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Hunting story: My first fox - part 1

Hunting story: My first fox - part 1

This fantastic trip originated from my many conversations over the past year with Tony Jones from Night Master. Tales of great weekend’s away up in Scotland amongst great people and stunning scenery; to my great delight I was invited up to meet everyone and to do some shooting. As a bonus I would be able to get some serious hands on experience with some of the latest kit. This would include Pulsar’s new Apex XD75 thermal riflescope and Recon 870 and the N870 night vision scope paired with a Night Master XSearcher-IR illuminator.

We also had a few Pulsar XD38S thermal spotters to play with, a piece of kit we were all very fond of by the time the weekend was over, but more on that later. The cherry on the cake for me however would be the opportunity to have a shot at the elusive fox and maybe a roe doe if I was lucky! There’s more; with some pheasant and duck shooting thrown in and I was only going to be there for two days!

THE FIRST FOX

After driving, flying, getting a tram then a train I had arrived at about 8pm with a pretty nasty cold. I was greeted upon my arrival to Kirkcaldy station by a particularly bright light coming from a truck mounted lamp, which sufficiently dazzled me, so I knew I was in the right place! It was Graeme, who I had been introduced to by Tony at the South Yorkshire Shooting Show and Game Fair, and who was hosting us this weekend. Hopefully we will all be hearing a bit more from him, as he uses all of the latest kit extensively and has plenty of hands-on experience with all of it; he was very pleased to see the XD75 thermal riflescope!

We made our way to Graeme’s house, during which he made a two minute hands free phone call where the only word I understood was Bovril; I was definitely in Scotland! After some dinner and a chat we dressed warmly and packed the truck. We were off to meet Paul, who Tony had met through Graeme. It turns out that Paul was one of the first people to ever buy a Night Master torch! The four of us jumped in the truck and at around 11pm were on the road heading to a chicken farm, where we would be looking for foxes. While on route we were discussing how we actually had around £15,000 worth of equipment with us, but after some rough calculations it was actually more like £20,000, as Paul also had a thermal sight on his rifle!

SOURCE AND SHOOT!

The tactics were very straight forward, we would move along the tracks and use the thermal spotters to find the fox’s heat source and then shoot it. However, things are never that simple! This would be my first chance to try the XD38s out in the field and it would not disappoint. I was expecting to see hundreds of heat sources everywhere, but this was not the case. It was not long before we spotted a lone heat source. It turns out that spotting something is one thing, but identifying it is a different problem altogether! We soon had everyone leaning out of a truck window looking through some sort of device trying to confirm if our target was indeed a fox. We got the new Apex up and running and using the scope’s magnification and it quickly became apparent if our target was indeed a fox or not.

While this had been going on Graeme had got himself and the rifle into position on the bonnet of the truck ready to take the shot, the muffled report of the .243 soon resulted in the first fox of the night.

MY TURN

It was not long before we found another suspicious looking heat source, and this time I would be having a go at shooting my first fox. From the outset, however, it was not easy! Safety is paramount, I was looking through the N870 and trying to find the fox, while the others were trying to steer me onto target using the thermal gear. We knew there was livestock in a separate paddock, so I wanted to account for them before we even got started.

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It is very easy to lose perspective when looking through thermal and NV. The size and scale and distance of a heat source takes some getting used to. I was receiving a lot of information about the fox’s location but as it’s pitch black, there is not a lot to use as a reference point! After a few minutes I began to feel annoyed, thinking I was doing something wrong or just being blind. I decided to flick between a XD38S and the N870 to get myself in the right area. It was then that the fox looked up and I saw those eyes, I had found my target! It was jogging along head down, working its way towards us which was a good thing as I wanted it as far from the livestock as possible.

I was given the go ahead from Paul for the shot when I was ready. A few minutes passed and I had to explain that the fox was just behind a wooden fence with a perfectly sized wooden plank right in front of his chest. A disadvantage of the thermal spotters had been highlighted, they couldn’t see the fence. Luckily, he came round the fence, moving at a reasonable pace towards us. I was ready, so Paul offered up a quick squeak and it stopped around 70 yards out, looking directly at me, and the rest was history, and I had only been in Scotland a few hours! We continued driving around for a while but unfortunately there were no more foxes about. Valuable experience was still gained however, as we had a good look at hares, rabbits, rats and even deer creating a sort of database in our minds as to what all the different animals look like through these optics. The Apex was particularly impressive when looking at a deer over 200m away and it was very easy to identify.

SATURDAY

After just two hours of sleep, we were out of the door and on our way to a Pheasant shoot that had been organised by another friend of Graeme’s called Mark. We were hoping to get four or five drives done and the beaters and shooters would be swapping around in between each one. There was plenty of wind on the day, so I guessed the pheasants would be shifting it somewhat!

After picking our peg numbers, we moved off in convoy to the first drive, I would be in the group shooting first, along with Mark and Tony. We positioned ourselves along the edge of a wood and as soon as we were at our pegs the birds started coming in fast. I was lucky with my peg number, as I had a few birds my way. It took me a few shots to get my eye in and to figure out that a lot of lead was needed! After the drive was over, Mark’s impressive pack of dogs got to work and it wasn’t long before my birds were found. We swapped over with the others, my cold in full swing at this point. It was my turn to walk up the birds and it seemed like we walked for miles over some pretty tough terrain. The drive went well and Graeme scored a handful.

SLIP UP!

It was on my last drive that I had a very eventful shoot; while walking into position I came face to face with two foxes at no more than 10m away. I think they were as surprised to see me as I was to see them. It was just a shame the gun was in the slip and we weren’t shooting yet!

My peg was positioned just outside a pen in some game cover, so I was pretty confident that at least some pheasants would come my way once the beaters had started moving. I could see both Mark and Tony from my position. Tony had not had the opportunity to shoot anything yet, so hopefully something would come his way! We waited for a while and things didn’t look good but birds quickly began to appear thick and fast. A lot of them flying in low, I just hoped they saw me and went upwards, luckily, after some pretty quick shooting and reloading I had five in the bag; once Mark’s dogs found them of course!

After congregating in the wood for the next drive it became apparent that Tony had managed to add one to his tally. Tony and I were positioned in the line ready to do our bit in pushing the birds forward. It just so happened to be down and then up some incredibly slippery and steep ground and it resulted in a lot of coughing and spluttering. I was really beginning to feel it now. The final tally of the day was around 30 birds, which was not bad going at all, considering there must of only been about 15-20 of us there.

GO HOME AND REST?

So after just a few hours of sleep, a day of pheasant shooting and lots of walking we thought it would be a good idea that instead of going home to rest and eat, we would go duck shooting instead. Graeme had been putting some feed down somewhere, so off we went! Once we were set up by the splash of water/ pond, we waited for the light to fade away. After standing there for a reasonable time with no sign of any ducks and eyelids feeling heavy, Tony thought it would be a funny idea to pretend some ducks were coming in. It certainly woke me up a bit! It was all promptly followed by a few expletives not suitable for print! In the time that we were there we only had a few shots at a couple of ducks doing approximately Mach 2, so we had to leave empty handed. It seemed that it just would not get dark enough and remained quite light; the ducks could obviously see us. Oh well, maybe next time.

That’s it for this month but I will carry on next time!

  • Hunting story: My first fox - part 1 - image {image:count}

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  • Hunting story: My first fox - part 1 - image {image:count}

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  • Hunting story: My first fox - part 1 - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Hunting story: My first fox - part 1 - image {image:count}

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