Fox Squirrels

[v8stang289]

The land I hunt has several fox squirrels on it, with several variations of colors.
Near our main stand there are at least 6 of them that we've been watching this season.
The landowner has asked us not to shoot them as he likes them and their colors.

I can't really blame him, as I've come to enjoy watching them, and they are very pretty.

This afternoon, this one kept going down to the peanut field and grabbing a peanut. Then running back up a tree and sitting a bit.
Almost like it was teasing since it knew we couldn't shoot. Makes me want to get a decent camera to capture what we see.

Anyone else see a lot of fox squirrels? Or have an appreciation for them?

 

[Frulk]

Hunted them in North Dakota in the miles and miles of tree wind breaks of the Red River valley. Would always cook them on an open fire using a makeshift spit. Never had them any other way.

Like that landowner you mentioned, after living on our farmstead for a couple of years I didn’t hunt them on the property. Liked having them around.

Would sit on the porch and watch them move through the trees heading to the edge of the harvested corn or sunflower fields. A well fed fox squirrel in ‘Norsk’ Dakota can go every bit of 3 pounds. We had a cat at the time and I swear I saw a couple of those squirrels wearing black leather jackets chasing our Maine coon towards the house trying to take his lunch money.

 

[Gerd33]

We have some fox squirrels out in our woods, but they aren't as numerous as the grays.

This deer season, I thought that this one was going to jump through the window of the blind I was sitting in.

 

[DeepSouth]

Taht guy hangs out in my yard, I have several around but I only ever shoot the greys. And I do t shop them close to the house.

I will admit I’ve always wondered if the foxes tasted like the grays, I’ve never shot one as we don’t have a lot of them.

 

[Anchorite]

View attachment 1184927
Taht guy hangs out in my yard, I have several around but I only ever shoot the greys. And I do t shop them close to the house.

I will admit I’ve always wondered if the foxes tasted like the grays, I’ve never shot one as we don’t have a lot of them.

Ya. I recall seeing them on campus back in the day when I was in Tuscaloosa.
Haven‘t seen any here on the coast.

 

[Patocazador]

AFAIK, we only have the Sherman's fox squirrel here in central Florida. When I lived in Alabama, the fox squirrels were red colored and common. They are considered threatened here as are almost every other animal except gators, hogs and pythons due to developers tearing everything up to build "residential communities."

 

[Laphroaig]

We have quite a few in the woods around my house. In fact, they outnumber the grays by a fair amount. This one has a lot of gray in it, and I suspect there is some cross breeding going on.

We don't hunt them much, and I have no problem shooting one or 2 occasionally. They are typically 50%+ bigger than a gray and a couple give enough meat for a nice squirrel pot pie.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

We had black fox squirrels in pa, quite a few where I grew up. They were really large for a squirel, I remember Red, Gray, and Black fox squirrels. I never shot them. I shot every red squirrel I could see but left the fox squirrels alone.

Where I am at now, I have shot as many as nine grays squirrels a summer with my sling shot. No shortage of them.
I live in town and where I live there is a heavy police presence. They like to camp out in the church parking lot behind my house.
I don't care, free police protection.

 

[AK Hunter]

The squirrel hunt woods I hunt is next to an area that they are protected & they get big as cats.
I like sitting at the edge of the legal woods waiting from one to cross over.

 

[FL-NC]

I used to see them occassionally in NC and I see them pretty regular here.

 

[Savage30L]

I like fox squirrels. They are nobler than pesky gray squirrels, don't cause trouble, and generally don't hang around human settlements (at least in our area). I also find them more attractive, visually, than gray squirrels. I used to hunt squirrels avidly, but I do little of it now, and haven't shot a fox squirrel in more than 30 years.

When I lived in South Carolina, I had to work some in the Sandhills region. There, one finds a population of fox squirrels that are quite strikingly marked: cream-colored body, with black head, feet, and tail. They resemble Siamese cats in their markings and coloration. They inhabit stands of longleaf pine. They were widespread in the sandhills, but not exactly common. They also seemed to be quite large. One of those would make a beautiful mount.

 

[Chuck R.]

We predominately have Fox Squirrels around here. My neighbor has a few grays in one area and there's a bunch of grays on post (Ft. Leavenworth) around the housing areas and main post, but for the most part I see Foxes. The past few years I've seen more foxes in the housing areas too, so maybe they get over their wariness with people after a while.

Since buying my acreage I've been feeding the ones around the house using a repurposed deer feeder and a feeder I made out of PVC pipe. Their numbers have increased and more importantly the number of oak trees I see started have increased dramatically due to their burying acorns.

I normally don't start hunting them till post late doe season as to not screw up the deer patterns. When I head down to OK in Jan/Feb we're looking at doing a combined pig/squirrel safari.

 

[Meeks36]

I have seen one while hunting in Ga woods. Was pretty and fast. Larger than the grays.

 

[archeryrob]

We have a mix of half of each. Greys are half the size of fox squirrels and skittish as all get out. I've been out deer hunting and fox squirrels will sit on the next tree and try and figure out what I am. I've had a couple come up the tree behind me and smell me to see what I am. Just about curious and inquisitive sometimes.

Went out hunting once with the dog as she loves to fetch them up once they hit the ground. Shoot two greys and one fox and got the same meat amount from the two greys as the one fox squirrel.

 

[Chuck R.]

We have a mix of half of each. Greys are half the size of fox squirrels and skittish as all get out. I've been out deer hunting and fox squirrels will sit on the next tree and try and figure out what I am. I've had a couple come up the tree behind me and smell me to see what I am. Just about curious and inquisitive sometimes.

Went out hunting once with the dog as she loves to fetch them up once they hit the ground. Shoot two greys and one fox and got the same meat amount from the two greys as the one fox squirrel.

It's amazing how they "know" when they're not in danger. Deer hunting I see them constantly, they come down and bark at me pissed that I'm intruding. Lose the blaze orange, switch to a .22LR and they're nowhere to be found..

 

[buck460XVR]

Growing up hunting in rural Wisconsin, Fox Squirrels were like shooting a good buck, because they were far and few between. They seemed to like more mature woods with less underbrush and tended spend more time on the ground than Greys. Thus, you could walk up on them easier than Greys. Back when folks used to pasture cattle in the mast woods, you could sit on the ground and see them a long ways off. Just never were the numbers of them around here as there were the Greys. But the Greys taught me how to sit still for long periods of time......

 

[41 Mag]

In town all the neighbors are enamored with them, put out food, and such for em, I shoot the darn pest they feed after they get into my attic and start tearing stuff up. At the farm we have hunted them since I was a small boy, and now just like then you almost need a pressure cooker to get them edible. My dad used to say cook em in a crock pot with some cream of mushroom soup, and after 3-4 hours pull the squirrel out and have soup and crackers. All that though we have eaten hundreds of them through the years.

Just in the past 10yrs or so have the grey squirrels started to get a foot hold. I'm sure they were always there but have been so outnumbered by the fox that we just never paid them any attention. I much prefer the grey to the fox for table fare.

 

[Howland937]

My back yard is about a 50/50 mix of grays and fox. Nothing uncommon to be having my morning coffee on the back porch on a weekend and see 2 or 3 of each. The grays try to chase the fox squirrels out of the walnut tree sometimes but I've never seen them actually fight. I don't believe they interbreed though. I've seen woods that used to be full of fox squirrels taken over by grays to the point fox squirrels disappeared entirely.

 

[BKS]

Near my home in NE Arkansas I never see fox squirrels, I’m in SE Arkansas right now trying to shoot some fox squirrels. There are usually a lot of black ones, the low temps and winds have hampered my squirrel safari.

Those multi colored ones are really neat.

 

[Chuck R.]

In town all the neighbors are enamored with them, put out food, and such for em, I shoot the darn pest they feed after they get into my attic and start tearing stuff up. At the farm we have hunted them since I was a small boy, and now just like then you almost need a pressure cooker to get them edible. My dad used to say cook em in a crock pot with some cream of mushroom soup, and after 3-4 hours pull the squirrel out and have soup and crackers. All that though we have eaten hundreds of them through the years.

Just in the past 10yrs or so have the grey squirrels started to get a foot hold. I'm sure they were always there but have been so outnumbered by the fox that we just never paid them any attention. I much prefer the grey to the fox for table fare.

I'm not in town, but I do feed mine that are close to the house from DEC-MAR using a re-purposed deer feeder and a homemade deal out of PVC pipe. When we first bought the place I even went as far as putting up nesting boxes. I consider them breeding stock and I'm now a part time squirrel rancher since my recent retirement.

Now I've got a huntable population, and thanks to their "forgetfulness" concerning where they bury acorns I've got more oaks sprouting up.

My family really likes the cream of mushroom soup squirrel recipe and I end up making it at least a couple times a year.. Maybe being corn fed helps them?