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Old 07-01-2017 | 12:13 PM
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MudderChuck
Nontypical Buck
 
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From: Germany/Calif.
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Depends, Fox aren't often in open country. A Red Fox isn't all that fast. A Grey Fox is, so is a Yote, both can usually outrun most fast Dogs. Fox aren't marathon runners, most have a small chest (not a deep chest like a speed Dog). Most Red Fox don't have a chest larger than 14"

A reason they use large packs for Fox, Fox get into a thicket, Corn field or ripe grain field and play hide and seek, they are really good at it. They cross their own trail multiple times which throws off scent Hounds. The solution is to saturate the thicket with dogs, even then I've seen Fox refuse to break cover and run a pack of twenty or more dogs for 1/2 an hour or more, then sneak out of the thicket and get a 50 yards head start, while the dogs are still in the thicket running around in circles. Or a Fox goes someplace a normal sized Dog can't follow, they can be a lot like Rats, if they can get their head through a hole their body will follow. Fox live in burrows, which can be anywhere from 15 feet to fifty yards long (depending on how many generations have lived there). Once they make it into a burrow good luck getting them back out again (see footnote). The handicap for Fox is if they don't sneak off or make it to a burrow, they wear out before most Dogs do, they don't have the stamina (lungs) for a long chase.

Yotes tend to react in 3-4 different ways. Head for the hills at top speed, which few dogs can follow. Depends on how close the Yote gets before it takes off.

Sometimes they will sprint away and then stop to check their back trail. They may even circle a little. Yotes are territorial, and just opinion, their natural tendency to confront trespassers conflicts them sometimes. Basically they don't know whether to flee, fight or even kill and eat what confronts them. They may even skulk in closer out of curiosity or whatever. These are the ones where your Dogs have a chance.

The best results for me have been meeting encounters. The Yote is going someplace in the early evening, usually water after laying up most of the day, you get lucky, they get unlucky and you blunder into each other. Walk the edges of an Alfalfa field, usually a lot of Jack Rabbits around, Yote comes in hungry and not careful.

I wouldn't count on being really successful Dogging Yotes, I did it mostly because my Dogs loved it and I'd share a little of their joy. My neighbors were thankful. Kind of a new Sheriff in town type thing, Yotes learned to avoid our little community.

The trick is seeing them before they see/sense you. It happens sometimes, there are smart ones and dumb ones. Most wildlife sees, hears, smells or senses you way before you do them. IMO dogging Yotes is a low percentage undertaking, mostly done for the thrill of the chase.

I train my dogs not to run Deer. But calling a dog off of a game animal or predator they are normally allowed to hunt can be real iffy. Your dog is twice as fast as you are and has much better stamina. I've sat out there most of the night hoping my dogs come back, they always did eventually, but there were some anxious times. Affordable GPS trackers are relatively new, even then your dogs may be a mile or more away and still moving twice as fast as you can.

Footnote.
I have a good earth dog now, she will go right down a burrow, she loves it in there. I haven't had to dig her out yet. I have acquaintances who have lost dogs down burrows never to be seen again.
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