Night of Fox Hunting..

[HuntnCarve]

My buddy "Dave" and I had the opportunity to do a little fox hunting out at his place the other night.  We worked our way down to the bottom of his property and set up in front of a big oak tree.  Dave worked the light while I manned the rifle (my Ruger 77/22Mag) and did the calling.  I started off using one of my coaxer calls.  Well, it wasn't 3 minutes into calling before we saw eyes!  He had come up over the crest of the hill and was standing out there about 100 yards.  He was just sort of standing there, looking our way.  I started lip squeaking, but he did not budge?  Taking my hand, I started thrashing the leaves at our feet to imitate a struggling animal, all the while working the coaxer call.  Here he comes!  As he trotted into better shooting range, I went to more lip squeaks as I nestled into the shooting sticks.  "Right there!! Right there!" Dave whispered frantically as he pulled the light off the incoming fox to a hard charging fox crossing 35 yards in front of us!  I had the scope cranked up to 7x, so I had a bit of difficulty getting on him as he trotted broadside to us.  Just as I was about to pull the trigger, he took off and ran up towards the other one.  Dave quickly got the light on the first one.  Seems he had held up about 70 yards out to see what the commotion was about?  This time I slipped on my shooting light, locked the crosshairs behind his shoulder, and fired.  "Twap!" down he went.  He thrashed a second or two, then was still.  We waited a minute to let things settle down, then started working our way towards him.  I proceeded to give a few calls the whole while. "There!" Dave said as he worked the light to the back edge of the field.  It was the "Hard Charger" sitting there 90 yards away looking right at us.  Dave pegged him with the big light, and I wasted no time getting the crosshairs on his eyes.  "Plop!" down he went!
The first fox was a real beauty.  A big heavy male, with a real nice coat.  The second fox was a mangy sparcely tailed thing. 
Ah, but the night was not done...We went back to the house to get Dante who was due back from basketball practice.  Well, Dante did not get back soon enough being a school night, and him having to get up early.  So Dave and I headed out again around 9:30Pm across the creek.  This time Dave was doing the honors behind the rifle.  He had aspirations to meet my earlier double.  But the fox were not as cooperative. -But I digress... He did make an excellent shot on this single.  Darn thing back doored us as we were calling a former hot spot.  I just happened to sweep the light around the back of us and there he was, up on the berm of a hill.  Well Ol' Dave locked down on him at about 120 yards and touched one off.  "Plop!"  Round and round spun the fox, then his eyes settled to the ground.  Once again, we found a rather mangy looking red as can be seen in the photo.
Ol' Dave was now on a mission to tie Ol' HuntnCarve's previous double. Well, we did see a set of eyes back in the woods, but could not get him to commit.  Seems he was already feasting on a dead deer carcas.  We closed the distance on him, but he managed to slip away.. The final field held the promise of success.  I poured my heart and soul into the calling...But the only set of eyes we saw belonged to a bunch of whitetails.  Turning to head for home, I panned the light behind us.."Dang it!"  There went a fox streaking across the dirt road we had just walked in on.  He had obviously winded us and was in no mood to end up a number on Dave's scoreboard.

 
(above) Dave with his single)

Once again, it was a great hunt with a dear friend. We managed to add a few more memories to our perpetual tablet, and regal you all with a story. But next time I'm going to see to it that Dave (or Dante) will be on the rifle in quest of the elusive double. Then they can tell the tale..

Wishing you all a great hunt with friends and family..

HuntnCarve
Dave

[Todd Rahm]

Awesome Daves!!!

[Dave]

That's a great story.  I was there and think the story was better than the movie!
And thanks, Dave, for getting my lazy arse out of the kitchen and into the night.  It was a lot of fun.

[Coulter]

Way to go guys...I have got to get out and do some calling reaaaal soon like.

Steve

[HaMeR]

Nice double Dave!! Nice single Dave!! 120yds out in the dark is a purdy darn good shot!! The ol 22Mag sure does a number on those critters!!

[weedwalker]

Way to go guys!! Sounds like a great night out.

Ed

[FinsnFur]

  Excellent read Dave! Thanks for taking the time
The Dave en Dave Duo

[Frogman]

WTG guys!  Nice reds!

Jim