Virtually every magazine article (and SD post ?) we see is about how well someone did and what they managed to bag, but life ain't like that as we all know ...
I am lucky enough to have shooting permission on a farm that comprises of some 'let' arable, over which I can shoot deer, and a few fields that are used by the owner to have his sheep graze.
With the lambs now out of the barn I thought it a good move to set myself up for a long evenings foxing with the .204. My shooting buddy and I have taken a good number of foxes off the property over the last couple of years, starting off with some bumper nights while we whittled away and the local population. These days foxes are few and far between but we still put in time to make sure it stays that way as per the owners request.
Last night I set myself up at the blind end of a hedgerow about 150yds from a feature that we all know to be a wildlife corridor and fox magnet ... a disused old railway line.
Convinced that when/if Charlie put in an appearance it would be from the railway line I had positioned myself so that the wind was coming in from my front right as I faced the line so scent would not trouble anything by the railway.
I had arrived a little before 6pm and had been using the caller intermittently when, in the very last of the useable light at 8.40 I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to the left just in time to see the ruddy fox that had come right through the farm, and had effectively crept up behind me, as it caught my scent. It would not have had a more pronounced reaction had I slapped it with a haddock ! It was no more than 20yds from me when this happened but it immediately set off for the far end of the field at about Warp Factor 9. It wasn't going to be persuaded to stop or even slow down. Not for a shouted "Oy!" or anything. I followed it down the field with the lamp and it was last seen, still running pell-mell, exiting the field at the far bottom corner about 520yds away.
Did I see another ? Did that small vixen come back later ? Like hell !
So, out all evening into the night for one view of a departing fox and the sight of 6 CWD's happily grazing in the neighbours Winter wheat crop. Maybe the fox was just too cunning for me, or perhaps just lucky, but it has to be lucky every time and I only need to be lucky the once
'Fess up fellas. How often do the wily beggars get the better of you ?
I am lucky enough to have shooting permission on a farm that comprises of some 'let' arable, over which I can shoot deer, and a few fields that are used by the owner to have his sheep graze.
With the lambs now out of the barn I thought it a good move to set myself up for a long evenings foxing with the .204. My shooting buddy and I have taken a good number of foxes off the property over the last couple of years, starting off with some bumper nights while we whittled away and the local population. These days foxes are few and far between but we still put in time to make sure it stays that way as per the owners request.
Last night I set myself up at the blind end of a hedgerow about 150yds from a feature that we all know to be a wildlife corridor and fox magnet ... a disused old railway line.
Convinced that when/if Charlie put in an appearance it would be from the railway line I had positioned myself so that the wind was coming in from my front right as I faced the line so scent would not trouble anything by the railway.
I had arrived a little before 6pm and had been using the caller intermittently when, in the very last of the useable light at 8.40 I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to the left just in time to see the ruddy fox that had come right through the farm, and had effectively crept up behind me, as it caught my scent. It would not have had a more pronounced reaction had I slapped it with a haddock ! It was no more than 20yds from me when this happened but it immediately set off for the far end of the field at about Warp Factor 9. It wasn't going to be persuaded to stop or even slow down. Not for a shouted "Oy!" or anything. I followed it down the field with the lamp and it was last seen, still running pell-mell, exiting the field at the far bottom corner about 520yds away.
Did I see another ? Did that small vixen come back later ? Like hell !
So, out all evening into the night for one view of a departing fox and the sight of 6 CWD's happily grazing in the neighbours Winter wheat crop. Maybe the fox was just too cunning for me, or perhaps just lucky, but it has to be lucky every time and I only need to be lucky the once
'Fess up fellas. How often do the wily beggars get the better of you ?
