MudderChuck

The problem around here is the Fox seem to dominate the eco system. The Fox get so thick after a few generates they eat/crowd everything else out.

One thing I never have figured out is how the Nutria seem to thrive in heavy Fox areas, while most every other animal gets scarce.

They encourage the hunters to thin out the Fox population here and there seems no shortage of Fox around. The county just sponsored a Derby in February in my local woods.

The trick is to thin the population out on a regular basis so they don't over populate. A few generations and you have Fox coming out of your ears.

The dominant males are often polygamist and have 2-3 females in different dens, they drive of the young males. 4-6 pups a female, half of them female and things can get way out of balance in a few generations.

They also have some sort of litter size sense, the larger the available territory, the larger the litter.

Just an oddity, but I saw one male that was brindle and not red, that had to be 35 pounds. I swear I thought he was a Yote at first.

We had a local Kindergarten that was under renovation, It had scaffolding all around it, it had a domed roof. Early morning I glanced up and sitting 30 feet off the ground right in the middle of that roof was a Fox. I trapped that one, gave me the willies thinking about all those kids outside playing in the dirt along with the Fox scat.

The trick is not to let them get out of hand, population wise. And keep them afraid of humans so they don't get to comfortable, move in and take over.

MudderChuck

Yep thats the one (Echinococcus), Fox eat a lot of mice. They use scat to mark there territory, the scat dries out and the parasite eggs can go airborne.

They had an outbreak here in people. They eventually figured out it was the Fox eating Blackberries. They'd leave parasite eggs on the lower berry branches. People were picking and eating the berries. They actually put a front page notice in the newspapers, don't eat the berries from low on the bush.

mrbb

I have a fox pair(red) that have lived next to me about 4-5 yrs now, seen them raise several liters of pups, I have a ton of rabbits and squirrels and even turkeys here still

the foxes I see almost nightly in my yard,m cruising for a meal, be it a mole, or ??
never had a single issue with them here, prior to this pair, I always had grey foxes being the dominant color in this area, but since these moved in, they seemed to have run off the grey's as I never see them or get any trail cam pic's any more/

the red foxes seem WAY better at catching turkeys too..

Down a farm I managed, one yr, a red fox built a den next to a tree stand I had, and that sucker caught a turkey almost ever single day for over a month, there were so many legs and feet about and feathers it was crazy
and she was a rather laid back of a fox too, as I was bringing in a bunch of friends with there girlfriends to come and watch the pups, as they enjoyed seeing the little suckers, there are I admit pretty cute when there small!

and she would let us watch from about 50 yrds away as if we were not there, when nervous or?? she would run them into the den and hide, then come back out in a few minutes.
I say enjoy the show while you can, when food runs out, or pups grow up they move on, BUT IF food is plenty, I would expect you might get a re peat den again next spring!

just give them a buffer zone and all will be fine! not everyone gets to see these things, so again, enjoy it!

mackesr

I used to trap the heck out of the red foxes on my lease quite a few years ago. Then the Coyotes moved in and we dont see hardly any red foxes anymore so I leave them alone. My neighbor just told me that there is a den at the back end of my property where I have stacked a lot of brush. I am going to try and find it and set up a trail camera to capture some pics.

Oldtimr

mrbb, red and grey foxes do not get along, since reds are bigger than greys the greys would rather leave than fight. Greys are more mountainous area foxes and they can climb a tree pretty handily, while reds are more open farm land area foxes although the habitats do merge at some places. When I trapped I never caught a red in the mountains, only greys and I caught them in water stepping stone sets.

mrbb

YEAH I knew the greys were smaller, but one's I see here honestly are not MUCH smaller as many times have had both in my yard at same time, yrs back.
I am more in the wooded area, about 10,000 acres of timber/older coal mine area's and then local gun/hunting culbs have some food plots now in the middle of the wooded area, I have about a 100 acres of food plots now, say about 500 yards or less from my backyard

its a little odd to me, now, as the BIG plots behind me, the clubs have let go more than they used to, so many acres of it have got over run with weeds and let go
and that is about when the red's moved in , and the grey's seemed to have left.
I also have a LOT of coyotes here, but to be honest they seem to stay ot of my yard more than other things, yrs back they were way more common for me to see in my yard too, its like the grey and coyotes don't like my place LOL
but the reds sure do! same as the bears, MAN I get a LOT of bears here, I'd swear my property sides on a ancient thru way for bears, behind me is big food plots, across the street of me is big timber with a very nice native trout stream and spring and a wet land like swamp, and the bears seem to spend days in the swamp, wet lands and cruise thru my place almost daily some weeks, to get to the plots, and its always a different bears, I counted 22 different one's last yr , that I could tell apart that I was sure were all different bears. size and colors of them and the likes!

I like bears, so, all good with me, heck I like seeing all the critters I do here, I consider myself very lucky to have them as I do,
and I don';t even hunt here LOL
I travel all the time to hunt when I do, funny how that works!

Bocajnala

Have a few little foxes running around my yard this year too. They are fun to watch. Although I raise chickens, and fox are a constant issue. So far this spring no chicken issues yet.
-Jake

d80hunter

Last year my neighbors gave up on chickens. It worked out for the fox. I am glad the fox is feeding without disturbing anyone's farm. We have rabbits, squirrels, birds, moles, mice, snakes, and frogs on the property.

One thing I have noticed is the ducks have ignored the pond this spring. They must have figured out a predator was in the area.

Sheridan

Even the ducks might come back....... However, the (residence) ducks will learn not to lay eggs there !

MudderChuck

I don't know if I'm buying that or not. Been my experience Ducks (mostly Mallards) nest in the same spots for generations and many of their offspring will nest in the same area. I have no idea why, one stretch of Creek looks much the same as any other to me, Ducks just favor some spots over others. Even a clutch or a batch of Ducklings get eaten, the female will likely lay in the same nest again and try for a second clutch. I think when the Ducks stop showing up, it is because the generational cycle of using the same nesting areas has been interrupted, to many Ducks killed.

Fox will use the same dens for generations (even centuries) and they are often right next to, within 50-200 yards, of the favored nesting places for the Ducks.

I have no idea why the Ducks stay with the same spot and what kind of interaction the Fox and the Ducks have, besides the Fox eating them.

If your interested I will post up some pictures of favored nesting areas for Ducks and the location of Fox dens on my last lease. It isn't a one time occurrence it seems to be the norm.

Pretty much the same with the favored nesting spots for the Pheasant and some other ground nesting birds. And the favored spots for Rabbit warrens. The Fox have dens close by.

I spend a lot of time thinning out the Fox and catching as many large Pike as I can in the spring. Big Pike also eat a lot of Ducklings. I'm not even an avid Duck hunter, though I do hunt Duck on occasion, I just give them a leg up because I can. I also put out rafts, not to draw the Ducks, they are there anyway. But to give them a safe place to eat with little fear of ambush with their young.