Which fox to shoot?

Pat_D

Member
I have always believed that if I see an adult and juvenile fox together there is an obvious candidate for the first shot.....

Out a couple of weeks back for a sit, carrying my new Hornet which has yet to do the business. My old pal is with me and on this occasion he has a .22-250. The land is a valley which narrows from right to left, so he sits to the right, me to the left. My longest shot will be maybe 160 yards, his 210ish. Anyway, nothing happening and dusk drawing in, so I'm glassing the rabbits on the far side when my pal takes a shot. Looking over I see two foxes running away from him to the opposite side of the field. As they reach the far side one runs on and the other - as they often do - stops for a last look, so I put some holdover on, touch off a shot, and down it goes. 5 minutes later the other returns and is quickly taken care of by the bigger gun to my right. When we go to pick up, the first one which I shot was a well-grown cub, the second, which my pal shot, an adult. Both were dogs. It certainly looked as if the adult had returned to the field to look for the cub.

So in answer to my original thought, I would always shoot the adult first. But the circumstances forced a different tactic, and that turned out to be surprisingly successful.

Two final points. My pal is quite ill and missed his first shot which is why I saw two animals running - I certainly can forgive him that - I'm just glad I still have his company. I measured the shot I took with the Hornet - 240 yards - I will remember that for a long time, I would never deliberately go out to use the little rifle at that kind of range, but it did the business.

Pat
 
well done to the pair of you good company when shooting is always enjoyable.The hornet is often underated in experianced hands is a good tool.your friend will be pleased to have redeemed himself.and your comments about the older comeing back is very intersting to be remembered.we are never too old to learn.
 
Fox are always memorable, wether there sneeking about moleing in the cut grass, running to you like 'roadrunner' on a squeek or just staring when they are shouted at & abused..:lol: Its the look on there face when the penny drops, as to whats going on that does it for me, that 'should i stay ,or should i go' look . :lol: All in all, you did ok & yep the hornet works wonders every time. Well done guys.
 
well done to the pair of you good company when shooting is always enjoyable.The hornet is often underated in experianced hands is a good tool.your friend will be pleased to have redeemed himself.and your comments about the older comeing back is very intersting to be remembered.we are never too old to learn.
Stopping for a pint on the way back home we bumped into some like-hearted friends. Perfect evening!
 
Hello Pat.. Just curious as I have a Hornet too, what load did you use?.

fraser
It was a 35gr vmax on top of 13grs Hodgdon lil' gun with a rem 6 1/2 primer in rem brass. Comes galloping out at circa 3250 fps and is accurate in my guns. I won't normally say how much powder I use, but you physically can't put too much of that in a hornet case. BTW that primer is purpose-made for the hornet and 32-20, I would recommend it over small pistol, which many like to use. At least it works for me.

Always happy to hear someone else is keeping the little hornet alive:)

Pat
 
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