Fox den in my yard
 

I'm not sure where to post this because this is not a typical hunting situation. It has come to my attention that a Fox is living on my property. I live on 5 acres with a small pond that is across the creek opposite of my house.

A den is located somewhere next to the pond. On the far side of the pond is a 20 foot steep incline basically cut out of the earth. With the exposed bed rock there is some natural small caves on this steep incline. I know that this pond is man-made, not sure when it was made, and many animals have temporally made homes over my 10 years living here. So far skunks have been the animals I have taken care off.

From some quick online research foxes make dens in March-April and leave after the Kitts grow up. I am not the type to shoot every animal in my yard so I am planning on letting this go until they leave. UNLESS someone who has had big problems or knows someone who has had big problems with foxes.

I would rather observe their behavior, I am sure I will pick up on some things that will add to my predator hunting experience.

I recommend you watch the area around the den, you will find bones, fur and feathers etc and be able to tell what the adult fox is killing and bringing back to the den to feed the young once they are weaned and to feed the Vixen when she is nursing because she needs a lot of food to produce enough milk for the pups, it can be pretty interesting. It is also fun to watch the pups when they start to venture out of the den. Unless you have free range chickens or ducks, I wouldn't worry much about having a den on your property

It definitely is very interesting to watch a fox and her pups as they grow and start venturing out from the den. A couple years ago one had 3 pups under a small barn over at the Allegan County Fairgrounds a mile from my house where I ran my pointer every day. It was fun watching them grow and venture out further from the den every week until all of a sudden they were gone from the area.

I think almost every environment is enhanced by having a small fox population !

Thanks for the information! This encounter has made spring that much better. I went with my gut to welcome this, regardless of many people who would be afraid or wanting to start shooting for fun. A community like this is nice to find like minded hunters since I don't want to tell anyone near me about this.

I seen the fox early this morning hiding along the creek. The nearby LED lighting gave him away. It looks like he was after birds that where doing their morning thing in the cut grass next to the creek.

I've observed coyotes hunting turkeys in this manner, hiding in the woodline next to a field waiting to ambush turkeys near the woodline. They can get several feet to their prey this way and is similar to how cats hunt. The low terrain of the creek also provides a way to move unseen towards prey or away from unwanted situations. When thinking of canines most look at dogs who just try to run everything down. Foxes and coyotes are truly sly animals.

Have fun and enjoy the experience!

Red Fox will usually have multiple dens. When one gets flea infested they move on to another, often nearby, fifty yards or so away. They use Dens over and over again for generations. Every generation of Fox improves the den some and they can get really big (underground).

I always worry about parasites and Rabies. You can get an oral Rabies inoculation, throw the baits near the Den. The oral inoculations may be free, they are here. Parasites is the big one, Fox carry some really nasty ones. One in particular is incurable if you get it.

Fox will really clean the Ducks, Pheasant and other ground nesting birds out. They deplete the Rabbit population in a hurry.

Like any predator the aim is to not let them overwhelm the local eco system. Fox are good at that, they reproduce until most all of the small game around is gone. Then you'll see starving and sickly Fox getting desperate. A really sad situation.

I typically take twenty a year off my lease and still have no shortage of Fox.

I think of them as large predator Rats, not in a bad way. They are survivors.

They are also very good at getting rid of field mice and voles. Since the white footed field mouse is the biggest vector of deer ticks, which carry Lyme disease in the US, it is beneficial to have foxes on your property and they eat a lot more mice and voles than rabbits and pheasants and they are pretty good at catching groundhogs which are the bane of farmers in my state. So far as rabies goes, yes foxes can get rabies, however raccoons and skunks and feral cats are bigger rabies vectors.

Interesting, I have heard of coyotes having an incurable parasite from, correct me if Im wrong, eating fieldmice.

Part of my yard is infested with moles. I am hoping they disappear. I haven't seen any raccoons or rabbits this year which is working out pretty good.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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.

I would also have to take exception to that statement by Sheridan in that I don't think ducks have a high enough IQ to quit laying eggs in an area just because a fox or two may be present!

Fox often Den up near abundant food supplies, if that supply runs out they are going to look for another. If they get near starvation, pretty much anything is fair game.

They can also be lazy and will head for the sure thing. Had a buddy who raised eating Ducks, he had a thousand (if not more), it took one family of Fox three years to clean him out and put him out of business. We eventually figured out the Fox were using the underground drainage system from a nearby interstate to creep in and out of his farm. We were really scratching our heads trying to figure out how the Fox came and went without ever being seen.

In England a mother went into the nursery to see why the baby was crying and found a Fox eating her babies face off.

It is all fun and games, cute little Fox kits playing near the den, until they get really hungry.