To Catch a Fox

[XanderWiFi]

I was coming off shift this morning, doing my usual routine of greeting my chickens and letting them out to free range for the day. They had some leftover scraps from a previous day's treats I picked up to put in our compost. My neighbor and I each have about 3 acre pencil lots that basically look like one huge yard. As I was walking to the compost I see their chicken cackling an alarm call and hauling ass down their driveway. Knowing this is not good I trot up the hill to see the commotion and see another chicken sprinting through their front yard and a third being chased down and grabbed by a fox. It began dragging it back to the woods before I started sprinting towards it yelling. It let the chicken go which ran away somewhere and I promptly gave them a ring to let them know what happened.

3/4 of their chickens were found and penned back in. We could not find the fourth. However, there was only plumes of feathers at the attack site. No blood splatters, drips, trails and the chicken running away leads me to believe its neck and spine were intact. If I can recall in the moment I believe the chicken was being drug by the wing and/or butt. Any anatomical kill shots in this region? Hopefully it is just a bit battered and hiding in shock and will limp out in time.

Secondly, I had recently purchased a trap and this motivated me to finally get it out and set up. We threw a body of chicken meat in it as a lure and set it at the edge of our wood line where it appeared the fox entered/exited through. Where would optimal trap placement and bait be for capturing a fox? I'm certain a couple raccoons will end up in there as they are nature's garbage disposal, but I am specifically targeting a fox.

 

[Lamaremybabies]

From what my dad has told me about his fox, coyote, raccoon etc. trapping he did back when he had his own flock of chickens putting the trap by the edge of the woods near the proximity of the coop is usually the best. some chicken parts (drum sticks, wings) and MARSHMALLOWS!!!! are the best. As my dad would say, "They come for the chicken, but stay for the marshmallows."

I've never personally tried to catch more than ground hogs and raccoons. But he swears by chicken and marshmallows.

 

[3riverschick]

Okay I know a fox is not funny. but marshmallows !?! really ,that's hysterical !who would have thunk it?that's really funny and I hope you get the fox!
Karen

 

[Lamaremybabies]

Okay I know a fox is not funny. but marshmallows !?! really ,that's hysterical !who would have thunk it?that's really funny and I hope you get the fox!
Karen

Yeah, apparently they have quite the sweet tooth! He told me that his buddy whose job was re- locating wildlife to more rural areas taught him the marshmallow chicken method and it never seemed to fail. Although sometimes the raccoons and opossums would get to them first.

 

[chickens really]

I have been battling Fox for two years and live traps do not work for fox no matter the bait used....I only catch my Cat...

 

[XanderWiFi]

That poor cat haha. Stealing all the treats.

I have yet to catch the fox. I did capture an opossum though who was disposed of as they kill chickens as well. I saw a video of a trapper that uses fried chicken from KFC as the best bait for foxes. Hamburger helper leftovers and some pulled pork bones is next on the menu.

 

[Trish1974]

Fox are near impossible to catch in a live trap. If possible, and if you know the fox's pattern (they like to visit their buffet around the same time every day), wait for it and shoot it. Once they have made a kill they will definitely keep coming back for more.

 

[Naser]

Get a small weasel trap or similar cage and put a live bait as close to the trigger mechanism as possible, the fox will try to get the bait and will get into the trap, cover the floor of the trap with hay or dirt or something similar in way that when the fox walks in, it doesn't feel metal under it's feet and cover the trap with hay or grass or something similar, using live bait will help in avoiding non target animals. if you are catching your dog or your cat, if you put chicken meat it will help as your cat will fedup of getting into a trap and gets no reward.

 

[guineapeeps]

Fox are near impossible to catch in a live trap. If possible, and if you know the fox's pattern (they like to visit their buffet around the same time every day), wait for it and shoot it. Once they have made a kill they will definitely keep coming back for more.

I completely agree! Every year once the corn was up in our area, the fox would hide out in the corn and try to pick my guineas off. It seemed like every day at about the same time (late morning to early afternoon) they'd lurk just outside of the yard, waiting for their brunch. Late at night, they'd be back but by that point, all the guineas would be locked up safely for the night. I started putting out a stereo/boom box facing where I'd see the fox. I would tune it to talk radio and crank up the volume. It actually worked pretty well and I rarely saw the fox during daylight hours when the radio was on. (Prior to this, I tried everything to catch/kill that fox.....they are fast, sneaky, and smart, and with the tall corn surrounding our property, it was nearly impossible to see them coming!)
Good luck!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

They sure are creatures of habit, watch, wait, shoot! We have found this to be the best way.

Every year once the corn was up in our area, the fox would hide out in the corn and try to pick my guineas off.

Exactly the same here, it's been very hard to get them out in the open for a clean shot. A lot of the corn has started to come in now though so they are having to come out in the open.
This one was taken out in a field on Wednesday night, the corn was cut on Wednesday afternoon so it shows they were and are using crop for cover.