Bowdy
19-10-07, 08:58 PM
The shrill of the whistle broke the calm mid morning air as it drifted down into the depths of the bracken filled gully, a sulpher-crested cockatoo screeched it's defiance as it came gliding over to see what had disturbed it's rest.
I dared not move as it circled above trying to locate the disturbance as I silently cursed it's curiosity, minutes ticked by until satisfied it called to some of it's mates and they headed off around the side mountain, thankfully leaving me alone.
I had chosen my stand so I was at least 60 yards back from the bracken and hopefully I could coax one up under 30, so at least if I was lucky enough to get a shot the fox had a bit of ground to cover before it was swallowed up by the bracken.
I let out another series of shrills and carefully waited for any movement, none came.
Five minutes went by and I tried again this time louder and more desperate and waited, minutes ticked by until I caught movement to my left as a vixen came trotting into view, nose on the ground, purpose in her stride then suddenly stopped to try and locate the source of distress.
A gentle blow on the whistle had her coming in on a mission as she angled across me from left to right at about 15 yards, l let out a low moan stopping her in her tracks, I was already drawn back and settled the top pin on the point of her right shoulder and touched off the release sending the 2315 tipped with a razor sharp Black Stump on it's way.
The impact spun her around and she made a mad dash down the hill and was soon swallowed up by the bracken, slowly I sat down still listening for any noise, none was fourth coming, reaching around I grabbed my pack and dug out a muesli bar to have a chew on and waited.
Ten minutes went by and I got up and made my way slowly down to the impact sight and started to look for my arrow, a couple of minutes scratching around and I found it coated in a film of deep red blood.
Heading down to were I seen her last enter the bracken I came straight onto a game trail and made my way slowly along it, cresting a small rise, there across a small depression she lay piled up and had died in mid stride in the middle of the game trail.
I picked her up and made my way back up to my pack and set about taking some photos which filled in the next half an hour, packing up I sidled my way around the face for half an hour and found a good looking spot and set about looking for a suitable stand.
After setting up I let loose a series of calls and straight away I seen a flash of red down in the bottom of the gully, (I thought this isn't going to take long!) I stopped calling and waited expecting the fox to break cover any second, but minutes started to tick by and I started a few low toned calls with no response.
I started to think had the wind swirled, as I was so focused on the patch in front of me to have noticed??
I let loose other set of cries thinking I might have a shot at another one which might be on it's way in, calling off and on for the next fifteen minutes still with no response.
One last attempt on the whistle and I locked onto a movement down in front of me in the shape of a foxes face at around fifty metres, still calling gently he moved up cat crawling in spurts on his belly to around thirty and froze totally fixed on me, I slowly rose the bow and called gently again trying to coax him a bit closer but he wouldn't budge, still in the cat like position we had a stand off for what felt like ages and I realized he wasn't going to come any closer, he never once took those laser like eyes off me and I thought as soon as I start to draw the bow he would bolt, every so slowly I took up the tension on the string and got it back to full draw, not believing my luck as he slowly rose.
Doing a quick calculation in my head for the steep angle I settled the twenty yard pin on the base of his throat and sent another deadly Black Stump crashing into the white blaze on his chest sending him on a frantic dash back down the hill, he only managed ten yards and tumbled over coming to rest at the base of a large dead fall tree.
I slowly made my way down to him and once I got to him I soon realized he was one big old dog!!!
I picked him up and made my way back to my pack and sat down for a ponder, the way this fox behaved I really think this was the fox that I seen move at the first whistle and he made his way up and hung up in the bracken, just watched for all that time until he thought it was safe to come in for a feed, he was one cunning old bugger the way he came in crawling on his stomach as I have never had a fox behave like that before coming into the whistle.
I set about taking some photos with him and then made the extra effort and carried him back around the mountain to the vixen and took some more photos of them together and was happy with the results.
Vixen
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee230/Grunter13/033.jpg
Big Dog
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee230/Grunter13/038.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee230/Grunter13/042.jpg
Grant.
I dared not move as it circled above trying to locate the disturbance as I silently cursed it's curiosity, minutes ticked by until satisfied it called to some of it's mates and they headed off around the side mountain, thankfully leaving me alone.
I had chosen my stand so I was at least 60 yards back from the bracken and hopefully I could coax one up under 30, so at least if I was lucky enough to get a shot the fox had a bit of ground to cover before it was swallowed up by the bracken.
I let out another series of shrills and carefully waited for any movement, none came.
Five minutes went by and I tried again this time louder and more desperate and waited, minutes ticked by until I caught movement to my left as a vixen came trotting into view, nose on the ground, purpose in her stride then suddenly stopped to try and locate the source of distress.
A gentle blow on the whistle had her coming in on a mission as she angled across me from left to right at about 15 yards, l let out a low moan stopping her in her tracks, I was already drawn back and settled the top pin on the point of her right shoulder and touched off the release sending the 2315 tipped with a razor sharp Black Stump on it's way.
The impact spun her around and she made a mad dash down the hill and was soon swallowed up by the bracken, slowly I sat down still listening for any noise, none was fourth coming, reaching around I grabbed my pack and dug out a muesli bar to have a chew on and waited.
Ten minutes went by and I got up and made my way slowly down to the impact sight and started to look for my arrow, a couple of minutes scratching around and I found it coated in a film of deep red blood.
Heading down to were I seen her last enter the bracken I came straight onto a game trail and made my way slowly along it, cresting a small rise, there across a small depression she lay piled up and had died in mid stride in the middle of the game trail.
I picked her up and made my way back up to my pack and set about taking some photos which filled in the next half an hour, packing up I sidled my way around the face for half an hour and found a good looking spot and set about looking for a suitable stand.
After setting up I let loose a series of calls and straight away I seen a flash of red down in the bottom of the gully, (I thought this isn't going to take long!) I stopped calling and waited expecting the fox to break cover any second, but minutes started to tick by and I started a few low toned calls with no response.
I started to think had the wind swirled, as I was so focused on the patch in front of me to have noticed??
I let loose other set of cries thinking I might have a shot at another one which might be on it's way in, calling off and on for the next fifteen minutes still with no response.
One last attempt on the whistle and I locked onto a movement down in front of me in the shape of a foxes face at around fifty metres, still calling gently he moved up cat crawling in spurts on his belly to around thirty and froze totally fixed on me, I slowly rose the bow and called gently again trying to coax him a bit closer but he wouldn't budge, still in the cat like position we had a stand off for what felt like ages and I realized he wasn't going to come any closer, he never once took those laser like eyes off me and I thought as soon as I start to draw the bow he would bolt, every so slowly I took up the tension on the string and got it back to full draw, not believing my luck as he slowly rose.
Doing a quick calculation in my head for the steep angle I settled the twenty yard pin on the base of his throat and sent another deadly Black Stump crashing into the white blaze on his chest sending him on a frantic dash back down the hill, he only managed ten yards and tumbled over coming to rest at the base of a large dead fall tree.
I slowly made my way down to him and once I got to him I soon realized he was one big old dog!!!
I picked him up and made my way back to my pack and sat down for a ponder, the way this fox behaved I really think this was the fox that I seen move at the first whistle and he made his way up and hung up in the bracken, just watched for all that time until he thought it was safe to come in for a feed, he was one cunning old bugger the way he came in crawling on his stomach as I have never had a fox behave like that before coming into the whistle.
I set about taking some photos with him and then made the extra effort and carried him back around the mountain to the vixen and took some more photos of them together and was happy with the results.
Vixen
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee230/Grunter13/033.jpg
Big Dog
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee230/Grunter13/038.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee230/Grunter13/042.jpg
Grant.