When shooting goes wrong!!

magic104

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The other day a fox was spotted going round & round in circles. He was besides himself & it was noticed he had a bullet hole going through his head. It had gone straight through, you could see the entry & exit wounds. There was no option but to put him out of his misery. What they found was maggots in his brain, 100's of them!

This is not the first time I have heard this, but it is the first time I have heard it first hand. So what if this fox had bitten a child that was playing in the garden? I know it is not an every day occurence, but I do think that the hunting ban (with dogs), needs re-thinking.

This should have been a clean shot, straight through the head, which it was. Anyone who is anti hunting may have 2nd thoughts if they had seen the state of that animals brain. He was probably pass the pain, but god knows how long he had suffered. They do a fair bit of lamping in our area, & these guys are not amateurs, there is no saying it was one of them anyway. No animal deserves to suffer, but I think the old way was better.
 

Ravenwood

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I see what you are saying and agree wholeheartedly but even before the ban, most of the gamekeepers shot a lot of foxes even to the extent that the hunt found it very difficult to even find a fox at some meets. We have a lot of shoots here and the area is very heavily keepered.

However professional a marksmen, no one can guarantee a clean kill unfortunately. Snares are another horrific thing :(
 

antiantianti

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The 'clean shot through the head' is a bit of a myth because

a) People generally go for a body shot when shooting a fox.

b) The proportion of outright kills to woundings is roughly the same for a good and bad shot. Good shots just hit more foxes so they both kill and wound more.
 

soggy

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The 'clean shot through the head' is a bit of a myth because

a) People generally go for a body shot when shooting a fox.

It depends upon the skill of the bloke pulling the trigger and the distance between shooter and fox.

b) The proportion of outright kills to woundings is roughly the same for a good and bad shot. Good shots just hit more foxes so they both kill and wound more.

Where did you dream that one up from?

O
I've been shooting foxes for over 30 years and keep a log. In which i record date time place by grid ref, weather sex of , condition and whether clean killed, missed or wounded and lost(It ain't dead unless you pick it). In some years I've shot over of 120.

In my busiest year when we shot 129, I clean missed 3 and wounded and lost 3. Hardly an equal ratio between clean kills and woundings. I know several guys who shoot similar numbers and achieve similar averages.
 

Fairynuff

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Hi Soggy, how are you ? :) Youre beginning to give away some info re yourself :shocked:. If youve been shooting the little darlings for 'over 30 years' you must be a least 45 if not 50 years old :grin: Well I never, Soggy is taking shape :D. Please, put me out of my misery, are you male or female-you can only choose one :). Mairi.
 
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