How To Start Foxing: All the Kit you Need for Foxing

Sometimes the motivation for shooting comes from that desire to get out there, and kind of just lose yourself in it. Now for Robin, just sum it up in one word, which is Escapism.

Today, Robin Foxer, a hunter from the United Kingdom, which is best known for creating online shooting content in the UK under the channel named "Team Foxer", takes us through the essential kit you will need if you plan to get started in foxing, describing his own foxing experience and some helpful tips. Fox is an apex predator, and it's incredibly cunning.

Get Started Your Hunting

I started shooting at the tender age of 13 years old. Actually the number one rule I got of shooting, in fact which was to practice. Even to this day I will still go out with rifles and every other outing I will take practice shots at Targets, it gives me 100 percent confidence.

When pulling that trigger you should be able to feel your way around the rifle change the magazine, etc. And in practicing even if it's in the kitchen, your bedroom, wherever that may be. It sounds a bit daft but kind of practice cocking the rifle, loading the magazine, unloading the magazine, checking for blockages, do it all safely in a controlled environment, so that when you're out in the field if anything happens, you instinctively know exactly where to look and how to sort out the issue. So over the years, I continue to practice using various different air rifles predominantly for Back Garden, plinking target practice and maybe the odd Garden pest wrap around the pond for example.

In the early 2000s I purchased one of the very first generation air arms as 410s and then start my first real hunting, my friend and I go on an old pig farm in Norfolk. I had no kit so I literally had my rifle, my pellets and that was it. I actually had a torch and just had it resting on top of the scope, and that's how it started. And after that night, after it managed to shoot a few rats with it, I was absolutely hooked. Now that kind of led into a semi-professional career and I've been doing it in the UK for around 15 years, in particular controlling the foxes, that's probably my number one Quarry.

Some people often ask me again, and again: What motivates you? What the driving force behind, getting into shooting? I think mine was again it came from a very early age. I had a real keen interest in the countryside and stuff. It also depends on what type of shooting that you intend to engage in. But foxing's a little bit different. Now, I can sum it up in one word: escapism. Sometimes, when people work full time, and you've got a family, and the other trials and tribulations of just normal life. Time completely runs away with you. 

How You Outwit the Fox

Foxes shooting is so challenging! The weather, the call, and the wind must all be ideal, and there are just so many other variables to consider. It's a real test of bush craft skills, knowledge and patience. Foxes are one of the most beneficial, attractive, and therapeutic animals, but they can also cause damage and are nocturnal, so the best time to observe them is at night.

During the summer, they are typically out as soon as it gets dark. Because it doesn't typically get dark until 9:30 or 10:00 p.m., especially young foxes. Other times that the most kind of efficient time to go out foxing is somewhere between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m.

In additional, my favorite time of year to go out, would be probably between the months of October and March/April, Autumn into early spring. And the reason for this is that crops are quite low, so there isn't much in the field, so visibility is excellent, and the weeds in the ditches and dykes have either all died down or haven't grown yet. Younger foxes born earlier in the season are now out and have their own territories, so the families have become somewhat separated. During the colder months, when foxes are pairing up, they become slightly more widespread.

How long do go out for well?

The typical foxing session for me is somewhere between three and six hours.

How far should I be shooting foxes at?

Practice! You should be very proficient at shooting your rifle at 100 yards, the industry standard typically is to sight your rifle in one inch high at 100 yards. For anything in 200 yards, you should be able to just point it at the target area, squeeze the trigger and know it will go down. Target on a fox is a rough kind of six inch diameter, and I always go for the engine room from an average distance around the 100 to 130 yards. On average, foxes and most people will be taking distances ranging from 80 to 250 yards. As well, the closest fox I've ever shot was 21 yards and the farthest was 341 yards, as a general rule, the average distance should be between 120 and 130 yards.

What are typical fox behaviors?

Foxes are a near-perfect combination of cats and dogs. They have got a very keen bank of senses, incredible eyesight,excellent hearing, and an impeccable sense of smell. But they're also very curious, and we all know what that did to the cat, so we can play on that. They're also very good at using the atmospherics to their advantage, but it's also something we can turn around used to our advantage.

For example, here in the UK we get relatively mild and warm summers and cold winters. If we have had four or five days of particularly harsh cold weather, but it's a relatively mild evening on the fifth or sixth night, that's also the same time that the fox will be out looking for food, so it will be an ideal time to be out calling. But you then need to be one step ahead so use things like wind direction and Ambient noise. You will know if it is a relatively light evening, then you can get hidden in shadows and utilize those things as well as the wind direction, you will success. But, again, if it works against you, it also works against the fox. And the fox is going to be out hunting because its prey will be able to see in the light. So keep that in mind as you go foxing, but you can definitely utilise your surroundings as well as the foxes' natural sense of curiosity by using electronic callers, mouth callers, squeakers, and other thing to lure them in.

How do I get started at foxing?

The first step is to obtain your gun license permissions, which is likely the biggest hurdle for the vast majority of people. When you have a firearms licence, selected calibre, and have practised on the range, I think it would be a good idea to go out with a local expert at your first time, and kind of knows the ropes to be able to show you in the Flash, and learned from kind of seeing, and then doing you know, I'm what I call “Monkey see, Monkey do”. As a general rule of thumb though by taking and absorbing in that information you will find out what works for you, learning from your errors.

Secondly, get budget and get the best kit that you can buy for that budget, and being able to maintain it. It means that get your suitable rifle for foxing, also including the ammo and cleaning kit. So I want to remind you that if you have a budget of 2,000 pounds to get set up, you shouldn't spend 2,000 pounds on a rifle because you'll need other essential equipment as well. You'll also need to put in both the hours and the legwork by going out with people to learn and searching for permissions, not just for foxing, but for any other type of shooting you might be interested in, including rabbiting, ratting, and hare coursing. 

What Kit Do I Need?

For me, I've been incredibly fortunate, producing online content has opened quite a few doors for me, I have the chance to touch and review the brand hunting kit. But I would not feel comfortable encouraging people to spend their hard-earned money on kit if I did not think it was worth it, so I call it giving it the "Team Foxer" at seal of approval.

The basics you're going to need clearly a rifle, ammunition, decent red torch, and something to shoot off. If you're going to be driving around a farm pulling up and calling in certain areas, you will need a decent shooting stick or set of sticks.

When night vision first came out, I felt it is really amazing, , you know we no longer had to scan around with lamps and get sets of eye shines, only to probably put the rifle on and for the eye shine to then disappear. But at that top end of the scale, thermal technology is now available, and I firmly believe that the ideal tool for shooting would be a would be a thermal Spotter followed by night vision.

I've been using a full thermal setup now for about two years. I've been very fortunate to have several thermal units loaned to me from all the main manufacturers, I want to say the THERMAL SCOPE STELLAR SQ50 and THERMAL SPOTTER RAPTOR will be the perfect combo for me. 

HIKMICRO STELLAR SQ50 thermal rifle scope is just a stunning piece of craftsmanship. It's a super low profile, just like a normal day scope, and it sits nice and low on the rifle, making it simple to store in the cabinet. So it's extremely practical, super easy to focus, and the battery life means you can go foxing all night, so if you are going to do those six-seven hour sessions, totally no problem, no fumbling around changing batteries.

In the dark, it just works the standby time so as you turn it on. One of the best features for me is quickness from coming off standby. So tap the button, it's on, you know, nice straightforward zoom where you'd expect find the side of the rifle, so ergonomic great for left-handers and right-handers users, and it's just a stunning piece of Kit to use. So that's my top thermal scope at the moment. And GRYPHON GQ35L handheld spotter is also of exceptional quality, probably one of the most affordable products available.

So, when the RAPTOR was released, I was ecstatic to get my hands on these; they are larger than a standard spotter, but they are also superior to a standard spotter because they see so far and don't cause eye fatigue.

That's my top kit for foxing, then my particular rifle is a is a TIKKA. For me, there isn't such a thing as an accurate rifle, there's a consistent rifle. And accuracy is a result of consistency, so you know consistency in the metal, its construction, and the ammunition, with the same quantity in the exact same bullet weight and shape. That's where accuracy comes from. So if you can get all of those factors, accuracy will result from the combination of all of them. Get all of that, you've got yourself one hell of a Foxer. 

*Before purchasing any thermal or digital day & night vision device, please make sure you adhere to the local ledislation and only use it when it is allowed. Our ambassadors come from various countries and travel a lot, which allows them to test different devices. We do not encourage or support the illegal use of our devices in any events.