"A good season Opener"

[HuntnCarve]

Had a pretty good evening down at my buddy Dave's place.  Early in the evening I filled another one of my doe tags with my crossbow.  So what a better way to top off the evening than a little Fox hunting!  
So about 10 PM Dave and I set off to see what the night would hold?  Wading across the creek, no sooner did we get up the bank when we saw a set of eyes.  It was a raccoon that was trying his best to go unnoticed by climbing up a tree.  I got on my coaxer call, and he poked his head over the branch and just stared.  We gave him a pass and headed on back towards the picked corn fields.
After initially panning the field with the red lensed spotlight, I got on my coaxer call.  I called intermittently for about 5 minutes, when Dave spotted eyes heading down along the field edge.  A blast on the coaxer gained his attention.  Then I started some lip squeaks.  Here he comes, bouncing across the field.  I already have my shooting sticks set up, and switch on my red shooting light atop my Ruger  .22 magnum.  Like clock work, Dave switches off the red spotlight so as not to cast too much light. (A good light man is worth his weight in gold! LOL!  Ol’ Dave is one of the best.)  As I work the fox closer, Dave whispers that I better think about shooting as the wind has switched up on us, and the fox is headed that way.  As soon as the fox pauses, looking directly at us, I lock the crosshairs between the eyes and touch off a shot.  â€œThwop!”  Down he goes, not even flinching.  A congratulatory swat on the back from Dave, and we’re off to check him out.  My shot took him right through the right eye, and exited out his ear.  It was a big male.  His coat was decent, but not prime, as it’s still a little early in the season in my estimation.
So off we go to our next field.  Sneaking up to the weed line, we catch a set of eyes.  It’s a deer that’s laying down chewing it’s cud.  I start out on my coaxer.  When we don’t get any immediate responses, I switch over to one my rabbit distress calls for a sequence, then back to the coaxer.  About this time, Dave catches a glimpse of eyes coming out of the woods 100 yards above the deer.  They’re fiery red, and close together!   It’s a fox!  A couple more blasts on the coaxer and he starts heading our way.  It’s about this time that I switch on my shooting light and Dave douses the spotlight, having expertly haloed the incoming fox.  Only problem is there’s a tall patch of weeds that prevent me from using the sticks in a kneeling position.  So without taking the light off the fox, I tuck the rifle under my arm and open up my sticks into a staff.  â€"Dave later told me he didn’t know what the heck I was doing?  So now in a standing position, I rest the rifle on my hand clamped to the staff.  Once again Dave warns me about the wind, as the fox quarters closer.  A little bark from Dave, and the fox locks up broadside at about 50 yards.  I plant the crosshairs behind its shoulder and squeeze off a 34 grain Winchester Supreme.  A meaty “Plop” and the fox drops like the earth opened up underneath him.  Would you believe we ended up walking right past this one, and having to search for about 5 minutes.   Dave eventually backtracked our route and found the fox laying right where it dropped.  A young healthy male.   Having two to carry back to the house, and an early morning deer hunt planned, we called it a night.  Pretty good for an hours hunt! Once again, I have to thank my best friend Dave for his hospitality.  He always lets me be the shooter on our forays.  You can’t beat friends like that!   But heck, Dave’s fox shooting tally ranks right on up there with my groundhog shooting numbers.   So he’s the real deal as many, many reds can attest.  So until next time.  Good hunting! And if you can hunt with a dear friend, so much the better!

HuntnCarve
Dave

[bambam]

Good lookin' reds. Way to go !!!!

[Bills Custom Calls]

Oh yeah 

[slagmaker]

Good job on the reds. Is the fur starting to fill out?

[HuntnCarve]

Post must have been too big?  Here's the rest of the story:

â€"[A good light man is worth his weight in gold! LOL!  Ol’ Dave is one of the best.]  As I work the fox closer, Dave whispers that I better think about shooting as the wind has switched up on us, and the fox is headed that way.  As soon as the fox pauses, looking directly at us, I lock the crosshairs between the eyes and touch off a shot.  â€œThwop!”  Down he goes, not even flinching.  A congratulatory swat on the back from Dave, and we’re off to check him out.  My shot took him right through the right eye, and exited out his ear.  It was a big male.  His coat was decent, but not prime, as it’s still a little early in the season in my estimation.
So off we go to our next field.  Sneaking up to the weed line, we catch a set of eyes.  It’s a deer that’s laying down chewing it’s cud.  I start out on my coaxer.  When we don’t get any immediate responses, I switch over to one my rabbit distress calls for a sequence, then back to the coaxer.  About this time, Dave catches a glimpse of eyes coming out of the woods 100 yards above the deer.  They’re fiery red, and close together!   It’s a fox!  A couple more blasts on the coaxer and he starts heading our way.  It’s about this time that I switch on my shooting light and Dave douses the spotlight, having expertly haloed the incoming fox.  Only problem is there’s a tall patch of weeds that prevent me from using the sticks in a kneeling position.  So without taking the light off the fox, I tuck the rifle under my arm and open up my sticks into a staff.  â€"Dave later told me he didn’t know what the heck I was doing?  So now in a standing position, I rest the rifle on my hand clamped to the staff.  Once again Dave warns me about the wind, as the fox quarters closer.  A little bark from Dave, and the fox locks up broadside at about 50 yards.  I plant the crosshairs behind its shoulder and squeeze off a 34 grain Winchester Supreme.  A meaty “Plop” and the fox drops like the earth opened up underneath him.  Would you believe we ended up walking right past this one, and having to search for about 5 minutes.   Dave eventually backtracked our route and found the fox laying right where it dropped.  A young healthy male.   Having two to carry back to the house, and an early morning deer hunt planned, we called it a night.  Pretty good for an hours hunt! Once again, I have to thank my best friend Dave for his hospitality.  He always lets me be the shooter on our forays.  You can’t beat friends like that!   But heck, Dave’s fox shooting tally ranks right on up there with my groundhog shooting numbers.   So he’s the real deal as many, many reds can attest.  So until next time.  Good hunting!

HuntnCarve
Dave

[HuntnCarve]

Hey Jim!  Why doesn't it let me post my story??? 

[Hawks Feather]

I was glad to read that the ? was a symbol that there was more to the story.  I was just reading along and thought that it was a strange place to end.  It does look like you had a good time with them.

Jerry

[Jeb]

Good job bud, dont see this everyday !! 
                       Jeb

[Bopeye]

Very Nice Dave. They sure are pretty. 

[pitw]

   

  Man I love it when it isn't only me .  Great start to a story Dave .

[FinsnFur]

Hey Jim!  Why doesn't it let me post my story??? 

I have no idea what you did there Dave, but you did get me chuckling.

That is a heck of a way to start a season, I'll agree, now what happen here with your post?

[FinsnFur]

I just looked inside your post and it appears as though everything you typed was still there.
I noticed you tried using some wild ass symbols like -[ } which are commonly used in webscripts, html etc.
When the software see's this, it says...ohhhhh no you dont. Because it looks like your trying to inject malicious code into the forums, and it's not suppose to allow that.

I removed the hacking attempts and fixed your post 

[pitw]

I just looked inside your post and it appears as though everything you typed was still there.
I noticed you tried using some wild ass symbols like -[ } which are commonly used in webscripts, html etc.
When the software see's this, it says...ohhhhh no you dont. Because it looks like your trying to inject malicious code into the forums, and it's not suppose to allow that.

I removed the hacking attempts and fixed your post 

Oh sure   Make me look like an idiot with my post in the middle now   Like I need help

Great rest of the story too Dave .  I would like to see that red light thingy some night .

[Todd Rahm]

Officially movin on from the honey holes?  Nice look'n bounty.

[Yotehntr]

   Great write up Dave!  I've never hunted at night sounds like a blast.

[weedwalker]

Way to go Dave!! Those are some nice lookin reds. And you got a deer to boot. Sounds like a great day out hunting.

[HuntnCarve]

Thank you Jim.  Ah, I was just testing the software program to make sure it was working.  Good job!  Meantime, I'll have to watch typing those types of symbols from now on. 
Thanks guys!  Glad you got to read the rest of the story. 

Dave

[HaMeR]

Now that is darn cool right there Dave.    And Dave.    Those are some big nice looking fox. They have a good bit of black in them yet but that will soon be taken care of as well. Any idea what those hides will go for??

[alscalls]

Well........ If I cant go hunting It sure is nice to read a good story from someone that can..... Thanks for sharing with us! 
And congrats on what looks like a FUN night........

[Dave]

That was a good night.  To think I didn't even want to go out, but Dave was starting to pout.  We were only out for about an hour, too.
I was sitting here reading the story and my kids were getting ready for school.  I scroll up to show them the pic of Dave and his foxes (now that sounds funny - Dave and his foxes - too bad for Dave this is a ' hunting ' website), and Sarah (LightningInABottle) says  as she's walking by "Wow, that's a long story for just a fox."    
  A few days ago she posted a disortation about 3 pages long for her story on getting her deer!!     Too funny.