Gray fox hunting

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davejohnson3

New member
so after taking a gray with my bow, and seeing how agressively they came in to lip squeaking, and spotlighting and squeaking them in with the spotlight on andd car running all summer, i am interested in hunting them specifically this fall and winter, i have a 17hmr i am going to use, and the locations, but i was wondering how you guys hunt for them specifically? do you use just your typical rabbit distress? or maybe a rodent distress since they are smaller critters? i also have fox pup distress. at night do you need a red lense? or will a regular light work? because we had the regular light on them and they still ran in. i heard they are very agressive coming to the calls and it sounds like loads of fun. any tips i could pick up would be greatly appriciated
 
I only hunt them in the evening about 2 hrs before to sundown in river bottoms,using a cottontail in distress.if there around,they come in fast so be ready.shotgun is good ,but fur buyer don"t like the BB holes.I used the 22MAG marlin alot or more open areas a 223,
 
I like to setup next to a wood line or logging road near fields. I use cottontail distress, or my favorite, gray fox pup distress and scan with a red light at night or hunt the first and last hour without a light. They seem to like sticking to the edges and running fences and ditches. I have been using a reduced load in my 223 or 12ga with #4 turkey loads, but think I may try the HMR more this year. They are like Kamikaze foxes with the pup distress and a my Jack-in-the-box decoy. They are very spooky, but very curious and small, fragile targets. I've not noticed them being as wind sensative as other canines, but tend to come toward the sound cone of the Foxpro. I aim my call the direction I want to shoot and only use the cone speaker. I've watched them run up within 30yds of the call and circle and come within a few yards of the speaker cone from the direction it was pointing to.
 
I try to find either thick and brushy areas, or areas with a lot of rocks that they can hide in. I will call towards those areas. I scout on my way into a stand, so I can identify what kind of prey animals are common to the area. then I base my calls on those observations. I find that most of the time foxes wil respond better to the higher pitched calls, but I have had some come in on the run to jackrabbit calls if there is a lot of jackrabbits in the area. I have found that bobcats and foxes do not tend to respond as well to loud calls, so I tend to just use my FoxPro Scorpion's internal speaker and I leave the big external at home. I start off with a rabbit distress call, transition to a bird distress call, switch to a higher pitch rabbit distress and then finish off with either a fox distress, fox pup or canine pup distress. Be ready though, where there are foxes there are usually also bobcats. Either way its a score.

Good luck,

Mo
 
Alot of the NY guys put the smack on grays after dark.

I tended to call more of them in the day when I was there.

Baby cottontail seemed to be a winner on them, but I have hand called in some with adult cottontail.

I like to sit just below a hill top or ridgeline in the woods and call down into the valleys or set the foxpro down there and let it work it's magic
 
well got a 4-12-44 simmons put on the 17hmr, she is gonna be the fox slayer this year, i was wonderin if i could possibly get a kill light put on er?

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Originally Posted By: davejohnson3well got a 4-12-44 simmons put on the 17hmr, she is gonna be the fox slayer this year, i was wonderin if i could possibly get a kill light put on er?

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id say put a kill light on her. I just ordered a browning t bolt 22 mag for my do it all gun and i intend on shooting some fox with it this year. i think im gonna hook the old kill light up to it
 


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