Noises in the night

The slightest sound when shooting at night can give away your presence to a wary fox. However, sometimes the fox will make accidental noises that will work in your favour, too

One of the really enjoyable features of shooting at night is that it’s generally very peaceful. This can have its drawbacks though – the slightest sound can betray your presence to a wary fox, so you have to tread carefully. It’s not a one-way street though – sometimes the foxes make accidental noises that then work in your favour.

Gates

One night, for instance, as I was driving my shooting partner, Paul, home after an unsuccessful session, a fox ran across the road right in front of us. On my way back, I decided to see if I could find it. The ground it disappeared into belongs to a sheep farmer who has given me blanket permission, so I pulled in at a convenient spot and snuck into the adjoining field. Once there, I set the caller out and tried some rodent distress sounds. A few minutes later I heard a clang from the gate off to my left slightly behind me. Looking back over my shoulder with the thermal spotter, a fox was running in. I wouldn’t have known it was there if it hadn’t been so careless – it could easily have scented me and run away unseen. Fortunately, for my friend’s lambs, it took a bullet instead.

More recently, I was checking out some new ground that another local farmer had bought. I didn’t know the fields in question, so I chose the first one as it was relatively easy to see across and the wind was in my favour. As it was very rough terrain, I risked ending up somewhere with poor visibility had I gone further. I soon had the caller out, and once again a clanging gate warned me that I’d got company. Half a minute later a large male cub came into view, so that was the end of its tenure in this world.

“i wouldn’t have known the fox was there if it hadn’t been so careless”

Corrugated iron

Having moved off up the valley and round to another part of the same farm, I then