He’s back in business!
After a shocking near-death experience, Deano is back out doing what he does best: fox
shooting. Only this time, he has a new-found appreciation for life and the countryside
W
e all think we are bulletproof until something
happens that makes us realise that we
aren’t. And that’s exactly what happened to me. It
was the beginning of April, always a busy time for
me as I want to get as many of the remaining
foxes as possible shot before the cover starts to
get away. I had a busy weekend planned, foxing
and a stalking trip with Tim Weston to try for a
nice munty, so I was looking forward to it.
But when it arrived, not everything went to plan.
An accident involving my eye meant I needed an
emergency op on the Saturday morning, and you
just cannot make up what happened next. I had a
reaction to the drugs they gave me during the
anaesthetic and I went into anaphylactic shock,
which stopped my heart for four minutes, so I took
a good old battering of CPR and woke up in ITCU
three days later. I was left in a sorry state – I
couldn’t even scratch my own nose.
Once I got out of hospital, I wanted to start the
road to recovery as fast as possible as I wanted to
get back out doing what I love. My dog Saxon
knew I was ill and never left my side, so my first
challenge was to walk him again and this helped
me loads.
I’d been home for three weeks when I received
a call from a good friend, Nick, checking up on
me. “When are you going to be better?” he asked.
“Berny has had some of his chickens killed.”
Berny works for him and keeps his chickens on
Nick’s land. I said I would try and come over in the
next few days. “Don’t be silly!” came the reply,“I’m only joking!” But the fact was, I did need to
try and get out. I could now drive and walk a bit,
so I thought I’d give it a go.
I turned up two days later and met Bern by his
chicken run. I was in good time as it would not get
dark for another hour and a half, giving me time to
plan where I would sit.
He showed me where the fox had killed
them. “Did you get here late to lock them away?”
I asked.
“No, the bugger had them early, about
6pm,” said Bern. It didn’t get dark until 9pm, but
at this time of the year, more than any other, a fox
will be hunting at any time when he has cubs to
feed, and the more rural you are, the more likely it
is to happen.
The wind was good to sit right were the
chickens had been killed so I set my truck up,
using the bonnet to shoot off. The ground sits
right next to a forest and we were facing it, so the
fox could come from the right or from the wood
on the left. But you go with your gut instincts, plusFOXING WITH DEAN HARRISON
‘I still have a long way to go in my recovery, but I
know that the support from my family and friends
and my love of the countryside will get me there’
Nobody will be surprised to hear that Deano
was out foxing at the very first opportunity!