Moonlight vigil (no lamp required).

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

Just got in from 3 1/2 hours of waiting for foxy.
Its the brightest night i've seen in a very long while.
So it saw me parking up and sitting with the binos in 3 vantage points.
An hour in each then a drive around to warm the cab up and then another hour.
All I saw though were many many hares and rabbits.
But the excitment was great.
I could pick hares up at 500+m's with my zeiss bins.
Will have another go tomorrow night (moon permitting).
Its a great way of taking care of lamp shy foxes and very sporting also.
Try it.

 

[centralbeltstalker]

John

cant get them every time can you.
Good Shot Reload...

was suffering from withdrawals

merry xmas frank

 

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

so am i
the crunchy snow is making my catch frase extinct

 

[jamross65]

Was out walking the dogs round the fields a couple of hours ago. One of the most peaceful, stunningly bright nights I can remember. Felt like walking on and on but dogs started looking at me like I was daft. -12 and dropping. All I saw was hares...

 

[RED-DOT]

Just in from a spin round three farms... Deep and crisp and even.

 

[finnbear270]

The temps on my shoots are so low that nothing is about, two days of virgin snow, then just a few bunny prints yesterday.

 

[204 Ruger]

Similar to FB here (guess were in a similar location) but ive not given up!! Not many bunnies out out night 9but must be bustt during the day because my perms are peppered with tracks (both bunny and fox). Went out for a couple of hours last night with a mate and shot 5 bunnies with the HMR (needed some liver for xmas day pate ) and need a couple for baiting up. Will be out later to bait an area that ive not had chance to go back to yet but will keep him(or her) interested for the rest of the week and then stalk it out.

have to say I agree with John, its great being out in teh snow at noght, one of the bunnies I shot I didnt even use the lamp (moon broke out of the clouds), can see anything thats out from a good 100 yards just with the eyes.

 

[Leon]

I have accounted for nearly a dozen on pre baited areas, more by chance than anything I was baiting well before this weather came in and now its here I can account for plenty before lambing while sat in the landy with a coffee.... nothing like an easy life

 

[RED-DOT]

I did see a strange thing at 2am this morning... a field of virgin snow with a fox showing from a ditch and the lamp picked up a brown lump in the centre of the field. I couldn't make out what it was so i walked towards it and the "lump" got up and flew away, it was about 20 mallard huddling up together for a heat.

 

[Paul at Fechan]

I was out last night and using the lamp was useless. The frost crystals just reflect back 100's of 'fox eyes' in every spot so it got chucked in the back. In the end we just saw a load of hares and a badger. Charlie was curled up somewhere staying out of the cold no doubt.

 

[204 Ruger]

I have accounted for nearly a dozen on pre baited areas, more by chance than anything I was baiting well before this weather came in and now its here I can account for plenty before lambing while sat in the landy with a coffee.... nothing like an easy life

Leon, out of interst. When you are waiting on a baited area do yuo call? Or just sit and wait?

 

[Leon]

Leon, out of interst. When you are waiting on a baited area do yuo call? Or just sit and wait?

No just waiting no calling no nothing, but dont try get to close I find anything closer than 150 yards and they get twitchy when on the bait.

 

[foxdropper]

One of the best methods i use is to get yourself with your back to a hedge and call .Two people are best to cover both sides of the hedge .You can hear charlie coming in even on the hardest of frosts and boy do they come fast sometimes .So fast you need a shotgun .

 

[204 Ruger]

One of the best methods i use is to get yourself with your back to a hedge and call .Two people are best to cover both sides of the hedge .You can hear charlie coming in even on the hardest of frosts and boy do they come fast sometimes .So fast you need a shotgun .

Agree its a good way to ensure you dont miss them!! I had the Fox pro on a few weeks back, 2 of us in the same field. As usual Charlie came from a spot we just didnt expect and as we flicked the lamp he was looking at us through the hedge 10 ft away.....Typical.

 

[Cyres]

We were out on Tues eve, bit late, overcast but bright. Our local chicken farm was blank but we went down a track over a ridge. Two roe on the rape stood out like sore thumbs. We couldnt see anything with the LEICAS but a quick pass of the lamp picked up a set eyes. Charlie under a hedge at 242 yds.

My buddy went onto the back of the landcruiser with the .17 C/F and I got out with the lamp. No need for that I was told so quick squeak. Looking through the bins I saw a fox racing across the snow towards us, my mate shouted and there was a soft report and thud and that was that. Nice vixen at 57yds.

Hardly used the lamp all evening and watched quite a few foxes through the bins, unfortunately not on our ground.

Must say the more I use my 10x42 BRF's the more impressed I am.

D

 

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

You will find your selves immersed in the sport of foxing under the moon without a lamp and using the snow.
You will also be able to take care of those lamp shy ones.

 

[ANDREW243]

I was out on the night of the shortest day.Went to a gateway between 2 fields and called with wam caller.Fox came charging in stopped at 30 m and dealt with. Reloaded and called again 1 min later another came in behind me.This one got my wind and turned away but very exciting,no lamp,just moon.

 

[mereside]

i went out foxing yesterday afternoon till late last night for foxy on my permission as hes been taking the chickens from the free range pen the fence is high but hes still getting in. any way on my way to where i was going to set up i had stalked upto 12 roe in lovely condition i managed to get to 15ft of one young doe and the rest where milling around behind theres a cracking buck in velvet .now i have permision to take a few roe and could of pulled the trigger sevral times over as there where a few does amongst the group but declined as im after the fox first and can always see the roe after. i did ease the sticks into position to rest the rifle and must have been stood over half an hour before the young one got too close and realised something was not right and bounced off to catch my wind checking all the time . a big smile and off i went to set up i have to go early as fox is coming when the shutters are opening or just closing on the sheds around tea time but my brother in law hasnt sussed out when anyway no signs of him so will be back its good to see the tracks to see which areas hes coming and going to so if he doesnt come back tonight before the shutters go down will need to sit out all night to get him,atb wayne

 

[204 Ruger]

Charlie has been to the baited area at 3 oclock and 4 oclock across 2 days. Prob is I dont know if thats AM or PM . The clocks I use dont have a switch for am/pm on them (need to try to find some that do). One things for sure I aint staying out to 4am so will see if they are coming just before dark and hang on until late on.

 

[204 Ruger]

Its given fog here for the next few days so even though the sleet was coming down quite bad last night I decided to brave it and see if Charlie was at the area I'd baited. Got there at 8pm and checked the field and adjacent fields, no sign. Checked the bait and it hadn't been touched from previous day. Decided to walk down to the far end of the property and check fields that side. As I walked into the field I picked up a set of eyes at 300 yards(I know the land well and exactly how big most of the fields are) and another set 40 yards behind(in a field that's not my permission) my first response was defo fox but they were very close to a badger set so needed to be sure. Decided to track the hedgeline 100 yards to get a better look. Got in a good position and used the NV to watch and I'd the eyes. Picked the eyes up great but it was down slightly so couldn't see the shape of the animal, decided to give the WAM a blast rather than the Foxpro while watching through NV. The eyes disappeared as it ran down a ditch and came very fast straight towards me so I stopped the call and watched him stop at around 170 yards, gave a quieter call and it started walking then stopped at around 150 yards, could clearly see it was a fox but slight fog kept coming in and making visibility poor. Decided to have a look through scope and take shot (which was safe). I put the lamp on(yellow filter) low and could see its eyes clearly but due to the mist/fog I couldn't see its body at all, I turned the lamp up higher and it started to turn away but turned back, could see its eyes but couldn't even make out its head properly so decided not to take the head shot and didn't want to guess where its body was. It ran back to its starting position 200 yards away and wouldn't move no matter how much calling I did. Could clearly see its eyes through the scope but it was down slightly so couldn't see its body, decided again not to shoot. The other set of eyes hadn't moved at all during the calling or use of lamp. After a further 5 mins Charlie decided to move on. Obviously would have been good to get a round off but I enjoyed the exchange and would rather not take the shot than risk a miss and educate both of them! They were clearly together because I stood and lamped the 2nd field, gave a call and both sets of eyes looked back one set 10 yards ahead of the other. They will keep, I will just have to swap to Red filter next time I'm there!!