Dang Fox!

[oliviad51]

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Yep....that's exactly what we're gonna do today!

 

[Redcatcher]

"Urbanized" foxes have lost a lot of their natural fears and will get very bold. The longer they can come in and kill, and get away with it, the more confident they become. The female I trapped was chasing my chickens right up onto my porch while I was home. She was spending more and more time on the site eating her kill and less time grabbing and running. I tethered a live chicken in a small pet crate and set a leghold trap just inside the door. She went right into the crate to grab the chicken and stepped into the trap. Just as I had planned. So much for claustrophobia. Not such a smart fox after all and one less not so smart fox in the gene pool.

 

[aprophet]

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a small stick on the outside side of the trap will set the foxes foot right on the trap most days

 

[oliviad51]

I don't have a leghold trap and I don't plan on getting one...I have lots of neighborhood cats and dogs that are always at our house that would be sure to get caught on one! Plus I have heard of foxes or any other predator chewing off their leg and running off with three. Thanks for the ideas though! Good thinking!

 

[Redcatcher]

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This trap I used was rubber lined or padded and does no real damage. When I freed the fox from the trap I could not even tell which foot had been caught. She could have been relocated but it was just not practical around here. These traps should be checked every hour or two and if you leave them out overnight, it means setting the alarm if you have to. Rarely will trapped animals chew their legs off. While I'm not revengeful in any way, my chickens didn't get the same humane death that this fox got.

 

[oliviad51]

Quote:
This trap I used was rubber lined or padded and does no real damage. When I freed the fox from the trap I could not even tell which foot had been caught. She could have been relocated but it was just not practical around here. These traps should be checked every hour or two and if you leave them out overnight, it means setting the alarm if you have to. Rarely will trapped animals chew their legs off. While I'm not revengeful in any way, my chickens didn't get the same humane death that this fox got.

Duhh! I just looked back on your original post to me and saw that you mentioned your trap was rubber lined/padded! Sorry I must have read past that part or something. I'm glad to know those kind of traps work in case i need another trap. Is there a price difference between the leg hold and the live cage traps? I don't think they sell them at my TSC but if it's cheaper, I may order one online if I need another one

The past few mornings I have checked on the trap, the dead chicken has gotten more and more ripped up, but nothing has gotten in the trap! I'm thinking that smart little guy must be somehow gnawing on the part it can get ahold of from the outside of it! Or it may be a raccoon is getting it's hands through the wire and eating it.

Would it help to maybe put some brown (so they kind of blend in with the woods) towels around the outside and on top of the trap so they could only get in one way?

 

[Redcatcher]

I bought mine on eBay. This is the same one. Only $9. Not expensive at all. I even had a Silkie get her neck caught in this one and she was fine.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Duke-1-1-2-rubb...166?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a5acb54f6

 

[aprophet]

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greys are not hard at all to catch in cages just most folks traps are too short the minimum the height on the trap needs to be is 14-18 inches tall after this changes catching them is easy if the fox has to crawl into the trap to the bait there is a good chance you will only catch pups . And with coilspring traps red fox are pretty easy to catch as well

 

[oliviad51]

Quote:
greys are not hard at all to catch in cages just most folks traps are too short the minimum the height on the trap needs to be is 14-18 inches tall after this changes catching them is easy if the fox has to crawl into the trap to the bait there is a good chance you will only
catch pups . And with coilspring traps red fox are pretty easy to catch as well

This is a red fox...I think in would may fit in a raccoon trap....it's pretty small. But I didn't want to take the chance so I bought a bigger trap that's 36x58x17.

I think foxes are cool creatures too and I would never kill one without a good reason. I know that foxes aren't evil and I understand that it's just trying to look after it's babies if it's a female......but I'm trying to look after my babies as well.

 

[chickengrl]

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This is how my husband has killed 5 foxes from our property. He sets up his climbing deer stand and the fox have always come back the next day around the same time and he shoots them. Not my favorite thing to do with our wildlife, but we had to protect our birds. Good luck.