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Trapping Fox

I know it's a little off the subject, but I need a little help controling the fox population in our town. They're getting brave enough that they are starting to eat a few chickens around. Not to mention that they drive my hounds nuts at night. I would much rather take care of them in the fall or winter when they're worth a little but they're just getting to be a nusiance. So how about some ideas on trapping these sly critters. Have any of you ever live trapped them? What are some good set ups? Any advise would be helpful. Thanks

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Harley de Koning

Get some foot traps and rubberize the jaws. Fry up some cheap dog food in grease and pour it around a very well hidden trap. Thats how we catch them here in NC.............TCB

keep scent to a minimum... wear clean gloves, when setting traps... they dont call them fox for nothing.. smart critters.. will be tough to get them in a box trap. foothold much better. dirt hole set.. this is a bigger question than i can type here. theresa ton o books on this one question.. its easy just set the trap where fox will step... thats a joke, but very true.. pete

A good #2 coilspring set as a dirt hole set probably has caught more fox then anything else. Fox are pretty smart, you have to keep things to minimum like Pete said, I have seen people use to big of guide sticks that make things look out of place, but remove them and put something smaller in and your instantly producing, theres a few ways of trapping them but I would says a dirt hole set my favorite.

The most important thing is to bed the trap so it does not wobble.You can make a dirthole set ,hole at 45 angle towards trap.I use chunked groundhog ,i burie it in jars for a few months before season.Hog cracklins are very good also.For grays you want the trap ste as close to the hole as possible,reds inch and half back and slightly off center.This is a dirthole set.Urine post set is very good also but you only get one shot at em.Find an open trail where they are traveling such as a farm road through a hay field.set trap bed it solid ,take cornstalk and place it in ahole so it cant fall over .it should be about 4 or5 inches away from the trap.Now bend the top over and angle it away from trap, this keeps the fox from going onthe wrong side.Have caught many a smart one this way.Reds can be caught in open fields where their is no chance of catching hounds.Grays like the brush.Number 2s are to big,1s and a half are all you need.

This is even farther off subject. I've hunted an area for about 15 years, only in the summer. I usually would see a fox occasionally.
Then, about 3 summers ago, I couldn't go anywhere down there without running into a fox.
The following summer I never saw one fox. Now last night, I caught a glimpse of something running into the brush. Looked like a fox, if so it's the first in two summers.
Anybody else ever notice the population go up and down like this?

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bruce ordway

Thanks for the help guys. The fox population here has grown quite a bit in the last five years. The mange has been in the coyotes somethen fierce over that time and their numbers are way down. So I think that with their numbers down it help the fox numbers rise. Also here in my town of 110 people we have almost more abandon houses and buildings than good ones. They make great hiding and denning places for them.

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Harley de Koning

Bruce,

I have seen the same thing out here in California. As one of the primary vectors for rabies, it is possible that your fox population succumbed to a distemper or rabies outbreak (which is common during periods of high population densities).

bruce same here.. ive seen them go from where id see one or more daily to hardly seeing a track in the snow... they got wiped out here with rabies. about 5 years ago. almost all gone. they are just starting to come back . mange will do this also . distemper and rabies will do this to a coon population. pete

I used to love to trap fox in the fall. We've watched our population drop off to near nothing on the Reds and it wasn't that high to start with. Definitely not a rabies, distemper problem. Now, for the first time ever we do have some 'yotes moving in so that's what I blame it on. Calling in varmints in the winter is a fun thing to do and get you out of the cabin.

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fox

You have to think big when trapping reds.Look for a natural funnel such as a river on one side with agriculture on the other ,next look for fence rows with a farm lane between fields and there is where you catch wiley red.Grew up trapping and coonhunting in northern wisconsin in the mid senenties.Made more money when I was 15 than a man working 40 hrs a week.Life was good.