Tales of the riverbank!

[ianm 2,594]

Several years ago the farm manager at one of my shoots rang and asked if I knew how to catch moles. Well I told him no I don't, but I know a man who does. The man in question is a professional mole catcher and very good at it. I put the two of them in contact and he cleared out the moles. Periodically they ask him to come back and he does so. Anyway last week I got a call off him to say he had been there again and as he would have traps down for a week or so, he put a trail cam up to see what else was about. He informed me that there was a fox visiting between eleven and half past most nights, also a bunch of Fallow. Well I knew about the fox and I am not interested in Fallow in the least, but he also told the farm manager. I gave him an earfull for telling him because he just mithers about things. Sure as eggs are eggs I get a call from the manager. “The mole man says there is a fox about” he tells me. “I know” I told him, “i will have a look when I get chance” I said and left it at that.

 

Thursday night I thought I better go and have a look for the fox, so I rang my mate to see if he was coming. I arranged to pick him up at ten as it only takes fifteen minutes to get there. We got there about half past after a bit of faffing around. I drove through three fields until I arrived at a double metal gate, on a slope. The field beyond these gates is a lot lower than the one I was currently on and is bordered by a river. I decided to stay where we where because it is a good vantage point for seeing all around. The mole man told me it came over a small footbridge on the river and travelled along the bank from right to left. The bank is only one hundred and thirty yards from our position and from here I could see for several fields on both sides of the river.

 

As we exited the Jimny my mate whispered “it's straight in front of us along the bank”. I made my way straight to the back and opened the door to get the rifle out. As quick as I could I got the magazine in and switched the scope an I/r on. Once I was stood on the shooting platform on the back I chambered a round and looked with the thermal for it. No sign of it. After a minute or so I gave the foxpro to my mate with instructions to put it out thirty yards to our right, in front of a pylon. When he returned to the vehicle I started the caller with “jackrabbit” distress. The fox appeared 130 yards away to our right, out of the undergrowth on the bankside. It gave a cursory glance our way then made off away from us. Either not interested in the call or it had seen us. It soon went through the fence/hedge at the far end of the field and headed towards a pair of Fallow does grazing. Before reaching them it turned right and headed up the field. I thought the only chance now is to change the call and see if it either holds it or brings it back. I selected cub distress due to the time of year and pressed play. The fox stopped and looked back. After a short while it sat down looking over to us but made no attempt to come in closer. Because of where it was I checked on the app to gauge the distance and moved onto the bonnet for a shot. I made sure everything was comfortable and pushed off the safety. After settling the reticle just under its chin I squeezed off the shot. Although I lost the sight picture as I often do using the .243 the sound told me the 55grn hollow point had found its mark. This was confirmed by my mate who had been watching through his thermal. The Supervarmint was made safe and packed away before we set off in the Jimny to

[ianm 2,594]

retrieve the carcass. This involved climbing two barb wire fences at the bottom of the field and then a walk upwards to where it lay. I found it easily in the thermal and it turned out to be a dog of 16lb weight. The shot had gone straight through his neck killing him instantly and according to the app he had been 272 yards. He was an old boy and had an upper canine tooth missing.

 

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by ianm

[BenBhoy 4,706]

Good write up as ever mate  

(Does this mean my duties as your publishing editor are no longer required??) 

[Sausagedog 7,381]

The 243 takes some beating as a fox round.

[Dervburner 2,548]

Good write up Ian, thanks for sharing.

[philpot 4,942]

A good read Ian.

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

Well done on but if you arent interested in fallow please pass it on

[ianm 2,594]

5 hours ago, BenBhoy said:

Good write up as ever mate  

(Does this mean my duties as your publishing editor are no longer required??) 

It has done it again Ben. Only let me post half of what i wrote. I am not going to bother again, it is a waste of time. 

2 hours ago, Sausagedog said:

The 243 takes some beating as a fox round.

I don't think it is as good as the 204.

54 minutes ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Well done on but if you arent interested in fallow please pass it on

That is something i would never do having been bitten once.

There is a lot of deer on some of the land i go on and i have no interest in stalking at all. However if the land owners think there are too many i will kill them and pass them to someone that will make use of them.

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

Always pains me when people have good deer ground and arent interested yet guys who are keen cant find decent ground 

[si brown 8,486]

9 hours ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Always pains me when people have good deer ground and arent interested yet guys who are keen cant find decent ground 

Thing is where I live a lot of the farmers like seeing deer on there land, this area is crawling with them and there pretty much the same with hares, you shoot them and your off!

I can see where there coming from but it doesn’t help that when your out on a night there’s always lights and engines to be heard and seen in the distance and they moan about gates down and holes in hedges

[si brown 8,486]

10 hours ago, ianm said:

It has done it again Ben. Only let me post half of what i wrote. I am not going to bother again, it is a waste of time. 

I don't think it is as good as the 204.

That is something i would never do having been bitten once.

There is a lot of deer on some of the land i go on and i have no interest in stalking at all. However if the land owners think there are too many i will kill them and pass them to someone that will make use of them.

Is it an apple contraption you post on here with ian?!

I gave up typing posts ages ago because half the time it crashed and I lost what I had written… commenting on a post is not a problem but forming a new one is like Russian roulette

my foxing mate uses a .243 for everything it’s the only cf he has, he’s been going on about getting a .204 for last few months but I keep telling him it’s gonna be a waste of money.. I reload a hot 75vmax for him that’s loads cheaper than off the shelf stuff and he kills fox’s at good ranges with what he’s got. 

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

23 minutes ago, si brown said:

Thing is where I live a lot of the farmers like seeing deer on there land, this area is crawling with them and there pretty much the same with hares, you shoot them and your off!

That's fair enough when the farmer doesnt want them shot but when a landowner asks you too or they pick up good ground and shoot 2 deer a year it is really frustrating. 

[philpot 4,942]

1 hour ago, si brown said:

Thing is where I live a lot of the farmers like seeing deer on there land, this area is crawling with them and there pretty much the same with hares, you shoot them and your off!

I can see where there coming from but it doesn’t help that when your out on a night there’s always lights and engines to be heard and seen in the distance and they moan about gates down and holes in hedges

100%  agree Si 

 

[ianm 2,594]

2 hours ago, si brown said:

Is it an apple contraption you post on here with ian?!

I gave up typing posts ages ago because half the time it crashed and I lost what I had written… commenting on a post is not a problem but forming a new one is like Russian roulette

my foxing mate uses a .243 for everything it’s the only cf he has, he’s been going on about getting a .204 for last few months but I keep telling him it’s gonna be a waste of money.. I reload a hot 75vmax for him that’s loads cheaper than off the shelf stuff and he kills fox’s at good ranges with what he’s got. 

No mate, it is a dell laptop. What happens is after you have written a post ( one of my rambling ones ) and i press submit, it comes up on the screen "error 404 ooops couldn't find the page" . It has done it several times so to be honest it isn't worth trying again.

[ianm 2,594]

11 hours ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Always pains me when people have good deer ground and arent interested yet guys who are keen cant find decent ground 

A lot of things pain me mate, but nothing more than some of the piss taking c***s that are shooters.

Some years ago i met a chap in my local gunshop that was trying to get into firearms. He seemed a decent sort but he couldn't get anyone to mentor him and they wouldn't give him a fac without a mentoring condition. Now although that isn't strictly lawful it would cost a fair bit to go to court. The up shot was he asked me if i would do it. I had done mentoring for several lads i know before so i thought why not. I accompanied him to his ground several times and also took him to a few of mine. One of my places was directly across the road from one of his. After the mentoring process was complete and i had informed the feo, they removed the mentoring condition. How did he thank me? well he went to the ground i had opposite his and told them he would control the moles for them and any other vermin free of charge if they gave him exclusive access to the ground for fox and deer. So by helping him get his fac i lost a good lump of ground.

Hence why now i won't entertain anyone coming with me to my ground, especially deer stalkers.

I don't find stalking exciting or a challenge but on the ground i have if numbers are getting up i will go and shoot as many as i can in as short a time as possible. I don't enact cull plans i just kill as many as i can to keep the ground, even if that involves killing all of them which a couple of places do.

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