Bow Hunting - had a fox at 20 yards

I have passed on every fox or bobcat I have ever seen from the stand. As another poster said , it's about the experience, not just killing.

Something to think about...I had a big ol' tom bobcat heading straight towards me one evening. Drew on him and had him at maybe 15 steps waiting on him to turn broadside. Something (The Big Man upstairs?) made me change my mind and I let down and just watched him. About a minute later a female emerged from the brush back at the logging road he had come from. He turned and headed back towards her just as I heard some faint mewing. Four tiny bobcat kittens came scurrying out onto the trail from behind momma and I got to watch them goof around and play for about half an hour. At times it was everything I could do to keep from busting a gut watching them harass papa just like adult kids will harass Grandpa sitting in the recliner. One of the greatest sights I have seen during all my time in the woods.
To think that I would have killed Papa cat and watched the aftermath with the kittens would have probably scarred me for life.

That said, coyotes and hogs are a different story. They kill, and over-run the top two reasons I go into the woods...deer and turkey.
Kill all them bastages you want if you want to kill something.
And dillos too, for that matter.

Can't shoot a fox unless you have a trappers license

Why would you want to shoot a fox anyway? Enjoy nature, man.

Good man

My fox shooting story:

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I had a grey fox run up under me one time. I was like, shite there's a fox. So I nocked and arrow and let fly. Hit it a tad bit back and the arrow impaled in and stuck in the ground. The thing starts making this God awful squealing sound and stated spinning around in circles on the arrow shaft. I felt like a huge piece of shite for shooting the poor fox. And it wouldn't stop spinning so I couldn't shoot it again and finish it off. Then low and behold another fox comes up and tries to help it. I'm sitting up in the tree contemplating jumping out onto my head. Finally the impaled fox bleeds out and dies. The other fox just lays down by it. I felt like the world's biggest piece of shite for a long time after that. Aint shot a fox since.

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I had a fox that would use my rice bran pile as a litter box

Bastard would get right on the pile and piss and shite on it. Even did it with me in the stand but would actually look up at me while doing it. Like he was taunting me knowing as soon as I moved to draw back he could be gone.

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I shoot anything that is a threat to turkeys. Fox, bobcat, coyote, coon, opossum, etc.

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So... thennnn... you don't shoot turkeys?

I'm all for enjoying hunting and solid conservation efforts to control both predator and prey populations.

But, in my opinion, to simply kill a predator because it is a predator isn't necessarily helping matters.

There's a lot of enjoyment of seeing all animals in the wild in their natural element. No need to kill 'em all.

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I'm all for enjoying hunting and solid conservation efforts to control both predator and prey populations. But, in my opinion, to simply kill a predator because it is a predator isn't necessarily helping matters. There's a lot of enjoyment of seeing all animals in the wild in their natural element. No need to kill 'em all.

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Predator populations have exploded in the last 15+ years around here. With trapping becoming almost non existent and with thousands of acres that were once open agriculture fields turned into wooded habitat there numbers will continue to grow. A deer hunter taking a predator on occasion isn't going to threaten their numbers at all

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Predator populations have exploded in the last 15+ years around here. With trapping becoming almost non existent and with thousands of acres that were once open agriculture fields turned into wooded habitat there numbers will continue to grow. A deer hunter taking a predator on occasion isn't going to threaten their numbers at all

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I don't necessarily disagree with any of this. But if you want to talk numbers -- ask yourself, "what do I see more of when I'm in the woods? Predators or Prey?"

I'm not in the woods nearly as much as I'd like -- but I see plenty of feathery and furry critters that I'd rather eat than not eat. I know that's not a scientific study... just an observation.