Foxes

[D Boone]

I have chickens... I let them free range, and I loose some to foxes every year. I intend to thin their ranks this year, how should I do it? I have a dog and a cat, and these range close to the house, so foot trapping has never really appealed to me. I picked up a digital coyote call (with rabit,rodent sounds) last year but didn't seem to have any luck. I have been thinking about trying to bait, haven't looked into the legalitys yet. Anyone have a method that works well?

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Find the den...then snipe them.

 

[koja48]

Try calling them at night (assuming that's legal) . . . did quite well doing that back home when I was a kid. If you have cottontails about, use that call or a bird in distress call.

 

[Blacklabelz]

I was having a problem with red foxes getting into my peafowl cages at night during summer 2007. I went out to Wal-Mart and bought one of those remote operated electronic calling devices for 30 dollars or so. I then went online and bought a "Optronics NightBlaster" scope mounted, battery operated high power red light from Cabelas (about 100$, but good for the money!).

I mounted the red light on a Marlin .22 magnum, stuck a lawn chair in the doorway of my barn looking out into the field, and turned the call on.

The redlight (when fully charged) lasted for about 30 minutes before it started dimming, and it ran out of batteries completely within an hour of being on (its re-chargeable). This posed a problem when scanning the fields waiting for the foxes to show up, so i started using a Night Owl Generation 1 night vision monoscope to scan the darkness. The IR illuminator on the night vision bounces off nocturnal animal's eyes, letting you know when they start showing up.

After I would spot a fox coming, i'd switch back to the rifle/red light. The Nightblaster light worked very well for shots up to about 100 yards or so (when fully charged). I tagged 5 of them in the first week I started hunting them.

I live in Virginia where night hunting with light/calls not attached to a car is legal, however you should check your state hunting laws to make sure you don't get in any trouble.