Buck Trophies

Before they go on the wall at home here are the two roe buck heads taken at Winchester. The top trophy was the young buck back in May. The head below is the five pointer from the Railway Bank high seat.
I am reasonably happy with the finished trophies as these are my first that I have done.

Long Day Saturday

This dog fox was shot at around 2am Sunday morning on the field by the railway bank. For a change it was not a messy kill. It was on the field above the barbed wire sharing with the cattle until Stephen's honed squeak brought him into a safe position to squeeze the trigger on. We had seen other targets during the night and I had taken another shot at a tricky 200 yarder but to no avail.

We had also called in a youngster on a freshly harvested field, but unfortunately it kept itself tight to the hedge if not in it, so no safe shot could be dispatched. The mist ended the session at around 3.30am which was a real shame as previous weather forecasts had promised(!) ideal conditions.

This was our second visit to the shoot on Saturday. Stephen, myself and Jason's son, Tom spent the morning creating feed rides in Beachwood and below the pen at Worthy Park plus up on the Railway Bank. There are also two traps now in operation on the Worthy Park Pen to try and thin out the rat gang. Please double check when on the feed rota.

There will be another work party soon to creat a feed ride on the island and at Sausage Wood. All hands on deck will be needed.

25%

Please excuse the picture quality, not up to my usual standard. Last nights lamping session included three of us, Stephen, Martyn plus me. The result being one body plus two to be 100% confirmed. The reason for the 25% heading is that 4 reynards were shot at with only one picked up. One was a complete miss whilst the other 2 will hopefully be confirmed as kills later today when Martyn takes a look in daylight. One was lost on the ploughed field so it should be in a deep rut and the other after taking a good wallop slinked into a hedge row. There should be a blood trail to follow on that one. The one pictured is a young dog fox which even after the damaged inflicted by the bullet managed to run approx 20 yards. The instinct for survival is overwhelming.

Nifty Fithty

More poults for the shoot were released into the new pen. The previous batch have suffered due to the bad weather and several have died. Thus another 50 were purchased from Graham Rawlings who is based near Romsey. Stephen had the smelly task of collecting the two crates in the back of his Terrano, Shelly was not impressed.

This new influx should boost the numbers for the season which along with the reported wild population being seen and noted allowing for a positive outlook for October.

If the weather is kind for the next or so then the fresh poults will gain in size quickly, as long as the food and water is in plentiful supply.

Vix & Chips

Another lamping session last after feeding the pens. Net result was another young vixen shot in the dairy field.

Another shot was taken again in the same field later into the night which connected with the target but not an out right kill. It looked as though the fox was fatally wounded but unfortunately it got up and moved towards the hedge cover crop, another shot was dispatched which sounded as though it hit. After two drive by's with headlights on and lamp penetrating the undergrowth no body was found. I will have a thorough look for it during day light hours this Saturday. Hopefully it will die quickly.

Stephen and myself made the Worthy Park pen a little more comfortable for the poults last night. We placed some straw under the cover lean to's which hopefully will add some warmth for the poults. Plus two more feed bags were emptied into the bin. Crossed fingers that the weather will improve which should help the young poults out no end.

Federal Choice

If I had the time on my hands would I re load my own ammunition? Presently no I would not. I have found that buying the required darts from off the shelf serves the purpose it was designed for.

My two choices are both made by Federal. The first being the Federal Premium V Shok .243 55gn Nosler Ballistic Tip. These I use on the fox and not one target has survived more than a few seconds after being hit. As shown on earlier entries to this blog the effects are devastating to say the least and this is the desire result required to ensure that the fox that is hit dies instantly and without any undue suffering.

The second bullet is the Federal Power Shok .243 100 gn Soft Point which I use on Roe. So far on each buck taken the bullet has again served its purpose.

Of course it all depends on your own individual choice and what you feel comfortable with and the confidence along with trust that your choice does what it is supposed to do.

So far the Federal does its job.

Double Bubble

Good news on the fox front from the weekend with two young vixen's added to the bag. Both were spotted by Stephen and dispatched by myself. As you can see by the bullet exit wounds it was lights out very quickly, I doubt very much it either knew what occured!

It was the Lovedean fields which proved effective again, the top vixen (as above) was taken first followed by the other within ten minutes of each other.

Better Picture

This picture was taken by Roger Buss on his own camera of the buck taken on the 9th August 2008.

Cheers Roger.

Five Point Buck

A great start to Saturday morning before the shoot work party with the 5 point buck in the bag. Got to the farm yard at 5.30am with the sun just starting to appear, the clouds were reflecting a red glow pre the rain to come later in the morning. Had already decided the destination of the mornings stalk which was to the first high seat on the railway bank. A lame fox had been reported by the farm staff to be working along the hedge row leading from the bank which if it showed was to be the main target. If that did not make an appearance then if a buck did..........
Got to the seat by 6am with two doe's spotted at the far end of the bank, had to get up the seat without making too much noise as to not alert the doe's. Literally within ten minutes a doe came out of the undergrowth approx 40 yards away from the seat closely followed by the buck. Managed to knock the rifle butt against the tree when lifting up to my shoulder thus making the buck twitchy, so without any delay the first opportunity was taken to dispatch the 100 grain Federal bullet which duly hit the target. It was a clean kill with the buck stumbling 20 yards before going over.
Roger was also on the farm at the time so a call was made to inform him of the buck. I was then shown a quick and cleaner way to clean the carcass as opposed to a method shown on a training dvd.
Another trophy to prepare now which will be done next weekend.
All in all a good week on the shooting front with one fox and one buck.

Work Party 9th August

After unloading Wouter's furniture from the van on Saturday morning the work party went onto finish the pop hole at Beachwood pen plus the poults in residence were fed and watered. Also Tristan placed 3 of the blue feed hoppers around the Beachwood area ready for the corn feed when supplied.

We all then moved up to the Worthy Park pen to ensure that it is in good condition for the next batch of poults. A new pop hole was installed at the top of the pen and one of the original holes was improved to stop the birds from hopping over the chicken wire. Lets hope that the farm workers are careful when operating any machinery along the track so as not to undo the work done. The electric fence was checked by Tristan and given the ok. I will order two more small car batteries for the units.

Those attending on Saturday along with myself was (left to right on photo) Tristan and his springer Macey, Kevin and Greg. Macey looks a cracking dog and so far well trained by Tristan, had no hesitation in alarming the poults at Beachwood. Should prove to be an excellent asset for Tristan and the shoot come the season.

Bullet Crunch

Apologies for those who are squeamish but the picture demonstrates the result of a 55grain Noslar Federal .243 bullet on a dog fox taken on the Lovedean Rd fields last night.

It was a quiet night with regards to the fox count with only one other spotted, that being the resident Reynard in between the farm house and the motorway. One glance from the lamp and he was away to ground. Both myself and Stephen have pondered many minutes on how to ambush this convict to no avail so far, although I might have a plan for the next time. Will let you know if it works.

To say I was mighty glad that my shot was a clean kill was an understatement, especially after last weeks miss. The shot was taken approx 80 yards away after a bit of chess board play before the young dog kept still long enough to get a safe angle to shoot at. My thanks to Stephen for lamping the target..