matt,i don't find that a perticular time of night is better for either,but what does matter is terrain.the reds and grays generaly hunt different types of ground,the reds prefer more open grassy(tall)type feilds with thick intersecting hedge rows and crop feilds.while prefering large old growth wood lots to bed and den in.the grays prefer thick,swampy low land type areas,over grown fields with tall,thick bushes and sapplings.they will also be found in young wood lots with thick under growth.this of caurse is a broad generalization of the two spieces,at times they both can be found any where at any time.you don't see grays during daylight becouse they just don't make a habbit of roaming around during daylight hours.generaly that 30 min period from sunset to darkness and first light to sunrise is about all the daylight traveling a gray will do.this of caurse will change under extremly harsh winter conditions,they will move from pure nessesity and survival.you must remember that a red feeds primaraly on mice,mouls,vouls,small birds and the like,while grays primary food source is rabbits or in the case of a gray,what ever he can get a hold of.a gray will feed on rotten road kill or spoiled carrion any time of year while a red will only do this during harsh winter months.all predators are opertunistic feeders during winter months of cold and snow.when targeting reds only look for farms with crop feilds divided by hedge rows with intersecting grass feilds,mowed or unmowed it dosen't matter but unmowed is better with large wood lots near by.in other words any place that would harbor large numbers of mice and other small varmints.if grays are the domonent spieces in your area they will also be in this type of area.another thing to concider is if your not seeing reds in a particular area it may not be from conflicts with grays but rather conflicts with coyotes.a coyote will kill and eat a red on sight,the reds know this and generaly avoid any areas inhabbited by coyote.now the question at hand is why don't they kill grays?? well they do somtimes but don't make a habbit of it.this could be from the shear meaness and aggressivness of a gray.its no dought that a gray would be harder to handle then a red,even for a coyote.i have many times been coyote huntin at night with a coyote killing a rabbit tape playing and have a gray come charging in to get that rabbit.its mind boggling to think that that a gray would accualy think he's going to steal that rabbit from a coyote,go figure.well i hope this helps a little in figuring your stratagies for fox.good hunting,be safe and have fun.

Edited by - coyoteseeker on 11/17/2002 08:43:51