GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

11-10-2003, 11:12 PM

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article ,
Jaques d'Altrades wrote:

My information says that it is not effective. The best deterrent is a
·243" rifle. Or a pet mongoose.

Er, that is a red FOX, not a red DEER, which is being discussed.
A .22 long cartridge (not even a magnum) is the appropriate load.

Needs an accurate head shot with ·22RF to be sure. A ·243 OTOH.......

Sorry, but that is the converse of the truth. A long cartridge
will make a hole 3" deep and 1" wide, which would kill cleanly even
with a thorax shot.

And that's hollowpoint only. A ·22 LR can miss any immediately fatal
areas, and run off and die.

Even a HV centrefire rifle expanding bullet doesn't always kill.

There was a particular fox which was costing the shoot thousands. (No
exaggeration) We were particularly keen to shoot it. One night, out with
the lamp and the ·243 I caught it in the beam. The keeper tried to
whistle it up, but it was too canny, and moved away. One shot.

We drove on to the stubbles to the spot we had last seen it. There was
blood across the ditch and through the hedge. Shining the lamp there,
the fox was just on the other side. The underkeeper poked it to make
sure it was dead.

It got up and went further into the field.

We had to drive down the hedge for several hundred yards to get across
the ditch, and then back again on the other side. The fox was watching
us. Keeper finished it with one through the head.

Now, the first shot had eviscerated it and removed its manhood. Its body
cavity was hollow right up to the diphragm.

And this is why I support fox hunting rather than shooting - the fox is
either quickly killed or it gets away.

(I used not to support fox hunting, but experience has taught me differently.)

I have killed goats with a .22 magnum (a head
shot), which punched a large hole in the skull (when I missed their
eye) - and they are considerably larger than foxes!

However, please note that I am talking about garden distances, which
is relevant here. At longer ranges (even 100x), I agree that a .243
would be a better weapon for a fox. At short range, it would probably
go straght through.

A softnose expanding bullet shouldn't. It's not going significantly
slower at 300 yards. Longer shots than that are usually only taken as a
last resort - in my circle of keepers, that is.

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm