Out last night.

[Foxyboy43]

I'm sure they are good but usually I do ok, rarely mis to be honest.

4 x B&Q plastic coated metal garden canes make great quads Smelly - very robust and cheap too….

 

[paulst]

I've been using 40gn vmax. They are pretty good hey.

Forgot to say, the fox was feeding head down and I didn’t wait for him to lift his head. Was I wrong to take the shot?

 

[Smellydog]

Forgot to say, the fox was feeding head down and I didn’t wait for him to lift his head. Was I wrong to take the shot?

Couldn't be better. One second your sniffing something foul and the next your gone!

 

[Smellydog]

So I've visited the field where I missed one last night and dribbled so juice from a mackerel can around.
If I can muster the strength to go on dusk keep everything crossed for me!
The rifle zero is perfect.

 

[Cyres]

Operator error then!

 

[Cyres]

I have been out 6x times this week. 4 on newly moved grass. Caught a glimpse of a fox on 3rd night. 4th night watched a fox across the valley disappearing into the farms muck heap. Its one of my perms.11pm.
Next night arrived 10.30pm wind all wrong but decided to climb up onto stack of round bares next to muck heap. Good view over field which Charlie would approach. The field is full of cows and calves . 10.50pm I see fox on far hedgerow. It starts to come over field. Calves then start to play tag racing around the field. Charlie is v unsettled and retreats to far hedge.
11.15 pm Charlie makes second attempt to cross field and I track him through the scope. Half way across it stops and shot on. Atn on x15. Then bugger me a cow walks up to have a look at the fox. I can see nothing.
After what seems ages cow moves but fox had vanished. Frantic scanning with thermal finds fox all but in the fence line directly infront on me. Can't see a thing though AT N as on 15x and white out. Get mag down but it's gone.
Duck duck duck.
Then spend ages scanning cannot find it. Final look at the muck heap 15 yds infront of me and blow me fox is digging in it.
V v slowly get rifle up and get on it. Oblique side on shot. Squeeze trigger big thud and fox exits. What!bbbbbbbgr.
Scan with thermal and its in nettles between muck heap and fence. Shot on again but fox departs slowly trotting away across the field. Frantic change of mag on ATN but it decides to go to skywards towards 30x. Fox getting bigger in scope and out of focus. It stopped and round dispatched. Satisfactory thump and fox collapses
Massive sense of relief 3/4 grown dog fox so with luck that's the whole litter and adults removed.
ATN is now winging its way back to ATN for the gremlins to be sorted.
D

 

[stavross]

I know this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but this is a job too me
I went to my mates tonight as they had just cut some oilseed rape, when I got there he came to see me to say would I clear some hare up because they are running in front of the combine like the rabbits used to do, so I had a couple of hours calling for a fox and with a no show I thought I’d give the hares a go, I shot 22 in under an hour and I must of seen between 60 and 70 on a 40 acre stubble field and a 10 acre grass field
I said to the lad that they won’t be causing any problem now but his reply was “ they bloody will once the winter crop goes in “ they must be a problem in them numbers because there was once a time when I was asked not to shoot hares here
In all the years I’ve been doing this I can’t think of a time when the density of the hare population was like this

 

[stavross]

Anyone know why my pictures are upside down

 

[Bo Diddley]

I counted 48 hares and 2 Muntjacs on one 8-acre field a couple of nights ago. The field is in a scheme, drilled a few months ago with wild bird cover. The drought has done more harm to the growth than the hares. Hopefully get on them when they make five quid each in November .

 

[Tim.243]

2 more left who ran for cover after the other 3 fell over.

 

[stavross]

I counted 48 hares and 2 Muntjacs on one 8-acre field a couple of nights ago. The field is in a scheme, drilled a few months ago with wild bird cover. The drought has done more harm to the growth than the hares. Hopefully get on them when they make five quid each in November .

It’s a shame for us because no matter what time of year it is they aren’t worth sh*t up here, even the dog food lads have stopped taking them, can’t even give them away

 

[jall55]

It’s a shame for us because no matter what time of year it is they aren’t worth sh*t up here, even the dog food lads have stopped taking them, can’t even give them away

Worth a fiver a hare just to be able to sit and watch them messing about Stav - make a nights foxing fly watching some of their antics - had one the other night doing laps of a mates 20 acre field ! Most odd - even the other hares i swear were looking at it thinking what the hell - like a puppy with zoomies !

 

[Mike1979]

Worth a fiver a hare just to be able to sit and watch them messing about Stav - make a nights foxing fly watching some of their antics - had one the other night doing laps of a mates 20 acre field ! Most odd - even the other hares i swear were looking at it thinking what the hell - like a puppy with zoomies !

I love watching the hares and have a good few on our ground at home...however I also have no issues with people shooting them where they cause harm. I shoot a few on a commercial nursery for a couple of reasons and whilst I dont enjoy doing it the owner wants them shot.

 

[stavross]

Worth a fiver a hare just to be able to sit and watch them messing about Stav - make a nights foxing fly watching some of their antics - had one the other night doing laps of a mates 20 acre field ! Most odd - even the other hares i swear were looking at it thinking what the hell - like a puppy with zoomies !

They are lovely to watch but it’s not good when you are asked to do it and there’s no value in them, the dog food lad would pay between 2/3 quid for head shot, but they don’t want them now because he’s getting deer for 10 quid a carcass, sometimes they are not paying for anything, I’m not sure what the regulations are for a dog food business but that just looks like a license to print money when you are not paying for your product

 

[Mike1979]

They are lovely to watch but it’s not good when you are asked to do it and there’s no value in them, the dog food lad would pay between 2/3 quid for head shot, but they don’t want them now because he’s getting deer for 10 quid a carcass, sometimes they are not paying for anything, I’m not sure what the regulations are for a dog food business but that just looks like a license to print money when you are not paying for your product

Totally agree...I hate shooting anything that can be eaten without an outlet....but I despise the taste of hare and wouldnt touch it . Takes the pee when someone is taking great meat (in the case of venison) paying sod all for it and turning it into dog food....but understand it from their perspective.

I know a lad who supplies a lot of deer to a pet food maker as there is a lack of people taking the deer so allows him to shoot them and get the carcasses sold..albeit for £0.80 or so per Kg...

 

[finnbear270]

Hares are sacrosanct no shoot on my bit.

 

[Foxyboy43]

Wonderful creatures - on several occasions whilst daylight fox-calling I have had Irish Witches (for clarity - hares) come to the call, screech to a halt only a few feet away, stare at me with a very puzzled expression then dash off in a wide circle only to return and repeat.
Marvellous!

 

[Bo Diddley]

Our local game dealer pays more for a rabbit with the guts in than for a hare nearly all year round. £1.20p a rabbit, it's only for a few weeks that they make £5 each, and that's a full weight hare, they are all weighed... small... medium... large. Muntjac all go into dog food as well.
Partridges aren't taken a few weeks into the season, or they will take with no payment. One guy collects those for dog food as well, crazy world in which we live, we need to turn the clock backwards 50 years.

 

[Foxyboy43]

Our local game dealer pays more for a rabbit with the guts in than for a hare nearly all year round. £1.20p a rabbit, it's only for a few weeks that they make £5 each, and that's a full weight hare, they are all weighed... small... medium... large. Muntjac all go into dog food as well.
Partridges aren't taken a few weeks into the season, or they will take with no payment. One guy collects those for dog food as well, crazy world in which we live, we need to turn the clock backwards 50 years.

That made for utterly dismal reading - all that wonderful natural meat going to dog food when many people are resorting to “soup kitchens” and meat handouts - usually full of “preservatives”.
That said I suspect that for a variety of reasons many of the possible recipients would refuse such fresh and healthy meat in preference for “ready meals” - what a very strange time we live in….

 

[Mike1979]

That made for utterly dismal reading - all that wonderful natural meat going to dog food when many people are resorting to “soup kitchens” and meat handouts - usually full of “preservatives”.
That said I suspect that for a variety of reasons many of the possible recipients would refuse such fresh and healthy meat in preference for “ready meals” - what a very strange time we live in….

I imagine if you offered free venison to a lot of people they would love it all vacuum packed ready to go ...but imagine it with its jacket on...i think most people are so far removed from where their food comes from its staggering. I worked with a lady who said I was cruel shooting bambi...I asked her if she ate chicken which she did...quick chat and I think she saw the irony of what she had said....

Had a funny question at the checkout in Tesco...Is that a cucumber? Nope its a courgette (we are talking about veg as well so keep it clean )

As you say we live in a strange old world