Twin Elements Podcast · Hunting Stories

Red Coats & Rabbit Squeaks: Bowhunting Foxes And Feral Cats

Its late March, early April here in Australia which means one thing for us; the rut!
In between chasing roaring red stags, we try our hand at whistling in red foxes.

The property we're hunting is literally the perfect breeding ground for these introduce, adaptive predators.
Between dense blackberry thickets and a genuinely staggering rabbit population.
The local fox and feral cat numbers have exploded.
So much so that we have sworn to do something about it.
During the midday lull, when our main quarry (the stags) go quiet and beds down, we've been putting the bow to work on predator control instead.
In only a few days, our tally is sitting on nine foxes and a feral cat.
You could say that with plenty of reps, we're starting to properly understand what makes these encounters turn to another fox down and another run on the board.

In This Report

1. Why It's Worth Doing
2. Reading Fox Behaviour vs. Feral Cat Tendencies
3. Top Tips To Whistling Foxes
4. The Perfect Whistle
5. Picking the Setup
6. Working a Ridge Properly
7. When the Whistle Doesn't Work

Why It's Worth Doing

Australian Native Wildlife

Foxes and feral cats are both introduced species here in Australia.
In the case of feral cats, once they're living wild rather than as domesticated pets, the damage they do to native birds, small mammals, reptiles, and insect populations is enormous.
Millions of native animals are lost every year!
On top of those numbers, talk to any sheep farmer and they will mention the sheer number of lambs and even poultry losses that amass.
As you can understand, these livestock deaths make local farmers furious.

As a result, one hundred percent of the private properties that we have permission to hunt on encourage us to shoot every fox we come across.
This is often the case with feral pigs also, and deer to a lesser extent.
Some property owners "like" the deer and don't notice their effects on their land or livelihood.
Whereas it is worth noting that both foxes, feral cats and pigs generally draw the title of unwanted pests.

Reading Fox Behaviour vs. Feral Cat Tendencies

Whistling in foxes, and subsequently the odd feral cat has become a genuinely satisfying complement to the rut.
Much of it can be done in conjunction with how we hunt for red stags.
Read the wind, hunt likely country, realise when you're in the zone, setup, make a series of calls, stay still, execute the shot process if the target species comes into range.
All that said, whistling foxes is fun because, it allows far more repetitions and a much faster feedback loop than trying to call in a mature red stag!

Of course, when calling for foxes, you can also call in feral cats.
After all, the two species are fairly alike and both cant resist a free meal in the form of distressed rabbit.

Fox Shot Sequence

Arrow on the string, take a range, start whistling, then aim small — miss small!

One of the more interesting things we've picked up watching both species come to a call is just how different their psychology is.
Foxes behave similarly to an over eager dog.
They'll come charging in to a squeak, then seem to forget why they even bothered, glancing around and losing interest quickly.
Especially i theres birds clamouring about above them in the trees.
That habit of racing in and looking around without focus is exactly what gets them picked off.
Because they race in, I find it far easier to keep them approaching in a straight line.
Just as they get close, i slow down on the calling and they become less attentive.
Thats usually right when i draw back and settle the pin before they start noticing the odd shape that shouldn't be there!

Cats on the other hand are the opposite.
When one commits to a call, it moves like a leopard stalking an impala.
Theres no bright orange flash o movement like a fox.
Every foot placement deliberate, tail and shoulders perfectly aligned, moving low and slow with total focus on the source of the sound. They don't glance around scanning for danger; they're locked onto what they believe is prey.
That singular focus can makes them easier to draw on once they're within range, but it also means you rarely get the chance in the first place
cats are simply far more cautious and secretive day to day, which is why sign of them (a print on a game trail, feathers scattered near a waterhole) is common but actual sightings of these illusive creatures are rare.

Top Tips To Whistling Foxes

Selecting The Call - Volume Vs Pitch

The Perfect Whistle

We've learned to carry a genuine arsenal of whistles and calls rather than ever relying on one sound. That's because different foxes respond to different sounds depending on what they're actually hunting locally in their environment.
Think about that. If a fox has never heard a rabbit squeak, then its less likely to come in to a rabbit distress call.
If a fox primarily preys upon native birds or feral piglets, then use a call to rebel one of those animals in distress.
We describe our process of selecting a call as a "ladder" of whistles.
Starting at the bottom run, we aim to be least invasive, think quiet, less aggressive.
A simple squeak of the lips is our go to and first technique.
Its quiet, nearly sounding like a bird chirp to the untrained ear and doesn't disturb any deer nearby.

Moving to a louder caller, something such as a button whistle is perfect.
Its that typical rabbit in distress pitch and one of the most common fox callers on the market.

Then we work up to our favourite. A small reed and plastic "harmonica" whistle for another notch of volume and reach.
In areas where we know that this whistle is the go to we skip other calls and simply begin here.
When in doubt or trying an area for the first time, start quiet and work up to amplify the volume.
Perhaps our loudest, the Apex fox whistle is genuinely loud enough to pull foxes in from over a kilometre away on a still day.
We use this whistle on windy days or when theres a long deep gully and you're hoping to draw something in from a long ways out.

The last in our kit is a double reed cottontail caller.
We mostly keep this caller in reserve for country where rabbits aren't the dominant food source and something closer to a distressed bird or piglet sound works better.
As an added bonus, this caller will call in fitting boars if the sound is created correctly.

Answering The Call

One stubborn young fox on this trip completely ignored the lip squeak, the button whistle, and the harmonica!
It sat right there in front of us, within a couple hundred meters hunting crickets.
Barely lifting its head when we tried another call. It wasn't until we switched things up and the fourth call proved to be the whistle where it came charging straight in. James eventually took that fox at a mere ten yards. It's a good reminder that a fox that shrugs off your best call isn't able to be called. It might just not be hungry for what you're offering.

The same example can be used in a fishing setting.
Say flicking large lures for a Murray cod.
If you're passing big 10 inch swimsuits over the nose of a cod and its not biting, it might not be hungry.
Change up and throw a 3-4 inch soft plastic and you get a bite.
The argument is that its still food.
But think about it as a human.
If you've just had a big dinner and someone offers you seconds, you would likely refuse.
A few minutes later and someone offers you a little chocolate bar or handful of lollies and your attitude might change!
Think about the foxes mindset, run through the time of year.
If theres plenty of blackberries, the foxes might not be hungry they might only be racing in due to the excitement of the whistle / rabbit in distress.

Picking the Setup

Where you set up matters almost as much as which call you reach for.
Landscapes where foxes thrive include black berry choked gullies, rocky escarpments, and stretches of dead, fallen timber.
If you know where existing rabbit warrens can be found, thats a starting point.
The above landscapes tend to already have foxes working the area on a routine, which shortens the wait considerably.

Concealment matters more here than it does stalking most other game, simply because a fox coming to a call is actively hunting with its eyes rather than feeding with its head down.
Setting up somewhere you can turn your head on a swivel without breaking cover is worth the extra few minutes it takes to find.
A fox rarely commits from the exact direction you expect so being able to see a wide range, yet feel concealed is vital to success.
For this reason, we typically like to setup in front of a large tree, or amongst a rock outcrop or the front of a large bush or canopy of vegetation.
Something as simple as clearing all the debris and brush from where you place your feet, prior to starting to call, can have huge impacts on success.
If a fox comes from the far right and you have to shuffle your feet to draw or get comfortable for a shot, then having no loud crunchy sticks or leaf litter can eb the difference between success and failure.
Once you're set, always, and i repeat always get a range of your surrounds.
this is most crucial for bowhunters, but even as rifle hunters or someone using a shotgun, its good to know exactly how far a fox is when it comes into the call.

Once the whistling commences, and a fox commits, drawing your bow slowly in a smooth motion, rather than rushed with lots of movement makes the difference between a shot and a spooked animal.

Working a Ridge Properly

On our best day, we called in over ten foxes in three or four hours by treating the whole ridge as a system rather than a single stand. This means setting up, whistling for around ten to twenty minutes. Waiting for some time, then moving two to three hundred metres and repeating.
before we leave any setup we wait up to five mutes from our last call.
This is because we don't want to rush and move off, only to spook and educate a fox that was slowly making its way in.
More often than not, the wily old fox, or a feral cat will be coming into the whistle slowly and calculated, trying to manipulate the wind, read other animals in the are such as birds and kangaroos, before committing to come in.
The absolute worst thing you can do, is whistle from a location, have a fox coming into the call, then packing up and moving of too quickly.
Be patient, give it time, then move to the next stand.

By moving two to three hundred meters further along the ridge, foxes at the edge of the previous stand's hearing range often arrived at the new spot almost instantly!
Clearly primed by the earlier calling but unwilling to close that extra distance until we brought the sound closer.
Think of an ice cream truck driving down the far end of your street versus one parked out the front of your house.
Both circumstances will get you keen to go for a look, but only one circumstance gets you motivated enough to actually spend your money.
Don't get complacent and stop calling from the same spots.
This essentially translates to, if you're going to whistle make sure you intend to kill the fox.
If the winds icy, don't call.
If the shot angles aren't great, don't call
If you keep calling from the same spot and foxes come in, but see you, then find another spot.
Don't educate these animals.
You're trying to eradicate them without educating them.

From the Field

Whistling foxes isn't just extremely addictive — it's also serving a good cause, removing introduced, feral predators that wreak havoc on our native wildlife.

When the Whistle Doesn't Work

Not every encounter goes to plan!
Our only successful feral cat opportunity of the trip is proof.
We were sitting off a red deer wallow, on the downhill side of a shallow dam.
Noticing a few native bird alarm calls just below us in the gully, that's when a black shape emerged from a blackberry bush below. Clearly a feral cat by its long tail and prowling gait.
Not wanting to move and scent up the area around the wallow, we tried squeak after squeak, escalating through the whistle ladder, trying to get its attention.
Similarly to the young fox which made us work for it, this cat lived its head but never committed to the call.
Instead, it continued navigating the edge of the blackberries, appearing to hunt native birds such as superb blue wrens.
Rather than force it with the loudest call in the bag, we dropped our packs and stalked in on foot instead.
We were actively lowering our chances of aa red stag coming into the wallow, but we couldn't turn away from an opportunity such as this on a feral cat.
Not when we know and acknowledge their impact on native wildlife species here in Australia. Closing in was genuinely loud going, with a huge amount of deadfall and leaf litter underfoot.
Fortunately, the cat's own unhurried, half distracted movements (it dove once after a fairy wren got too close) afforded us the cover we needed. James closed in to twenty five metres, just as the cat leaped onto a large fallen log. Just as it appeared set to disappear into the end of said log, quartering on, James let out a squeak and put a Kayuga pilot cut broadhead clean through its chest. It covered barely thirty metres before going down.

In all honestly, we would rather account for removing one feral cat off the landscape, compared to five foxes. They're cunning enough to hunt both on the ground and amongst the trees.
Essentially, for our small birds, reptiles, mammals and insects, no where is safe.
If you pay attention when hunting, sign of these critters is everywhere and actual encounters are rare. Getting one on the ground felt like a genuine achievement in its own right.

The best part of doing this with archery gear rather than a rifle is the flexibility it gives you mid hunt. Shoot a fox at twenty yards, walk over, retrieve the arrow, and keep pushing on without missing a beat.
No loud gun shot, no disturbance beyond the animal movement itself. Compare that to mates who've sent us footage of a fox trotting past at twenty yards while they're set up with a rifle two hundred metres from their main quarry, forced to just watch it walk past and into the scrub.
Being able to do search for a mature red stag, and also undertake some predator control on these red foxes and feral cats has made this stretch even better than expected.

The Adventure Continues

Join the Twin Elements team as they head back into the Australian bush.

Want the full story behind this episode? Listen to the podcast or watch on YouTube.

This piece is adapted from a Twin Elements Podcast episode recorded during the red deer roar, covering predator control with the bow.