Fox numbers

[walshie 2,804]

What would you lads consider a decent number of foxes to shoot in a night? Obviously some of you are professional pest controllers so the numbers would be very high, but also I read about a lot of blanks so I was wondering what the average was.

I don't record the odd fox I shoot in my field or when I'm after rabbits, but I do record the number when I go out specifically for a night fox shooting.

My last 6 nights out have resulted in 1,2,4,2,6, & 2 making an average of 2.8 per night. Most I've ever had is a 9 and an 8 last year, and of course I've had blanks, but not for a fair while, touch wood.

 

[David.evans 5,323]

I think Dave that you must be above the average with those numbers 

the most I’ve done in a night is 5 , but they were a family , dog vixen, and 3 Cubs 

which ir rare for me any way and easy shooting as the Cubs were daft 

normally my numbers are in the one or twos 

and some times none , then again numbers I think would depend on acreage 

or something that bring them in ie chicken farm ect 

[ianm 2,594]

17 minutes ago, walshie said:

What would you lads consider a decent number of foxes to shoot in a night? Obviously some of you are professional pest controllers so the numbers would be very high, but also I read about a lot of blanks so I was wondering what the average was.

I don't record the odd fox I shoot in my field or when I'm after rabbits, but I do record the number when I go out specifically for a night fox shooting.

My last 6 nights out have resulted in 1,2,4,2,6, & 2 making an average of 2.8 per night. Most I've ever had is a 9 and an 8 last year, and of course I've had blanks, but not for a fair while, touch wood.

 

A lot depends,  on the area you are shooting in. Some have very high densities of fox others haven't. The week before last i went out three times albeit targeting one particular fox on our shoot that had been causing problems. I killed it the third night, there was no pattern to its behaviour. So very much a wait and see if it turns up job, not helped by the fact it was call and lamp shy. The following week i went out three nights locally and killed 1,1 then two. I am happy to kill just one then i get more nights out but if two present themselves then i will kill them. I can have two or three blank nights for whatever reason and then two or three good nights. 

[walshie 2,804]

24 minutes ago, Balaur said:

Shooting foxes is generally indiscriminate in comparison to that of deer stalking , I'd be amazed if any shooter would shoot 8 and let a ninth go. Is eradicating them the end goal? Is there any thought to you shooting yourselves out of sport or do towns and cities feed grounds enough to keep up with year round shooting? I understand that they're a pest but how far would you be prepared to take technology and advantage in your destruction of a pest/sport? Without wanting to sound like an anti I guess I'm asking do you see a drop in numbers over the years of shooting certain areas , have they been completely eliminated on any grounds? Is there any detriment to them not being around or are there enough predators raptors and alike to fill any void. Only some thoughts, as I don't see many local......

I agree. I suppose it depends on how many times you go. If I was taking an average of 3 a night every night it might make a dent in the population eventually, but it's normally a couple of weeks between outings and not always to the same place. When you also consider the ones I don't shoot because of nearby houses, roads, no backstop etc. I probably shoot about 1/3 of the ones i see. 

[FOXHUNTER 5,020]

I am happy if I shot 1 as live in a low density area.  Saying that my best night is 8 foxes which I have done twice. I shoot every fox I see as feel like I am helping  out the red listed birds we have such as lapwing,  curlew and grey partridge. I have a lot of blank nights as have shot the foxes hard over the last 20 years and are on top of them. For example on our game shoot I haven't seen or shot a single fox this year. 

[walshie 2,804]

14 minutes ago, Balaur said:

Yep makes sense, sods law saves many a fox....and their cunning of course...

Plus the fact I'm a porch hunter and rarely leave the safety of my back door. 

[Sausagedog 7,381]

2 hours ago, walshie said:

What would you lads consider a decent number of foxes to shoot in a night? Obviously some of you are professional pest controllers so the numbers would be very high, but also I read about a lot of blanks so I was wondering what the average was.

I don't record the odd fox I shoot in my field or when I'm after rabbits, but I do record the number when I go out specifically for a night fox shooting.

My last 6 nights out have resulted in 1,2,4,2,6, & 2 making an average of 2.8 per night. Most I've ever had is a 9 and an 8 last year, and of course I've had blanks, but not for a fair while, touch wood.

 

The err .8. Is that the front end or rear end? Gotta be the front...how would it see, derr

[dextron 1]

On 04/12/2020 at 04:41, Balaur said:

Yep with ya camo crocs and a super king ......

lmao

[Meece 1,957]

None of it is straightforward and there  no straigþiis.   We shoot over a big area and every hour it is different.   We are an experienced team and  been out in the hilux for several hours and seen nothing.  We've come back for a thaw out and a cup of tea and gone out again to see about five or so and control three or four of them.  We used to account for about 250 each year by a combination of ; mainly rifle, ......fox drives to standing guns, some taken on the seweling line on the flush, some sliding out the side of a drive and the odd one wired. I've been out paired up on a quad and we've  driven down through a piece of land on a track maybe a mile long.  We've Seen nothing on the way down, turned round gone back up the same road and seèn four. We've been out on the quad all night over a big area; seen nothing,  come back to base and shot one twenty yards from the buildings. You can only control those that you see. Then there's the point of control. You don't necessarily want to puncture the ball  that you play the the game with.

[shovel leaner 7,648]

I’ve shot a few 9,s but the 10th fox or double figures has eluded me . I control foxes on a chicken farm and the shoot I keeper , I also do a sheep farm prior to , and during lambing. I go out and shoot as many as I can before I’m either too tired or bored . It doesn’t seem to matter how many I shoot , nature soon fills the vacuum I create on these areas . It is because of the abundance and availability of protein that Charlie keeps coming. On areas  with no pheasants, rabbits, chickens or lambs or ground nesting birds you will I think have a reduced fox population. It’s the same with Buzzards and now kites , lots of food and you get lots of them turn up . 
      Technology has helped me and given me the edge that i didn’t have before when I just used a lamp and day scope . It has been an absolute game changer . From a fox control point of view it’s made a real difference . But I still can’t get every fox on the shoot and still go back to snares for difficult foxes . I also check earths with Terrier’s . But towards the end of the season I knock the fox control on the shoot on the head and only attend the chicken farm if there is a problem. I don’t like killing pregnant vixens or milky vixens , although I do if necessary. I think we should give them a chance . Besides, leave off a while and kill the cubs .

[Meece 1,957]

1 hour ago, shovel leaner said:

It doesn’t seem to matter how many I shoot , nature soon fills the vacuum I create on these areas . It is because of the abundance and availability of protein that Charlie keeps coming.

......... "Some arrive due to nature filling a void.  Others arrive on holiday in the back of a van.  We have had some come bounding straight to us and then stop like a dog at feeding time. The movement of the target that you are accostomed to is different ". ........

Technology has helped me and given me the edge that i didn’t have before when I just used a lamp and day scope . It has been an absolute game changer . From a fox control point of view it’s made a real difference .

.....,,, ",It's  necessary but it is unsporting. Still, dead is dead."l

 I knock the fox control on the shoot on the head and only attend the chicken farm if there is a problem. I don’t like killing pregnant vixens or milky vixens , although I do if necessary. I think we should give them a chance .

........... we stop just before Christmas and allow them to clear up any pricked birds that are out there through to the end of the season hobbling around and General fallen laying around.  It doesn't look good when the field is festooned with random carcasses.' We're ready to start  again  in March. 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by Meece

[foxdropper 17,092]

Intensive shooting can and will reduce numbers drastically .The first 3 years of doing the chicken farm I now do saw incredible numbers shot off a quad with rifle and shotgun .The husbandry back then was none existent .Dead stock left for scavengers and chicken not shut up til well into darkness .We did 90 plus first year ,one farm .Farmer wanted to pay 10 er a piece from outset but we soon realised the numbers were going to be high so we stopped that first week .Next year we did 160 odd purely because we got to know the routes and escapes plus she let us dig the many earths on the farm .

Third year a staggering 267 shot dug and snared same farm .We were out 3 nights a week and weekends .Numbers tailed off fast then as I believe we had shot the vacuume  as well as local foxes .48 and 54 followed then the farm was sold ,Brocken  up and a lad bought all the free range sheds and put them on a much smaller acreage which is the land I do now as well as two places elsewhere he rents .The badger cull locally has undoubtedly allowed the fox population to increase with more about in the last few years than there was in the previous 12 years .

I used to go there when he complained of damage but it became apparent the damage was both daily and nightly and severe so now it’s definitely every other night .Numbers shot on any one night  vary from 1 to 14 ,averaging 3 I’d say .No rhyme to it other than how late they lock them up especially summer time .

This year I’m on 136 from several farms .Numbers are predictably slowing down for time of year ,you can only kill them once .

Farmer wants me to start snaring again but no time at present .Local hunt hates me but hey ho .That’s life .I shoot  on several farms in hunt country ,hunting farmers ,purely because they are fed up with the hunt doing nothing .

You can only kill whats  there on the night and only if your on your game as well .

 

[shovel leaner 7,648]

1 hour ago, foxdropper said:

Intensive shooting can and will reduce numbers drastically .The first 3 years of doing the chicken farm I now do saw incredible numbers shot off a quad with rifle and shotgun .The husbandry back then was none existent .Dead stock left for scavengers and chicken not shut up til well into darkness .We did 90 plus first year ,one farm .Farmer wanted to pay 10 er a piece from outset but we soon realised the numbers were going to be high so we stopped that first week .Next year we did 160 odd purely because we got to know the routes and escapes plus she let us dig the many earths on the farm .

Third year a staggering 267 shot dug and snared same farm .We were out 3 nights a week and weekends .Numbers tailed off fast then as I believe we had shot the vacuume  as well as local foxes .48 and 54 followed then the farm was sold ,Brocken  up and a lad bought all the free range sheds and put them on a much smaller acreage which is the land I do now as well as two places elsewhere he rents .The badger cull locally has undoubtedly allowed the fox population to increase with more about in the last few years than there was in the previous 12 years .

I used to go there when he complained of damage but it became apparent the damage was both daily and nightly and severe so now it’s definitely every other night .Numbers shot on any one night  vary from 1 to 14 ,averaging 3 I’d say .No rhyme to it other than how late they lock them up especially summer time .

This year I’m on 136 from several farms .Numbers are predictably slowing down for time of year ,you can only kill them once .

Farmer wants me to start snaring again but no time at present .Local hunt hates me but hey ho .That’s life .I shoot  on several farms in hunt country ,hunting farmers ,purely because they are fed up with the hunt doing nothing .

You can only kill whats  there on the night and only if your on your game as well .

 

I’ve had some good results with snares on my local chicken farm . I even managed to catch the farmers Collie . I did tell him to keep it away from that area . Don’t worry it was fine , I use relax-a-lock eyes on my snares . 

[foxdropper 17,092]

Deadly mate .The agreement last time was that he or his workers would check the snares and let me know straight away if I had a catch alive but that wasn’t adhered to so I pulled them .I witnesses a fox actually getting snared for first time ever .I did the evening rounds on that other place you’ve been John and walked past couple of snares still set ,got about 120 m from the first when something caught my eye .A fox was in that first snare .Instead of rushing to it I watched for a while curious to see what happens .The fox did the expected figure of eights and backflips but then sat quietly as I approached to dispatch him .

[shovel leaner 7,648]

1 hour ago, foxdropper said:

Deadly mate .The agreement last time was that he or his workers would check the snares and let me know straight away if I had a catch alive but that wasn’t adhered to so I pulled them .I witnesses a fox actually getting snared for first time ever .I did the evening rounds on that other place you’ve been John and walked past couple of snares still set ,got about 120 m from the first when something caught my eye .A fox was in that first snare .Instead of rushing to it I watched for a while curious to see what happens .The fox did the expected figure of eights and backflips but then sat quietly as I approached to dispatch him .

It’s not just me that finds farmers incapable of following even the most simple of instructions or requests . I honestly think that if they didn’t inherit their farms that most would have ended up on skid row .