Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
The last two foxes I've watched at night through the thermal have all been hunting the hedgerows, birds nests and small mammals I suppose..
Why shoot the foxes?
- Thread starter AlexD
- Start date
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
One farm I frequent now for the past decade in fact there was no meadow pippets or larks, no rabbit or hare but plenty of unhealthy fox's.
Within two years of nobbling the fox's the meadow birds returned and after the badger cull the hares are a pest!
Its not rocket science.
Within two years of nobbling the fox's the meadow birds returned and after the badger cull the hares are a pest!
Its not rocket science.
hedge hunter
Well-Known Member
No argument fella I know the damage foxs do is bad but you want too se the badger traffic round here its unbelievable.
They out number the foxs
Yep. Both ways old chap.
In the late 60s, the road was closed for a while to allow a sewer to be laid in the next village. We set snares along the road hedges and caught 50% more badgers than foxes. Can't remember how much we got for badger skins, but they took some skinning!
If the badger culling is stopped by Labour, people will do what is necassary to protect their livelihoods
purdeydog
Well-Known Member
Contact the police, but they won’t sit out and wait for himShoot the vixen in the spring/early summer and the cubs will go wild killing lambs, out of frustration or anger. They go on a killing spree.
Completely separate to that - it is simply bizarre to act like what you describe. Someone very local as chancing a long drive like that is not going to happen many times.
Print and post in the local supermarkets, someone will recognise him. And whoever takes the posters down is either the culprit or his mother.
Contact the police, but they won’t sit out and wait for him
I don’t shoot many foxes either. I’ll take the odd one when stalking and if it’s looking a bit ragged or if it’s too close to the farm/lambs..but I enjoy the healthy foxes basking in the sun or seeing the cubs hop about and play in the summer grass - if we believe every fox, rabbit and deer we see should be shot, we are the ones who have no place in the countryside.
They have in my area on a few occasions over the years. We have an operation name for when we call them out which hopefully means certain resources and not to come blasting on to the area with lights and sirens on. We have build up a very good relationship with them. But ultimately poaching and rural wildlife crime will never be a priority and nor should it when low on resources.
An amazing and sadly telling thread!
Why has no one ventured that it's quite possible to shoot/hunt/stalk foxes because the person partaking in such has no other agenda than gainining immense enjoyment and personal fulfillment from the undertaking?
Very few SD members 'need' to cull UK critters and deer because they derive their income from it so why is there such a reluctance to put up or shut up in terms of the base motivation for getting into the woods and meadows of this wee Isle with a rifle?
K
Why has no one ventured that it's quite possible to shoot/hunt/stalk foxes because the person partaking in such has no other agenda than gainining immense enjoyment and personal fulfillment from the undertaking?
Very few SD members 'need' to cull UK critters and deer because they derive their income from it so why is there such a reluctance to put up or shut up in terms of the base motivation for getting into the woods and meadows of this wee Isle with a rifle?
K
BenBhoy
Well-Known Member
I think the issue is more some dafty having a tear arse about uninvited with a rifle!
Same here hedge hunter - must have 20 in one of our fields - and i actually - as i have said before so sorry if you have already read it - that i have actually seen a badger course a hare !
I have also seen lots and lots of badgers walk past hares - rabbits - poults where a fox most certainly does not - maybe ever
The ground a fox covers in a night compared to a badger too is simply staggering - they quarter fields better than any spaniel when on the hunt
Foxes are important predators on roe deer fawns. Where I used to hunt roe deer until recently, the farmer would give us a discount of NOK 500 (GBP50) for every fox we killed. We payed him NOK 500 annually to hunt there. Foxes are cute, but they are our competitors in nature.
Certainly not my competitors and indeed not many over here would think that mate
Well, if you dont hunt roe deer, pheasant , hare or grouse, you are right. You have no issues with them. Me on the other hand...
Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
With that quantity of badgers about do you manage to have any ground nesting birds survive past the spring?
I watched a vixen hunting through a wild bird cover and the edge of a rape field three years ago as I sat up a high seat in the rain, it was quite incredible to witness, the cover was drenched and she was trying to flush pheasants and grab them as they took flight.. I shot her with the .220 Swift when she came on the path leading up to the seat. She was hunting harder than any spaniel I've watched.
I think many of us shoot them over here to protect many ground nesting species - but yes i see understand you mean now
Hi Bo
Yes we are absolutely thronged - and i do mean thronged with ground nesters / hares
I do lots and lots of habitat management and feed all year round
Many / most / some of the badgers spend all night eating corn from the feeders
The land was also clearfelled about 5/6 years ago - so the woodland cover - as they say up here - is as thick as a bag !
I watch badgers most nights and think they are a bit of a lazy hunter - certainly compared to a fox and do less damage in my opinion than rats - but yes i wish i could trim their numbers because i do find the odd nest or bee nest raided
Sorry to say this but the OPs original post doesn't ring right to me.
Firstly how come this person can selectively shoot the vixens?
I have culled many hundreds of foxs but rarely known the sex of a fox before I culled it. Only when I have seen them to scent mark have I ever been able to have any idea.
Normally vixens with young cubs a very secretive and difficult to detect let alone cull.
Surely a motor bike is not the quietest way of culling foxs or does it get parked up and they hunt on foot.
Also the locals find the remains of foxs! Your kidding. Its difficult enough at times trying to find them at night with a thermal. He says mainly arable so the locals are in the habit of walking all over an arable farm. What sort of size is this place?
The only places I have ever seen or shot on with an abundance of flora and fauna are thoose which have an active keeper. Anybody who thinks foxs do no harm is misguided. I agree in upland forestry foxs may be useful in keeping on top of voles and alike.
If you have partridges and pheasants then foxs and carrion crows will predate them.
In my area rabbits are rare but where we heavily cull the foxs hares are now abundant and we have lots of broods of wild pheasants.
I find it hard to believe the poice can't track this person down. Can't believe they would be using an illegal help firearm.
Suggest you get some trial cams out on the access points or better still.get on a high point with a thermal and stay out all Sat night.
D
Firstly how come this person can selectively shoot the vixens?
I have culled many hundreds of foxs but rarely known the sex of a fox before I culled it. Only when I have seen them to scent mark have I ever been able to have any idea.
Normally vixens with young cubs a very secretive and difficult to detect let alone cull.
Surely a motor bike is not the quietest way of culling foxs or does it get parked up and they hunt on foot.
Also the locals find the remains of foxs! Your kidding. Its difficult enough at times trying to find them at night with a thermal. He says mainly arable so the locals are in the habit of walking all over an arable farm. What sort of size is this place?
The only places I have ever seen or shot on with an abundance of flora and fauna are thoose which have an active keeper. Anybody who thinks foxs do no harm is misguided. I agree in upland forestry foxs may be useful in keeping on top of voles and alike.
If you have partridges and pheasants then foxs and carrion crows will predate them.
In my area rabbits are rare but where we heavily cull the foxs hares are now abundant and we have lots of broods of wild pheasants.
I find it hard to believe the poice can't track this person down. Can't believe they would be using an illegal help firearm.
Suggest you get some trial cams out on the access points or better still.get on a high point with a thermal and stay out all Sat night.
D
Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
That's good news then, I know you do a lot of hard work on providing excellent habitat, that's really what everything needs to flourish.
I watched four badgers last night running the perimeter fence of a chicken farm on our boundary, I would guess a sow and three cubs, I was 300 yards away with the thermal, and by Christ could they run, all in a line following mum.
Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
Yep agreed, I thought it was a bit fishy... reminds me of a joke about smelly fishes... but it's not PC so I dare not share it...
Yeah its funny when they get disturbed in a field how they run onto "their run" then zoom back into their sets
I have been shooting a few squirrels lately and baiting the fox with them - you should see the badgers eat a squirrel !! Gulp and its gone !
I hope they have a weld mesh fence because if they get in mayhem will start. Also allows foxs to get in.
I have watched hundreds of badgers whilst foxing and they can cover a vast distance in a short time if they need to.
Re Roe kids. The major cause of kid mortality is silage mowers and then foxs.
D
I have watched hundreds of badgers whilst foxing and they can cover a vast distance in a short time if they need to.
Re Roe kids. The major cause of kid mortality is silage mowers and then foxs.
D
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