Spot and Stalk Fox

This is an area for fox: Red, Swift, Kit, Grey...what ever you get a hold of. Calling, Spot and Stalk, Pics. Share your experiences Fox hunting tips, techniques, and thoughts about Fox hunting here.

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Spot and Stalk Fox

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Share your experiences, tips, techniques, and thoughts about Spot and Stalk Fox hunting.
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Dcoy
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by Dcoy »

Glass with 'good' glass.Get out of your truck,walk and glass.The days of pickup glassing are largely over in most areas.Too much pressure and those fox are laying on the buyers floor.On the other hand,you can save a lot of time and effort by glassing differently than many.Spotting scopes and window mounts work of course but are time consuming and frustrating.Mount your 'scope'(spotting or very high power rifle scope)on a sawed off old stock or piece of wood-quick,steady,easy to use out the window,off the hood or whatever.You can eliminate distant 'maybes'that way.
If given a choice hunt north wind days vs south.You'll see many more laying out.Strong,cold south winds=failure on sunning fox much of the time.Of course there always are key areas-fencelines,big south facing drifts,drainage ditches,edges of cattails etc but,especially the last week of January and the first week of february(mating)think 'flat' as well.Plowed fields,picked cornfields,etc.They'll sleep anywhere then.Often.
After spotting one,close the distance to a comfortable shooting range-its much easier on fox than coyotes.On laying down fox do one or both of the following.Squeak the mouse squeaker taped to your scope to get the head up and/or aim at the snow line.A sleeping fox melts down quite a ways.
Good hunting.
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bucksnbears
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by bucksnbears »

Dcoy, could'nt have said it better myself :wink: p.s use ''GOOD'' bino's
the more food you have in your mouth at one time, the better you can taste it!!!
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LeviM
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by LeviM »

Good Binos for sure. I really like cold sunny days, with a NW wind about 10mph winds. My dad has told me for years, you will see more fox sunny themselves with a sunny NW days. I have been mentally keeping track and he is dead on.
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Tbush
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by Tbush »

also many times i've bumped the fox while sneaking in on him, and if possible i just keep working him, peeling off his tracks and and playing the wind and cover, terrain, just walk to him slow and glassing alot, been many hours walking them down and they tend to head for cover like cat tails if pushed then they tend to let you get with in gun range til they bolt, 2 diff. times I have had them tunnel into the cats andtry and hide in them. I just kept walking around on my snow shoes and out it popped and dove back in 3-4 times until it tryed to make a run for it and I got him! the other one I could not get him out and lost him but it was fun, as a teenager in N MN I would walk on fresh tracks for hours and catch glimps'es of them... but no luck and usually ended up shooting hares anyway
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bucksnbears
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by bucksnbears »

Dcoys post was spot on(pun intended). for you that hav'nt hunted fox much, you will be suprised at where a fox will lay up for the day.. i live in table top flat topagraphy with few hills and very limited cover. mostly flat plowed fields during winter. fox will lay out in the middle of a field with not a blade of grass or a tree to be seen. glass these open fields with a good set of bino's or spotting scope and you may see fox that you can't believe there could be. i can't stress GOOD glass as i've snuck up on many paper bags, rusty 5 gallon pails, red rocks, ect. before i got a bauch n lomb s-scope. fox are easier than coyotes to sneak on but educated ones are a tough nut to crack. spot n stalk works best if daybreak brings calm winds and moderate temps. if daybreak is windy they will move to cover for the day. i like sunny ,calm mornings but a cloudy afternoon as the sun can put to many shodows over a snow drifted field.. higher pitched calls do seem better than jack-rabbit.i'm glad there is still interest in fox hunting as this is my true passion. there have been some earlier post on fox so check them out.
the more food you have in your mouth at one time, the better you can taste it!!!
"Remember, the government cannot give anything to anyone that they have not first taken away from someone else."
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Dcoy
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by Dcoy »

A great article in VHM on 'Spot/Stalk Coyotes'got me thinking about fox.As the author there stated re sleeping multiple coyotes,shoot the one farthest away and you have a good chance the other(s)will run toward you.(away from the 'thump' of the hit).However with fox there are subtle wrinkles to that that don't arise on coyotes as often. If two are laying near a culvert or den,shoot the closest to the hole first(for sure if its facing the culvert/den)not necessarily cause its closest,but because 99% of the time its the female and if she's there,a follow up easy shot at the other(male)is much more certain.He will rarely leave her immediately.
If 2 are just laying/sleeping together and there's no hole,the one facing or looking at the other will,99% of the time,be the male so shoot the other first. :D
Good hunting!
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Dcoy
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by Dcoy »

Forgot,likewise if 2 are traveling together,shoot the smallest or the first in line-again,99% of the time thats the female and the same reasoning applies.
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bucksnbears
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by bucksnbears »

Spot on again Decoy :) :)
the more food you have in your mouth at one time, the better you can taste it!!!
"Remember, the government cannot give anything to anyone that they have not first taken away from someone else."
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LeviM
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by LeviM »

Thats a trick my old man taught me! Seeping fox are confused from a gun shot and most of the time they run at you
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lyonch
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by lyonch »

Great tip Dcoy :D
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bucksnbears
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by bucksnbears »

today started out fairly clear but got foggy and wind started to pick up. seen 3 fox out in a section and started the stalk. with the fog in the air it was real difficult to tell the range. i got to what i thoght was 200 yards and flipped out the bipod. the closest was curled up facing me. my gun is set for dead on at 200 so i held on the head and touched one off. he never twithced :) when i was getting closer i seen a crease in the snow about 10 feet from him. ended up being about 300 yards and my bullet hit and ricoceted into him :oops: :oops: . this is maybe the 10th time in mylife this has happened :) i just switched to a more stout bullet (sierra 55 grain spitzer). i don't think my ballistic tips would have done this. got lucky and hit him right in the face :) the other 2 bailed down a hole. also snuck up on a coyote but got busted without a shot. he was eating a sugar beet :? . yesterday i seen a coyote out at the 3/4 mile mark, snuck down a drainage ditch to about 200 yards, snuck up the bank, bipod down thinking this was going to be easy. creeped up to the top and W.T.F. , it was an immature bald eagle . it was eating an ermine. fog sucks as some little things look huge and sometimes big things look small. very hard to tell distance's. ended up seeinImageg 7 fox 1 coyote. only got 1 fox than a heavy fog set in and i came back.
the more food you have in your mouth at one time, the better you can taste it!!!
"Remember, the government cannot give anything to anyone that they have not first taken away from someone else."
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lyonch
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by lyonch »

That fox is sure getting a frosty looking rump :( I wish the fur could hold out through march. Bucks i think you will like that new bullet. The coyote i shot this past weekend at 407, i aimed for the head and touched off and had about 3 inches of wind drift to the left and hit him in the kneck and it went trhough the kneck and into his body and none of the holes were any bigger than a dime :D He didn't even twitch :twisted:
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My heart belongs to my family,
BUT MY SOUL BELONGS TO THE COYOTES!!!
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bucksnbears
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by bucksnbears »

i shot a few jacks also and really liked the small amount of damage to them.. this fox has a great hide for this time of year. great color and not rubbed
the more food you have in your mouth at one time, the better you can taste it!!!
"Remember, the government cannot give anything to anyone that they have not first taken away from someone else."
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Tbush
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Re: Spot and Stalk Fox

Post by Tbush »

NICE!!!!! next time maybe off the barn then a rock,then off a frozen sugar beet and between the eyes :shock: :lol: :lol: I shoot that same bullet and have for about 4 years now and love it, but almost out of them and have to find someone to reload them for me :D
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