Any foxes shouting??
- Thread starter rms364
- Start date
Andy seatrout
Well-Known Member
I’ve got the dog foxes yapping all over the place on my shoot…. But the full moon is making life difficult to get on terms with them….I go on foot ( small fields, bad gates, lots of hills)
Passed two knotted this afternoon out in a field not 50yds from a busy A road.
WB
WB
Andy seatrout
Well-Known Member
I tend to hear more calling when it’s clear - but perhaps that’s because it’s still and the sound travels further?
Free range rob
Well-Known Member
I’m still hearing calling on most of my different ground every night, but caller doesn’t seem to interest them in the slightest now, 3 nights running I’ve heard calling nearby but no reaction to vixen mating call.
Andy seatrout
Well-Known Member
Same here, the vixen call isn’t drawing them in, not sure why, had one nose up behind me ( there’s the odd one that does that ) about forty yards away…. Might go out later if we have cloud!
Andy seatrout
Well-Known Member
Lots of dogs calling, electronic call with vixen on it absolutely useless….. 90 minutes near a gorse bank and wood where I know there’s a fox ( it’s also one of best drives on my little shoot with typically 20 to 30 birds in it - if a fox hasn’t been through it).
Packed in the call had a walk about ( felt ridiculous as the moonlight was so bright you could read a newspaper) …. Sure enough saw the vixen sixty yards away, skylined…… she quartered away as I ‘made like a tree’ until she was 120 yards away and with a good safe backstop….. then I shot her in the head, didn’t even need any IR illumination.
Packed in the call had a walk about ( felt ridiculous as the moonlight was so bright you could read a newspaper) …. Sure enough saw the vixen sixty yards away, skylined…… she quartered away as I ‘made like a tree’ until she was 120 yards away and with a good safe backstop….. then I shot her in the head, didn’t even need any IR illumination.
I had a call a few nights ago from a farmer saying the calling was driving his dogs mad at night, so i crept around in the shadows of hedges and trees, no calling,
2 hrs later , 2 vixens + 2 dogs were asleep , I'm finding creeping around is better than any caller at the moment.
2 hrs later , 2 vixens + 2 dogs were asleep , I'm finding creeping around is better than any caller at the moment.
Free range rob
Well-Known Member
I went out early and could hear calling, tried the vixen mating call and didn’t get a thing stayed out for a couple hours and was fed up with the moonlight illuminating everything so went home, fed and watered decided to have a look out at mine, no calling happening so I stuck caller on the fence and played the mouse squeak, in less than 5 minutes I had a dog fox at 80 yards so nailed that, tried to have a walk around but was so frosty it was like walking on broken glass so called it a night at midnight, always another time.
rms364
Well-Known Member
Had a romantic moonlit walk last night. Seen 1 about 500 yds away on a well used run so crept in to intercept. 1 dog fox down. Tried caller for 15 mins. Nothing and nothing heard so walked back home. Had a quick scan around chicken pen and farm yard. 4 rabbits and all quiet. Thought I better try caller or I won’t sleep worrying 
so set up on fence post with mating call and immediately a dog sprinted in from 7-800yds away. By the time I turned the caller off and got rifle on sticks he was 30 yds and staring at me. Another dog fox and this one was full of mange around the back end. Not seen mange around here for 5 or 6 yrs. Then off to bed feeling smug and glad I trusted my gut instinct again 
so set up on fence post with mating call and immediately a dog sprinted in from 7-800yds away. By the time I turned the caller off and got rifle on sticks he was 30 yds and staring at me. Another dog fox and this one was full of mange around the back end. Not seen mange around here for 5 or 6 yrs. Then off to bed feeling smug and glad I trusted my gut instinct again Yes - although instinct commonly seems to defy logic, it often delivers!...glad I trusted my gut instinct again
When do you normally see them tied
Mid /late November through December normally but this year they have only started calling mid January .
shakey jake
Well-Known Member
saw a pair mating on sunday from the living room window, watched them for about half an hour
Andy seatrout
Well-Known Member
Same round here, only started just after Christmas - potentially the silly high temperatures that persisted delayed things…
Shot one on Monday night came initially to the vixen call, held back and loitered…. Moved to a rabbit distress…. Shot 130 yards off the sticks… vixen it turned out.
Went out last night ( I should have posted that on the ‘things went wrong’ thread) saw a fox through the thermal while looking out the car window, parked up in farmers yard, walked back down the lane- turned out to be a badger after all….. walking back up I was joined by a white albino ferret….. which walked to heel fifty yards back to the yard, phoned farmer asked if he or anyone had lost a ferret ( it had signs of having had a harness on….. ) looked tame - tried to pick it up - the bugger bit me on my trigger finger… on the knuckle, through the gloves, drew blood….
Anyway, it sodded off, I drove up to another of our drives- five minutes with the vixen call, fox appeared but hung back, moved to rabbit, in it came, missed the shot- pulled it- finger killing me….. it came back out, and I missed it again- clean….. absolute shambles….
‘I missed because a ferret bit my trigger finger’ is an excuse that I’ve not heard before….still sore tonight but no sign of any infection!
foxdropper
Well-Known Member
As predicted not a whisper here after Xmas but seeing a few about now .Chickens still shut in and foxes attempting to dig into sheds .Shot 4 last night between two of us ,two each .All called with a mouth squeak .One vixen heavy with cubs .
Free range rob
Well-Known Member
I had two vixens tonight, just happened to bump into them on way back from a stalk, not heard any calling for a couple weeks now I guess, just seeing the odd fox here and there but no massive numbers
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