Lambing season

It’s not long now until the lambing season is upon us, which inevitably means lots of calls from farmers and lots of late nights. It is always the busiest time of year for my foxing activities – I usually shoot half of my total foxes for the year in the space of a couple of months. I like to start really hitting the foxes hard around the end of the year to get the numbers down before the lambs are born.

As I do most of my fox shooting after dark, it’s great to be able to get out for three or four hours and still be home early. There are two ways to go about foxing – wait for them to come to you or go and find them. Both methods are effective, but depending on the ground, sometimes finding a good vantage point overlooking the flock and waiting is best. You can always walk into any foxes you do spot.

If you’re using a thermal spotter, it can be difficult to spot foxes amid the flock, especially when lambs are in the field. As a rule of thumb, the fox is rarely still and will often be seen moving among the ewes while they are lying in the field with their lambs. This isn’t always the case – sometimes they can be found curled up a little distance from the sheep, just watching.

When spotting with a thermal, look out for any heat source about the right size that is slightly away from the flock or constantly moving. A lamb will not move too far from the ewe, especially when it’s at its smallest and most vulnerable.

Taking care

It’s important to take care when shooting around livestock, not just with the obvious backstop considerations but also because you don’t want to spook them too much. A moderated .223 or similar calibre doesn’t usually bother them too much, but you do need to be careful not to separate lambs from their mothers and leave them calling out. This will leave an easy target for a fox if it finds the lamb before the unfortunate ewe.

Walking among the sheep can do the same thing, so be careful to walk out wide around them as much as possible. If they do become agitated and stand up, keep still and give them a minute to walk away from you. The last thing you want is the whole flock charging up the field – something that would certainly ruin your chances of catching a fox out among the ewes, as well as separating lambs from their mothers.

If you’re familiar with the foxes on your ground, you will most likely have a pretty good idea of where one may approach the lambing field from, in which case setting yourself up in range of this area at dusk may prove most effective. This is also a good opportunity to establish a bait station should you have time to feed it.

If you can’t regularly get to the area to top up the bait, you can leave a pile of bait covered with a square of wire mesh and securely peg it down. This will keep a fox busy picking bits of food out from between the mesh over two or three days. It’s a good idea to make use of a trail cam to get an idea of when a fox is coming to the bait point, saving you wasting time sitting in the cold.

Occasionally, a fox that has taken a liking to lamb may be bold enough to visit in daylight, so if you’re still losing lambs but not seeing foxes at night, an early morning vigil may be worthwhile. Farmers will regularly check their ewes and have a pretty good idea of what time of day or night lambs have been taken, which will help narrow down when you are most likely to cross paths with the culprit.

Electronic gadgets

Thermal spotters are invaluable when foxing at any time of the year. If it’s an expenditure you’re considering, I would highly recommend it. There is a wide range available. I’m using the HikMicro Habrok thermal binos at the moment and finding them to be a truly excellent piece of kit.

An electronic caller can also be an effective tool to draw a fox from cover. I have personal experience of FoxPro callers; they have a good selection of calls as standard, and more can be added. The basic models are small enough to be wedged into a jacket pocket, so if you’re walking about, it’s one less thing to carry.

The advantage of an electric caller over a mouth call or lip squeak is not only the variety of sounds it can produce but also the fact that the fox’s attention is towards the caller – instead of you – as it comes in, so it has less chance of spotting you. I like to use a small strip of Velcro to attach the caller’s remote control to one of the legs of my shooting sticks.

If you are going to be sitting around waiting for foxes at this time of year, it’s important to be comfortable. The more comfortable you are, the more likely you are to wait longer and therefore the better your chances of success. I like to wait in ambush from a barn or from the truck, but that’s not always possible, particularly on some of the hills I shoot over, so I often find myself leaning against a tree or fence post.

Good clothing

Again, there are quality brands out there, but a couple I particularly like are Ridgeline and Deerhunter. For when the temperature really drops, I have a Deerhunter Rusky jacket, which has so far done me proud.

It’s much easier to keep warm when walking, but it does pose a problem when a shot presents itself and you suddenly need a stable rest to shoot from. At this time of year, it’s unpleasant to get down on the bipod in a muddy, waterlogged field, and often long grass causes the lamp or IR to bounce back at you, obscuring your sight picture.

Sometimes a tree, gate or fence post can offer a stable enough rest. A good set of shooting sticks can also come in handy. I’ve tried several types of sticks, including the four-leg style, but I prefer tripods.

For several years, I’ve used the popular CT-1 Rekon tripod from Scott Country International. They are extremely versatile, solid and lightweight, and being carbon, they don’t make your hands cold when carrying them.

Speaking of cold hands, I’ve been using a pair of lightweight Deerhunter gloves, which, although not really designed for extreme cold weather use, do help keep the chills away without the loss of any dexterity. I don’t really like shooting in gloves, but I found that while wearing them, I could load a .22 magazine without any difficulty.

Another useful accessory in this regard is a hand warmer – I’ve been using a Zippo one that looks a bit like a large lighter. They last a good 12 hours, and though they do give off a slight whiff as the lighter fuel burns, they certainly do the job they were intended for. The trick is to put it in the inside breast pocket of your jacket, from where the heat radiates around your chest and keeps you warm.

Another excellent product I sometimes use is the Wicked Light torch, also from Scott Country International. These torches are extremely bright and come in two versions – a red light and two IR modes, or a red, green and white light. Both models are dimmable. Quick detachable and fully adjustable mounts are included, so they make an excellent rifle-mounted lamp or simply an impressively bright torch.