Foxing on land unsuitable for centrefire?

[BruceA]

Midden = feed point??? erm…no.

It’s a shi*e pile! ….

Can you shoot from a roof or put up a high seat?

Yep. as I said earlier "I tend to shoot from atop some bales stored under a roof which is nicely discrete and also dry when it ****es down "

 

[Foxyboy43]

Was it not Hornady rounds that were the initial problem with the cases splitting, or something?, or have I got it wrong, I was only thinking is you had an old batch of these suspect rounds

Patrick

Yep it was Hornady and still is! I and several of my pals routinely find occasional split rounds still in the box and maybe 4/5 split on firing - so much for Mr H’s denials! I am also aware of a number of 17s blowing up but by all accounts it was after an ignored “dreaded click” - something you really need to be alert to in this otherwise brilliant chambering.
I used to control foxes in big numbers on a local bird reserve. For many years there was only several miles of mudflats as a backdrop then a certain ferry company built a huge terminal and their ships completely filled my horizon. Simple answer was 3 3’x2’ flagstones leaning inwards on fence posts and strategic placement of dog/cat food. Problem(s) solved.

 

[B&W FOX]

I shoot foxes on a very small bit of land that is a triangle with a road on two sides and a public footpath on the other.
My way round this was to erect a 3m tower scaffold and have a swivel seat on top, job done.
Preferred rifle up there is a 17hmr or 22 hornet, do sometimes use the 22rf but need to be careful which direction I'm using it due to ricochets.

 

[25 Sharps]

Be gentle as I'm an newbie to FAC, so forgive any ignorance. I'm just trying to learn like you all did once.

I have a permission which has stables and poultry where I was ratting with my air rifle but they started getting fox problems, which I was invited to address. The land is on the edge of a village with a road running to one side (at least 70 yeards from one fox run. i.e. the track), horses in a paddock on one side of the track and a house nearby. The foxes are quite townie so getting within a max of 50 yards is not difficult. The foxes cross the track which slopes upwards, with a big plowed field beyond, but it is quite stoney and the horses are usually in the paddock on the road side of it. The foxes can also be baited to the bottom of a low very soft bank (although Charlie does take the **** sometimes and sit on top of the bank looking right at me for 15-20 mins. I think he must know there's no backstop there ). I have already taken a few shooting up the track and also using the bank as a backstop with my .22LR and CCI segmented subsonic. From what I have seen on YouTube demos, the faster, 1640fps, CCI segmented can be pretty erratic even at 50 yards so ensuring a clean kill would worry me. I should say that I'm a good shot and all rounds have so far been absorbed by the foxes that I've had (my club has already invited me to join the national benchrest team and I'm pretty lethal with rats and bunnies).

I have read all the threads about using rimfire only for very close range foxing and ricochets, which have raised some concerns. I appreciate that a centrefire is the ideal tool for foxing but my (uneducated) opinion is that it would be madness on this land. So, how can I optimise safety and kills, i.e. head or engine room shots? Would my 17 HMR be a better option with ballistic tips? Should I avoid shooting on the track altogether in case I miss or get a pass through which hits a rocky bit? No doubt this wil open a can of worms with varied opinions...

You can’t optimise any part of the animal, head or engine, because you have to assume you are going to miss.

As has been said bait to a suitable backstop or put a high seat in and bait to the safest direction from that seat. I would avoid shooting into the track because you are asking for ricochets.

HMR will be ok for shots to the brain, 17gr ballistic tips may well blow up on a rib leaving an injured fox running off.

My choice would be .22 hornet shooting 35 gr v-max for the situation you describe, **** at a suitable backstop.

 

[Triggermortis]

Remove the risk of a ricochet totally, use a live cage trap, you can then shoot with no risk of bullets flying anywhere .

 

[Shotgun572013]

I don’t know what Hornady .22 lr ammo is like these days, but I found it prone to ricochet many moons ago with subsonics

 

[griff]

WMR is the way to go for a 50yd range, shot out to about 125 yd with it and it worked ok, now tipped with a hornady bullet they are even better..

 

[ashray]

moderated 410.

 

[Foxyboy43]

Buy the cheapest chicken you can find, stake it with a metal Tbar and shoot the fox in the head with a .22 or .17. Simples!

 

[Nick703]

At 40 to 60 yards I’m sure you’d be able to put every shot into a foxes head with with a 22 or hmr ,feed somewhere safe an get up high on something ,bails-shed-mobile high seat,on top of a pickup

 

[The Singing Stalker]

At 40 to 60 yards I’m sure you’d be able to put every shot into a foxes head with with a 22 or hmr ,feed somewhere safe an get up high on something ,bails-shed-mobile high seat,on top of a pickup

Not with the 10-22 I used to have. Lol.

 

[Nick703]

Not with the 10-22 I used to have. Lol.

Well my 10-22 will put a full box of subs in a foxes head at 50y no problem, but it’s no ordinary 10-22 ,in fact there’s not much rugger left

 

[Mr. Gain]

Remove the risk of a ricochet totally, use a live cage trap, you can then shoot with no risk of bullets flying anywhere .

Probably this. I've done some successful control jobs with the elevation/flagstone/bait/.22 segmented combination (side/rear headshots or bib; no side chest shots) but there comes a point where the lie of the land is just too tight and a trap is the best answer.

 

[shakey jake]

if rifles are that dodgy use a 12 gauge shot gun with 3 shot

 

[BenBhoy]

If they townie dumb foxes could you get close enough for 12bore?
Edit - Jake beat me to it!

 

[Pedro]

So, without actually seeing the land in question (despite an admirably good description) it's nigh on impossible to give a definitive answer. But the above posts have given some good options for you to consider. However, you are the johnny on the spot and it's you that will have to (or not) do the shooting and decide what's safe. So good luck and let safety be your priority (as I'm sure it will).

 

[Pete6.5]

Cage trap or snares job done

 

[Cyres]

Given the choice I would always use my .204 over my .22lr. I shoot in many similar situations to you and almost always use the 204, deadly accurate and no richochets rarely exits. The only reson I would not use it if it was very close to occupied residential property or early hours of the morning/very still night. In normal situations the strike is normally the loudest sound.

If you are going to use a lr then bait them, head shot with eley/magtech/Winchester sub what ever is most acurate in your weapon. At up to 75yds a Photon will be sufficient for the job. At 50yds well placed side on chest shot will do the job.

D

 

[Bowland blades]

Blah , blah ! It's not the cartridge it's where the bullet ends its journey in safely. Besides broad daylight on open ground few will actually need more than a 22 hornet perfectly adequate for foxes to say 200 yards In the right hands but also capable of killing a sheep or worse in the wrong hands , very quiet ! Long barrel life! Incredibly cheap to reload !
There no safe ground only a safe shot or an unsafe shot

 

[andyk]

CCI 20gr hollow points?

I've never used one on a fox but have found them tougher than the 17gr v-max.

Were I to have need to shoot a fox with my HMR, that would be what I would pick.