Rifle Shooter – July 2019

44 http://www.rifleshootermagazine.co.uk

T

he text that came through on

my phone said: “Hi Mark. We

have a big fox problem in the

village. 20 chickens killed in

daylight hours so far in three days. I

am just waiting for the farmer to give

permission to shoot, but is there any

chance you are around to eradicate the

problem please?”

The sender was a woman I know

from a local zoo where over the years I

have shot numerous foxes coming into

the zoo and killing birds and small

mammals. Her house is one of a dozen

or so houses in a row backing onto

open farmland not far from both the

zoo and a dairy farm I also look after.

The back gardens to these

houses are easily accessed by foxes

through hedges that back onto a

horse paddock and surrounding fields

of maize, which at the time was still

very short. Several of the houses keep

chickens, all of which had been raided

12-MINUTE

FOXING FORAY

Mark Ripley has an urgent call to action – and gets results in rapid fashion!

during the day with a large dark-

coloured fox seen carrying the

carcasses away across the fields.

The idea of shooting the fox was met

with mixed opinions from the residents

• one couple showed dislike to the
  idea so the other residents and the
  farmer decided it needed to be done
  discreetly at night despite the fox
  visiting by day. I was quite happy with
  that as I didn’t want to come into
  conflict with any of the residents and

PICTURES:

MARK RIPLEY

FOXING WITH MARK RIPLEY

BELOW: Mark’s

.223 rifle with scope

and Rekon tripod

on a night out