Foxes at the moment

Dom

Well-Known Member
The foxes on my permission are back after my three month lay-off from shooting... I've had four in the last three outings, but I have fortuitously been in the right place at the right time as they don't seem interested in the caller. This has been at dusk from high seats, and not even under the lamp. Once darkness falls they are around, but the caller isn't working its usual magic.

So, what's to do? Bait?Different calls they've not heard before?

Any tips from the likes of Paddy greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Dom
 
Older adult foxs that have heard your calls before these arnt silly juveniles they have cubs to feed and seem to have an extra ear for caution at this important time of yr in the fox calendar .
norma
 
Keep trying different calls I am still bring foxes in on the vixen mating call keep sling in a mixture as you are calling high and low sound levels fox pups calls and one of my favourites at the moment is the vole sound . Spot with a red light and finish the job with nv and have found if I don't consistently check with the red light for eye shine foxes can be in and out with in 30 seconds and you wouldn't know . Also I have found with in 4/6 weeks of thinking that I have got on top there's another lot moved in
 
ones doing my head in, appears everytime within mins but he/she knows where i walk and direction allways keeps an eye on me and is allways in the wrong place for a shot hail rain or shine,follows me around and on one occasion pinched a bunnie from my stash!heard a rustle put light on just in time too see its backend dissapearing into the bushes with the bunnie hanging out of its mouth, i now put them on top of the hawthorn hedge,little bugger it gets all the soft bits when i leave,
 
and seem to have an extra ear for caution at this important time of yr in the fox calendar
from my experience norma has hit the nail on the head as soon as cubs are about foxes change all together especialy the vixens you may also be having a harder time of it if you have any late cubs as the vixen will still be underground with them if i were you i would just stop calling altogether for the moment now that its not working for you as i firmly belive that you dont have to miss a fox after sqweaking it to make it shy away from being called, if it comes in from behind you, sees you, scents where youve been all of this will build a mental picture for the fox linking humans with distress calls making them sqweak shy
 
I don't lamp foxs at this time of year at all as we are mostly arable anyway ,I remove the vixons and cubs sure but I don't actively hunt them down with a lamp .i don't like leaving cubs to starve by shooting both parents unless I know the cubs whereabouts guess I'm a lot softer in my old age these days and I'm friendly with the hunt lads but come pheasants time I'm just as ruthless .
norma
 
Bait in front of a highseat can work well. Try mixing up the times you go. Definitely lay off the caller. If you're going down the ambush route, get there in plenty of time so your scent has time to disperse a little and just wait.
I'm still picking up foxes with good old fashioned lamping from a Polaris Ranger/ L200 albeit with a Pulsar N750 for the actual shooting. By the time the last few fields of set-aside grass finally get too long, hopefully some silage will be off.
Whilst it does get tricky this time of year, the rewards can be high for the land you look after. The Lapwings are nesting here now as well as my hen pheasants and hungry litters get through so much food!

What gear do you have at your disposal?
 
We have a lot of foxes on the land that I shoot more than our fair share, last year we struggled getting on them when the crops were up, so we built a fox box ( cheers crouch valley ) this has come into its own! now I've set up bait points around it and night vision built into it looking over the bait, watch a screen when there on the bait take the shot.
 

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A friendly butcher had boned out two pigs and gave me a few sacks of skin and bones. The local fish shop has been giving me their trimmings.
the pork bones have worked a treat. 6 foxes In the last week over 4 nights. The fish helped but an observation is that the foxes took the white fish last,preferring to take salmon first. More oily I suppose.
a few clear nights with the full moon were not a disadvantage.
 
As above - bait would be my first choice. Remember, that although the cubs won't necessarily have heard the caller before, it only takes one adult to be nearby to give them an alert bark, and then they'll be shy of it. The other thing to take into account is that it might be the location of the caller that is the problem, not the actual sound it makes. Consequently, if I were you, I'd find somewhere else to set it up, and then to make doubly-sure I'd use tracks that had never been played in the area before. The only way to find out which ones they like, however, is to try a few. I shot a large dog fox recently that was impossible to call using the usual stuff - in the end it came in to 'Distressed Kittens'!
 
As a few have said, try bait... John (Mag357) on here has a nifty little McGuiver timer he uses to very good effect.. cheap battery operated clock with a bit of fishing line tied to a battery and the other to the bait.. when fox takes bait it pulls the battery out and the clock stops.. That way, if you check every time the bait goes you will see what time Charlie is coming for grub.. chances are it will be around the same time each night so you can then focus your attentions over a shorter period of time rather than sitting round hoping for a fortuitous visit!
 
As a few have said, try bait... John (Mag357) on here has a nifty little McGuiver timer he uses to very good effect.. cheap battery operated clock with a bit of fishing line tied to a battery and the other to the bait.. when fox takes bait it pulls the battery out and the clock stops.. That way, if you check every time the bait goes you will see what time Charlie is coming for grub.. chances are it will be around the same time each night so you can then focus your attentions over a shorter period of time rather than sitting round hoping for a fortuitous visit!

Smart idea there Vipa. Foxes are regular in their rounds.Or you can put up a trail camera. The only disadvantage of that is it could be pinched. Even if they are code protected it is no good after they've been nicked.
 
Tis1979
That fox box is bigger than my house lol .

Bait them I would , I dig in a 300mm wide pipe and 400mm deep and put all my rabbit guts in it. Make sure it's placed somewhere with a nice clear shot and back stop and know where the runs are as if they bolt they always seem to stop for a quick look back before disappearing through the run and that always gives me time to let one rip.
 
Tis1979
That fox box is bigger than my house lol .

Bait them I would , I dig in a 300mm wide pipe and 400mm deep and put all my rabbit guts in it. Make sure it's placed somewhere with a nice clear shot and back stop and know where the runs are as if they bolt they always seem to stop for a quick look back before disappearing through the run and that always gives me time to let one rip.

Lol, your right its fairly big! A friend had bought a new bit of kit that came in a massive ply box & when I said what I was planning on building he gave it to me......I actually made it smaller (hard to believe) but now its done I've got a cracking fox box & somewhere to live when the missus chucks me out for using it too much.

The other side of the hedge is a load of laying Hens & now a good few thousand chicks. Fox magnet.
 
Well were shooting them on cut grass they were mowing sat/sun not that they told us, saw 3 last night but no joy, out this eye with proper gear.

D
 
the foxes took the white fish last,preferring to take salmon first. More oily I suppose.

now that is interesting
I used some white fish that had one off once thinking it would be gang busters for foxes.
no such luck

I did catch the biggest cat I have ever seen in a trap though!!


 
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