I went out Bonfire night for a bit of foxing to of my one of my permissions, this farm has two chicken sheds larger away from the farm house and the smaller closer by.
I have put highseats close by both the sheds for staying comfortable on extended evenings out. The highseat by the smaller shed is a standard one man steel lean to type , the other I made myself can comfortably seat two has a roof and netting to shelter you from the elements.
Well for Bonfire night I was sat in the single hightseat and to say the view of the numerous displays going was a spectacle in its self . My foxing setup is a Rem .204 shooting 32gr Zmax , NV & red light spotter .
From my vantage point 12' up a tree on the hill overlooking the village , this position didn't just give me a view of the village fireworks but that of displays up to 15 miles away . Some of the displays that were over 5 miles away from where I was sat would turn the fields to daylight on some of the larger explosions.
I had been sat in the seat for a good hour plus and had bagged two foxes so far , both tihese foxes were the typical bang flop reaction to the shot.
The 3rd fox was spotted 400+m away on the NV and it worked its way into the caller , at about 100m fox was the classic side profile I put the cross hairs on the H/L and squeezed off the shot .
Very quite muzzel report ( due to mod and barrel being freezing ) loud impact thump and watched fox collapse to shot as expected , as im cycling the bolt I watch the fox get up and start doing cartwheels all over the place . I'm thinking I've pulled the shot and caught it in the legs or low brisket , the fox then starts pushing itself over the field using only its back legs .
This reinforces my belief that its a leg or clipped brisket shot , I'm trying to put a 2nd shot into fox but its pushing itself all over the place at top speed. It then stands up and runs off awkwardly on all 4 legs it does 40m then keels over .
On inspection it was a good size vixen in A1 condition , the shot was perfect H/L placement the round exited
( unusual for the 32gr which normally stay in chest ) the exit wound was 1" × 2" the lungs were in tatters and heart peppered .
Of all the foxes I've shot with my .204 this is the 1st ( taking out poor shot placement ones ) that didnt just collapse to the shot, even marginally shot foxes just drop .So either bullet not fully expanding or a hard as nails fox .
Well called it a night as i was getting cold , 3 foxes for the evening all vixens ( farmer will be pleased) 2 from the previous evening at the larger chicken shed from the bigger highseat . So 5 foxes over 2 evenings .
On the Sunday morning just before 9am I was coming back from taking the dogs out , when walking down the track towads me was was a very brightly dressed man and his son (10 yrs) carrying a big rucksack and carrying a huge lensed camera someone who I've not seen around my end before.
I say my hello and good morning and he askes if im local and know the area , i tell him yes then ask him what is he hoping to photograph today.
He tells me foxes , he says how he's been told you can see foxes sometimes mouching about around where the chickens are , and he's seen a great seat or hide in tree that would make a great place to take pictures from . He asks me do I know who's seat it is and do you think he would be allowed to use it .
I told him in the nicest way I made the seat and he's not allowed to use it explain my reasons and tell him what thecseat is for , he was a nice chap and I felt a tad torn at stopping him and his son from using it, as I like to see kids getting involved in nature and the outdoors and this seat is great comfy place to sit.
I full understand the implications of allowing him up the seat if anything went wrong and it could potentially encourage others to try and use it if he told people.
I did explain to him of places where to see foxes , he did show me some of his photos of wild life , they were average to not very good considering he had a camera setup costing more than my truck.
I showed him some of my wildlife pics / still lifes off my phone he didn't seem to impressed with the composition we shook hands and left .
Good two evenings on the foxes , great firework displays seen , shot reaction ive not experienced with the ,204 before and unusual meeting .View attachment 76133View attachment 76134
I have put highseats close by both the sheds for staying comfortable on extended evenings out. The highseat by the smaller shed is a standard one man steel lean to type , the other I made myself can comfortably seat two has a roof and netting to shelter you from the elements.
Well for Bonfire night I was sat in the single hightseat and to say the view of the numerous displays going was a spectacle in its self . My foxing setup is a Rem .204 shooting 32gr Zmax , NV & red light spotter .
From my vantage point 12' up a tree on the hill overlooking the village , this position didn't just give me a view of the village fireworks but that of displays up to 15 miles away . Some of the displays that were over 5 miles away from where I was sat would turn the fields to daylight on some of the larger explosions.
I had been sat in the seat for a good hour plus and had bagged two foxes so far , both tihese foxes were the typical bang flop reaction to the shot.
The 3rd fox was spotted 400+m away on the NV and it worked its way into the caller , at about 100m fox was the classic side profile I put the cross hairs on the H/L and squeezed off the shot .
Very quite muzzel report ( due to mod and barrel being freezing ) loud impact thump and watched fox collapse to shot as expected , as im cycling the bolt I watch the fox get up and start doing cartwheels all over the place . I'm thinking I've pulled the shot and caught it in the legs or low brisket , the fox then starts pushing itself over the field using only its back legs .
This reinforces my belief that its a leg or clipped brisket shot , I'm trying to put a 2nd shot into fox but its pushing itself all over the place at top speed. It then stands up and runs off awkwardly on all 4 legs it does 40m then keels over .
On inspection it was a good size vixen in A1 condition , the shot was perfect H/L placement the round exited
( unusual for the 32gr which normally stay in chest ) the exit wound was 1" × 2" the lungs were in tatters and heart peppered .
Of all the foxes I've shot with my .204 this is the 1st ( taking out poor shot placement ones ) that didnt just collapse to the shot, even marginally shot foxes just drop .So either bullet not fully expanding or a hard as nails fox .
Well called it a night as i was getting cold , 3 foxes for the evening all vixens ( farmer will be pleased) 2 from the previous evening at the larger chicken shed from the bigger highseat . So 5 foxes over 2 evenings .
On the Sunday morning just before 9am I was coming back from taking the dogs out , when walking down the track towads me was was a very brightly dressed man and his son (10 yrs) carrying a big rucksack and carrying a huge lensed camera someone who I've not seen around my end before.
I say my hello and good morning and he askes if im local and know the area , i tell him yes then ask him what is he hoping to photograph today.
He tells me foxes , he says how he's been told you can see foxes sometimes mouching about around where the chickens are , and he's seen a great seat or hide in tree that would make a great place to take pictures from . He asks me do I know who's seat it is and do you think he would be allowed to use it .
I told him in the nicest way I made the seat and he's not allowed to use it explain my reasons and tell him what thecseat is for , he was a nice chap and I felt a tad torn at stopping him and his son from using it, as I like to see kids getting involved in nature and the outdoors and this seat is great comfy place to sit.
I full understand the implications of allowing him up the seat if anything went wrong and it could potentially encourage others to try and use it if he told people.
I did explain to him of places where to see foxes , he did show me some of his photos of wild life , they were average to not very good considering he had a camera setup costing more than my truck.
I showed him some of my wildlife pics / still lifes off my phone he didn't seem to impressed with the composition we shook hands and left .
Good two evenings on the foxes , great firework displays seen , shot reaction ive not experienced with the ,204 before and unusual meeting .View attachment 76133View attachment 76134
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