Originally Posted by
flags
Most states allow farmers and livestock producers to protect their crops and animals but they don't necessarily allow wholesale killing. Take my native CO for example: livestock producers can shoot coyotes all year long because it is classified as a varmint but there is a season on fox. So unless you catch the fox in the act of killing your birds you can't just shoot any old fox if you lose a few. Same with cougar/bear, ranchers can kill a predators that takes cattle but they have to target the guilty animal and they can't just kill any cougar/bear they see. Cougar and bear are both covered by seasons and tags and cannot just be shot on sight if a cow ends up dead.
My take on this is the OP lost a few birds and is willing to kill any fox in the area and that may or may not actually be legal to do. I'm all about protecting livestock but it has to be done in accordance with whatever laws cover the area.
Good point.
Trapping may be the better option. You can set the live trap near your animals.
I've had a lot of dealings with Fox, they can wipe you out. Weasels are worse.
My stories are sometime boring, but I hunted one Fox that would jump the border between Hunting leases. He wouldn't kill Chickens in his home lease but would stage raids into the next lease, my lease, to do his dirty work. Almost like he knew I couldn't pursue him over the border. Maybe I'm giving them way to much credit for smarts, but it was almost like that Fox was in my head.
This time of year they have a den full of younguns someplace and can get really destructive. Anything and everything they can kill and drag home is at risk.
Shooting a lactating female is always a downer. You always get a vision of a den full of youguns slowly starving to death. And you may not be able to find the den and do what needs to be done.