An unexpected fox!

[ianm 2,594]

A friend of mine who regularly rings me to inform me that he has got me a new foxing permission if i want it, contacted me earlier in the week. The gist of the conversation was along the lines of "some of the farmers locally are starting to lamb can you have a look to see if any foxes are about". I said i would go this week weather permitting. This place consists of four farms more or less together and is quite a large area to cover. So large that if it where to be done on "shanks pony" it would take all night to cover just one farm. Fortunately all the ground is accessible by vehicle and can be covered in about four hours. So on Thursday night i decided i would have a look and see if anything has moved in yet. Over the past year i have given this ground a lot of attention and killed a good number of foxes on it to help the landowners who have suffered a great deal of losses of livestock in previous years. Every stand on this ground offers excellent viewing due to the ground rolling away downhill gently then climbing again six or seven hundred yards away. It is possible to see with the thermal for six or more fields and any movement is spotted straight away. Myself and a mate that i shoot with spent half an hour calling at two locations with no sign of a fox. There were Lapwings and dozens of Hares but no fox. We covered the whole area that night giving it twenty minutes to half an hour at each stand but it would appear no foxes have taken up residence since i dispatched the last pair a fortnight or so ago. At eleven o,clock we called it a night and headed home eight miles away. 

I had dropped my mate off at his house and made my way home and is as customary took a slight detour. Whenever i have been out foxing i always carry on past the bottom of my road to scan two really big fields i have permission on two minutes down the road from my house. Over the years this tactic has paid dividends with numerous chance encounters with foxes mooching. As i approach what can only be described as a sort of layby or long passing place on a virtually single track lane, i have my window wound down and switch off the lights. The farmer owns this "layby" and i suspect he has created it to be able to pull into with a tractor and trailer if a vehicle is coming the other way. Anyhow, i scanned the ground as soon as i pulled up. As always on here there where numerous little flocks of Lapwings, plovers and plenty of Hares. I gave the fields a good scanning before focusing on something in the field next to me. I could only see it through the gate at a distance of three hundred yards and it took me a couple of minutes to identify it as a lamb. At this point i intended having one more sweep of both fields with the thermal and started to do so from my right to left. This particular field is approximately six hundred and sixty yards long by four hundred and fifty wide and is only separated from the adjacent field by a tidal gutter that varies in width from twenty feet to fifty feet. There is one tree growing by the side of this gutter which is exactly four hundred and thirty four yards from where i was sitting in the Jimny. As i swept from my right two hundred yards from the tree's right was the unmistakable heat signature of a fox making for the gutter. Game on! i thought. Having switched the engine off and exiting the Jimny i went to the back and opened the door. First job was switch the Foxpro on then lift the rifle out of its padded mounts on the dog box. I left the Foxpro on the standing platform on the back of the vehicle and made my way to the bonnet on the passengers side. I had fitted the mag and chambered a round whilst walking. The Drone was switched on and the laser illuminater. After deploying the bipod i was ready to find the fox in the scope. It was sat on the side of the gutter just in front of the tree looking towards where i was. After recently practising with the Tikka/Drone combo i knew if i pressed the button on the scopes control panel the next reticule that would appear is a T shaped one with marked increments on it. I also knew that if i used this reticule and used the first "milldot" down i would be able to kill this fox where it sat at around four hundred yards. However i elected to try and draw it in if i could. The wind was blowing from my left to right so i need to keep an eye on that. The last call i had used was "vixen in heat" so i scrolled up the Foxpros call menu for "field mouse distress" and started playing it. Back to watching the fox with the thermal, it started to come immediately although not in a straight line towards me. It made its way closer but on a diagonal angle to my right. As soon as i saw what it was doing i thought this fellow isn't daft, it is going to try and get downwind of the caller. I let it come a fair way before i decided to stop it with a whistle, which it did immediately. Before i could get on it for a shot it was off trotting again. I followed it in the scope then shouted Hey! again it stopped straight away. This time i was on it, settled the reticule behind the front leg and touched the trigger. I saw it collapse instantly and a dark mist appeared over it which of course was blood spraying out and atomising. After i had made the rifle safe and locked the Jimny i set off to retrieve it. It was clearly visible through the thermal which i was grateful of. Having gone straight out to it i measured the distance and it had been an easy shot of one hundred and eighty three yards. It proved to be a decent size dog weighing sixteen pounds. Another one that won't be coming to my garden for kill my chickens!            

[Baldcoot 2,352]

Cracking write up and a well earned fox.Experienced or not you got him and as you say he won't be farting in church anytime soon.

[FLATTOP 4,995]

Really good write up Ian great description of its final moments.

[Squirrel_Basher 17,102]

I’ll read it when I’ve got a spare half day

[BenBhoy 4,706]

Spot on again Ian, cheers for the write up. 

[shovel leaner 7,650]

A great write up , good use of the foxpro

[Stavross 17,759]

I’ll give it a thumbs up now, because I know it’s going to be good, but I think it’s going to require me sat in my chair with tea and biscuits

[Dervburner 2,549]

Good write up and a good result Ian. 204?

[BenBhoy 4,706]

Is it the original drone with amoled screen you use Ian? Is it fixed mag?

I'm very taken by the sheer simplicity & picture quality  of the new black env. 

[ianm 2,594]

7 minutes ago, BenBhoy said:

44 minutes ago, Dervburner said:

Good write up and a good result Ian. 204?

Yes, that is my dedicated night rifle. 

Is it the original drone with amoled screen you use Ian? Is it fixed mag?

I'm very taken by the sheer simplicity & picture quality  of the new black env. 

It is for sure, fixed mag of 10x. 

The Drone is just a trade name for Armasight it is the exact same scope as the Black ENV.

I have used just about every n/v scope/add on going and nothing comes close to this scope. 

 

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

Another entertaining read

[Stavross 17,759]

So I went to the village bakery, got myself a flapjack, came home, made myself a cup of tea and sat down for a read, cracking write up, it was like I was there. Nice way to spend a few minutes on a Saturday afternoon

[Dervburner 2,549]

What’s all that writing about on the plate stav, something about spaghetti? 

[Stavross 17,759]

9 hours ago, Dervburner said:

What’s all that writing about on the plate stav, something about spaghetti? 

I had to go have a look, it’s Italian dishes

[BenBhoy 4,706]

12 minutes ago, Stavross said:

I had to go have a look, it’s Italian dishes

Perfect for a flapjack!