Sunday, November 28, 2010

Red Fox

Well the rifle season in western Virginia closed yesterday. Last week was a carbon copy of the week before. No shooter buck sightings and very few deer seen at all. Most every one around us reported the same thing. One guy that hunts property higher up the mountain said he hunted one of his best stands for four days and never saw a deer. Now that depressing. We did harvest a couple of Does for the freezers so the season wasn't a total bust. Late muzzleloader season starts back in mid December. Hopefully we'll get a little more hunting in then. I've got a big project at work cranking up so that may cut into my time. For some reason the company I work for has this silly idea that I should actually get some work done during the hunting season ;).


Didn't get much on the cameras last week. I relocated all of them today and hopefully we'll see some bucks start to move again after things settle down for a few days. I did get a nice Red Fox on the rocks were I put the fish scrapes but I think it missed out on any of the fish. The Gray Foxes and Raccoons had cleaned it up before it got there. There's about a 2 1/2 hour time difference between the first three pics and the last two but I think it's the same fox.

I saw a huge red fox one morning from one of my stands that was colored different from any I had seen before. The one in the pics is pretty typical. Bright red, white under belly, black leggings, and a white tail tip. The Fox I saw was a darker blood red with no white under belly, black leggings, or white tail tip. When I first saw it I thought it was a coyote and got it in my scope to shoot it. But after looking at it closely I was sure it was a Fox. I was able to watch it for three or four minutes with my binoculars and just thought it was most interestingly colored. Love to get it in some pics.





9 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

He's beautiful! Bright red coat! That's interesting that you saw one w/o the white and black trims. I never see foxes here. I've only see 1 or 2 as road kill. I'm guessing if there were any in our area, the coyotes got them long time ago...

Sorry you didn't get more bucks, but I'm guessing doe meat tastes the same! :)

Coy Hill said...

Nice looking fox you caught here. It really has some brilliant colors. Some of them are not so pretty.

Sounds like the deer got it all figured out about the hunting season, it sure doesn't take them long to figure out that they need to lay low. Our season here in Pa opens in the morning. Gunfire has been ringing though our hills since Thursday as people have been sighting in.

Michelle said...

Such a beautiful fox in these pictures. I see them around our area, but the colors are not so vibrant and they look rather scraggly.

Verde Farm said...

Wow Joe, that is a beautiful fox. Looks very healthy and full--so many look skinny and sickly to me.
Amy

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Curious, Joe. Why would you shoot a coyote?

Joe said...

Hi Katie – They’ll kill fawns, foxes, calves, sheep, dogs, cats, and pretty much anything else their size or small. Some studies have shown that the coyotes will kill from 1/3 to 1/2 of the fawn population each year. They’re not native to Virginia and are an invasive species. About the only way to control the population is to shoot or trap them.

Brian King said...

Our firearms season was pretty much the same as yours, Joe. We hunted the entire opening week and never saw so much as a doe. The worst season we've ever had.

Great fox pics! And I'll echo your coyote statement. Lots of them here and they'll kill anything they can run down. We have such a large population that there isn't even a season - fair game year round.

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Thanks, Joe, for taking the time to reply. I've heard stories from both sides of the fence - coyotes are either a menace or exactly what's needed for a natural balance. My pop liked having coyotes around, because he believed they kept the gopher populations down in our pastures, where we kept sheep, goats, and cows, who could trip in the gopher holes and break a leg.

Liesl said...

Wow, that is a handsome laddie!