Things to consider in an urban "hunt"

Yikes!

This is definitely a situation where being a good shot with a bow & arrow, crossbow, .22 pellet rifle, throwing knives (if you practice and are good), or maybe even a spear would be handy. Distance is your best friend when dealing with probably rabid animals. Also, know your backstop behind your target is right! Soft dirt with shot from above? Perfect! Rock filled soil? Not so ideal..

A Nocturnal animal like a Fox active in daylight and acting out of character (Foxes are very shy!) by killing someones dog? Danger Will Robinson, Danger! +100 on don't shoot possibly rabid animals in the head at all, since they need the brain for testing to be sure. Rabies is a bad one!

It could have been much worse than a Fox. Imagine a Rabid Coyote, Mountain Lion, or Bear! I imagine one of those is resistant to Rabies though.

I second the call the police and lead them to the Fox/Rabid animal plan, perhaps have them keep kids safe in the neighborhood school buses until the area is clear. Also get the police alerting the neighborhood and media. One rabid Fox easily bites and makes more rabid animals too. Police and State Agriculture Departments learned this big time in the 1920-1960's which I think is when Rabies was a much bigger problem and killed a lot of livestock and more people.

Rabies is nothing to trifle with. And rabid animals do not behave normally. Beware of any wild animal that does not flee upon contact with a human...

And yes, rabies is rare in bears, but...

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/...ttacks-albemarle-shot-dead-victim-ar-1855598/

I'm having flashbacks of jimmy carter and the swimming rabbit.

i guess an oar would work well too.


Sent from my iGizmo using Tapatalk.

Air rifle or air handgun would be my vote. Be sure to do plenty of research into models first. I bought a Beeman air rifle with the swap barrels for some ninja close to houses shooting. Turns out the thing is louder than my HR .22LR.

An Eastern Kentucky upbringing may have me a little biased, but my advice would be to do the same thing again, but put a piece of old couch cushion foam against the muzzle. The old man used to use that trick to wax the stray dogs that would get into the burn pile, nobody was ever any wiser. Then again, the family farm was way out in the boonies. Walk up on it and shoot one straight to the dome, that was always my approach to possums and similar critters. Probably not the best idea, potential to get rabies and all, but you know how it is when you're young

I f this kin d of thing is a regular occurrence I would get a 6 or 8 ft pole spear with paralyzer point . Under 50 bucks silent effective and you can keep the critter a safe distance until it expires ! Kevin

bikerdoc said:

I would find out who the busybody, hoplophobic, P C neighbor was, and tear them a new one verbally while educating them about rabid animals, and child safety.

Click to expand...

Hold on a sec... if I hear gunshots in my neighborhood, I'm going to call the cops to sort it out, because I don't know if it's a neighbor shooting a rabid fox or a murder in progress, and I don't want to investigate it.

WolfMansDad said:

a high-brass #6 or #5 load is perfectly adequate

Click to expand...

You do know that the only difference between "high brass" and "low brass" is the height of the brass, right? There's absolutely no difference in power, distance, or any of the other old wives tales...

ZeSpectre said:

Oh I forgot to add, my friend said "I don't understand, we never had foxes here".
I laughed and said "Man, you live in a place called FOXCHASE, how do you think it got that name?"

Click to expand...

lol. Land developers are fond of naming new communities after the natural assets which they buldozed in order to build the houses. If you live in Oak Bay, good luck finding any of the original 100+ year old oaks.

We have rabbits, coyotes, skunks and foxes in our neighborhood. I'm calling the law. Too many surrounding dwellings to shoot.

BTW, I once saw a neighborhood feral cat stalk and kill a fat little dove in the middle of the street. A mom with her kid chased the cat off. Seemed silly to me. Bird was not in good shape.

The pigs are getting closer. Saw a baby dead one on the side street.

One thing to avoid with any potentially rabid animal it to avoid all contact with any bodily fluid! Especially blood or brain matter! Therefore, getting close enough to the animal to hit it with a shovel, ax handle or the like is close enough to get splattered. Don't do it.

Call the police, animal control or shoot it but don't get that close.

We have rabbits, coyotes, skunks and foxes in our neighborhood. I'm calling the law.

Click to expand...

I didn't know it was against the law to be a rabbit, coyote, skunk or fox?

Sorry, couldn't resist.