A Problem Fox

[SportingShooter 0]

One of the small farms that makes up my shoot was having trouble with Charlie.

To start off with, this farm is one which I rarely shoot over out of the Game season as he has family and close friends who shoot there and I leave them to it.

This problem occured when nobody had been there to shoot for nearly a month. The problem came to a head a few days ago.

 

He keeps bits and pieces of poultry in the yard, most of it has either been donated or he has acquired(from somewhere!) He had just had, about two days before, some ex-battery hens which he let out with the rest of the birds as he would with any new arrivals. These birds being less "street wise" didnt realise the danger when Charles came snooping about the next morning, the other birds knew the drill and flew up onto the roof of the barn, these just scattered and foxy had two and injured another. And so I had one unhappy farmer and a fox with a taste for batteries.

 

He rang me to ask me if I could come and have a look. Off I went, he had seen this fox in the morning about 6, which was a great help to me as I knew when to be set up and ready by. I took the opportunity to find a good hiding place in the small yard, which is compounded on three sides by breeze block walls and is not 50 yards from one end to the other.

 

I decided to lie up in the stack of silage bales he had there as they were convienient and soft!

 

With the plot set I said I would be back early morning and not to worry if he heard a bang.

 

You know what they say about best laid plans? Its all true. I woke up at 5 this morning and it was emptying down with rain. I knew I had to go and show my face, so in the near torrential rain, I set off.

 

It is only about 5 minutes in the car and I was there by 5:20. I decided rather than soak myself and my guns by sitting in the silage, I would park the car in a spot with the best field of view and one which I could adequately shoot from. The rain had eased by this time and was now a heavy drizzle. I had to close the window on the car, and would have to reopen it when the he was near, pretty risky.

 

I had decided to take both the shotgun and the HMR with me, the centrefire would have really been out of the question in this place, the thought of a V-Max bouncing off the breeze blocks didn’t fill me with confidence, the rimfire would be touch and go as there was only one place with a soft, safe backstop.

The shotgun was suitably loaded with Express 50g of BB, plenty big enough to drop Charles at 40 yards.

 

The farmer had been locking his mixed bunch of poultry away at night due to this fox, so the first thing on my list was to let them out of their shed. I hadn’t yet seen this mixture of poultry so I was pretty surprised to find that it included four Turkeys which had escaped the Christmas Butchers knife. The rest was a mixed bunch of Muscovies, bantams, and a Greylag goose gone Feral. Also, in the yard were a pair of white geese which were kept out all the time as the fox wouldn’t dare mess with the Gander which looked like he had been Genetically Modified, he was massive and downright nasty to boot.

 

I strolled back to the car and shut the door, watching the chickens scratching in the yard through the rain speckled window. The geese wandered through the yard.

 

About 20 minutes passed with my consciousness coming and going.

The gander spread his wings and reared towards an old trailer sitting on the edge of the yard. This alerted my attention but as yet I couldn’t see what he was so upset about. He relaxed a bit but 10 seconds later he did the same thing. This time I could see it, foxy stalking around the silage bales, he tried to get passed the gander but with no success, this provided me with a great opportunity.

 

While the fox’s attention was on the goose, I gingerly wound down the window of the car, all the way down. My attention was permanently fixed on the fox’s every move. When it turned away from the goose I moved the shotgun into position, resting it on the cill of the window. At the moment he was moving back and forth quite fast. I put my WAM call in my mouth and gave a loud short blast.

 

He stopped dead in his tracks and looked straight at me. In that split second, time seems to stop. The gun was mounted in the shoulder, the bead was resting on the centre of its chest. A squeeze on the trigger and BANG!!!. Even out of the Semi Auto, the kick with those shells was very noticeable but I think Charlie felt it more! The empty shell flew miles.

 

I went over to inspect it, a vixen, a bit smaller than average, maybe last year’s cub. The shot had done its job, countless spots of blood on her breast fur.

 

Well, that is another happy farmer, and his chickens can rest for a bit, if his regular shooters continue not to turn up then he will find a lot more dead chickens.

 

Next day I found half a lamb left in the larder for me from the farmer.

Shows how much regular pest control and a shooter who keeps his word matters to people.

 

Regards

SS

[ferret boy charlie 0]

really good read there thanks for sharing

[woodga 170]

a job well done a few years ago myself and foxhunter were repeatedly called out to a lamb killer which was very wise to the lamp eventually she was shot in a field of new born lambs a few curlews gave her away and she was off running with a lamb half eaten in her mouth we managed to stop her with some calling just short of a wood when foxhunter took her with a nice shot. this fox had killed over 15 lambs in two weeks we were happy to finaly nail that one as it was travel to get to the farm and the farmer was pleasd as well it just proves how close a fox will come into an area thats built up in its quest for an easy meal and you certainly saved him from losing more birds well done

[Guest little_lloyd]

I enjoyed reading that,, Its the type of post every post should be like.. Any other wrote that up it would of been a picture of a shot fox saying ''farmer had problem,, so i shot it'' .

 

Keep the posts up mate .

[jamie g 17]

One of the small farms that makes up my shoot was having trouble with Charlie.

To start off with, this farm is one which I rarely shoot over out of the Game season as he has family and close friends who shoot there and I leave them to it.

This problem occured when nobody had been there to shoot for nearly a month. The problem came to a head a few days ago.

 

He keeps bits and pieces of poultry in the yard, most of it has either been donated or he has acquired(from somewhere!) He had just had, about two days before, some ex-battery hens which he let out with the rest of the birds as he would with any new arrivals. These birds being less "street wise" didnt realise the danger when Charles came snooping about the next morning, the other birds knew the drill and flew up onto the roof of the barn, these just scattered and foxy had two and injured another. And so I had one unhappy farmer and a fox with a taste for batteries.

 

He rang me to ask me if I could come and have a look. Off I went, he had seen this fox in the morning about 6, which was a great help to me as I knew when to be set up and ready by. I took the opportunity to find a good hiding place in the small yard, which is compounded on three sides by breeze block walls and is not 50 yards from one end to the other.

 

I decided to lie up in the stack of silage bales he had there as they were convienient and soft!

 

With the plot set I said I would be back early morning and not to worry if he heard a bang.

 

You know what they say about best laid plans? Its all true. I woke up at 5 this morning and it was emptying down with rain. I knew I had to go and show my face, so in the near torrential rain, I set off.

 

It is only about 5 minutes in the car and I was there by 5:20. I decided rather than soak myself and my guns by sitting in the silage, I would park the car in a spot with the best field of view and one which I could adequately shoot from. The rain had eased by this time and was now a heavy drizzle. I had to close the window on the car, and would have to reopen it when the he was near, pretty risky.

 

I had decided to take both the shotgun and the HMR with me, the centrefire would have really been out of the question in this place, the thought of a V-Max bouncing off the breeze blocks didn’t fill me with confidence, the rimfire would be touch and go as there was only one place with a soft, safe backstop.

The shotgun was suitably loaded with Express 50g of BB, plenty big enough to drop Charles at 40 yards.

 

The farmer had been locking his mixed bunch of poultry away at night due to this fox, so the first thing on my list was to let them out of their shed. I hadn’t yet seen this mixture of poultry so I was pretty surprised to find that it included four Turkeys which had escaped the Christmas Butchers knife. The rest was a mixed bunch of Muscovies, bantams, and a Greylag goose gone Feral. Also, in the yard were a pair of white geese which were kept out all the time as the fox wouldn’t dare mess with the Gander which looked like he had been Genetically Modified, he was massive and downright nasty to boot.

 

I strolled back to the car and shut the door, watching the chickens scratching in the yard through the rain speckled window. The geese wandered through the yard.

 

About 20 minutes passed with my consciousness coming and going.

The gander spread his wings and reared towards an old trailer sitting on the edge of the yard. This alerted my attention but as yet I couldn’t see what he was so upset about. He relaxed a bit but 10 seconds later he did the same thing. This time I could see it, foxy stalking around the silage bales, he tried to get passed the gander but with no success, this provided me with a great opportunity.

 

While the fox’s attention was on the goose, I gingerly wound down the window of the car, all the way down. My attention was permanently fixed on the fox’s every move. When it turned away from the goose I moved the shotgun into position, resting it on the cill of the window. At the moment he was moving back and forth quite fast. I put my WAM call in my mouth and gave a loud short blast.

 

He stopped dead in his tracks and looked straight at me. In that split second, time seems to stop. The gun was mounted in the shoulder, the bead was resting on the centre of its chest. A squeeze on the trigger and BANG!!!. Even out of the Semi Auto, the kick with those shells was very noticeable but I think Charlie felt it more! The empty shell flew miles.

 

I went over to inspect it, a vixen, a bit smaller than average, maybe last year’s cub. The shot had done its job, countless spots of blood on her breast fur.

 

Well, that is another happy farmer, and his chickens can rest for a bit, if his regular shooters continue not to turn up then he will find a lot more dead chickens.

 

Next day I found half a lamb left in the larder for me from the farmer.

Shows how much regular pest control and a shooter who keeps his word matters to people.

 

Regards

SS

 

 

cracking read mate and glad you got the fox to. nice shooting

[COMPO 54]

i was sat in that car in the rain with you then!

 

 

Well told, had a similar call once myself, went ferreting on one of my permissions, he happens to mention losing a few hens, will i have a look for the fox, had a good day ferreting, went home and after dinner went up.....sat over looking the hen run and within 15minutes i had shot charlie!

[sounder 9]

great read mate good to get the fox, the farmer was happy thats the main thing

them shots are good for the job but hard on the shoulder .well done well wrote,

cheers sounder.

[Mr_Logic 5]

Good going

 

You mention the ricochet risk from the HMR - I've only ever heard that they break up easily. Certainly the other day a rabbit had a let-off because of a buttercup in the way, so I wouldn't be overly concerned with ricochets, just that something solid is my backstop and that nothing delicate nearby.

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

I was sat in that car in the rain with you then!

 

 

I know! And ye f*cking elbow was digging into me. I was there too!

 

SS; What the hell's it like to fire a 12 bore inside a vehicle, mate? I've never had to or had the oppertunity to do that. I'm talking about the noise, of course. Does it implode ye ear drums?

 

Anyway, half a sheep, eh? F*ck! I really Must get to know the guy up the road there. He keeps sheep and a pair of Gray's holding out around his neigbours ground are giving me the shits! Sheep curry? Oh yeah!

 

Nice read, mate. A picture may 'paint a thousand words'. I'd as soon read

[dytkos 17,537]

I was sat in that car in the rain with you then!

 

 

I know! And ye f*cking elbow was digging into me. I was there too!

 

SS; What the hell's it like to fire a 12 bore inside a vehicle, mate? I've never had to or had the oppertunity to do that. I'm talking about the noise, of course. Does it implode ye ear drums?

 

Anyway, half a sheep, eh? F*ck! I really Must get to know the guy up the road there. He keeps sheep and a pair of Gray's holding out around his neigbours ground are giving me the shits! Sheep curry? Oh yeah!

 

Nice read, mate. A picture may 'paint a thousand words'. I'd as soon read

Great post SS, well written and as Ditch says "we were there"!

Ditch, a friend of mine once shot a fox from the passsenger widow of a Toyota Celica with a 10 Bore. Fookin' noisy I'll tell you!

We were 4 up at the time. Cheers all. D.

[Guest JohnGalway]

Always nice to get them with the shotgun Well done

[dogs-n-natives 1,181]

Well done SS, and a really good post there. Thanks

[SportingShooter 0]

Thanks for all your replies everyone. It was a good spot of shooting, I dont shoot many with the shotgun these days but this situation meant it was the most effective and safe method.

 

Ditch, If you want to know what a 12 bore fired in a car sounds like, think of the Royal Artillery practicing in an empty warehouse and you should have some idea. Good job I had my ear defenders on!

 

Thanks Again

 

SS

 

P.S There will be a few more posts to follow.

[Guest JohnGalway]

SS; What the hell's it like to fire a 12 bore inside a vehicle, mate?

 

Without ear protection it's not an experience to be had. By ear protection I don't mean plugs neither, full on ear muff types Without them, welcome to you flight, we'll be arriving at Tinnitusland shortly...

[SportingShooter 0]

Too true John,

 

I was wearing my earmuffs but I still got a slight ringing sounds, perhaps a pair of plugs aswell next time.

 

SS