This is what foxes do to chickens and this is what Team Wild does to foxes to protect
a farmers interests.
So, tonight we're after foxes but we've got something a little bit special.
This is a Ruger M77 Hawkeye but it's the Predator hunting variant in .223 Remington which is probably
the most popular fox shooting calibre here in the UK
but it's specially set up for long range predator hunting. It has a laminate stock, medium heavy barrel
plus it's got a two stage match quality trigger. Perfect for fox shooting
at two to three hundred yards.
Now on top of this I've got a Zeiss 3-12x56 Victory Diavari, phenomenal scope for low
light conditions, but that's really not going to matter tonight, because we've also got
a NiteSite NS200 night vision unit. So they'll never see us coming.
Keith kept a look out whilst I set up the Realtree NiteSite night vision unit
So, the NiteSite NS200 is the long range version of the night vision unit for NiteSite
It's got a colour screen and it's got a powerful infra-red illuminator which offers
up to 200 yards of visibility. Now we've actually seen 230, 240 yards in fair conditions.
The NiteSite NS200 night vision unit was originally designed for use on airguns, but the guys at NiteSite
were pretty sure it could be used on full bore predator hunting rifles too.
The only thing they weren't sure about was whether this illuminator and screen unit could
stand up to recoil.
Not in terms of the strength, but maybe coming of the mounting bracket.
So what the boffins at NiteSite designed was this, this small piece of plastic fits
over the mounting bracket and makes sure the unit stays in place nice and firmly regardless
of recoil when predator hunting
Come tell me if you're happy with this?
It's absolutely perfect isn't it?
It's a blinder isn't it?
Yep.
So that there I'd say was roughly 200 yards to the edge of those, maybe 180, far enough.
Yeah.
So even in daylight the NS200 is pretty useful, now we've also got Realtree, a dog cam and solid state
recording unit so we'll be able to see exactly what Steve's seeing later on when he's fox shooting
But for now it's starting to get a little dark, we've got about another 25-30 minutes
really before we can expect to see any foxes.
We've seen a little bit of movement down on the ditch down here, so there could be something
lurking around.
So we might have the equipment in place for predator hunting but we've actually got to
get them here first. So Keith has got his Realtree best fox call today, which he got hold of
at the Shooting Show. So tell us a little bit about the best fox call.
It's a good bit of kit, it makes quite a raspy sound when you blow it, takes a bit of getting
used to but once you get used to it it's quite handy. Fair bit of kit really.
I've tried using one; I just end up spitting all over the place.
And me for a start.
That's not unusual though is it.
Persevere with them, persevere and you really do get good raspy sounds for predator calling
Give it a go, let's have a listen.
It was Steve's turn to shoot, and as he loaded the gun and went through his usual preparations
I could tell that he was itching to bag a good one. But we weren't just going to wait
for a fox to come our way we had a little trick up our sleeve.
This is a Fox Pro Fury, probably the most sophisticated electronic predator call in the world
predators can't resist its charms.
With the Realtree Fox Pro Fury squealing out into the night we waited and watched the fields for
signs of movement.
Steve couldn't wait for it to get dark so he could experience for himself the capabilities
of the NiteSite NS200 night vision unit
So it's getting dark now so we're going to have to switch to night vision.
Both with the camera and the NiteSite NS200
Ok, as you can see we've got the bolt open here and what we're doing; we're just scanning
the fields. Instead of using a lamp like you'd normally when predator hunting use to pick the foxes eyes up we're
using the NS200 night vision scope. We're just gently scanning around the field. As you can see we've got
a fair wide angle of view there, and if Charlie has decided to have a wander about up and
down that edge way we'd pick him out as well, if not better than any lamp without disturbing
anything.
The NS200 night vision unit has got 4 really powerful infra-red illuminators which picks out the eyes when fox shooting
and reflects them back better than any lamp, they come back like two dustbin lids shining
at you.
But we were starting to get the feeling that we wouldn't get to see just what the NiteSite
was capable of in the dark.
So we moved on to another field. On the way we stopped the truck and used the Nitesite
to quietly observe a Fallow Deer grazing in a field.
The quality of image produced by the NiteSite Predator hunting unit was unbelievable, she had absolutely
no idea we were there but we could see her clearly and then also a rabbit. But even I
thought the Ruger Predator in .223 Remington would be a bit too much gun.
The just into the next field we see a huge pair of eyes glowing in the darkness.
As Keith squeaked him in I kept my eyes on the NiteSite NS200 screen, took a deep breath and gently
squeezed the trigger.
He ain't moving now.
While I sat comfortably in the truck Keith and Wildy trudge around the field in the dark
looking for our fox.
He's too far out mate.
With a little instruction and a few cursory words they manage to find our Charlie.
Ok as you can see we've squeaked that one in there. Ian shot it with the NS200, it's
a fair way off. How far would you say that is Steve?
100 yards isn't he.
100 yards easy.
Nice clean shot, never felt a thing, that's for sure.
So, we thought we were going to blank, we've been up to a pretty good spot for us, put
the Realtree Fox Pro Electronic Predator Call on, we'd been stood there for about an hour and a half, an hour and three
quarter and not really seen much.
So, came down here to another one of our favourite spots, actually it was Steve's' turn to shoot
tonight but he was driving. We just saw this Charlie, must have been about 250 yards away
through the NiteSite, Keith squeaked him in, and unfortunately he just came a little
bit too close. But it's absolutely incredible the difference it makes shooting a NiteSite
NS200 night vision as opposed to using a lamp.
Now we've shot this ground pretty hard over the past few years and we were pretty sure
we were going to go home empty handed, but thanks to this fella, and Realtree there's another one
in the bag.
Well done boys.
Can we go home now?
To find out more about the NiteSite NS200 visit nitesite.co.uk