Hello all.
Last night was the third time my friend and i went fox hunting and our first successful trip!
Our first time, we set up in a large soybean field that had been about 50% harvested. We layed down in the beans, a few rows in, and set the speaker for the caller about 50' away... down to the left of us. We were looking out across the cut portion of the field, towards a block of woods. Well, about 3 minutes into calling, we were surprised by a fox bolting away across the field. We never saw him coming and didn't even see him going long enough to get a shot off. We then moved to a different spot on the farm and set up the caller again. This time we used a pc of equipment that was sitting on the edge of a field for cover. We were facing towards a big ditch that splits a block of woods. There is enough room on both sides of the ditch to drive a truck between the woods and ditch. Well about 8 mins into calling, a fox comes out of the block of woods on the right of the ditch, but we lose it in the grass and never see it again. No more then a minute later, another one comes out of the block of woods on the left. At this point it's getting dark and being the rookies that we are, we didn't have a light. Again, we couldn't find him because he was staying low in the tall grass.
The second time we went, we were plannig to try spot two from the first hunt... along the ditch. Well, we walk up on a fox that is already out hunting. He took off running and stoped about 100yds out. My friend took a shot at him but missed. We tried calling, but i dont' know if that was smart to do after just taking a shot. We didn't see anything else before night fall.
Last night, our third time, we went in the dark with lights. Our first stand produced nothing, but then while packing up, we spoted eyes about 150yds away. I could see the eyes clearly in my scope and was 99% sure it was a fox, but the light we had wasn't bright enough that i could make a positive id so i never took a shot. While walking to another spot we saw a fox in the edge of the field about 100yds away. I could see him clearly and took a shot at him with my rifle and got him. We went to a second stand and called in another fox that we got with the rifle also, this one about 80yds. A third stand was our best opportunity of the night, when a fox came straight to us (we were using a hand held mouse squeaker) and when he was about 20yds away i dropped the hammer on the shotgun and heard a click. No shell in the chamber. Stupid mistake.
Ok, after all this i have some questions.
After reading the above storys, what should we have done different? (besides put a shell in the chamber of the shotgun) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
Also, my biggest questions:
1 - what kind of light will work better so i could have id'd the fox at 150yds? We were using one rechargable 1mil candlepower with red lens and one 2mil candlepower with red lens. They both seemed to fade quickly and didn't seem to focus the available light very well.
2 - I could not see my crosshairs at all! I have a 6-20x40 weaver grand slam on my rifle with the very fine crosshairs. I couldn't see any part of the crosshairs, even though i could see the 2 fox we shot pretty clear. To make the shot I dialed the scope up to 20 power (the fox filled a good part of the field of view) and centered where i wanted to shoot in the scope. It worked but it is not the right way to do things. What setup do i need to be able to aim?
I am thinking maybe one of the illum reticle scopes, like the leupold vari-xlll 4.5-14x50 or the burris signature 4-16x44????
thanks much,
chris
Last night was the third time my friend and i went fox hunting and our first successful trip!
Our first time, we set up in a large soybean field that had been about 50% harvested. We layed down in the beans, a few rows in, and set the speaker for the caller about 50' away... down to the left of us. We were looking out across the cut portion of the field, towards a block of woods. Well, about 3 minutes into calling, we were surprised by a fox bolting away across the field. We never saw him coming and didn't even see him going long enough to get a shot off. We then moved to a different spot on the farm and set up the caller again. This time we used a pc of equipment that was sitting on the edge of a field for cover. We were facing towards a big ditch that splits a block of woods. There is enough room on both sides of the ditch to drive a truck between the woods and ditch. Well about 8 mins into calling, a fox comes out of the block of woods on the right of the ditch, but we lose it in the grass and never see it again. No more then a minute later, another one comes out of the block of woods on the left. At this point it's getting dark and being the rookies that we are, we didn't have a light. Again, we couldn't find him because he was staying low in the tall grass.
The second time we went, we were plannig to try spot two from the first hunt... along the ditch. Well, we walk up on a fox that is already out hunting. He took off running and stoped about 100yds out. My friend took a shot at him but missed. We tried calling, but i dont' know if that was smart to do after just taking a shot. We didn't see anything else before night fall.
Last night, our third time, we went in the dark with lights. Our first stand produced nothing, but then while packing up, we spoted eyes about 150yds away. I could see the eyes clearly in my scope and was 99% sure it was a fox, but the light we had wasn't bright enough that i could make a positive id so i never took a shot. While walking to another spot we saw a fox in the edge of the field about 100yds away. I could see him clearly and took a shot at him with my rifle and got him. We went to a second stand and called in another fox that we got with the rifle also, this one about 80yds. A third stand was our best opportunity of the night, when a fox came straight to us (we were using a hand held mouse squeaker) and when he was about 20yds away i dropped the hammer on the shotgun and heard a click. No shell in the chamber. Stupid mistake.
Ok, after all this i have some questions.
After reading the above storys, what should we have done different? (besides put a shell in the chamber of the shotgun) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
Also, my biggest questions:
1 - what kind of light will work better so i could have id'd the fox at 150yds? We were using one rechargable 1mil candlepower with red lens and one 2mil candlepower with red lens. They both seemed to fade quickly and didn't seem to focus the available light very well.
2 - I could not see my crosshairs at all! I have a 6-20x40 weaver grand slam on my rifle with the very fine crosshairs. I couldn't see any part of the crosshairs, even though i could see the 2 fox we shot pretty clear. To make the shot I dialed the scope up to 20 power (the fox filled a good part of the field of view) and centered where i wanted to shoot in the scope. It worked but it is not the right way to do things. What setup do i need to be able to aim?
I am thinking maybe one of the illum reticle scopes, like the leupold vari-xlll 4.5-14x50 or the burris signature 4-16x44????
thanks much,
chris
