Probably my strangest fox.

www.yorkshireroestalking.

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I shot a cub this morning.
off the ramp in the quarry, it was swimming, in view of us all. We had finished foxing and gone in there for some long range practice at 0730.
all walking in and talking i saw 2 large cubs playing tig. I ran up the big ramp (50ft) for a better veiw. 1 made the wood the other a reed bed. 2 of the boys walked him out, to our supprise he jumped into the lake and swam for it.
40m's free hand from above.
162gr from the rem mag.
i hit it just behind the withers it soon sank. :doh:
the water splashed 10ft high, and then looked like the telly after a great white had taken a seal pup.
 
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Nice one John,Its a pitty you hadn't caught it on camera.I once watched a fox chasing growers(Ducks) around a lake in the scottish borders,It was swimming around and around till it was too knackered,it climbed out,give itself a good shake then my mate Nick shot it with .22250.I dont think ill ever see that again,A one off.
Atb John.
 
I was out with digger 9523 last evening, we sat up in an old orchard, we Shot a fully grown dog fox and a vixen cub just as it was getting dark, the fully grown vixen and another cub were there, the cub was hit with a 58g bt and it opened up the stomach, they were grazing on fallen cherries, it's not a food source that springs to mind when thinkig of foxes? anyone seen them eating anything else unusual?

Tikkat3
 
Was out pigeon shooting one day and had been stood under a tree and had fired quite a few shots.Heard some rustling in some ivy and got ready expecting to shoot a squirrel,when all of a sudden a fox came down the tree.Bowled him over with the 12
 
That just feels unsporting!

I suppose if john had waited till it was in a release pen it would have been better and more sporting would it? If you had had the problems that I have over the last 2 weeks and done the hours tring to kill a bloody fox killing your birds, you may look at it a bit differantly. Good one john keep up the good work.

Mark
 
I suppose if john had waited till it was in a release pen it would have been better and more sporting would it? If you had had the problems that I have over the last 2 weeks and done the hours tring to kill a bloody fox killing your birds, you may look at it a bit differantly. Good one john keep up the good work.

Mark
Absolutly Mark, I do seek sport from my work where I can but a job must be done at the end of the day.
As far as I was concerned, today after well over 2,000 foxes to my own gun that was for me probably one of the most sporting.
I thought it was great.
In the day I have gassed foxes and never thought about sport.
The old saying "only good fox is a dead fox" is true in most gamefarmers/keepers minds.
Sport shouldn't enter into our heads really.
 
must of been a week end for strange fox killing i was up at 3 yeaterday morning to try and catch up with a litter i know is about my mate shot the dog last week out of a barn hay loft at five oclock in the morning it came walking up the field and curled up on a rock and fell asleep it was if it was just waiting for the farmer to open the hen hut so he could get his breakfast anyway that was his last visit to that rock , any way yesterday morning i agrre to meet my mate in a latby at half three but im running late i had to get diesel just filling up when i get a txt saying hurry up i have one already when i arrive my mate has a good size cub in the layby with him the fox was stood in the road when he drove up the result of a honda civic at 40 mph was simmilar to a 55 grain v max so that was a good start which got worse we stalked around for a hour or so before we got to a good vantage point and i decided to have a squeak for a hour we stood back to back over looking some rough ground and a big plantation both areas normally produce a litter every year, not five mins in and what looks like the vixen is out at the botom of the filed my mate is watching a quick chat and i tell him to sneak a bit closser and shoot it well this is when things go wrong the guy in question is fully equiped for the foxing job nice 223 rifle good scope anal about reloading the perfect mega accurate round etc he sneaks down the wall back and gets to within 50 yards of the fox which is non the wiser to whats coming, im glassing him and the fox next thing bang fox is off like a good un bang its still runnning bang again its still running im cursing the usless good for nothing rifle man, fox by this time is runnning up the wall towards me making it way to a wall gap at around 300 yards im up with the rifle 3 foot lead six inch above its head bang i see the bullet strike the wet grass just above its back it makes it safely over the wall and away the worlds worst shot and i guess the worlds luckyest fox . please dont slate me for ethics and shooting at a running target like its been mentioned in this thread the best fox is a dead one , it wont be so lucky later on tonight as ill be out every night and a couple of mornings this week before work till i get them all
 
We have very differnt ideas as to sporting matey.
I have shot well over 2,000 and shot them running with shotgun and rifle.
I would say freehand rifle and swimming deffo make it sporting in my eyes.
do you after your other fox posts belong to the fluffy bunny outfit??
what do you class as a sporting fox?
shining a million candlepower lamp on it and killing 200m's away off a bipod??
driving it to a team of shotgunners??
what is your idea of sporting Howa??
 
Thats a tricky one John. I dont think driven pheasant is sporting, or shooting animals that have been baited to a particular location, but have done both.

I tend not to be too opinionated on the site because we are all different and I accept that people have different views to my own. I said in the last thread that I didnt necessarily disagree with you about the need to cull foxes hard, as I did just that during lambing this year.

However I do not believe the long range killing of an animal is a suitable topic for personal bests or discussing on an open forum. Nor do I think shooting an animal whilst swimming is either. Would be interested to know how many guns you have had that have shot ducks on the pond rather than wait till the beaters put them up.
Dont think I am a fluffy bunny, have been shooting for 40 odd years and done and seen stuff that I didnt much like, but wouldnt choose to broadcast it.

I have enjoyed reading many of your posts and watching your stuff on youtube and have thought about asking to do some stalking with you but for you to suggest that I am a bit of a nancy cos I dont want to shoot at an animal that is struggling in an alien environment or at distances where no certainty of a kill is possible does you no credit and no doubt makes me a client you would rather not have.
 
I will take anyone out a client is a client and their money hires me.
I don't have to get personal with clients just guide them, though I usually do get on with most dispite sometimes differing veiws.
I have never on a shoot seen anyone shoot(brown) ducks on the water.
What makes you think the fox was in an alien enviourment?
They can and do swim.?
Quite quickly.
Wild boar do not run by choice, nor do pheasants fly, but they are great sport for most sportsmen.
and as said alread on the other topic well practiced well tackled shooting at distance is relative. Do not put your limits on others. I have seen poor riflemen and limited them to 40m's on deer.
Night stalker, shooting deer shouldn't be about finding the easiest way...... This is the stalking directory.
With a name like yours and veiws like that you will not last long on here.
 
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I suppose if john had waited till it was in a release pen it would have been better and more sporting would it? If you had had the problems that I have over the last 2 weeks and done the hours tring to kill a bloody fox killing your birds, you may look at it a bit differantly. Good one john keep up the good work.

Mark

A good keeper would never let a fox get into a pen, if a fox does get in, it simply means the keeper has not done the groundwork properly!
 
A good keeper would never let a fox get into a pen, if a fox does get in, it simply means the keeper has not done the groundwork properly!

I imagine everyone would agree with you. The thread is not about whether foxes should be shot or not.
 
I imagine everyone would agree with you. The thread is not about whether foxes should be shot or not.

Yes it is ! Your saying it's 'unsporting' to shoot a fox in the water, but if John had decided - "nah, this is unsporting, I'll let him get out at the other side first" and the fox proceeded to the nearest pen, then John wouldn't have been doing his job properly. So regardless of 'sport' John did right, otherwise he flies in the face of ordinary shoot ethics on fox control i.e. kill 'em all.

As John has also asked, what's more 'sporting' - shooting a fox swimming, or shooting it sat looking straight at you in a lamp? To me it makes no odds, a dead fox is a dead fox, neither is particulary sporting, just vermin control.

Tom
 
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