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This noon time I felt forced to shoot a beautiful gray fox. First my wife saw it running around and sort of playing, rolling and maybe as if it were itchy. She wondered if the fox might have been wounded by a kid not a hunter....
It appeared to leave our area, and go into the woods.
Later while i was working on a new industrial machine we just got the frame in, to get started with a new build, and i was whizz wheeling welds that held on parts we don't use, the fox came with in 25 yards distance to me and my boss, AND his Dog! It slipped out behind the barn and re-appeared on the other side, farther away. My boss yelled and clapped his hands and the fox seemed to not hear, no ear movement, and it didn't turn to look and didn't run ......
At that point we decided to get the dog IN.... Which my boss did because it is his dog.... I went for a 22 rifle I keep in the shop, and went back to look for the fox.
It seemed gone, and I wanted more fire power, and headed to my apt door off the main house for my .45.
And standing in ft of my van under the ft bumper was that same gray fox and it just stood there looking at me.
I was with in 20 feet!
I waved my hand and it stood there as if it were a pet looking for a treat........
I aimed the rifle and placed the cross hairs in the scope right between it's eyes..... The fox looked as if it were smiling. I held the gun and yelled, and stomped one foot, and the fox didn't move....
bang............. I don't miss. I walked up and put another round in the back of it's head , because i don't like to think I made anything suffer......
And looking over the animal I could only wonder if I had done the right thing, and put something so beautiful out of it's misery, or some dammned to hell Flatlander will be missing his 'Fox' later today.
I have killed sick foxes before, but none of them were so good looking as this one was.
The Point! If you are a Flatlander and feeding wildlife, you are doing these animals harm. Humanizing wild animals gets them killed.....
Somebody like me who is concerned for my safety, will kill a wild animal every time..... I am not very happy about this even, but if it happened again tomorrow i would do the same thing.
This is a total waste. The carcass will be burned... No hide, no fur, no bone, no sinew and no other critter will have a bit of this. It is total waste. I can't trust this animal wasn't sick.
won't the extension agent have an autopsy done? It's possible it was ill and showed no signs of illness. It's also possible you killed a harmless animal.
won't the extension agent have an autopsy done? It's possible it was ill and showed no signs of illness. It's also possible you killed a harmless animal.
I am not going to tell any agent squat...... Ain't happinen' been there done that and never will again.
2 shots in the head and there is no brains left for any rabies exam anyway......
That fox is headed to the incinerator at this point.... And if it was a humanized fox then it isn't me who did the wrong thing it was whom ever humanized it...
I know that sort of thing happens but really it should be against the LAW....
Ever go to the Science Center in Holderness? They are filled up with critters who have suffered humanization and will live the rest of their days in cages...
In season I would have taken that fox for it's fur, so you are not going to make me feel very guilty. I find them dead in the road where driver hit and ran, and who probably are not into fur and hides like I am, so I take those too. But i didn't take this one fur... I didn't let anything else come into contact with it either, which i would normally do if the animal was in fact in good shape.
I don't know if in fact this animal was ill but according to my wife who saw it acting strangely earlier in the day, and the fact she knows wildlife re-hab, and she says this fox was ill I am banking on her knowing it was...
The only wild animal that lives getting that close or even closer to me is an animal that for one reason or another I can't kill.
One would be a raccoon that entered my lodge to drink from a burning citronella bucket. When I heard the lapping sounds, and saw what it wa right next to me i swatted it with the walnut sheath for my bowie with the bowie still in it.
If you feed wild animals people like me will kill them....... it's just the way it is.
Too many times I have tried to do the right thing, and for it agents and officials have a pipe dream and want me arrested...
I have reached the point where i will no longer do the right thing and will ignore doing it. This means if i see a bolt of lightning and a few seconds later pass by a house on fire, that no longer will I call anyone to do anything about it.
Did that... Wanted my wife who was driving our vehicle to stop and let me check if the vehicle parked in the door yard had keys in the ignition too. She refused to stop....
In fact the keys were in that vehicle and I could have saved it, but it fried.
We went back to answer any questions and greeted the fire dept. No questions really and so we went home where we had been going..
Next morning the fire marshall called and asked to see me on site. he didn't hide the fact he suspected me of arson for very long.. I became a tad upset..
I excused myself for a walk. I know I saw the lightning and i know what to look for too.
I found the first strike on the tree which was a tall white pine that had been hit many times before and had tops up there to prove it. i saw a low branch about 3 feet off the ground that had been dead for years but on the end of it was a sh like on a cigar...... I can't duplicate that myself. from there I could see a trail of wilted plants going to the corner of what was left of the house....
At that point i called the fire marshall and told him to use extreme caution, as i didn't want his being clumsy to disturb my ash...
Once he saw the truth I told him that never ever again would I call anyone to help in any case like this because i am no arsonist.. I was just trying to do the right thing... No more will I and i have had other instances like this before which always ended with the public official trying to have me arrested..
I made tale of this FOX so people would know that if they are in NH nearer to me they should get their pets updated for distemper.
AND to let others who might feed wild life that people like me will kill the wild life with out question if the wild life acts to strange albeit friendly.
But telling officials isn't anything I will ever do again..
I have a red fox family close by. I see the male routinely skirt the stone walls that surround the property. I suspect he's after a neighbor's chickens. He comes within 20 yards of the house and the barns. I ignore him and his family and have for years.
Well aint that just great. Guy feels threatened by a wild animal after it gets incredibly close (uninvited), takes it out, and now the .gov has to get involved? Mac, I know you were just trying to warn some people and teach a lesson, but I guess that might come back to bite you in the arse.
But he done didn't know so he just grabbed his rifle and shot the brains right out of the little critter then posted about it.
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It slipped out behind the barn and re-appeared on the other side, farther away. My boss yelled and clapped his hands and the fox seemed to not hear, no ear movement, and it didn't turn to look and didn't run ......
