April is regarded as the start of the foxshooting year, when vixens are mostly below ground feeding young cubs. Over the coming weeks, the vixen and her litter will need a huge amount of food – just when ground-nesting birds and other wildlife are at their most vulnerable. In areas where foxes need to be controlled, this is an important time to deal with these litters.
With crops and grass standing tall, foxshooting in June is a challenge – but if you have vulnerable wildlife on the ground you can’t afford to ignore the fox threat, as the youngsters are now travelling further afield and learning to hunt for themselves. Plus they can be devastating if they break in to a pheasant pen or chicken coop.
This year’s fox cubs are now on the move. You might think you have got on top of your foxes, but youngsters will be straying onto your patch, so you can’t let up. At least as the harvest comes in, the foxshooter’s horizons are opening up, and you can take full advantage of that fancy ballistic calculator built into your scope.