My Second FOX

I went for a shot on the weekend and I bagged my second FOX....
Yippi for Me...
It was with my trusty Savage Edge .243 with 55gr Ballistic Tips...
But I have come to the conclusion that if I want to keep the FOX skin I will have to use Mats .222 cause the exit hole is just to big...

Great Job, keep it up! Are there lots of red fox around there?
I seems like I heard or read somebody else say that you all have quite a few of those fox over there?

What's your method that you use? Spot and stalk, or sit and wait, or do you use calls to bring them in?

Great Job Simone
keep up the good work you are lucky to have such a great Husband that has places to take you hunting and dose not mind siting in the drivers seat and holding the spotlight.............. Think such a great Bloke needs a hug LOL

Ahh........The man behind the scenes. Very nice of you Mat, take somebody hunting to insure the future of our sport. Good on you for doing that.

We just drive around with a spotlight until we see eyes looking at us...LOL.
Then mat turns the car off and the spotlight and whistles it in, every now and then turning on the spotlight to see were it is...Hopefully to get it in closer....
Then it is up to me to make the Kill.

nice job that edge really does the trick!

I wish that was legal here, our game wardens would put us in jail for that.
Missouri has some backwards laws that don't make sense to me sometimes. Like.....we can hunt predators at night, but we can't use any artificial light......WTF?!? Just exactly how is that supposed to work? Night vision?
So basically, if there's a full moon and it's not cloudy outside at night and you can see them coming in without the aid of artifical light, then that's ok.

Sorry to go off topic, just pointing out that you all are lucky in some ways as we are lucky here in other ways.

here in va you can hunt predators with a light but it has to be on private land (i think) you cant road hunt anything and any time its illegal to fire a gun from a vehical

If she gets a hold of Matts 45/70 she could become Quigley down under.

Aussie wrote:I went for a shot on the weekend and I bagged my second FOX....
Yippi for Me...
It was with my trusty Savage Edge .243 with 55gr Ballistic Tips...
But I have come to the conclusion that if I want to keep the FOX skin I will have to use Mats .222 cause the exit hole is just to big...

First great shooting Aussie and congrats on the second fox. Second before I tossed my .243 I would use a different bullet ballistic tips are notoriously high expansion that is what they are designed to do. I would use a bullet like the Amax or any other bullet that isnt so violently expansive and that little .243 will bag a fox for you and not blow such a huge hole in the exit.
great job again.

Way to go Aussie! Start taking head shots so as to preserve the pelt
+1 on the ballistic tips Reload, they do their job extremely well.

I was going to suggest a different load too, but .30-06 beat me to it. Not sure the selection you have down under, but I would try something less expanding.

In my .240 Weatherby (which is a 6mm same as the .243), I use a Sierra Match King 100 gr FMJ or the Sierra Game Kings which are made for deer-sized critters but will blaze through a fox (or coyote which is what I shoot) with hardly a glance.

I have never had the chance to bag a fox - I am envious.

I know Australia has had problems with wild dogs, domestic cats and rabbits down there, are the fox a problem too?

Eagle is correct pop 'em in the head and you will not have to worry about hide damage. If you are trying to sell the pelt for some pocket money (like I do) then a raggedy, headless pelt is not worth much other than to the scrap dealers where I might get a buck for it.

Nice fox!

For what it's worth..........I have taken coyote with my .243 using 80gr. pointed soft point bullets with little or no pelt damage at all. Since I'm also a trapper the hides can be sold if they aren't tore up too bad. Past several years the coyote hide prices have dropped so much that they aren't worth skinning unless you just want to tan them and put em on the wall.

I believe the 80gr. PSP's that I loaded for my .243 were Sierra Varminters??
It's been awhile back so it's hard to remember?
I'll look through my notes and see what I can dig up, probably still got the load recipe for it somewhere.

*Edit*Found it*
80gr. Sierra SPBT----38gr. Varget----Win. Large Rifle Primer
Winchester brass trim to 2.035 ----- COAL 2.685
Very Accurate Load

Tiny hole going in and about a quarter sized hole coming out the other side.

Not sure the price for a good fox hide, but 'round here only thing worth trapping for pelt is mountain marmot and lynx.

When I was a boy used to make quite a bit of money running a trap line on my folk's place and the neighbors. Our neighbor used to give me a dollar for every coyote I removed and then I sold the hide for decent price.

I shoot a lot of the Sierra Match Kings for shooting critters when I am trying to avoid pelt damage. I have shot a couple of the Amax as well and they are about the same.

We do not have fox around here, and I have to go to the great white north to see any fox, but I gave up hunting in B.C. when their gun laws got so stupid, eh?

Always been a critter I would like to chase one of these days. I am envious of Aussie just having the option of getting a fox. Although spot-lighting here, or even possesing a large light during hunting season gets the game warden all lathered up. It is a gross misdemeanor to posses an artificial light during hunting season and we cannot hunt at night.

I wonder if the fox were imported to Australia and Virginia by the Brit gentry who wanted to partake of a popular pastime from their native land? I know from my game books they are not native, but all it says is "introduced."

Very nice fox kill in deed. I would like to do some preditor hunting myself. I am hoping one day to get to do some yote shooting.

This fox thread brings to mind the song by Jimi Hendricks.... "Foxy Lady"

Damn DW now I am going to have that song stuck in my head!!

I was not aware there were 'yote east of the Mississippi!!

Predator hunting is a lot of fun. While I do not have fox here we have lots of prairie rats, marmot, a few nutria, and scads of 'yote. We are trying to get the laws covering suppressors changed so that we can use them while hunting. Which would make hunting 'yote close to homes (where legal) more pleasant for all.

Fox and most of the lupines are pretty wary but in areas where they have not been hunted much, will come to some of the most basic calls. One of the best calls to use is a domestic cat call.

While you are near homes, it also brings every excited tom around, but really brings those 'yote in that are used to living close to homes and prey on domestic cats.

There is a housing complex about a 30 min drive from my place. Each house is on 5 acres surrounded by dense trees. I was talking to the contractor who built the houses and they have a real problem with the pets disappearing.

Its still in the county and a legal hunting area, so a friend and I sat on the contractor's porch and set up my electronic caller. We figured a coyote was eatin' everyones Fido, but turns out it was a huge mountain lion!! Largest tom I have ever seen. We could not shoot him, but we showed the pictures to the Warden and they trapped the old fellow and relocated him somewhere with a radio collar.

I have always enjoyed predator hunting, and since you can do it when most seasons are closed it is a good way to extend your hunting seasons. Like Mo said most hides are not worth the effort right now so we are using some of the near exploding Varmint Grenades from Nosler.

That fox that Aussie shot looks pretty mangy even tore up by the bullet. So I am guessing it would not have made much of a hide. I have seen some beautiful fox hides for sale. Maybe Aussie's hubby can take a good fox hide and make something pretty for her to wear.

Nice shooting!

Does this mean your are a foxy lady?

great shooting .....keep it up and post the pics.....bill

hawcer wrote:Nice shooting!

Does this mean your are a foxy lady?

I hope so.....LOL

We dont sell the skins hear well I have not known anyone too.... We used to have a bounty on there tails for every fox you shot you would cut of there tail and the government would pay you for eradicating pest but that doesn't happen any more so we just leave them were they fell...
The local farmers are very appreciative as it stop the fox going after there baby Lambs...

I know this is way off topic, but maybe Aussie can enlighten us about the foxes?

I may be wrong, but I believe that the foxes were introduced in Australia to help keep the rabbit poplulation in check? Which rabbits aren't a native species in AU either, they were dumped out there a long time ago and multiplied very quickly. I've heard others from AU claim that the DNR actually puts out poison bait to try and kill some because they are so thick. Don't know if that's true or not, just what I've heard.

Save a chicken.........Eat more rabbit.

Sorry for jacking the post Simone, hope you don't mind.

As far as I know Foxes were introduced by the Wealthy British to be hunted on horseback with Hounds in the same way they did back home in there Old Country, But with the right climate and the abundance of native wildlife to feed on and the vast area of open space the red fox seemed to bread like wild fire. Mat's grandfather and father used to hunt foxes for the fur trade and when Mat was old enough he also shot foxes with his father .
When the fur trade was decent a hide would be worth up to $60 and there were a lot of professional fox shooters around because in a good night you could bring in a decent wage. That was when the 17REM was a big hit long range shots and no pelt damage, but as with everything the Animal rights people step in and protested about the poor old red fox being hunted and there fur being turned into jackets and the ass fell out of the market.
You see for some reason people don't understand that it makes more sense to hunt and humanly dispatch and use an animal for it's pelt than what it dose to put out FOX OFF bait and poison the poor things.
As far as the rabbits go they were introduced as food but the rabbits bread like rabbits and they got out of control....So they introduced two viruses to kill, the Myxomatosis and Calici Virus which if you have ever seen a rabbit with either virus it is so cruel to see them die that way...

I hope this has helped some what....

Yep, that sounds like tree huggers at their best to me. They would rather see an animal waste away from starvation and disease than feed it a bullet which is instantaneous and pain free.
Too many people think they know what's best for the animals when they don't even understand how things work in nature. All they see is a cute fuzzy little animal frolicing around in the wild like on Walt Disney movies.
Walt Disney didn't write the book on the outdoors, but he sure caused his share of distruction to it.

We have a lot of the sandal-wearing tree-hugging fruits here as well, and every time a sensible approach to animal control is suggested that uses traditional means of controlling wildlife population, like hunters, it gets them all in a lather.

Does not surprise me that down under has their own share of the same idiots; they seem to be an international disease. Does not surprise me that the idiots would rather see the poor fox trapped, poisoned, and euthanized than use hunters to control the fox population.

There is not talking sense to these people, because for them it is all emotionally driven. It’s not about science or using a cheaper and more humane method that does not end with a lot of dead fox in the local land-fill, it’s all about saving the poor cute little fox from those bloodthirsty savages (the hunters) armed with horrible assault rifles, sniper rifles, and other “terrorist tools.”

I once talked to a very educated individual who informed me that any rifle with a scope on it was a “sniper rifle” capable of shooting and killing at a range of several miles. No sensible hunter should need (I.E. – have) a rifle like that because hunting is so easy, and all shots are so close that a scope just made it senseless. When I asked the learned individual if they had ever shot a rifle, they looked at me with horror like I suggested some utterly repulsive action.

When I offered to take the person to the local range on my dime and provide him with several opportunities to prove how easy it is to hit an 8” piece of steel at 300 yards, he demurred stating other “pressing” concerns.

I am sorry to see Australia has such a hard time controlling its own wildlife populations. I bet when the fox fur prices were decent and folks could make a decent wage selling fox fur, the population of the fox was more in check.

FWIW – I still think that a fox coat or a fox fur wrap for a lady is very pretty and not only sensible as it is warm, but looks good as well. I would love to give my lady a nice red fox wrap to wear when we get all dressed up and go out on the town. We’d just have to dodge the red house paint.

"I was not aware there were 'yote east of the Mississippi!!"

I don't think there is a single state in the country that doesn't have a coyote population? I know they have them in Maine because some of the hunting websites I frequent, I've read those guys discussing their strategies and that's about as far east/north as you can get.

Guys all along the eastern seaboard talk about coyote hunting.....NY, NJ, NC, SC, and even Florida all got healthy populations.
When the world is barren of all humans the coyote will still be thriving, right alonside the rats and cock roaches.
You gotta admire their suvival skills, highly efficient predators.