I decided to try predator hunting six years ago after hunting big game and birds in Arizona. I fell in love. My first trip out I called in a fox about 100 yards out. I was so shocked I only got off one shot and it was way off target. My second time out I decided to take my .357 with a 6-inch barrel and a .22 LR for quick, close shots. The .357 was in case a larger critter came crashing into my calls. On this hunt I killed a gray fox at 20 yards on Thanksgiving morning. From then on I was hooked on Foxes.
Favorite Predator Hunt
My favorite hunt was about 5 years ago when I took my youngest daughter Krista who was 10 years old at the time. It was a really cold morning; about 20 degrees and we rode the ATV (quad) up into my favorite hunting area. Our first stand was not successful so we moved on. As we approached a tank (water hole) that I was going to set up near, a fox came running out full speed right toward us. I started yelling at it as it ran under the quad. My daughter was in my lap, so you can imagine what was racing through her mind at this point. Thinking it might have rabies I tried to get to my gun. With two pairs of gloves on all I could do was to keep yelling while peeling off clothing! It stopped at 15 feet and turned and ran back towards us. At this point I had the first glove off. I started yelling again and it came up to the quad and ran back out. I had glove number two off and reached for my .357. The fox stopped again at about 15 feet and came back towards us again, so I began shooting. By the way, it’s really hard to hit a small animal with a .357 running towards you— even at 10 feet! I was able to shoot twice before he went under the quad again. I revved up the engine and out it came! Three more shots at 5 feet and I hit it with shot number five.
At this point my daughter is freaking out! We both calmed down and got off the quad and took some time to gather ourselves. After all the commotion we decided to skip that tank and move on.
I found a nice thick spot that had a clearing of about 50 feet in diameter. We nestled into the edge of the clearing and put my FoxPro and decoy in a bush in the middle of the opening. Within five minutes a fox came in at about 30 yards. I shot him and he went down. I continued to call and a few minutes in came another and I shot him as well. Both were taken with my 22 LR. My daughter perked up by now and showed some excitement. All in all it was a great trip with lots of crazy memories.
