shot foxes coming back into the caller

griffshrek

Well-Known Member
Hello all


I thought I’d share with you a recent nights foxing trip and what happened to a fox & two other previous shots onto foxes.


Last week I was out foxing with a buddy , a fox was called in using the FoxPro and a front on shot taken with his .243 . The shot appeared to be a clean miss no impact noise and the fox ran off apparently uninjured .


Only a short time later and less than a 100m away a fox was seen and I shot it fully side on with the .204.


On examination of the fox there was a 6-7” almost surgical laceration down the breast of the fox and a 20p size hole through its rear leg that was still bleeding .


For a while there was a bit of head scratching as how a fully side on fox shot with a 32gr .204 bullet had the injuries .


After establishing the .204 shot was in fact a side on , we concluded the other injuries to the fox were from the 1st shot with the .243 being low and cutting the skin and going through its leg.


What amazed me was that the fox after being hit with the 1st shot (.243) would still hang about .


Well this got me thinking of two other foxes that I called in and after being hit got away and later came back into the caller.


1st of these was a vixen called in on “vixen on heat call” ,shot with a .243 85gr hpbt the shot was front on and the initial shot took out most of the front leg just below the shoulder and a big chunk of the rear leg .


This shot sounded like a solid hit it sent the vixen into cartwheel impressions then it ran away, after the area was checked and about 15 mins later running the same “vixen on heat call” in came badly limping fox that came straight to the caller. Which was the fox hit earlier.


The 2nd was a dog fox shot with the .308 150gr call was “fox location call” the shot was again front on and took out most of its neck
( missing the spine) this fox after fleeing, and later with me running the same call again saw it come charging back in where it was shot.


Both the last two foxes had horrendous 1st shot injuries (would have been later fatal), the bit that got me thinking was that they came back into the caller after being shot . I would of thought with the 3 foxes mentioned they would of run for the hills and kept running.



Have any of you seen the same almost instinctual drive to get back at the callers.


Regards…..Neil
 
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I've never heard of this before, but I can see how they might associate their injuries with the caller and how this might elicit a fight as well as a flight response, especially if they felt themselves to be in mortal peril: i.e. with nothing to lose by returning to the fight.

However, and I know that the more one shoots the higher the chances are of an occasional shooting error, it also sounds to me as though taking a bit more time, reducing the range, practising from field positions, and focussing on shot placement rather than terminal energy, would give you fewer opportunities to observe this kind of extreme behaviour.
 
Once shot at a vixen in winter bracken and couldn't find her then on a shoot day she was found dead with only a bald scar on the top of head and no entry or skin wound. She took the bullet and shock externally but still died.
 
Once shot at a vixen in winter bracken and couldn't find her then on a shoot day she was found dead with only a bald scar on the top of head and no entry or skin wound. She took the bullet and shock externally but still died.

I had a similar "hit" years ago with a .223. The fox dropped on the spot and I took it for a clean kill, but as I walked up to recover it it got up and tried to escape up the hill, but it was still unsteady on its legs, and my aim was better the second time around so it didn't get far. On inspection it proved to have just the kind of "bald scar" you describe. I scalped it and found some fine skull fractures too. I wonder now if it had "got away" whether it would really have done so.
 
Hello all


I thought I’d share with you a recent nights foxing trip and what happened to a fox & two other previous shots onto foxes.


Last week I was out foxing with a buddy , a fox was called in using the FoxPro and a front on shot taken with his .243 . The shot appeared to be a clean miss no impact noise and the fox ran off apparently uninjured .


Only a short time later and less than a 100m away a fox was seen and I shot it fully side on with the .204.


On examination of the fox there was a 6-7” almost surgical laceration down the breast of the fox and a 20p size hole through its rear leg that was still bleeding .


For a while there was a bit of head scratching as how a fully side on fox shot with a 32gr .204 bullet had the injuries .


After establishing the .204 shot was in fact a side on , we concluded the other injuries to the fox were from the 1st shot with the .243 being low and cutting the skin and going through its leg.


What amazed me was that the fox after being hit with the 1st shot (.243) would still hang about .


Well this got me thinking of two other foxes that I called in and after being hit got away and later came back into the caller.


1st of these was a vixen called in on “vixen on heat call” ,shot with a .243 85gr hpbt the shot was front on and the initial shot took out most of the front leg just below the shoulder and a big chunk of the rear leg .


This shot sounded like a solid hit it sent the vixen into cartwheel impressions then it ran away, after the area was checked and about 15 mins later running the same “vixen on heat call” in came badly limping fox that came straight to the caller. Which was the fox hit earlier.


The 2nd was a dog fox shot with the .308 150gr call was “fox location call” the shot was again front on and took out most of its neck
( missing the spine) this fox after fleeing, and later with me running the same call again saw it come charging back in where it was shot.


Both the last two foxes had horrendous 1st shot injuries (would have been later fatal), the bit that got me thinking was that they came back into the caller after being shot . I would of thought with the 3 foxes mentioned they would of run for the hills and kept running.



Have any of you seen the same almost instinctual drive to get back at the callers.


Regards…..Neil

Are .243 bullets too solidly constructed for foxes ?.
It's a serious question,not a wind up.After reading the above it just set me wondering about a lack of bullet energy transfer.
I don't have a .243 but I know they get used a lot on foxes.
 
Are .243 bullets too solidly constructed for foxes ?.
It's a serious question,not a wind up.After reading the above it just set me wondering about a lack of bullet energy transfer.
I don't have a .243 but I know they get used a lot on foxes.

Fraser, there are plenty of ,243/6mm bullets made specifically for "varmint" shooting all of which will produce devastating terminal effects. Larger 100g bullets designed for deer can exit without fully expanding because they are designed for use on much larger animals. My personal fave at the moment is a Sierra 75g varmint hollow point, pushed by either 40gr of varget or 48gr Ramshot hunter. Varget is producing 3300 fps and the ramshot 3600 fps (24 inch barrel). Both loads are devastating on foxes, broadside hits usually produce exit holes of up to 6 inches, head shots, what head!!!!!, frontal chest shots usually leave a bag of mush.

The 243 I use is set up specifically for foxes, as I mentioned before where problems can arise is when the 243 is dual purpose and heavier deer rounds are used.

As Mr Gain stated, if you are shooting a lot of foxes or deer, the ratio of probabilities is that you will miss some, or have the odd one run (one of the reasons I prefer the 243/ bullet combination for foxes is the sheer amount of damage a hit usually causes can compensate for a less than perfect shot )

Griff's buddy who clipped the fox was ME!!!!!!!
 
I had a vixen cub recently that was shot at on the lamp with an un moderated .243 using a call which consequently ran off only to return 30mims later again to the call, second time round resulted in a fist size hole through her neck thanks to a 90gr sp out the .243
 
never had any issues with my 20 tac.308/223/222/6mm br/17hmr or 243.

but craig from this forum hit a charlie with my old 590 on a local golf course with it (243) not much of a report back and the fox did move off to the right., distance was about 300 yards, so i said lets have a look.

full on chest shot small entry hole and the thing that stopped him was his intestines came out of his lower abdomen and got entangled in his back legs.

he only moved about 10 yards, just glad i went over to check it out as it may have upset a few of the lady golfers in the morning.

ps: when varmint/vermin/pest control/shooting i will always use a Vmax type bullet.

bob.
 
Fraser, there are plenty of ,243/6mm bullets made specifically for "varmint" shooting all of which will produce devastating terminal effects. Larger 100g bullets designed for deer can exit without fully expanding because they are designed for use on much larger animals. My personal fave at the moment is a Sierra 75g varmint hollow point, pushed by either 40gr of varget or 48gr Ramshot hunter. Varget is producing 3300 fps and the ramshot 3600 fps (24 inch barrel). Both loads are devastating on foxes, broadside hits usually produce exit holes of up to 6 inches, head shots, what head!!!!!, frontal chest shots usually leave a bag of mush.

The 243 I use is set up specifically for foxes, as I mentioned before where problems can arise is when the 243 is dual purpose and heavier deer rounds are used.

As Mr Gain stated, if you are shooting a lot of foxes or deer, the ratio of probabilities is that you will miss some, or have the odd one run (one of the reasons I prefer the 243/ bullet combination for foxes is the sheer amount of damage a hit usually causes can compensate for a less than perfect shot )

Griff's buddy who clipped the fox was ME!!!!!!!

Didnt think you missed anything Ade ???
 
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