# Foxes



## tocarmar (Sep 27, 2011)

Here is a mother & baby fox that come to the yard to eat table scraps. She has 3 pups this year.

Mom coming into the yard.







Mom and pup






Mom & Pup


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## Shiva (Sep 27, 2011)

Neat! No fox where I live. It would be useful to control the large population or rodents. The biggest predator of rodents in my area is cars.


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## tocarmar (Sep 27, 2011)

This is the 3rd year that she has been here. 1st year 3 pups, 2nd year 2 pups, this year 3 pups. It is cool to watch them, I can sit on the back porch & they will come to eat.

We have alot of rodents too, there is alot of roadkill here to mainly squirrels though..


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## eggshells (Sep 27, 2011)

I saw 4 road kills when I was driving in a highway yesterday. 3 coyotes and 1 wolf.


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## Hera (Sep 27, 2011)

Coyotes are getting to be more prevalent around here, but I have seen the occasional fox. Considering that we live in a developed area that is surprising to me, but we also have more turkeys than ever and deer. The deer have been eating very close to the side of the road on a very busy corner. Prey population burst = predetor population response.


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## NYEric (Sep 27, 2011)

Funny, I saw a fox in NJ last week. and lots of roadkill!


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## SlipperFan (Sep 27, 2011)

We had a fox family make a den in a culvert two houses down a few years ago. The owner of the house blocked the culvert with rocks, so the foxes moved on. Too bad -- they were welcome on our place.


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## tocarmar (Sep 27, 2011)

They are pretty fun to watch. I would sit on the porch and watch them. It is getting time for mom to kick the pups out on their own now. I only see 1 or 2 everycouple of days now. Coyotes are a rare sight here but they are around. There was a sighting of a mountain lion on a farm about 10 miles from my house.
Coservation said they didn't put them here but when 1 dies with a tracking device on it it gets you wondering about it. They had to do something for the deer population! Not as many hunters as there used to be.


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## bullsie (Sep 28, 2011)

Foxes are so beautiful, but really hate when they come into my barns for my stock and hate them comming onto porches and windowsills taking the cats. Wish they would just stay out in the field. But, they are opportunists - and I think they get lazy. Kitties are easy game.

Since the coyote population has entered our neck of the woods, we see lots of deer near the roads - fawns more often now than ever before. I think the deer can't compete in the woods and brush with the coyotes so staying near clearings for better visual perspective - roadsides are perfect - is the best they can do for surviving. 

I raise sheep and the coyotes have cost me considerable loss. They now run in packs and it's nothing to pull down calves, big adult sheep, and other larger livestock. They are pretty bold, and if I had young children, I'd definitely be a nervous wreck. Large guard dogs here now and lots of fencing!


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## Clark (Sep 28, 2011)

Shoot them.
Or hire somebody.


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## SlipperKing (Sep 28, 2011)

The only foxes I ever see are on the beach but for the coyotes, well they're everywhere. They run in packs and are spotted more often in the winters months here in South TX.


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## bullsie (Sep 28, 2011)

Clark said:


> Shoot them.
> Or hire somebody.



Easier said than done! Coyotes are very hard to hunt. 

We had a neighbor who used to fox hunt. He just had the hounds run once a week or so. Loved to hear them at night baying. Kept the foxes busy and they never bothered us. The neighbor retired and sold his hounds and the foxes have been a pest ever since.


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## Clark (Sep 28, 2011)

bullsie said:


> Coyotes are very hard to hunt.



Yep.

Never liked poison myself.


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## Heather (Sep 28, 2011)

I love foxes. My cat freaked out when one visited us outside my mom's basement when I was living there. Usually we just get the turkeys. No wildlife really here in Sacto. Though there were some raccoon attacks down town a couple weeks ago.


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## biothanasis (Sep 28, 2011)

Cool!!!!


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## Lycaste53 (Sep 29, 2011)

Where I live, in Munich City, there are foxes too, a neighbour who is taking care for 4 dogs feeds them , i.e. when there are 5 babies, all of them survive...


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## Shiva (Sep 29, 2011)

My favourite kind of foxes are those on two legs of the female kind. :smitten:


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## Erythrone (Sep 29, 2011)

bullsie said:


> Foxes are so beautiful, but really hate when they come into my barns for my stock and hate them comming onto porches and windowsills taking the cats. Wish they would just stay out in the field. But, they are opportunists - and I think they get lazy. Kitties are easy game.
> 
> Since the coyote population has entered our neck of the woods, we see lots of deer near the roads - fawns more often now than ever before. I think the deer can't compete in the woods and brush with the coyotes so staying near clearings for better visual perspective - roadsides are perfect - is the best they can do for surviving.
> 
> I raise sheep and the coyotes have cost me considerable loss. They now run in packs and it's nothing to pull down calves, big adult sheep, and other larger livestock. They are pretty bold, and if I had young children, I'd definitely be a nervous wreck. Large guard dogs here now and lots of fencing!



Why are you afraid for children? Coyotes attacks on children are not commun, are they??? 
.

Did you think about donkey as a guardian? Some people raising sheeps here tried it.

http://www.shadowridgedonkeys.com/articles/coyotes_and_coyote_control_and_m.htm


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## bullsie (Sep 29, 2011)

In some areas coyotes have bitten children. And considering they can carry off a good sized lamb, wouldn't take much to steal a child - and they show considerable boldness at times. I have invested in LGDs now(large guard dogs). While a donkey would have been preferred, I have horses, and sadly, the donkeys will stay with the horses and not the sheep. 

I had also thought of llamas, which do a good job, but I'm getting too old for the big stuff. My Vet suggested it. She said she had seen one knock a horse down. Next visit to the Vet she was telling me her girlfriend's husband was just getting out of the hospital that day - their llama put him in!

I'm sticking with Muzzi and Toughie. They are Great Pyrenees brothers. Seem to have some nice qualities so it looks promising. Sometimes I think would have been easier to give up the sheep and goats. But, what would I do without my May Flower and Utzie. Or Tickles and Rosita. Tulie and Mo.


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## Erythrone (Sep 29, 2011)

Thanks for the explanation bullsie.


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## Rick (Oct 1, 2011)

Coyotes are very common around here, and never put a dent in the deer or children population.

The deer (and turkey) for that matter are much bigger pests with all the car accidents they cause.

I know of at least one person killed in a car wreck after hitting a deer on the highway. Every person in our household (of 6) has had at least 1 deer hit on the road and cost us thousands of dollars in damage. The local sheriffs department lost 15 cars to deer collisions in one fall/winter season. We've never lost any chickens or cats to coyotes, but stray dogs are way worse problem out here. When I lived in Oklahoma (land of a zillion coyotes) we lost our entire flock of Barbados sheep to the neighbors loose rottweiler (promptly shot). 

The foxes and bobcats are pretty common too, but much more shy. 

Generally this area is so packed with raccoon, possum, ground hog, mice, rats,....the indigenous predators don't need to spend much time on bigger stuff.


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## NYEric (Oct 3, 2011)

Rick said:


> Coyotes ..deer..children population.
> 
> turkey..Barbados sheep..rottweiler..foxes..bobcats..raccoon, possum, ground hog, mice, rats,....


Yum! All good vittles, cousin!


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## tocarmar (Oct 4, 2011)

NYEric said:


> Yum! All good vittles, cousin!



Tastes like chicken!!!!


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## Erythrone (Oct 4, 2011)

Rick said:


> Coyotes are very common around here, and never put a dent in the deer or children population.
> 
> The deer (and turkey) for that matter are much bigger pests with all the car accidents they cause.
> 
> ...



I think that our area is packed with preys too. In Fall and in Spring, when I drive to the office I see at least one or more dead deer every week. Sometimes there are many new deaths every day! I almost hit several of them every year since I lived here. 

A biologist working in our region for the government many years ago used to say that deers and poultry predators are more often called Fido than coyotes (or wolves, since there are wolves-coyotes hybrids here)!

I am not afraid at all of coyotes when I walk alone in our woodlot by night even if I hear coyotes "barking". Actually I like to hear those sounds.... Am I the only to appreciate that sound? Maybe....


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## cnycharles (Oct 4, 2011)

It was interesting listening to the coyotes howling at the moon on winter nights when I was living out in the tetons/wyoming years ago. Dogs do kill lots of animals, plus lower bird populations in nesting areas because the birds leave. I saw a coyote right alongside the state thruway this afternoon very near syracuse; interesting that nearby in a highway median was a border patrol truck! maybe they were checking to see if the coyote had all the proper paperwork (smile)


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## Clark (Oct 5, 2011)

Next time a canine is in the window, with tongue out,
saliva overflowing the lower lip :drool: , ready to eat the family *****,
maybe I'll open my mind and roll out the red carpet.


Tom M- feel free to hijack any of my threads. I owe you one. Thanks.


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