stavross
Well-Known Member
How’s your walking? Can you still sit down?Stings a bit like but long sleeves hide the rope burns!!
Out last night.
- Thread starter finnbear270
- Start date
BenBhoy
Well-Known Member
Oh walking, misread that at first!! Ha yeah, grinning through the tears I was!!How’s your walking? Can you still sit down?
Rob22
Well-Known Member
Out last night - sort of
I recently changed from NV to thermal on foxing rifle - HIK Micro Thunder TQ50 2.0 - bloody good thermal scope however I have found using a thermal spotter and thermal scope it has left me a couple of occasions where I haven’t been 100% happy with ID and subsequently didn’t take shot. Last trip out I was at a farm where there is a lot of sheep - I clocked what I pretty sure was a fox laying down - as I wasn’t happy I didn’t take shot and it turned out to indeed be a fox but it escaped to fight another day - kicked myself, however as we all would I wouldn’t take a shot I wasn’t 100% happy with.
I had a Gen 1 Pard DS35 previously on foxing rifle and had moved to air rifle for ratting - I decided to do a swap around and the DS35 was let down at long range with its built in IR so purchased a Ludicrous Lumiens Wraith V3 IR torch - now that is a cracking IR!!
It works really well with Pard so can’t wait to get out this week and try it out - also works spot on with Alpex 4k I have on deer rifle, although don’t use the 6.5 for foxes due to cost of ammo and it is a little excessive for them - certainly humane!
Now my air rifle is the most expensive set up I have - hope the rats appreciate it
Moral of the story (from me anyway) if I was to buy kit starting out I would still buy a thermal scope but would consider a pair of HIK Habrok thermal/NV binos for 100% ID confirmation.
I recently changed from NV to thermal on foxing rifle - HIK Micro Thunder TQ50 2.0 - bloody good thermal scope however I have found using a thermal spotter and thermal scope it has left me a couple of occasions where I haven’t been 100% happy with ID and subsequently didn’t take shot. Last trip out I was at a farm where there is a lot of sheep - I clocked what I pretty sure was a fox laying down - as I wasn’t happy I didn’t take shot and it turned out to indeed be a fox but it escaped to fight another day - kicked myself, however as we all would I wouldn’t take a shot I wasn’t 100% happy with.
I had a Gen 1 Pard DS35 previously on foxing rifle and had moved to air rifle for ratting - I decided to do a swap around and the DS35 was let down at long range with its built in IR so purchased a Ludicrous Lumiens Wraith V3 IR torch - now that is a cracking IR!!
It works really well with Pard so can’t wait to get out this week and try it out - also works spot on with Alpex 4k I have on deer rifle, although don’t use the 6.5 for foxes due to cost of ammo and it is a little excessive for them - certainly humane!
Now my air rifle is the most expensive set up I have - hope the rats appreciate it
Moral of the story (from me anyway) if I was to buy kit starting out I would still buy a thermal scope but would consider a pair of HIK Habrok thermal/NV binos for 100% ID confirmation.
Saturday evening after shooting I decided to pitch up at a couple of the bait pipes. Earlier in the week I had shot a fox shortly after 7pm heading to a pipe. After sending him on his merry way I walked past the pipe and checked it. Lo and behold ! Not a scrap left in it ! Obviously something was there earlier. I had seen a heron in the vicinity when baiting at about 430. The other pipe with a camera on it had shown a fox turning up at 745pm on Thursday and 725pm on Friday. He was obviously getting used to his grub.
545 found me pitched up 150 yards away from the bait pipe. Time wore on, hares appeared, an owl flew silently down a ditch. I was becoming a little concerned over the time as I like to be “the welcoming party” well in advance. @630 the fox popped out of a ditch opposite the bait pipe. It mooched around a while and then set off across the field.
. Job done I went back to the Hilux and drove off to my next appointment.
Just before 7 I arrived and set up shop. Luxury, a car park on the estate, 160 yards to the pipe. A look through the thermals confirmed nothing there or in the surrounding fields and the wind on my face. Time passed and a few hares and rabbits moved about, hares seem to have their favourite spots to occupy every evening.
Suddenly I spotted a heat source through the top of a hedge. There was Charlie with his nose to the ground. No shot was possible so I had to wait it out. A few glimpses through the hedge kept me posted on his position occasionally. Then he trotted out to dine. Fatal error by him.. So two by 720 pm, I had an early night with two dog foxes grounded.
545 found me pitched up 150 yards away from the bait pipe. Time wore on, hares appeared, an owl flew silently down a ditch. I was becoming a little concerned over the time as I like to be “the welcoming party” well in advance. @630 the fox popped out of a ditch opposite the bait pipe. It mooched around a while and then set off across the field.
. Job done I went back to the Hilux and drove off to my next appointment.Just before 7 I arrived and set up shop. Luxury, a car park on the estate, 160 yards to the pipe. A look through the thermals confirmed nothing there or in the surrounding fields and the wind on my face. Time passed and a few hares and rabbits moved about, hares seem to have their favourite spots to occupy every evening.
Suddenly I spotted a heat source through the top of a hedge. There was Charlie with his nose to the ground. No shot was possible so I had to wait it out. A few glimpses through the hedge kept me posted on his position occasionally. Then he trotted out to dine. Fatal error by him.
. So two by 720 pm, I had an early night with two dog foxes grounded.I went out last night first time in 2025 so hoping for a good night and it was. 2 dog foxes and 2 Muntjac. The poor buck though must have been in a RTA as it was limping terribly. It had a rear foot missing and the front leg on the same side was also damaged. I shot him more to put him out of his misery.
I went out to pick up the first fox so left my rifle propped up aganst a post and took my sticks. I walked 30 yards and there was a great big dog fox that I had been trying to get for ages, behind a small spiny trying to work out how he was going to get the ducks that were on the ice on the centre of the small pond. I back tracked for my rifle but when I got back he had heard me and was running back up the hedge and away.
I will have him though one day soon. I will try and get the photos up when I learn how.
I went out to pick up the first fox so left my rifle propped up aganst a post and took my sticks. I walked 30 yards and there was a great big dog fox that I had been trying to get for ages, behind a small spiny trying to work out how he was going to get the ducks that were on the ice on the centre of the small pond. I back tracked for my rifle but when I got back he had heard me and was running back up the hedge and away.
I will have him though one day soon. I will try and get the photos up when I learn how.
Out yesterday afternoon on a newish bit of ground looking for deer (which have so far been fairly absent). More for a wander and to look for any evidence in the snow before it all melted than any real expectation. Big chunky fox wandering across the open fields in the daylight. I tried to get a position for a shot but it was like walking on cornflakes in the snow and he knew there was something up. Got the scope on him at 190yds but terrible shooting position and was wobbling all over the place so didn't take the shot.
Was about to message the (sheep) farmer this morning to let him know when my phone pinged - he'd lost a sheep and foxes had been at the carcass and would I be able to help out? Happy to oblige but will need my thermal jim-jams for this one. It's 15 mins away so will have to venture away from the comfort of the bedroom window
Was about to message the (sheep) farmer this morning to let him know when my phone pinged - he'd lost a sheep and foxes had been at the carcass and would I be able to help out? Happy to oblige but will need my thermal jim-jams for this one. It's 15 mins away so will have to venture away from the comfort of the bedroom window
Mr Tree
Well-Known Member
A lot of keepers here in norfolk switching to thermal, IR lights a causing a problem. I would hazard a guess that missed foxes might just be exasperating the problem. I got a problem fox that doesnt like Bakers meaty chunks! it walks over top of them without stopping, maybe she's a vegetarian, might be the flash from the game cam though.Out last night - sort of
I recently changed from NV to thermal on foxing rifle - HIK Micro Thunder TQ50 2.0 - bloody good thermal scope however I have found using a thermal spotter and thermal scope it has left me a couple of occasions where I haven’t been 100% happy with ID and subsequently didn’t take shot. Last trip out I was at a farm where there is a lot of sheep - I clocked what I pretty sure was a fox laying down - as I wasn’t happy I didn’t take shot and it turned out to indeed be a fox but it escaped to fight another day - kicked myself, however as we all would I wouldn’t take a shot I wasn’t 100% happy with.
I had a Gen 1 Pard DS35 previously on foxing rifle and had moved to air rifle for ratting - I decided to do a swap around and the DS35 was let down at long range with its built in IR so purchased a Ludicrous Lumiens Wraith V3 IR torch - now that is a cracking IR!!
View attachment 401299
It works really well with Pard so can’t wait to get out this week and try it out - also works spot on with Alpex 4k I have on deer rifle, although don’t use the 6.5 for foxes due to cost of ammo and it is a little excessive for them - certainly humane!
Now my air rifle is the most expensive set up I have - hope the rats appreciate it
Moral of the story (from me anyway) if I was to buy kit starting out I would still buy a thermal scope but would consider a pair of HIK Habrok thermal/NV binos for 100% ID confirmation.
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
#6
Two nights sitting in the car didn't work again.
They know you know!
So I walked there at about 18:00 and hung around this small farm. I eventually decided to squeal with my new caller, a dog toy squeaker inserted in the tube of an old cheapo flash light.
Three calls and nobody turns up. So I impatiently moved away to look across a few fields from a vantage point. Then as I returned through the yard I looked to where I was calling and there was a fox sniffing the ground Jess and I had just been stood on!!
By the time I got ready it had left into some dead ground and I had no Idea where it had gone!
I got into a better position and got bleating on the call.
After two calls out pops this big lad, and I mean big, and heavy. An absolute prize specimen.
Got to say I'm really impressed with these Sierra bullets, they seem perfectly balanced for 222.
At the back of the farm in an old boat trailer I often see a heat source under the hitch in the box section steel.
Tonight I found out who it is.
Two nights sitting in the car didn't work again.
They know you know!
So I walked there at about 18:00 and hung around this small farm. I eventually decided to squeal with my new caller, a dog toy squeaker inserted in the tube of an old cheapo flash light.
Three calls and nobody turns up. So I impatiently moved away to look across a few fields from a vantage point. Then as I returned through the yard I looked to where I was calling and there was a fox sniffing the ground Jess and I had just been stood on!!
By the time I got ready it had left into some dead ground and I had no Idea where it had gone!
I got into a better position and got bleating on the call.
After two calls out pops this big lad, and I mean big, and heavy. An absolute prize specimen.
Got to say I'm really impressed with these Sierra bullets, they seem perfectly balanced for 222.
At the back of the farm in an old boat trailer I often see a heat source under the hitch in the box section steel.
Tonight I found out who it is.
Mr Tree
Well-Known Member
Nice to see em go straight down SD, what are those Sierras, BT or SP?
Opened this year's account this evening. I had found a half-eaten road-kill roe and dragged it to where the Bakers Meaty Meals had been dissappearing for a few days. I was getting a little disheartened and had deicided to wait till 8pm. At 2 minutes to 8, number one for the year turned up.
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
Soft points mate.
Courtesy of a butcher mate I was distributing some chicken 
at my bait points. Deary me a fox had been at one at 739 last night. The other had not been visited. The remains of 2 plucked and drawn pheasants remained. However some scraps I had simply thrown out up on the hill were gone. I had seen a fox there last week from much lower down.
As usual I pitched up at 630 to watch. Some rabbits and hares were bouncing around. 4 deer appeared out of a wood on the hillside. 7 o’clock and no show. Not to worry, 720 and suddenly 2 rabbits
in the field were up on their hunkers looking upwind. That got my attention ! After a couple of minutes a fox came into view. I lit up the IR and .
Rang to say I’d be home for 830. Luckily swmbo takes my eta’s with a large grain of salt. Heading out I stopped to close a gate and had a quick scan with the thermal.
3 hares in a grass field 180-200 yards away.
There’s only ever 2 hares in that field
. I closed the gate and observed my 3 hares a bit longer. There was a bit of moisture in the air making good focusing a bit difficult. That hare at the bottom just seemed a bit odd. The ears, there was something about the ears.
So I got the rifle out and powered up the scope. Well bu##er me ! It was a fox lying down chewing on something. I put in the magazine, chambered a round and closed the distance up a track lined intermittently with trees. The fox had started to move so I stepped out onto the plough and setup on the Viperflex sticks. and away home.
That’s me into double digits and it’s only the 13th.
at my bait points. Deary me a fox had been at one at 739 last night. The other had not been visited. The remains of 2 plucked and drawn pheasants remained. However some scraps I had simply thrown out up on the hill were gone. I had seen a fox there last week from much lower down.As usual I pitched up at 630 to watch. Some rabbits and hares were bouncing around. 4 deer appeared out of a wood on the hillside. 7 o’clock and no show. Not to worry, 720 and suddenly 2 rabbits
in the field were up on their hunkers looking upwind. That got my attention ! After a couple of minutes a fox came into view. I lit up the IR and .Rang to say I’d be home for 830. Luckily swmbo takes my eta’s with a large grain of salt. Heading out I stopped to close a gate and had a quick scan with the thermal.
3 hares in a grass field 180-200 yards away.
There’s only ever 2 hares in that field
. I closed the gate and observed my 3 hares a bit longer. There was a bit of moisture in the air making good focusing a bit difficult. That hare at the bottom just seemed a bit odd. The ears, there was something about the ears.So I got the rifle out and powered up the scope. Well bu##er me ! It was a fox lying down chewing on something. I put in the magazine, chambered a round and closed the distance up a track lined intermittently with trees. The fox had started to move so I stepped out onto the plough and setup on the Viperflex sticks.
and away home.That’s me into double digits and it’s only the 13th.
Attachments
I used to close up a site near to my former home in Chester, during the winter months, being dusk at closing up, I used to wait & watch for the two birds who had colonised the steel columns of the security lighting, a small aperture was used by a Wren & a slightly larger one where like your pic, a Blue tit arrived without fail every evening.
Comfy as having a hot water bottle.Chap on one place is rearranging the barn for me. So I can be high upView attachment 401538
Now that is luxurious SD, nice to see the farmer appreciates your efforts.
kenbro
Well-Known Member
I’ve just developed a load (20.4grains N120) for Sierra Hollow Points but they’re 40 grain.
Will see….if I happen to see another fox…
.Ken.
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