Two Sakos, two foxes

Started by branxhunter, April 17, 2011, 03:43:08 PM

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branxhunter

It has been stunning Autumn weather here with crisp mornings, still sunny days and dewy nights. I managed to get out a couple of times on the weekend and had some success.


On Friday night I had to drop my brothers chainsaw back, so took the opportunity to take his father-in-laws Sako .223 varmint and the spotlight.


I have the spotlight mounted on a Lightforce suction cup remote mount. This attaches to the roof of the ute and places the remote handle just outside the drivers side window. It means I can spotlight by myself with left hand on gear change and steering duty while right hand sweeps the spotlight. It does become a bit fiddly when trying to keep a skittish fox or rabbit within the beam while also aiming a rifle.


On the way home I came across a small fox sniffing around on a river flat amongst the old dead scotch thistles about 100m away. It may have been after crickets or frogs, but whatever the case I had real trouble trying to keep it in the beam and also keep it within the arc of fire - shooting right handed out the drivers side window means that the useable arc is probably only 30-40 degrees, and that wasn't enough for this fox.


I ended up having to quietly open the door - ahhh no, didn't turn the interior light off! No matter, this fox is either very preoccupied or very silly. It swung across the front of the ute to be around 60m away. I gently closed the drivers door, lined up the spotlight, and rested the rifle over the cabin of the ute. The fox paused momentarily focussing on something in the grass with front paw raised, and that was enough for me. Boom, one fox down.


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I went for a look with the torch but couldn’t find it so returned in the morning. It was a small vixen and was quite mangy around its rump so might have been hungry.

Sunday was a fantastic still sunny afternoon, so after mowing some lawns I grabbed my Sako A1 .222 a handful of cartridges and the button fox whistle and headed down to the stones – the lava flow I have posted about before. I thought that I might catch a fox sunning itself on the lava blister out of the wind.

I drove down, parked the ute and headed off towards the lava blister site. On cresting the ridge I scanned the blister but saw no foxes, so continued on until I reached the big old pine that overlooks the valley and the lava flow. I set up the rifle on the bipod in the shade to be a bit less inconspicuous and cast my eye around .

After checking a few suspicious red-brown patches (dry bracken, lichen covered rock, old piece of wood) I noticed another one halfway up the stony ridge directly out in front of me. A check through the scope confirmed a nice looking fox sitting on its haunches having a lazy scratch in the sun about 160m away.

I eased of the safety, centred the reticle on its chest and squeezed the trigger. As the sound of the shot echoed around the valley the fox slumped to the ground. I gently extracted the empty shell, palmed it into my pocket, and chambered another round while looking around to see if I had disturbed anything else.

After about 5 seconds I noticed the fox I had shot started to limp very heavily down the slope – I must have under-estimated the range. I lined up on it again, and when it stopped to look back to where it had been when I had made the first shot I sent another 40gn v-max on its way. Game over.

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The fox turned out to be a very nice dog with thick fur and incisors over 10mm long. No Paul, I didn’t keep any “parts”!

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Marcus

recoil junky

Good job Marcus!! Do you use calls when hunting foxes?

RJ
When you go afield, take the kids and please......................................wear your seatbelts.
Northwest Colorado.............Where the wapiti roam and deer and antelope run amuck. :undecided:  
Proud father of a soldier medic in The 82nd Airborne 325th AIR White Falcons :army:

gitano

QuoteI went for a look with the torch but couldn't find it so returned in the morning.
:biggthumpup:

QuoteNo Paul, I didn't keep any "parts"!
:cry:

Sounds like real fun, Marcus! Awfully pretty animals.

Paul
Be nicer than necessary.

22hornet

Well done Marcus. I love the challenge of hunting foxes.
Sometimes they come running in, sometimes they come to the whistle and sometime they stay just out of range...(how do they know what rifle you are carrying? ;))
"Belief:" faith in something taught, as opposed to "knowledge:" which is awareness borne of experience.

Paul Hoskins

Good story Marcus. The second fox looks like part grey fox when you look at the hind quarters. I've never seen a red that color. It's odd how foxes & squirrels are distributed here in Ky. In the northern part of the state, you seldom see a grey fox. In the southern part, you seldom see a red. With squirrels, there is few fox squirrels in the southern part but they're about evenly divided in the northern part. I saw a "blond" red fox a few days ago in the field behind the house. ....Paul H

kombi1976

Nice shooting, Marcus. Foxes are always gratifying to tumble as they're crafty & challenging and usually take cunning & patience ti bag.
Cheers & God Bless
22lr ~ 22 Hornet ~ 25-20 ~ 303/25 ~ 7mm-08 ~ 303 British ~ 310 Cadet ~ 9.3x62 ~ 450/400 N.E. 3"


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