Do you like foxes living near your house.......

[ericm979]

Rob what's the lower barrel chambered for?

We have red foxes. For a while there was a mom and three kits, then two adults (possibly the kits from earlier?). Currently there's just one very healthy looking fox. Our cats are indoor only. Chickens are in a full enclosed pen. There's way too many predators here to let them free range. Besides foxes we have coyotes, lots of bobcats, racoons, skunks and mountain lions. To let chickens free range we'd have to guard them all the time they were out of the coop.

The foxes like to leave markers to "claim" parts of the property... like the deck or welcome mat. My wife's gardening shoes have disappeared off the porch a few times. The other day I was pulling cut brush off the leach field down to where I've been chipping it with the tractor. I came down to the tractor and the fox was there marking my chipping pile.

If I find where he's hanging out I may mark there myself Farley Mowat style just to mess with him.

 

[scdeerslayer]

Here's a fox story for ya. This was the Thursday before the big SC flood in October 2015 which started on Sunday. It started raining Thursday evening and I don't think it stopped until late Sunday or Monday, although the early morning of Sunday was when there was so much rain. Anyway, that Thursday evening I shot a deer. Backed up to my dad's shed we built for cleaning deer and fish and whatever else, and the old fluorescent lights wouldn't come on. My dad said something about turning on the lights in the adjacent boat shed. I thought it was just so we could see to get the other lights going, but he wanted to make sure the power was on. No, it was just that those old ballasts wouldn't work right in that humidity. Anyway, I step into the boat shed and flip on the lights. Out of the corner of my eye I see something come out from under the boat and scooting out under the tin side of the shed. I'm thinking it's a cat, but I look down just in time to see the rear end of a gray fox slipping under the tin, no more than four feet from me.

Years earlier my grandfather across the street trapped one in an out building just feet from the house that had been coming in there eating dog food.

Those may be too close but I'd think that's pretty rare. Anyway though, I'd rather have foxes than coyotes, but it seems that now I've got both.

 

[Thomas]

Matter of fact 2 fox and see them often mousing in the fields and well eye kept on them.

 

[TheMan419]

Just the fact that you are from South Bend PROVES you are easily mislead . You really should move to Gary. ;-))

Says the guy from Vermont. Leave SB for GARY? Them is fightin words. Squirt guns at 3 paces I say.

 

[the old grind]

Hey Rob, "beware the man with one gun ..." :laughing: eh?

That looks like a typical gray, and whose color pattern is why fox squirrels are called such as much as for their similarly bushy tails.

Around here grays run ~the same or smaller size than reds. What CalG said about size, mostly. 20lb may happen somewhere, but d__ few of us will ever see one 15lb or more.

Here, the gray might have been 7-8 lbs the reds 10 or 12, and the 'yotes say upper teens and lo-mid 20s.

They are typical of what I've seen in 15 yrs trapping. btw, The pic is from last fall, and sadly shows three straight bad years vs one half-decent (no rats, beaver, coon t'all ) On guessing the weight, I only handle animals at/to dispatch and when running a line, never touch 'em again once in the shed. ('Teamwork' )

Everyone's "Awww, what cute babies .." is someone's PITA so IMO "you never stand so tall as when you stoop to stomp a varmint." (CarToons (C))

 

[Oldpath05]

I'm more of a deer and clay pigeon hunter, but after watching that video I dont want any foxes near my house, I'm even thinking of getting a small handgun just so I dont have to get rabies shots, wonder how many he has to get, and how many here would've grab that fox like he did, happen last Wednesday.

 

[ovrszd]

I love these discussions.

Man is such a naïve species on this planet. If we didn't have technology we would be extinct.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Don't mess with New England women:

Mainer attacked by rabid raccoon drowns it in puddle — Midcoast — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

 

[Oldpath05]

WOW missed that raccoon story, not far from me, can only imagine how scared that girl was. Why is it I always here of foxes and racoons that have rabies, from now on any fox or raccoon will get a severe case of lead poisoning if hangen around my place.

 

[MossRoad]

...wonder how many he has to get,....

Probably 4 globulin shots around the bite(s). Those are based on body weight, and it's a thick, syrupy medicine, so they use thick needles and it's uncomfortable, but less immediate pain than a large bee sting. More like a dull pain like a bruise for a couple days. Then one rabbis vaccination in the arm on day 0 (like a flu shot), and probably a tetanus shot in the other arm for good measure(like another flu shot), even if you're up to date on it.

So that's 5-6 shots minimum on the first day, maybe more depending on how many bite wounds.

Then back on day 3, 7, 14 and maybe 28 (some are 4 shot series and some are 5 shot series) for another vaccination in the arm each day. So, most likely a minimum of 9 shots over two-three weeks. Maybe more, depending on how many bites and which series of vaccines your local health provider uses.

Disclaimer, I'm not a Dr. and I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn last night. Consult your own Dr. AND your own insurance company. It can be expensive, especially if a whole family is involved and not just one person.