foxes

[ChaoSS]

Does England allow traps and a crossbow or compound bow?

 

[waynem1983]

British urban foxes are very brave these days, being out in daylight is fairly common. They are still reasonably easily scared off, but if they know you haveeasy dinner, they will be back over and over tillthe plate is clean.

Using any kind of offensive weapon in public in the uk is iffy at best and could land you in serious trouble.

best bet is some kind of humane trap, take it somewhere quiet and "relocate" this fox underground somewhere. I think there are companies that will do this for you.

Either that or get yourself a really big cat, british foxes arent that brave.

 

[chickienuggers]

Yeah they probably are calling the gray fox a silver fox.... my lack of knowledge makes me susceptible to believing what people tell me too easily.. so you are probably right

 

[chickienuggers]

I like the catapult idea

 

[ivan3]

A silver fox is simply a color form of the red fox so its behavior should be no different. I've had fox run out of the woods and grab a chicken right in front of me in the middle of the day.

They do `come in colors'. Variations, here, are pretty common: They show up when there are chickens available, that's their scheduling priority.

 

[chickienuggers]

The silver fox (Vulpes vulpes) is a melanistic form of red fox. Silver foxes display a great deal of pelt variation: some are completely black except for a white coloration on the tip of the tail, some are bluish-grey, and some may have a cinereous colour on the sides. Historically, silver foxes were among the most valued furbearers, and their skins were frequently worn by nobles in Russia, Western Europe, and China.[1] Wild silver foxes do not naturally reproduce exclusively with members of the same coat morph, and can be littermates with the common red variety,[2] though captive populations bred for their fur are almost exclusively mated with members of the same colour.[3]

 

[chickienuggers]

so yeah, it is a form of red fox, I was wrong.

 

[roosterhavoc]

I have had fox kill chickens and let them lay, some missing heads some barely touched but with a broken neck. They don't always run off with one bird. I have seen where they went from one bird to the next killing them all and leaving with nothing with no interruptions. Sometimes it's just pointless killing. If your going to free range birds learn to trap. Don't need a gun.

 

[ivan3]

I have had fox kill chickens and let them lay, some missing heads some barely touched but with a broken neck. They don't always run off with one bird. I have seen where they went from one bird to the next killing them all and leaving with nothing with no interruptions. Sometimes it's just pointless killing. If your going to free range birds learn to trap. Don't need a gun.

Have only witnessed a possible `indiscriminate' killing, once (frozen pond and fat ducks - two foxes. One was shot - duck head in mouth, the other got away - 8 ducks dead). Snares, here, are only used in winter. The box traps are set for coon/opossum so the foxes (usually kits) are `one offs'. However, I've shot more than I've snared as Red Fox, here, are nothing if not brazen. We have a huge, downed, Ash snag slowly deteriorating on hill across drainage from clearing around house (shot of fox in previous post taken on that snag). Most of the understory between the snag & clearing has been whacked/thinned out. The Reds will often stretch out on the snag and watch the chooks and turks - I've brush cut out several such `aiming points'. If the fox is interrupted in an attack and takes off without `satisfaction' it will almost always come back for a second and, if one is paying attention, final look - within 30min. of attempted grab. Snares, here, are useful as, in the winter, the Reds will often cache their kills above the frozen ground (rabbit in shot below) and they tend to move along fence lines. Usually the foxes, during breeding season. will carry off whatever they can kill and cache the booty within 150yds, or so, of den.

 

[centrarchid]

Electrified poultry netting works great against foxes. Using such does not preclude the enjoyment for some to kill the fox but the netting works even when you do not know the fox is visiting.