I dont think you get it , you obviously dont shoot them because of the threat they pose to livestock and the farming economy.
You can comment when you've had birds you've reared and looked after for months killed by cubs as they come off roost in the morning, or have 300 partridge killed in a night. I don't shoot them for sport, I shoot them to prevent damage and if this means killing them at this time of year then that's that. We havnt all got all the time in the world to go out on a romantic jolly after Foxes at whatever time of year takes our fancy, Windows are tight and cover is up most of the summer. Said my bit.
Keep up the good work
Yes we always gassed every known fox earth during the second week in March because the vixen would have cubs or be underground waiting to have them.It was legal with cymag back then.It’s all about what you were taught.No good saying to the head keeper “I don’t want to do that”.
while laughing he would have stuck his foot up your arse.
Ok so to clarify. Its ok to shoot vixens in spring to protect commercially reared lambs. Ok to shoot to protect commercially reared poultry.
But a grouse inst a commercially reared game bird its a native wild bird and I can 100% see your need to control foxes 365 day a year as you have, or at least should have a very good chance of seeing a clutch of eggs making it through to adulthood on a well managed moor. The reality is though lowland pheasants and partridge chicks have a very slim chance of survival to even the poult stage in the wild and all your doing at this time of the year is creating a hole in the fox population that will be filled before the 1st commercially reared pheasant chick has hatched in a mechanical incubator with another 8 week gap between that and it ever getting to your release pen. Personally in my eyes the best balance in this situation is to deal with the cubs as soon as come above ground (at which time we can all have another annual debate as to if you shoot cubs or adults 1st
) and before the crops get to highyou sure it was legal? never heard of foxes on the label. bet it worked well thoughYes we always gassed every known fox earth during the second week in March because the vixen would have cubs or be underground waiting to have them.It was legal with cymag back then.It’s all about what you were taught.No good saying to the head keeper “I don’t want to do that”.
Indeed and I agree with you. It was the statement that it was ok to kill foxes to protect lambs and poultry but not poults that I found strange P.s. always shoot her first and don't miss or she'll move them and split em up all over the placeBut a grouse inst a commercially reared game bird its a native wild bird and I can 100% see your need to control foxes 365 day a year as you have, or at least should have a very good chance of seeing a clutch of eggs making it through to adulthood on a well managed moor. The reality is though lowland pheasants and partridge chicks have a very slim chance of survival to even the poult stage in the wild and all your doing at this time of the year is creating a hole in the fox population that will be filled before the 1st commercially reared pheasant chick has hatched in a mechanical incubator with another 8 week gap between that and it ever getting to your release pen. Personally in my eyes the best balance in this situation is to deal with the cubs as soon as come above ground (at which time we can all have another annual debate as to if you shoot cubs or adults 1st
Theres sport and theres vermin control. Dont know many people who have been issued their firearms ticket under the reasoning of shooting foxes for sport.
i'm sorry but this isn't a sport of any sort to me, so if your farmer with sheep called you to sort out a fox problem will you give him that same explanation he wouldn't be impressed he'll tell you not to come back,, from now until summer it will be fox shooting on the sheep farms. i know most earths foxes occupy around these permissions so if the vixen was shot i know where to check for the cubs.
Yes it was legal back then .(Wildlife and countryside act was 1981) It used to say on a tin of cymag “for use against Foxes and rats around buildings”.!!! A new Headkeeper came to our local estate in 1969 .One of the first jobs they did was gas the badgers!!! It took 3 days to do a 30/40 acre bank which was over run with them.They were treated like any other vermin in those days.In the 50s when I was a kid every mans hand was against the fox apart from the hunts who were funded by the local squire.Thats when Vixens were shot after they had reared their cubs in an artificial earth.The earth was fenced round and the cubs would be hand fed until cub hunting time.The artificials are still used by foxes today they were so well built.
On paper that's a good option, and I think most of us would be more than happy to do it that way, but Foxs aren't always where you'd like them to be when you'd like them to be there.
I will shoot them 365 days a year if I see them.
