High-tech ratting
Patrick may be a passionate foxer, but he and his shooting partner Paul like to branch out, especially when it means testing out a new air rifle on rats
lthough my shooting partner, Paul, and I are passionate foxers, every now and then we like to branch out and do something a little different. One advantage is that our high-tech equipment and methods can also work well on other quarry. We recently had the opportunity to do just this when a local chicken farmer called to say that he’d had a fox near his house. I went over on my own as Paul was away – I saw no sign of vulpine activity, but I did see more rats than I’ve seen since I last watched an Indiana Jones movie. Dense fog closing in stopped me shooting that night, but I had a plan…
ANew toy
Paul had recently bought a new .22 Air Arms S510 sub-12ft/lbs air rifle, and was itching to try it out in the field, especially as he’d only just sighted in the superb Optisan EVX 5-12x50i scope. He’d got both from Blue Fox Glade Target Sports, an excellent rural gun shop based in Chawleigh, midDevon. Consequently, when I told him that we had an opportunity to use them in the field, he was all up for it.
One of the reasons he’d chosen the Optisan scope was that it was a good match for the night vision add-on he normally uses for foxing on his Browning .22-250 X-Bolt. He therefore switched it over – a matter of a few seconds fiddling, and then added the NM800 Night Master infra red illuminator, which mounts on top of the scope’s body. A few quick checks, and we were good to go. Although I could have taken my Theoben 12-250
.25 FAC air rifle, I decided to hang back with my Kimber Montana .204 and watch proceedings from a distance, as there was still the chance of foxy turning up.
Perfect conditions
The farm in question is only just up the road – there was no moon, and the relatively warm air was moved by a very slight