Whistling a tune....

branxhunter · March 28, 2011, 07:23:11 PM

My brother and I had a few spare hours on Saturday afternoon, so we ventured over to a friends place we have't hunted before. We had been told that it was steep country with a timbered creek at the bottom, and that there were quite a few rabbits around. I decided to take my Ruger .17HMR for the rabbits while my brother took his Tikka T3 HB .204 and a fox whistle.

We met the property owner and had a bit of a yarn, and he gave us an aerial photo of the property which made planning our walk a little easier. We moved off down the hill and parked the ute on a dam enbankment across the head of the main gully.

While loading up we decided that the area looked promising for some for whistling action, so we moved off down the gully. While we were progressing slowly and cautiously we were only about 150m downstope from the farmhouse and assorted dogs so we were somewhat suprised when we put a large fox out of the thick undergrowth within the first 2 minutes. While I was tracking him in the scope as he vaulted the creek there was a mass of willow trucks in the way and I had no clear shot before he was lost from view.

We continued on until we found a great vantage point overlooking the gully below and a wooded slope opposite. Sitting with backs to fenceposts we spent some time whistling with the fox decoy. The photo below is this first spot.

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After about 15 minutes nothing was happening so we decided to move. As we started off I noticed a young fox on the opposite slope that had been obscured by the canopy of the trees in the creek. It was sitting in the middle of an open sandy patch, curled around scratching an itch on its rump. My brother took the shot and called a miss out to the right due to wind drift.

The fox took off down slope into the gully and propped in am,ongst the trees. My brother hadn;t seen this but I could clearly see it around 100m beyond the range of my HMR. I kept whistling for all I was worth, partly to keep the fox on the spot, and partly to indicate to my brother that it was still there. He caught on and manouvered around until he had a clear sight picture and nailed it.

We moved on a bit and tried another location further down thge gully with no success, before cutting across a ridge to another tributary creekline that runs into the main gully. We set up 50-100m upslope of the head of the vegetated gully (these gullies had been fenced and revegetated for erosion control 20-30 years ago- the soil types are very prone to landslips). The photo below shows the view I had downslope.

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After 15 minutes of playing a tune of the fox whistle I decided that the rabbit that had been sitting beside a fencepost in front of me had outworn my patience so I sent a 17gn projectile on its way and ruined his day.

We decided to call it a day and headed cross-country back to the ute. With about 100m to go I noticed another rabbit sitting on a low bank so resting over a fence post I knocked him over as well.

All in all a good walk and some new ground explored,

Marcus

gitano · March 29, 2011, 01:59:22 PM

Cool! Great pictures!

Sounds like plenty of foxes around. It's getting to be fall 'down there', are their coats prime yet?

Paul

branxhunter · March 30, 2011, 12:04:27 PM

After a record wet summer we are starting to head into Autumn with crisp mornings and fine still sunny days. The foxes, our horses and our dogs are all starting to thicken up with their winter coats.

Marcus

22hornet · March 31, 2011, 02:54:12 AM

Good to see you out and about Marcus. I enjoy having a sit and whistle just to see what will pop it's head up.
I hope you can make it back to that property soon.

branxhunter · April 01, 2011, 01:49:21 PM

I guess we will get back to that property at some stage 22H, however having now seen it I think we have better options for whistling foxes. The wooded areas of the property didn't have much in the way of undergrowth for foxes to bed down in.

We have a few better options with lots of rocks, bracken and rushes along creeklines, as well as fenced off creeklines with long grass - all reaaly good areas for a fox to hunker down out of any cool winds. Indeed, it is a popular approach around these parts to "drive" these areas with dogs and shotguns towards set shotguns at the end.

While we have done a fair bit of this in the past (good fun with quick snap shooting often required) my brother and I are keen on exploring the opportunity to decoy foxes out of these areas with the whistle instead.

We grew up using the old button type whistle, mainly to draw foxes in while spotlighting. We have also used the bellows type caller as well. Just recently my brother bought a "Tenterfield" type fox whistle - they are different! Sounds to me like a leaking air compressor, but the first night he used it he shot 16 foxes so it obviously works.

Marcus

gitano · April 06, 2011, 01:24:09 PM

Quotebut the first night he used it he shot 16 foxes

Now THAT'S good fox hunting!

Paul

kombi1976 · April 15, 2011, 08:21:38 AM

Where are the dead bunny photos?
Pics or it didn't happen.

branxhunter · April 16, 2011, 12:10:06 AM

It happened.

I find that I enjoy the posts that paint a picture with words, and include photos of firearms or scenery rather than blood and guts. I suppose that then influences what I post.

By the way, in terms of painting a picture with words you are one of the better ones here at THL Kombi - I reckon some of your best posts have been ones where perhaps you haven't been overly successful hunting wise, but include some great description of what you did and interesting photos of where you have been. I admrie the fact that you don't gild the lily, and the misses and muck ups are posted just as much as the successes.

Marcus