Fox problem

[mom2landj]

I did a little reading on how to deal with this. Just started fee ranging them a month ago and a fox got one. We saw him a few times after and tried to shoot him to no avail. We cut down all the brush around the coop and kept the girls in the coop/run for a week. Then we threw a chicken thigh in a live trap and set it behind the coop. Still nothing. I found what I think is the den in our front field. And I've begun to let them free range again but only if we are going to be home all day...which sucks for them. So what is the next step? Where an I get the female urine? Should I camouflage the trap and try different bait? Should I do something to the "den"? I'll post a pic of it when I get to the computer. TIA!

 

[mom2landj]

 

[BigECarter]

I plan on using electronet fencing to protect my flock. I am trying to live with my predators, rather than eliminating them. Personal choice - definitely more costly.

 

[JackE]

It's very hard to trap a fox with a box type trap. People have much better luck with leghold traps. What they do, is hang the bait 2-4' off the ground, and place and camoflage several leghold traps under the bait. Snares work well too. You can check out the different methods on YouTube. Also on YouTube, you can check out cheaply made calls to draw the fox in.
I've had my trouble with the fox around here. Got away with freeranging for almost a full year, then the fox discovered the flock. I ended up buying 600' of electrified poultry net from Premier. That was the answer for me, and especially the chickens.
I'm not even going to say what I would have done, if I found the fox's den. That would shock sensibilities, and also it's against the rules.
Jack

 

[aart]

How big is that hole? Hard to tell with no reference for size.

If you've got some time to read ..... advanced search>titles only>fox trap

 

[mom2landj]

I'll take another picture with my foot by it.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Good luck. We've been trying to trap foxes for the past three months in the extra large size box trap. We've baited with everything except a live chicken and I don't have the nerve to try that. Yet. We can't use a leg trap as there are too many pet's roaming in the area, particularly cats. I'd feel terrible if we trapped a neighbor's cat in one of those things.

We know we have two different fox groups in the area. One is a lone red fox, or we think it's lone as we've never seen but the one. The other is a family of gray foxes with mom, dad, and four kits. They roam as a pack. Ugh.

My focus now is a Fort Knox like coop and pen. We've done well with the coop, it's so secure I was accidentally locked in for an hour and couldn't break my way out.

Yeah, I was upset about that. We're now working on the main run to make it as secure as possible. Free ranging the girls isn't a possibility at this point unless we're willing to lose a few and we're not.

 

[hrhta812]

We trapped one fox with a coon trap from TSC a few days ago, after losing 4 birds in a month, and then thinking we fixed the problem, I let the birds back in the night coop two nights later and found our roo dead, wedged in the fencing, the next day. At that moment, I decided I'd had it with this nonsense, and I went out & bought two different sized leg traps. I've also ordered a larger animal trap, since we caught an image of a coyote on the game cam in a different area of our property a few days ago.

We had reset the traps after catching the first fox, and had traps set all the time over the past month but weren't catching anything; I actually thought we were having a coon problem at the same time as the fox. We had two birds just MIA, so I knew fox, but the others were wedged in the fencing, head eaten, like whatever it was tried to drag it out and it got stuck.

This morning, I am looking at the SECOND fox we've trapped in one week right now, and it refuses to die. Funny, but not funny, but funny. Hubby shot it this a.m. and then I went out to see it laying there, and it raised it's head up and scared the living you know what out of me. Then, I went in, told him it wasn't dead; he was in the shower, so I went back out with the camera, and it was laying there, still breathing but doing the death gasp type breathing, blood on the grass next to its head, and it would not open it's eyes. So I go in and say, oh, it'll be dead in a minute, no worries, and off hubby goes to work.

Two hours later, I look out the window, and I can't see the carcass, so I think, wow, did something drag it off???? I go out there, and the dang thing is sitting up inside the dog run that we set the trap in, just sitting there looking at me, and I nearly have my second heart attack of the day.

***?!?!??!?! Now I have to decide whether to leave it until hubby gets home, or have him walk me through shooting it myself, something I have never done and don't really want to do.

But, anyway, try using tuna fish as your bait, conceal the trap with brush or scrap wood, or something, and you might get lucky, even with a live trap from TSC.

 

[aart]

Oh Bummer hrhta! Yah, you should learn to use the gun.

 

[hrhta812]

I know, right?!?!?

LOL Ah well, the problem has been fixed now. And I did it myself! That zombie fox is dead, for sure now. Hubby talked me through it, after letting me choose which gun to use. It was very quick, and I am proud, and relieved, to have gotten the first time out of the way. Afterwards, he gave me some loading and firing lessons with a pistol and a rifle. There are now two fox heads hanging on our field fence, like the heads on London Bridge. "So perish all the Queen's enemies!"

Here is the fox at 7:40 a.m.\


And here is the fox at 11:15 a.m.


I mean, WTH?!?!?!?!?!