I've never managed to master the art of squeaking foxes using the palm of my hand. Inevitably I run out of spit, wind, or both, and end up making an noise closer to a fart than a rabbit in distress.

I've tried various branded calls and squeakers with differing degrees of success, ranging for abject failure to mild interest on a good night.

There is now a wide range of electronic calls available ranging in price from as little a £25 up to a staggering £459.

Who's got what, how good is it, would you buy something different if you were buying again. Does it work equally well for different species.

Well you know the sort of thing. Ta!

I shoot 50-60 foxes per year, mainly from June - September. I don't rate the cheaper electronic calls at all. Completely counter productive in my view, horrible tinny / electronic sound. I have not tried the really expensive ones so can't comment.

The best option I have found so far is the WAM whistle. Cost £10-£12 on ebay. Very effective, particualr before dark on a summer evening. Don't blow too hard or too often.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom Mix:
I've never managed to master the art of squeaking foxes using the palm of my hand. Inevitably I run out of spit, wind, or both, and end up making an noise closer to a fart than a rabbit in distress.

I've tried various branded calls and squeakers with differing degrees of success, ranging for abject failure to mild interest on a good night.

There is now a wide range of electronic calls available ranging in price from as little a £25 up to a staggering £459.

Who's got what, how good is it, would you buy something different if you were buying again. Does it work equally well for different species.

Well you know the sort of thing. Ta!

If you shoot your foxes from a vehicle, the other alternative is an IPOD and a decent speaker run through the vehicle stero/electrics...A search on the net will bring up various types sounds of files that can be down loaded onto the IPOD.

When vehicle mounted, just rub a piece of polystyrene up&down the glass, they can't resist it!

Another vote for the whistle I have used 1 for a few years and wouldn't go out without it!
however last week I was out lamping with a friend and he called in a fox with his Iphone I was very impressed!

Pete

I've tried the Ipod and speak thing mate. But couldn't get enough volume out of the speaker. It was one that you place 4 AA batteriesin to power it. May be thats where I went wrong. My farms are a combination of landie, quad and on foot lamping ground. Hence the need to be able to take it with me rather than be tied to the 12 volt supply off the Landie.

I'd have to make up a slit tail supply feed so I could run both lamp and Ipod off the Quad and the belt pack.

Brian

I've tried one of the whistles admittedly not a Wam one but the wigeon type, I spent more time picking the thing up out of the mud, having spat the thing out whilst trying to whistle, wiping it off before trying again than I did calling a fox in. Where can a get my hands on a Wam I've looked on fleabay but no joy?

If your shooting most of yours June thru Sept they will mostly be cubs. Even I can call them in with my fart noises.

How effective is the Wam wiht adults?

quote:

Originally posted by 308mate:
Another vote for the whistle I have used 1 for a few years and wouldn't go out without it!
however last week I was out lamping with a friend and he called in a fox with his Iphone I was very impressed!

Go on rub it in why don't you.

Was that with one of those downloadable calls that I can't seem to get to work.

One of the kids has got an IPhone. I wonder if they'll let me borrow it?

I think I already know the answer to that question. .........Not a fecking chance

Steve

If you think I'm carrying the Landies side window around with me when I'm on the bike or on foot you're very much mistaken mate

Tom, you just gave me inspiration! I have a circle of glass cut somewhere in the gunroom, it was for a broken rifle mounted lamp, it's easily big enough to produce the squeeling sound needed, so I'll dig it out & slip it in the pouch on the back of the gloves! For those of you who are still dropping/spitting your wigeon whistle, I drilled the edge of mine with a tiny drill bit & passed a fine fishing swivel through the hole & put a length of cotton tape on that to go round the neck, no more dirty fingernails! Steve.

If you are serious about fox control, need to control them as part of an important predator control programme, then in my opinion the Foxpro Scorpion is the way to go with the SP55 speaker (if you need extra volume against the wind/long distance).

Fully remote operated, brilliant sounds, loud, weather resistant, lightweight, and a great company to deal with. But not cheap (buy once, buy the best!).

An ipod and speaker is fine but you will want an external amplifier to boost noise.

Alot use this from radio shack -

http://www.cornwallelectronics...o.php?products_id=32

Keep us posted on what you decide!

All taken with the old ways of squeeling through pursed lips, all inside the same 16 acres, starting at last light @ 7pm ish, parked up in the Greyhound inn for 9.30 pm.

polystyrene on wet glass. You can control the volume from very loud to very soft. Hilarious night a few years ago when I had milk bottle between my knees, holding rifle and fox ran in to 20 metres away!
You just need to work out a better way to carry piece of glass instead of a landy windae!!

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Latham:
Tom, you just gave me inspiration! I have a circle of glass cut somewhere in the gunroom, it was for a broken rifle mounted lamp, it's easily big enough to produce the squeeling sound needed, so I'll dig it out & slip it in the pouch on the back of the gloves! For those of you who are still dropping/spitting your wigeon whistle, I drilled the edge of mine with a tiny drill bit & passed a fine fishing swivel through the hole & put a length of cotton tape on that to go round the neck, no more dirty fingernails! Steve.

Steve

It been a long time since someone's called me an inspiration. 22 years in fact, they then went on to patent my suggestion and make a small fortune, all I got was a £50 voucher. You live and learn as they say.

IIRC the Wam already has a lanyard hole in it. I like the addition of a fishing swivel .

Foxpro Scorpion not the FX3? Why the Scorpion as else where the FX3 comes heavily recommended. Do you need/ can you add the SP55 speaker with the FX3? Might seem a silly question and I could of course do my research on the Foxpro web site but you seem to know the answers already.

I already have something similar to the Radio Shack speaker, but as I said the volume is not all the great. how loud does the one in the link go?

A little bird told me you use to be at Holkham, with Lester. Was the Clump as good as they say it is/ was? More hills in Derbyshire though, with the added bonus of you get a better view.

quote:

Originally posted by ochayethenoo:
polystyrene on wet glass. You can control the volume from very loud to very soft. Hilarious night a few years ago when I had milk bottle between my knees, holding rifle and fox ran in to 20 metres away!
You just need to work out a better way to carry piece of glass instead of a landy windae!!

The other problem is you need 2 hands to do the squeaking with poly and glass. Makes solo lamping a bit of a headache.

Why not duct tape a rectangle of glass onto your stock ? Opposite side to your cheek piece of course. I,ve seen it done but will ,fess up to not having tried it myself.
A friend of mine owns a Lockhaube electronic caller.He cant remember where he bought it but it has been the downfall of many a fox between us.

An interesting possible solution but not one I'm keen to try. Some how glass and rifle stocks don't seem to be happy bed fellows. I'm a bit tough on rifle stocks as they are a tool for a specific job, not works of art to be admired , cosseted, and polished. That why I like plastic. Who cares if its covered in mud, scratched to buggery and washed off with a hose pipe.

I have never heard of a Lockhaube call. Has it been around long?

Fox Call Demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...ure=player_embedded#

Don't need the sp55 speaker with the fx3, as it has a cone speaker built in the housing.

Reason for scorpion is the size issue (much handier to pop in your pocket) and the excellant tx20? remote controller.

As stated the scorpion is loud without the sp55, but some insist on super loud (some occasions its very handy - or attatch to vehicle then plug scorpion into the speaker and have scorpion inside out of the weather).

Scarborough clump could be awesome - cannot comment on what it is like now - my coppicing should have made it very good now

quote:

Originally posted by nightwalker uk:
Don't need the sp55 speaker with the fx3, as it has a cone speaker built in the housing.

Reason for scorpion is the size issue (much handier to pop in your pocket) and the excellant tx20? remote controller.

As stated the scorpion is loud without the sp55, but some insist on super loud (some occasions its very handy - or attatch to vehicle then plug scorpion into the speaker and have scorpion inside out of the weather).

Scarborough clump could be awesome - cannot comment on what it is like now - my coppicing should have made it very good now

Bob head honcho over at here recommends the Spitefire as offering the best bang for your buck and it comes with the tx24 remote. Now given Bobs wealth of experience across the spectrum of electronic call I'd say that was a hard recommendation to argue against. Also has the advantage of a customer selectable 24 call repertoire that can be reprogrammed from home, and all for less than $200 . Makes the additional $150+ cost of the Scorpion for a wee bit extra portability look very unattractive. Plus no need for that extra speaker.


So I'm going with Bob recommendation, and have ordered a Spitefire from his suggested supplier, and will also pick up a WAM whistle next time I see one for sale.

So that was your handy work I was looking at.

For those interested, a good thread on the Spitfire with quite a bit of useful information...

Thanks Pete..
Have you found anything similar for the Scorpion?

Google turned up a couple of threads:

Review 1

Scorpion Info

Its hard to make a judgement call on either without being able to hear them...

The Spitfire looks like a nice unit, but its size means that you'll need to use it from static positions...The Scorpion looks better suited to a "roving" lamper, with the option of a bigger speaker if you wanted to go static..

I'm not sure just how important a really loud call is as Charlie has fantastic hearing....Also at what point does a loud call do more harm than good ie start scaring off charlie?

These are some of the questions that have stopped me buying an e-caller in the past..

Has anyone tried the fox whistle made by Andre Georgescu, the Australian fox shooting wizard?

A friend mentioned that they were very popular a few years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom Mix:

quote:

Originally posted by nightwalker uk:
Don't need the sp55 speaker with the fx3, as it has a cone speaker built in the housing.

Reason for scorpion is the size issue (much handier to pop in your pocket) and the excellant tx20? remote controller.

As stated the scorpion is loud without the sp55, but some insist on super loud (some occasions its very handy - or attatch to vehicle then plug scorpion into the speaker and have scorpion inside out of the weather).

Scarborough clump could be awesome - cannot comment on what it is like now - my coppicing should have made it very good now

Bob head honcho over at here recommends the Spitefire as offering the best bang for your buck and it comes with the tx24 remote. Now given Bobs wealth of experience across the spectrum of electronic call I'd say that was a hard recommendation to argue against. Also has the advantage of a customer selectable 24 call repertoire that can be reprogrammed from home, and all for less than $200 . Makes the additional $150+ cost of the Scorpion for a wee bit extra portability look very unattractive. Plus no need for that extra speaker.


So I'm going with Bob recommendation, and have ordered a Spitefire from his suggested supplier, and will also pick up a WAM whistle next time I see one for sale.

So that was your handy work I was looking at.

Hope you are pleased with your caller - looks like you have an expert on hand with all the answers

However I never said you needed an extra speaker (the Scorpion is loud enough 95% of time, however it is available and the SP55 is a beauty!) Hope you have big pockets to put the caller in, if you intend walking? I use the 4 preset call on my TX200 handset all the time, don't think the Spitfire has that option - have fun scrolling sounds in the heat of the action!

In my limited experience with ecallers the Scorpion still looks the most attractive, even at the extra cost! Do you intend adding the excellant Jack In The Box decoy too?

When were you at Longlands?

quote:

Originally posted by nightwalker uk:

quote:

Originally posted by Tom Mix:

quote:

Originally posted by nightwalker uk:
Don't need the sp55 speaker with the fx3, as it has a cone speaker built in the housing.

Reason for scorpion is the size issue (much handier to pop in your pocket) and the excellant tx20? remote controller.

As stated the scorpion is loud without the sp55, but some insist on super loud (some occasions its very handy - or attatch to vehicle then plug scorpion into the speaker and have scorpion inside out of the weather).

Scarborough clump could be awesome - cannot comment on what it is like now - my coppicing should have made it very good now

Bob head honcho over at here recommends the Spitefire as offering the best bang for your buck and it comes with the tx24 remote. Now given Bobs wealth of experience across the spectrum of electronic call I'd say that was a hard recommendation to argue against. Also has the advantage of a customer selectable 24 call repertoire that can be reprogrammed from home, and all for less than $200 . Makes the additional $150+ cost of the Scorpion for a wee bit extra portability look very unattractive. Plus no need for that extra speaker.


So I'm going with Bob recommendation, and have ordered a Spitefire from his suggested supplier, and will also pick up a WAM whistle next time I see one for sale.

So that was your handy work I was looking at.

Hope you are pleased with your caller - looks like you have an expert on hand with all the answers

However I never said you needed an extra speaker (the Scorpion is loud enough 95% of time, however it is available and the SP55 is a beauty!) Hope you have big pockets to put the caller in, if you intend walking? I use the 4 preset call on my TX200 handset all the time, don't think the Spitfire has that option - have fun scrolling sounds in the heat of the action!

In my limited experience with ecallers the Scorpion still looks the most attractive, even at the extra cost! Do you intend adding the excellant Jack In The Box decoy too?

When were you at Longlands?

Don't know if I'll be pleased until it gets here. But Bob does appear to be in the right position geographically and experience why's to offer an impartial expert opinion. Plus I've saved $150.

I've never been a fan of stuffing stuff in to pockets. Irrespective of how big or small they are. You inevitably loose something, usually the the most expensive or most needed. I'm not sure about the pre-set option but I'm sure that if I need to I can soon master the scrolling. If you can use an Iphone you can use a remote.

If at the end of the day you're happy with your purchase that's all that matters. I appreciate you input into the discussion. No I'll not go for the decoy.

When was I at Longlands? I've been there several times. The last was I think 3 years ago but it could have been 4. Lester was still there, just! So how long ago would that have been? I suppose if I dug out the game diaries I could fix the date exactly.