I was encouraged by one of the other members here to give a little insight into what we get up to here, so here it is. I hope some of you will gain something from it.
I thought I may take a little time to describe how things are here, and what we do, as I know a lot of people think no-one here even shoots any more. That's just not true.
The species we hunt are not very diverse. On the land I have access to, the smallest are rabbits, moving up through fox and boar (some in the wild now, escaped from farms), and deer. The largest species are red deer, although these are found primarily Scotland and the western counties of England. Foxhunting - the hunting of foxes on horseback with a pack of hounds is currently under threat from an over-liberal and ill-informed government. It's a high-profile sport, but actually very ineffective at controlling foxes. I know of one individual who single-handed probably accounts for more foxes in a year than a dozen foxhunts do.
Typically weighing around 20 pounds, the British fox is a bit of a contradiction. They are sly, clever, ruthless predators but - if they have not heard a squeak before - they are one of the most stupid creatures on God's earth. "Squeaking" is an imitation of the distress cry of an injured rabbit, and this is the type of call just about everyone uses for foxes. Foxes who have heard this before and somehow lived through the experience won't be interested, in fact they may well head off in the opposite direction. Those who have not will just come running, right up until they just about bump into you. So it is normal to whistle or maybe shout when the fox is at an suitable range, and this will stop it for just a couple of seconds allowing a quick shot to be taken. Farmers here are particularly keen on fox control because there is a lot of sheep farming - and lambs do fall victim to foxes.
My own preference is to get out on the farm an hour or more before dark and sit in the shade under a tree. I use a folding camp chair and some sticks made out of dowel. The clothing favoured for this is ex-military camo - it is inexpensive and works well, it also makes little noise if you are moving about. Seated like this I can take a fox at 250-300 yards with reasonable certainty. I use a Sako in .222 rem with 50 gr Nosler BTs, and the rifle wears an 8x56 Swarovski scope - not cheap but important for good performance in low light. It's also good to have a flat-shooting round as I find judging distances accurately in low light to be quite a challenge. My own preference is not to call the animals in unless necessary, I find the snap shot less reliable than a shot at an animal which is sitting still at a distance. The last evening I was out I injured a running animal at about 70 yards, needing a second shot to finish it, but the next shot was a clean kill on a sitter at 250. I guess this is partly down to inexperience, but I'm working on that. Of course, if we don't see any foxes then a squeak is required, and is often successful in bringing the animals in.
After dark we will use lamps, and many shooters like to use a red filter on the lamp. It seems to upset the foxes less. Lamping is done both from vehicles and on foot. A really good evening around here would yield about 7 or 8 foxes.
Like so many nations we have a whole lot of misguided individuals - "bunny huggers" - who just don't understand what really goes on. Some of these people trap urban foxes which are making a nuisance and take them out into the countryside where they release them. It's actually quite sad to see these animals as just about the only food source they have ever known are trash cans and maybe the odd mouse or rat. Very often they show no fear of humans, and are in poor condition because they can't feed themselves in the wild. Mange is quite common among urban foxes, and one of the unfortunate side-effects of this relocation of animals is the risk of spreading this disease. These animals don't make very challenging targets.
I thought I may take a little time to describe how things are here, and what we do, as I know a lot of people think no-one here even shoots any more. That's just not true.
The species we hunt are not very diverse. On the land I have access to, the smallest are rabbits, moving up through fox and boar (some in the wild now, escaped from farms), and deer. The largest species are red deer, although these are found primarily Scotland and the western counties of England. Foxhunting - the hunting of foxes on horseback with a pack of hounds is currently under threat from an over-liberal and ill-informed government. It's a high-profile sport, but actually very ineffective at controlling foxes. I know of one individual who single-handed probably accounts for more foxes in a year than a dozen foxhunts do.
Typically weighing around 20 pounds, the British fox is a bit of a contradiction. They are sly, clever, ruthless predators but - if they have not heard a squeak before - they are one of the most stupid creatures on God's earth. "Squeaking" is an imitation of the distress cry of an injured rabbit, and this is the type of call just about everyone uses for foxes. Foxes who have heard this before and somehow lived through the experience won't be interested, in fact they may well head off in the opposite direction. Those who have not will just come running, right up until they just about bump into you. So it is normal to whistle or maybe shout when the fox is at an suitable range, and this will stop it for just a couple of seconds allowing a quick shot to be taken. Farmers here are particularly keen on fox control because there is a lot of sheep farming - and lambs do fall victim to foxes.
My own preference is to get out on the farm an hour or more before dark and sit in the shade under a tree. I use a folding camp chair and some sticks made out of dowel. The clothing favoured for this is ex-military camo - it is inexpensive and works well, it also makes little noise if you are moving about. Seated like this I can take a fox at 250-300 yards with reasonable certainty. I use a Sako in .222 rem with 50 gr Nosler BTs, and the rifle wears an 8x56 Swarovski scope - not cheap but important for good performance in low light. It's also good to have a flat-shooting round as I find judging distances accurately in low light to be quite a challenge. My own preference is not to call the animals in unless necessary, I find the snap shot less reliable than a shot at an animal which is sitting still at a distance. The last evening I was out I injured a running animal at about 70 yards, needing a second shot to finish it, but the next shot was a clean kill on a sitter at 250. I guess this is partly down to inexperience, but I'm working on that. Of course, if we don't see any foxes then a squeak is required, and is often successful in bringing the animals in.
After dark we will use lamps, and many shooters like to use a red filter on the lamp. It seems to upset the foxes less. Lamping is done both from vehicles and on foot. A really good evening around here would yield about 7 or 8 foxes.
Like so many nations we have a whole lot of misguided individuals - "bunny huggers" - who just don't understand what really goes on. Some of these people trap urban foxes which are making a nuisance and take them out into the countryside where they release them. It's actually quite sad to see these animals as just about the only food source they have ever known are trash cans and maybe the odd mouse or rat. Very often they show no fear of humans, and are in poor condition because they can't feed themselves in the wild. Mange is quite common among urban foxes, and one of the unfortunate side-effects of this relocation of animals is the risk of spreading this disease. These animals don't make very challenging targets.