Fox in a Tree

When you spend enough time in the field, occasionally you are treated with sightings of especially shy animals - such as a gray fox.  Recently, as I focused on the deer in front of me, my peripheral vision picked up movement 25 yards away and I could make out a fluffy tail moving through the grass.  I reached for my rifle and, as the blind creaked, the fox looked up and began trotting away from me.  Instinctively, I hand-squeaked, mimicking a rodent in distress, and although the fox obviously saw me, it began trotting toward me in an attempt to get downwind.  It stopped for a split second and I squeezed the trigger as the crosshairs found its body.  The fox is a pretty small animal - especially when it's moving.  My shot grazed its underbody and severed a back leg. The fox was going in circles, crying out and biting itself and then headed off to a cedar tree, where it climbed up as high as it could get up a limb.

  Hmmm, what to do?  I didn't want to send a bullet through the air to parts unknown, so I decided I would shoot the fox on the ground.  The trick was to get him on the ground - something he really did not want.  I began by throwing sticks and rocks and bumping him around but that was not getting anywhere, so I decided to sit down 20 yards out under a big oak shielded by branches from him, hoping he would come down...a few minutes later, it looked like he was sleeping.  I did not want him to rest so I moved back under him and he became alert, growling and barking as if he would eat me if I came up his limb.  As the sun was rising, I came out of my thermals, jackets and gloves, stood my rifle up against a tree and gathered a pile of baseball-sized rocks, all the while keeping one eye on the fox in the tree.  After tossing several rocks (most near-hits and a few dead-on hits), I finally knocked him from the limb.  As he hit the ground, I dashed for my rifle and cut an angle to see around the tree he had put between us.  I snapped a shot at a blurry furball 40 yards out and knew I had missed.  As I ran towards him, I worked the bolt and instantly fired another round into the ground.  "OK", I thought, "better keep my finger off the trigger while I'm running with my rifle".  I worked the bolt again, wondering how many more shots I had, as I was trying to find this fox.  I came through an opening of the cedars and noticed a bush moving to my left and began looking up in the tree - then I spotted his reddish hide on the ground underneath the limbs, 25 yards distant.  Quickly, I kneeled down and found him in the scope, through a myriad of limbs.  I squeezed the trigger and instantly, he dropped.  As I worked the bolt, I chambered my last bullet and noticed a limb severed cleanly in two, yet the bullet still found its mark.  This little animal took me over an hour to collect and required 4 shots.  I skinned him as his pelt was extremely luxurious.