[Music]
He may look like a mild mannered man taking a stroll in the woods but don't be fooled.
With the coast clear, he nips behind a tree and transforms himself into "The Human Leaf".
It's not the most flamboyant of costumes but he needs to be brown, buff and beige if he
is to defeat his nemesis...
The Fox.
We are just going to have an experiment, have a call and just see exactly how close we can
get some of the foxes.
Unfortunately as you will see and hear the conditions today are about the worst you could
possibly want for calling foxes.
I think we are going to have to rely on one of the harsher calls to punch into the wind
to try and call the foxes from up the hill in front of us.
So we will give it a go and see what results we get.
The plan is simple.
How close can The Human Leaf get to the most cunning of adeversaries?
It's going to require stealth, skill and a very tight fitting ghillie suit from Jack
Pyke
David knows Roy can see a fox but frustratingly he's too low and can't see over the rough
stuff - but Roy is happy with the first blast.
With the little set up we had there, a vixen had made her way down and had tucked up behind
a log about 20 yards away from me, no more than 20 yards and she was just sitting there.
I was just scanning around and the only thing I saw was the white underside of her jaw as
she was just trying to make out what was going on and she sat there for about ten minutes
and where we were obviously dressed like this, she didn't know what was going on.
The interesting thing is if we had been standing there with a shot gun she would have been
shot and it would have been over and done with and you wouldn't have seen the behaviour
going on.
She just didn't have the confidence to come in the last 15 yards, but again with this
wind it is not surprising.
They don't like committing a 100% with this wind.
The second stand is a great place to show this suit off to its best.
This time, Roy decides to lie low.
He does like experimenting with calls but, when he gets the Silva fox call out, you just
expect there to be some excitement.
This time we get a glimpse of what CAN happen.
David anticipates the fox appearing on the other side of the tree but he stands there,
eyeballing Roy, then he does one.
Roy flaps around thinking we have world class footage.
Instead the gods are against us once again.
I have never done this before in this sort of scenario when I am not shooting.
So when you see a fox coming in at you like that at eye level you are thinking do I want
to carry on calling, is he going to carry on.
He just came in and he couldn't make out that I was a person, he just looked and a little
bit uneasy.
Bearing in mind as I say he was no more than eight yards away.
Plenty of time to shoot him with a shot gun.
You couldn't have missed, well I could have done, but hopefully not.
Having got so close we take the bold step of dedicating more than an afternoon of filming
to this subject matter.
For this next outing, the Human Leaf enlists his sidekick "The Incredible Hairy Bulk".
He too, despite his size, is cuttlefish-like, becoming one with his environment.
The two of them look a formidable pair and surely no fox in the land would ever think
danger lurked around the next tree.
Alas it's a no-show on this one.
The incredible hairy bulk is sent back to get the Leaf mobile - it's like Baywatch for
yetis.
Our next position delivers the wrong sort of canine and Roy has to explain to the owners
what we're up to.
As usual he's as polite and friendly as he can be, despite being dressed as a hedge.
We are calling foxes.
Trying to reduce the fox population.
For the third stand of the day we're back where we had THIS response a few months ago.
Again, it's a 360-degree gamble as to where we stand for a fox reponse.
The law of S-O-D again comes into play.
Unseen by the camera, Dom has a fox appear within a few yards and say hello.
Roy keeps calling and a minute later a second one comes within range.
So we got into position and literally as soon as Roy started calling, I turned my head to
one side and the fox was already there, five yards away.
Obviously it picked up the movement.
As I turned my head, bolted.
By the time I had got my gun up and taken the shot it just cut behind the tree stumps,
unfortunately I missed.
I was a bit frustrated because I thought I might have ruined the stand.
But Roy is a man of greater perseverance than I am and he carried on calling and it wasn't
long before we saw another little bit of movement towards the bramble patch and it was fox number
two and I will let Roy explain that as he was more successful than I was.
Normally I don't call them and persevere that much.
After a shot has gone off then do a few calls and see if there is anything else.
We called again and really gave it some and we got the second fox coming out.
So yes, very pleased with that.
Just a shame we didn't get that one on camera.
It's a great result but again we've failed to get the shot of The Human Leaf plus confused
fox in frame.
We dedicate another day to the cause.
This time we get two responses.
The first fox goes unseen until Roy stands up.
It's tucked up in the brambles 30 yards away.
This one spots the camera.
Right - never before has so much time been spent trying to get the perfect shot on Fieldsports
Channel.
Roy knows the ghille suit works but we want that 5 yard image.
This time we've brought more cameras - however the Go-Pro becomes a No-Pro and dies, so we're
down to two.
It takes at least five minutes for our first fox to appear in the undergrowth - who knows
how far he's come?
David spots him but Roy has no idea we have a customer.
Before he gets too close he is startled by an unruly cameraman.
Rather than just concentrating on the sound he was trying to look and see what was going
on as well.
He probably just picked up some of the camera movement or a bit of David flicking about
there.
David has got the tendency to be a bit like a meer cat when anything goes on and you just
can't have sharp movements when you are foxing.
Everything has to be very, very slow.
Just twisting and looking very softly, but David hasn't managed to get that quite yet,
he is too much of an excitable child.
Right - we know foxes are receptive today - so we at least feel we have a chance here.
Roy puts himself inside an old pheasant pen.
One camera is facing away down a ride and the other is going to try and stay still.
Again, Roy can't see the incoming fox - it moves quickly to start with then slows and
stops.
Moving off, we try and anticipate where it will emerge from the brambles.
Finally, Roy spooks it trying to make sure the camera is on it.
It's not a totally clean shot but we hope it's proved a point.
Just so there's no confusion the arrow shows where the fox ended up.
Hunting is all about understanding your quarry and it is also about appreciating your quarry
as well.
It is not just about going out there and killing and slaughtering.
Obviously when we are shooting foxes we do that for a reason.
We are having to control the numbers, but you still respect and admire your quarry and
part of that admiration is understanding your quarry, understanding the animal and just
seeing exactly what you can do.
And for me that was just brilliant, being able to get that close to one.
And in all honesty it is nice just to tip your cap and let them on their way.
The ground we are on at the moment they are not posing any threat to any game or livestock.
Obviously we are not silly and realise they can move on from here and on to other land.
Then they will have to be dealt with.
All the time they are in here we can leave them be and have a little fun.
With his work complete The Human Leaf returns home safe in the knowledge that he's still
can bring foxes into places that other callers can't.