personal best fox

soother223

Well-Known Member
thought you guys might like to hear about my s**t day with a good ending..
after a hard day workin on our house where everything went wrong i thought i'd better take my lurcher out for a walk with the shooter...first field an my girl jumped the fence an ripped her leg open! I was debating on heading back then I thought if I go down to the next field we could sit down an take it easy whilst over looking the freshly harvested fields of the farm below.
after 10 mins we spotted a fox moving quickly accross another farms field, we moved position quickly but lost sight of him! we hung around a bit and had a squeak but no show.
so with my girl looking as fed up as me we retraced our steps and headed home... when we got to our original position I spotted something out of place in the distance..i checked through my rangefinder and sure enough i could see one! i deployed the bipod, flipped the scope caps an ranged him, dialed the settings into the scope and waited for my shot... we dropped him clean! at 367yds! a new personal best!!:D
on the pic i was up by the small tree in the distance
 

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Good shooting.
I have since buying a rangefinder now got BDC turrets on all my big scopes.
Leathal for foxing. they make you very confident when you can aim dead on.
The 6.5 has one on and its useful even at 250m's as with my slow 156gr rn's the gun when zeroed at 100m's has 32cm drop at 250m's.
Without an exact range and drop dialed in a long shot at a fox or injured deer at this distance would be difficult to judge.
 
Your best beat mine by 10 yards exactly(well three of us paced out there and back(the dopey one said 715)We all came to the same total. 357yards but I had to aim off. I think there was a bit of luck but the more I practice the luckier I get.
 
sounds like you really need a rangefinder! i shipped mine in from the states much cheaper than over here! you will shock yourself at some of your range judgement.. and when you start pushing past 250 yds bullets start to drop quite a bit, depending on what rounds your shooting of course.. an just think that fox you shot could have been further than mine!
 
that is true, I do wonder sometimes you get great shots but its across a valley so impossible to pace.

which rangefinder do you use?
 
Sorry to be a bit PC but does the concept of having a personal 'best' suit the topic of shooting an animal..
 
I'd say yes, I killed cleanly a fox doing damage to my partridge that I'd tried many times to get closer to and shot him at a long range, the furthest I ever had. Do I go out and try to beat this NO but I keep practicing at longer ranges to make me better all round and as a back up. I always get as close as I can lessens the chance of missing. But I'm still proud I am good eough to shoot that well. I also keep count of what a shoot each year, the numbers are a sort of measure of success(although affected by nature, other shooters and whether I do wel in the spring)
 
i use a leica 900 scan, had it for a few years now.. faultless! i had a bushnell before that it was ok but not as good as the leica!
also my mate bought one of the leupolds when they came out, after a year he bought a leica too!
 
i use a leica 900 scan, had it for a few years now.. faultless! i had a bushnell before that it was ok but not as good as the leica!
also my mate bought one of the leupolds when they came out, after a year he bought a leica too!

Nice shooting. That's about 100 yards past my furthest :) had the chance at a fox over 300 yards once in daylight but could not get the thing to stop running and decided against a moving shot.
 
I don't shoot foxes very often, but once shot one running quickly left to right at about 35 yards with an Anschutz .22. One shot knocked it down, then coup de grace to the head.... Earned a complement from my mate which is pretty rare! Probably my most memorable, but maybe not best...
 
If I had shot a good group on a target at long range I would have no problem with the term. However in my view the longer the range the greater the variables and therefore the chance of a miss. Whilst it may be necessary to take the shot the use of the term makes it sound like a personal challenge (as if it were a target) and I think conveys the wrong message to those who disagree with what we do. Dont get me wrong, if I could take that shot and be sure of the outcome I would, but I probably would'nt use that term on an open forum. Its not a big deal. Just an opinion.
 
If I had shot a good group on a target at long range I would have no problem with the term. However in my view the longer the range the greater the variables and therefore the chance of a miss. Whilst it may be necessary to take the shot the use of the term makes it sound like a personal challenge (as if it were a target) and I think conveys the wrong message to those who disagree with what we do. Dont get me wrong, if I could take that shot and be sure of the outcome I would, but I probably would'nt use that term on an open forum. Its not a big deal. Just an opinion.

An opinion well presented and as far as I can see respected by myself and the others on the thread. I can see both sides and agree we need to be careful about perceptions from non shooters. The way I see it is if you are confident of a shot at what ever range then its right to take it if you have no other option ie fox won't come closer or is across a valley. I spend a lot of time on a range and can shoot out to good distances accurately, if the shot ever presents itself at 300 yards I would take it with confidence....and would say it was my personal longest/best distance I have taken a fox. As sportsman we continually challenge ourselves to do better whilst considering our quarry. If the fox was on the move I wouldn't take the shot(as per my previous post) due to the risk of injury but if it was sat upright and clearly not moving I'd take it. Where do you draw the line when it comes to distance? 200 or 300 yards both plenty of room for error but the bullet takes only a fraction of a second longer to travel that extra 100 yards.
 
I have shot many foxes running, mainly with the shotgun on fox drives or ahead of the combine, I have however also shot a few abroad on boar drives with the rifle and even a marginal hit stop charlie better then most shotguns.
I have also shot lots of foxes over 2,000 some at ranges that would stir up a hornets nest on here.
They are vermin and should be destroyed with every oppertunity.
Rifles wound even at close range, though fox sized animals are rarley lightly wounded and succum quickly wih varmint rounds.
Personal bests are no different to biggest fish or anything else.
My personal best (memeories) are from deer I got the closest to, foxes the furthest shot or most shot in one night.
Dress it how you like "ANTIS" will not accept it. PERIOD. I for one am proud of what I do legally as a job and a past time.
Education of antis is whats needed.
Range is irrellevant if practice and tackle is up to the job.
With deer a larger animal with a large ruminant is a different thing.
Thats just my opinion.
I take alot of flack for telling things how they are. BUT it stops them guessing and imagining things for them selves that way.
The facts are the facts.
If I can see a fox and its safe in daylight I will reach out some are missed some are killed no more than other shots some are (rarley) wounded. But I have experience and KNOW the facts not guess them.
P.s. my personal fox best was at one time about 100m's (rimfire magnum) now its many 100's m its still a personal best and probably I'll never beat it (or try).
I respect your opinion but antis will always hate us for killing anything at any range.
 
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Its never occured to me to have a personal best when it comes to killing something, or showing one specis more concern than any other.
 
Its never occured to me to have a personal best when it comes to killing something, or showing one specis more concern than any other.

Its never occured to me to be any different.
If you bumped a deer or a dog in your car. You would in all honesty go back and look for the poor beast.
In all honesty you will have hit dozens of rabbits rats and mice, how many did you go back for.?
 
Its never occured to me to be any different.
If you bumped a deer or a dog in your car. You would in all honesty go back and look for the poor beast.
In all honesty you will have hit dozens of rabbits rats and mice, how many did you go back for.?

Now your talking...my personal best on a rat was 25 yards with a black widow catapult :)
 
If you are asking me whether I would stop to make sure I had killed a rabbit if I clipped it whilst driving, then the answer is yes. This would depend on traffic and other things but if possible I would certainly do so. Not being holier than thou here, but personal bests smacks of competition (even if its just with oneself) and that is just not appropriate when it comes to killing an animal.
 
If you are asking me whether I would stop to make sure I had killed a rabbit if I clipped it whilst driving, then the answer is yes. This would depend on traffic and other things but if possible I would certainly do so. Not being holier than thou here, but personal bests smacks of competition (even if its just with oneself) and that is just not appropriate when it comes to killing an animal.
I suggest you also visit pigeon watch and write to sporting gun and sports shooter and tell them 100+ "red letter" days stink.
See where that leads you.
And then put a letter in shooting gazette about "high bird" shoots should not advertise their "bad practice" shoots.
Personal bests are every where in shooting you have just never opened your eyes.
 
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