Why shoot the foxes?

[Smellydog]

Wrong!.. Two cases of vaccy packed lamb foc, so a thank you in food form. I don’t suffer from “I need to kill something” syndrome.

Correct. Ive had shepherds knock on my door to help them, not to help me find somewhere to shoot!

 

[finnbear270]

Before we moved from Cheshire, most of the fox problems we were dealing with were attributed to neospora .

 

[jall55]

Yes, I get that, but on its own that piece of data is of no value.
What you need to know is whether, from exactly the same number of ewes, of the same breed, grazing the same fields, and with no changes in management, is he now consistently selling 12 more finished lambs per year than he was before you shot the foxes?
My guess is that he isn't,  if all other things remain equal.
Some years will be better and some years will be worse, but in my (considerable) experience it usually takes a fairly significant change (or lots of little changes) to make a lasting reduction in mortality. Culling foxes barely scratches the surface, the effect is so minimal, but it makes people feel like they're doing something about it.

Empires are not made out of one massive thing though Tim

Its all the small bits that add up that make a real difference - IMHO anyway

 

[VSS]

Wrong!.. Two cases of vaccy packed lamb foc, so a thank you in food form. I don’t suffer from “I need to kill something” syndrome.

Payment in kind. That's the best way.

 

[VSS]

Empires are not made out of one massive thing though Tim

Its all the small bits that add up that make a real difference - IMHO anyway

I think you're still missing my point, but never mind. We can move on now, until the next time this discussion crops up, which it inevitably will

 

[jall55]

I think you're still missing my point, but never mind. We can move on now, until the next time this discussion crops up, which it inevitably will

Yeah i do get you Tim
The other thing i have seen is foxes spook lambs and they become detached from their mother - us lads that are out with the thermals do see lots and lots too

But yes we can talk about it all night

 

[VSS]

The other thing i have seen is foxes spook lambs and they become detached from their mother

I'm resisting the urge to respond to that, otherwise this discussion will go on forever....

 

[finnbear270]

Saw many scattered young this year, taking hours to sort itself out, plaintive cries for hours on end, particularly when young had gone other side of the wire. Satisfying to weed out the source of the trouble.

 

[JTO]

I am not aware of a single positive contribution that badgers make to the environment,

Shaving brushes.

 

[Smellydog]

Im just off up to check the chicken range now the rain has gone.
Is that ok or shall I advise the chap dismantles his business and goes bankrupt, to save the fox's excetera...?

 

[Cranborne]

Shooting foxes and running larsen traps for corvids has definitely been to the benefit of grey partridges and lapwings on my ground. We had covey of 16 wild greys last autumn.....which was a first for me.

 

[old 30-06]

From my experience I would like to offer you some help by means of profiling your "shooter". My expectation is that he is a person who lives fairly close by, or has lived close by in the past. He will have some detailed knowledge of that particular location. He may even have shot over it in the past (with permission, or in the company of another lawful shooter) , but he will know that area very well. It is not random. I think he has some shooting permissions of his own, and maybe in that general area, but not too many. If no sucess on his own permissions he stops in at your venue on the way home. I hope this may help you to find the culprit.

 

[BenBhoy]

Yeah i do get you Tim
The other thing i have seen is foxes spook lambs and they become detached from their mother - us lads that are out with the thermals do see lots and lots too

But yes we can talk about it all night

There's nothing that'll spook worse than people walking about in the dark...

 

[Bo Diddley]

From my experience I would like to offer you some help by means of profiling your "shooter". My expectation is that he is a person who lives fairly close by, or has lived close by in the past. He will have some detailed knowledge of that particular location. He may even have shot over it in the past (with permission, or in the company of another lawful shooter) , but he will know that area very well. It is not random. I think he has some shooting permissions of his own, and maybe in that general area, but not too many. If no sucess on his own permissions he stops in at your venue on the way home. I hope this may help you to find the culprit.

Spot on there.

 

[TURNBOLT]

Most farmers I know couldn’t give a fig about foxes

Until they go out in the morning and survey the destruction caused.Foxes are a pest,vermin they should be shot on sight to protect our British countryside. The only good fox is a dead one.

 

[VSS]

Until they go out in the morning and survey the destruction caused.Foxes are a pest,vermin they should be shot on sight to protect our British countryside. The only good fox is a dead one.

They are also very much part of our British countryside ecosystem, and no part of that should be destroyed without due consideration. With the exception of non-native invasive species, nothing deserves a blanket "shoot on sight" policy.

(I'm a sheep farmer, by the way).

 

[BenBhoy]

British countryside. The only good fox is a dead one.

I think the vast majority of countrymen would disagree with you there. The fox is an icon of the British countryside, a clever & impressive animal that most of us have huge amounts of respect for.

 

[VSS]

I think the vast majority of countrymen would disagree with you there. The fox is an icon of the British countryside, a clever & impressive animal that most of us have huge amounts of respect for.

He's a sheep farmer too ^^^

 

[TURNBOLT]

I think the vast majority of countrymen would disagree with you there. The fox is an icon of the British countryside, a clever & impressive animal that most of us have huge amounts of respect for.

I like seeing small hedge nesting and ground nesting birds .To me foxes and badgers are the scourge of the countryside alongside many avian predators.

 

[VSS]

I like seeing small hedge nesting and ground nesting birds .To me foxes and badgers are the scourge of the countryside alongside many avian predators.

That is a very narrow-minded and blinkered view.
Everything has its place.
Even us.
But we're the real scourge.