Walked out to a tripod we have on the edge of a pasture to do some coyote calling and blasting with the thermal. The coyotes have been rough on the goats this year.
I got out there just at 7 pm, turned on my Foxpro Shockwave, set it about 60yards away at about 10-o'clock position and climbed up into the tripod. Darkness was falling and I did a little scanning with the thermal. Sure enough, I spot 2 small gray foxes passing through at about 7:20. I shoot the only one I had a good shot at, it cried out and then lay in a heap, 75 yards out at about the 2-o'clock position. About 8pm, I try to start a Foxpro coyote calling sequence, but the dang unit must have shut off, due to the delay.
So, I leave the rifle in the tripod and climb down. I use my thermal scanner to find and walk over to the fox, he's small, barely alive and entire back end is shot out. All I have in my pocket is a .38spl and decide I'll just shoot him with the suppressed .223 when I get back to the tripod. So, I head over to the game call to turn it back on and as I'm turned away from the fox, I hear a swooshing commotion from the fox's direction. I look with the thermal scanner and the fox is gone. I couldn't have been 50' away from it.
Near as I can tell, an owl must have snatched it, no way was it in any shape to run off and there was no decent cover nearby that he could have been hiding in either.
What the heck? Can an owl lift a small fox?
