Finally a dog fox

[NTSOG]

G'day,

I was out whistling foxes on my property last night, but had no takers on the north side so I wandered out the back [south west] to count 'roos eating my locked up hay paddocks. For once there were very few. I was about to quit when this dog fox turned up at about 180 yards. I lip-squeaked and he came in at a trot and finally sat in the long grass at what I judged to be around 100+ yards, so I aimed at its nose with my Weihrauch .22 Magnum [30 grain V-Max] hitting it through its left chest. It ran about 25 yards and dropped, presumably lung shot. It's the first dog I have shot in the last three months. The previous 10 or so foxes were all vixens which has perplexed me. I would have expected a fairly even distribution in sex. As for the distance, I underestimated: it was about 142 yards. Had I known that I wouldn't have taken the shot with the .22 Magnum. In the long grass it was hard to judge.

Jim

[Die Judicii]

Good job Mate.
Getting Vixens as a majority is a good thing though,,,,,
You'll put a much bigger dent in the future fox population by cleaning out the Vixens compared to Dogs.

[NTSOG]

G'day DJ,

Culling the vixens is certainly the way to reduce the population. It's just that I assumed that there would be a balance of males and females as a result of random distribution. Anyway I'm happy with the result even if it was more luck than good management.

Jim

[bigrich]

Congratulations on the dog fox , and good shooting with the weihrauch. I have a 22mag and 22LR weihrauch myself . Lovely bits of gear those German rifles . Just goes to show how useful a good 22mag can be

[NTSOG]

G'day bigrich,

I do like my Weihrauch rifles. This is the second time I've under-estimated the range on a fox with the .22 Magnum, but a 30 gr. Hornady through the lungs still knocks them off, though they might run a little bit before they collapse. My little HW 66P groups at about 3/4" at 100 yards off my usual hunting rest. With a PARD NV008 and a VCSEL IR light it's great to carry around stalking hares and anything else that turns up.

Jim

[Die Judicii]

G'day DJ,
It's just that I assumed that there would be a balance of males and females as a result of random distribution.

Jim

Nah,,,,,, you got it all wrong Mate,,,,,,,,,
When you pull off a shot that really surprises you,,,,,,, just take a deep breath,,, grin yer t!ts off,,, and say FIG JAM.

The balance in nature re M/F varies depending on season,, quality or none of season,, and species.
I noticed that during the drought that we haven't all that long came through,,,,, regarding roos,,, they were 99% bucks.
Now,,,,,,, it's changed, and is swinging back the other way.

Mind you,,,,, only my observations.

[bigrich]

G'day bigrich,

I do like my Weihrauch rifles. This is the second time I've under-estimated the range on a fox with the .22 Magnum, but a 30 gr. Hornady through the lungs still knocks them off, though they might run a little bit before they collapse. My little HW 66P groups at about 3/4" at 100 yards off my usual hunting rest. With a PARD NV008 and a VCSEL IR light it's great to carry around stalking hares and anything else that turns up.

Jim

on average mine groups about the same . occasionally , it suprises me . i'm using CCI small game 40's , which have a little sp spitzer . typical rimfire , it throws a occasional flyer . but , one time with a fresh clean barrel it cut a vertical string at 100 that measured 1/2" i've been keen to try the hornady 30's , but they haven't been available for a while

[NTSOG]

G'day DJ,

I hadn't considered that there could be variations in the numbers of each sex of various animal species due to seasonal fluctuations, breeding rates, etc. It's an interesting hypothesis. I need to do some more research.

Jim

[animalpest]

Having more females than male foxes at certain times of the year has probably more to do with differences in dispersal from natal areas between the sexes.

We found that females were more prevalent than males in winter in a given area subject to previous control and the balance changed over summer. The % of adults versus juveniles also changes.

Male foxes disperse more and travel further while more young females stay longer with their mum.

The sex ratio at birth is similar between males and females, although males tend to live longer. Pre-adult mortality is similar between the sexes.

[NTSOG]

G'day ap,

Thanks for the explanation. It makes sense that the females are a little more 'house-bound' while the randy dogs roam far afield looking for receptive vixens and/or avoiding fights with other equally randy males.

Jim.

[Elmer]

The Weirauch .22mag rifles look remarkably like my old Krico 352 D that I had during the eighties.
That rifle would plunk 5 into 1inch at 100yds all day with Win super x 40gn jhps.
Extremely good accuracy for a mag rf in those days.
It was a beautiful rifle, a credit to Krico.
Nick Harvey did a test report on it in 85 and he was in love, thats what inspired the then 19yr old (me) to get one.
Should never have traded her in for an Anschutz 1516 , it never came close to the Krico .
Nice Fox by the way.

[bigrich]

The Weirauch .22mag rifles look remarkably like my old Krico 352 D that I had during the eighties.
That rifle would plunk 5 into 1inch at 100yds all day with Win super x 40gn jhps.
Extremely good accuracy for a mag rf in those days.
It was a beautiful rifle, a credit to Krico.
Nick Harvey did a test report on it in 85 and he was in love, thats what inspired the then 19yr old (me) to get one.
Should never have traded her in for an Anschutz 1516 , it never came close to the Krico .
Nice Fox by the way.

weihrauch bought krico in the 80's . i had a early 70's krico in 22 hornet that except for the sqaured fore end was identical in most ways to a weihrauch

[duncan61]

Buddy.You calculated your shot .You knew your equipment and obtained the perfect result.I scored a fox once when I worked at a dairy farm.I had bought a H&R single shot Hornet for doing sick cows and after my milking shift on Sunday afternoon I went down the back paddock and sighted it in of the quad bike seat.Heading back a fox ran across the track in front of me going to my left and I dropped down and used the seat as a rest and hit it in the back of the head.Pure luck I could take that shot 50 times and maybe do it twice.Felt as good as my first decent trout from Waroona dam