Fox in City Limits

[FishinsMyLife]

I guess you can say I hunted this fox, but I didn't kill him. I had seen what I thought was a fox, probably the same one, a couple times a few weeks ago running across the street in my neighborhood going into someone's yard, maybe looking for a fat dove under a bird feeder after the sun had just set. Then a couple nights ago, the neighbors had been hearing a barking cough sound at night, so I figured it could be a fox. I caught a one pound bass a few days ago and put it in my Havahart Trap as bait. The first night, the trap got tripped with nothing in it. The next night, it didn't get tripped and was open the next morning. This morning, I went down to check the trap and there was a Gray Fox curled up in the back. This fox has probably 5 acres of swampy land with a good many trees and a lot of brush to live in surrounded by houses and a golf course hole and then more houses within the city limits. It amazes me how they can adapt to urban settings. There is an interstate a mile or two away from here and there is a highway half a mile away. This is all in one of the fastest growing cities in the state.

The pictures aren't great, and the video is sorry, but you can hear how happy the fox was to see me.

 

[Captain Ahab]

Nice job -= what a majestic looking little fox

Hopefully, no one kills it and you can enjoy watching it (well catching the rare glimpse) for many years to come

 

[slim357]

We got a bunch of them around me aswell, ive only seen one this year so far, but last year when i worked nights, id see them almost every night on the way home from work. So whatd you do with him after you traped him?

 

[jkbirocz]

Fox are everywhere, we even have coyote problems. On my farm there are tons of fox, they keep our kitten population in check. Fox have come within 5 ft of my backdoor looking for kittens...and cats for that matter. Fox are really cool animals, as with coyotes. I personally would never feel right killing either, they just remind me of dogs too much. Nice trap job though, you used the best bait for a fox, they love fish when they can get them.

My cousins and uncle trap and hunt fox all the time. Both are more of an art than anything...(Calling and baiting traps that is). They send the fur to some company that makes stuff out of it. That's just not my thing though; I only kill stuff I want to eat, or stuff that wants to kill me 8)

 

[FishinsMyLife]

I just let him go after the pictures. There are less and less foxes around here. The only time you usually see one is when it dead by a road after the woods where it lived were developed. Fortunately for the foxes close to me, there are about 200 acres of undevelopable swampy woods. I doubt this fox goes there as it is a mile or so away from where I caught it, and it would have to go through a row of houses and a road, but I guess it could easily cover that distance at night. When I fished in a pond near the swampland, I saw two foxes at once a couple times.

Coyotes on the other hand, are multiplying fast and are becoming a nuisance. They get in people's trash a lot now and kill pets. Foxes might do some of that, but just wouldn't want to kill one. This is the first time I had seen a gray fox up close. I saw a red fox when I was going fishing early one morning at our private pond years ago. It was a pretty rare occurrence to see a fox then, and even more so now.

 

[ky_madman]

Actually, fox are adapting to more developed areas as the coyote has displaced them throughout most of their range. More so with red fox, than grey fox. I do quite a bit of trapping in the fall and man those greys are fiesty little fellas. Great catch.

 

[Jim]

Actually, fox are adapting to more developed areas as the coyote has displaced them throughout most of their range. More so with red fox, than grey fox. I do quite a bit of trapping in the fall and man those greys are fiesty little fellas. Great catch.

Make sure you post some pics of the trapping if you do some this year! :beer:

 

[switchback]

that's awesome!

A few years ago I was hunting behind a lil brush blind and had a grey fox come right around the front of the blind and in from the side and had his nose at the tip of my boot. I had to raise my hand to run him off. He never knew I was there. I didn't shoot him because I had seen him on 2 other occassions in 2 different areas and me and my buddies had said if we saw him we would leave him alone.

I have also had a white coyote come within 30 yards of the same blind.