I don't feel the same about coyotes and foxes. I don't really feel like they create the same damage as the other, but maybe that's just what I see.

Foxes aren't something that are overly abundant here, unlike yotes, so I would have to think long and hard before I shot one. Unless it was in the chicken house, then it'd be fair game.

My thoughts? I don't shoot an animal I'm not going to eat, so wouldn't shoot a fox and don't shoot coyotes. I'm not condeming it, I'm not on a soapbox, nor do I take issue with the practice; just my upbringing to only take game that's heading to the dinner table. So that's "my thoughts".

We have a couple acres with horses and a foal. We only worry about the cyotes because the foxes don't usually attack the horses. The cyotes do, but if I saw a couple cyotes on my land not attacking the horses I would just scare them away. If they wouldn't go away, then I would shoot them. We do have foxes around here though. We almost ran over one heading out to go fishing. Thats my thought on the subject.

That's also how I met a user on this site - Short Tract Hunter. He was my best customer haha

MPN,
You mean you finally stopped blaming me for no grouse? It was suspicious that after I paid you all those years you got this beautiful bran new ATV haha

I will kill any coyote i have the chance to . But fox are safe until they start messing around the hen house or digging in my garden .

I shoot yotes but not fox. Fox are much smaller and do not pose the same threat as a pack of yotes.

Here in WV we have a season on foxes. It starts the 1st of Nov and ends the last of Feb. During that time the pelts are prime and bring the best price. We don't have enough of a population to be of any real problem to the wildlife. We don't have many grouse, haven't had any guail since farmers quit raising small grain 20 years ago. The fox hunters and trappers keep the population under control. The coyotes are another story. Their population is exploding. Hunting and trapping is so difficult here in the mountains that the hunters and trappers have very little impact on their population. There is an open season on coyotes and DNR advises people to shoot coyotes on sight. They are a problem to our deer heard expecially our fawns. 007 that may be why you aren't seeing fawns and not a biological problem. Every coyote den I have found has little fawn feet all around it. That evidence is hard to argue with. Bottom line here. Don't bother the foxes other in season and shoot the coyotes when seen.

I agree wit' the Beekeeper.

I'll shoot the coyotes and let the foxes go. We mostly have gray foxes here in L.A. where I hunt, and they are almost too pretty to shoot in addition to the vermin control they do. A plus one for Bee---all the right reasons.

I wouldn't know shoot a fox on sight, just because in PA there is a specific season for foxes, and you also need a specific furbearers license to harvest them, which I never buy.

If I got the appropriate license, and it was in season, I would probably take one, but I doubt I will get into trapping and going out for furbearers.

im not even sure thars legal in tennessee ive saw one fox in 15 years so i take it as a cool experience to watch them

007
Charleston never did listen to the guys on the ground, always thought they could find the answer in a book or from some politican or some self appointed "expert". Never has changed and probably never will.

VAhunter540,

They are a nuisnace, no one hunts them by me and the population has grown to an unhealthy level. Me and Short are the only ones who do now.

MPN,

If your local biologist has determined that fox populations are a limiting factor for your grouse population who am I to argue. Predators can have negative effects in nich populations and should be managed accordingly.

My experience with both Red and Gray foxes comes from where I live in the south. Here they thrive on mice, insects and other small vermin. They like other predators ocassionally develop a taste for caged poultry. That is delt with on an individual basis and is not a case for evoking genocide on the entire clan.

I also look at the size of a predator vs. the size of the prey thay are acused of taking down along with the amount of energy required to take said prey. A fox will burn far less energy feeding on abundant mice populations while gaining significant energy. For a fox to chase down larger quarry it requires a significant expendature of energy vs. what is gained if successful. They are not always successful. Nature doesn't believe in wasting energy.

Yes, foxes do take the ocassional game bird here in the south along with rabbits, etc... They are opportunists by nature and should be expected to act accordingly. But they stay within thier comfort range as much as possible.

I have no problem with foxes being harvested for fur and being a part of a managed hunting program. In my formative years I hunted and trapped fox myself and made a bit of money doing so. Pelt prices were high and so were fox populations.

I do not agree on the premise of shooting evey fox, bobcat, owl or hawk seen just because they might eat the ocassional grouse, rabbit, quail or chicken. That is quite often an attitute fostered by what a young person hears from misinformed members of the community or family. My own grandfather followed that philosopy and he was wrong. We had abundant quail because we had great habitat at the time not because he shot every Coopers Hawk he saw.

Disagreement is the spice of life. This would be a dull old world if everyone shared tha same opinion and you know what they say about opinions...

Cheers!

Bee

MPN, and Short, are you all in Va? There is an Allegheny County near me is why I ask.

MPN if foxes are the nuisance more so than Coyotes then I don’t begrudge you at all for killing a few, I understand but I also think that what Bee said holds very true. No amount of dead foxes will bring back the grouse, if there’s no forage or new growth ground cover, water, etc etc. In any case whether with yours or anyone else’s there could be other causes compounding the problem. I know the grouse pop all over the state have been decimated by wet springs that have caused a lot of nest kill and their habitat is disappearing since the state stopped clear-cutting oh so many years ago.

VAHunter540,
Both in NY, and I have cleared 50 acres of my property allowing for new growth. I was told to do so by a wildlife biologist I spoke with, he told me to hunt fox and clear cut some land which benefits all the game not only fox.

Short Tract hunter---Mine is strictly a personal opinion. I hunt private ground exclusively, and it's my choice not to shoot foxes or bobcats. Some of my hunting friends do shoot one occasionally, but mostly they'd rather not noise up their deer hunt. Going along with what Bee said, the habitat here is such that there aren't many bobwhites and I don't know if there ever were any grouse, so foxes won't hurt anything. I think that bobcats do take the occasional turkey, which is my favorite game, but I don't think they are going to do significant damage to the population.

007,
Missed your call today. I was in Pend county at my Dad's. No cell reception. Maybe next time I will be around. Good Luck.