a S Easterly which would blow over my right shoulder and away to the left. It should be ok because i knew this fox came from the right and should be on the bait before it got any wind from me. So i thought i would try again. Same set up same time just weeks later. Eight thirty and it made an appearance, i could see it easily through the spotter with no i/r and so i switched the scope on in readiness. There would be no mistake now it cannot see the tell tale glow so won't know i am there. I followed its progress through the spotter as it made its way to the bait. It didn't even give the bait a second look but just continued past it by another hundred yards at which point it bolted again. It had purposely gone past the bait to go as far downwind as it could to see if it was safe. As soon as it winded me away it went.

I had never encountered a fox like this before, it was super cautious and had bettered me three times now. I was determined to kill it though and continued to bait it every day. I now knew what i needed to do. It had to be half moon or better and had to be an East or North Easterly wind. Anything else would see me defeated again. I checked the moon phase and wind direction every day. Everyday i went to bait and the time was always eight fifteen to eight thirty. On the second of February 2014 all the conditions where met. Today was the day we would see who would come out on top and i was determined it would be me. It had been over three months since our first meeting and i had fed it everyday since. Eight fifteen and i saw it peeking around the broken fence, sniffing the air and constantly looking about. I switched the scope on and for the first time elected to follow it through the N750. As i had now become to expect it went straight past the bait and continued on for seventy yards or so before the briefest of pauses whereupon it jumped over the brook to my side. I twigged immediately what it was going to do. It was going to come all the way up to the hedge/fenceline where i was so it could be downwind. If that happened i would be rumbled and that would be the end of any opportunity to kill it. As i tracked it i thought i am going to have to kill this on the move and so i put the reticule on its shoulder. After a second or two i judged it was moving steadily enough to shoot and squeezed the trigger. A loud pop followed and the fox ran about ten yards with its tail straight up in the air before collapsing. I made the rifle safe and went over to collect it. The little vixen had been hit a little further back than ideal at one hundred and forty yards by a thirty two grain 204 bullet. As i turned her over i could see she had had some sort of contact with what i believe was maybe a terrier. Her face on one side was full of holes and what looked like bite marks. These wounds had taken a turn for the worse and she must of been in pain. I was glad to have ended it for her. I still to this day lament the passing of a very worthy nemesis. She made me work for the out come. I notice in my records that during the three months i tried to come on terms with her i had killed thirty two of her brethren on other places.              

Edited June 29, 2020 by ianm

[FOXHUNTER 5,020]

Fantastic read and a very worthy adversary

[Sausagedog 7,381]

Super Slinky.

Some are true survivors. They are certainly able to imagine a risk and asess if a real threat exists. They can be real smart.

[shovel leaner 7,648]

A great read Ian . You come across foxes like that now and then . Some people like football or fishing or drinking. But for me there is no greater pass time than the pursuit of a truly worthy opponent . 
          I am about to enter my busy foxing time when my birds go to wood . I could honestly do without a clever one now . 
          

[David.evans 5,323]

Ian 

that’s a foxing book in its self 

great account

atb mate 

[FLATTOP 3,655]

Great read Ian and what a worthy fox, when I used to follow a local hunt I used to love seeing a good adversary laying false scents to give the hounds the run around you would see them sitting in a vantage point sniffing the air and listening catching their breath before they make there next move.

Very intelligent survivors and no matter how much shooting dog work hunting there still here and seem to go from strength to strength.