Foxes Or Rather A Lack Of Them

[charlie caller 3,654]

Well I shot a lot of foxes on that farm last year certainly into the late twenties,so I doubt OVER population is the issue here.

[Cleanspade 3,324]

Well I shot a lot of foxes on that farm last year certainly into the late twenties,so I doubt OVER population is the issue here.

and there may lie the problem. that and the fact that all townies arnt middle class old ladies. maybe they are getting controlled by other methods in the town also

[charlie caller 3,654]

I take your point but its not town its nice suburbia surrounded by parkland and then more countryside, and I am pretty certain if they were I would know about it, no I think the answer lies in the fact that the foxes have bred in a different part of the valley this year,so that would explain the lack of cubs,and the adult foxes are just not around at the minute, I have seen similar patterns before,and then all of a sudden they are back,it was just a lack of them on the hay fields where we normally see a lot that was puzzling me.

[shovel leaner 7,650]

Years ago when they introduced wheelie bins in our area , i could tell straight away by the amount of foxes that turned up on my patch , there arnt as many people feeding them as you think , and with the wheelie bins in our area not many scraps , i know some old dears do feed them but a litter of cubs get through a lot of grub !!

[charlie caller 3,654]

Sure, a litter of cubs will eat a lot of snap, but there are quite a few chicken keepers and rabbit hutches to help themselves too, plus a couple of takeways and shops not far away, so I think they will do ok.

[stripes 401]

Yes charlie you keep saying theres no foxes and very little rabbits in a specific area yet you cant see the reason why! you shot 20 foxes in that area , 10 of those foxes were probably dominant breeding vixens, do you see the problem,, keep taking sweets from the sweet shop and you will end up with zero. You can waffle that what ever way you want.. As with this area i know there are certain folk who do not respect a closed season and are out shooting foxes every night with high powered rifles,,,, and then they complain there are no foxes.

[Alsone 789]

So in the area where I am mentioning, bordered on 3 sides by suburbia, with lots of nice middle class old ladies feeding foxes and badgers in their gardens, food will not be a problem at all then will it, so I hardly think that is the answer.

 

Well it could be perhaps that they're staying urban close to the food source.

 

I don't know, but its one possibility.

[charlie caller 3,654]

Yes charlie you keep saying theres no foxes and very little rabbits in a specific area yet you cant see the reason why! you shot 20 foxes in that area , 10 of those foxes were probably dominant breeding vixens, do you see the problem,, keep taking sweets from the sweet shop and you will end up with zero. You can waffle that what ever way you want.. As with this area i know there are certain folk who do not respect a closed season and are out shooting foxes every night with high powered rifles,,,, and then they complain there are no foxes.

I did not say there were no foxes, what I said is that we were not seeing them in the areas we normally do,and I can assure you I am not complaining about the lack of foxes,and the landowner certainly isn't,and as for a close season, well do you think the foxes observe a close season on the hens and a couple of dozen duck taken over the last year or two? and as for rabbits I have not shot a rabbit on this farm for 3 years, in an effort to give them a chance,their demise is down to brock pure and simple, disgruntled dog man or not you must understand that fox control in some areas is a necessity, and its not just a case of waiting for the "open season" so some sport can be had with the dog.

[rimmer 33]

I think Charlie caller is right, although i have not noticed a decline in fox numbers, Rabbits are down on what they have been. Mostly foxes dont eat healthy rabbits anyway so i doubt if there would be any corelation in rabbit numbers and fox population. but i have noticed over the years that breeding has cycles of good and bad. this used to be countered by fox hunting pushing the population around and keeping them spread out but since the ban this effect is no longer noticable.

as for an open season, well as soon as the cubs leave the den they are in season!!!!!

[riflehunter583 58]

interesting point :

 

mostly foxes do not eat healthy rabbits.

[alan81 110]

 

Yes charlie you keep saying theres no foxes and very little rabbits in a specific area yet you cant see the reason why! you shot 20 foxes in that area , 10 of those foxes were probably dominant breeding vixens, do you see the problem,, keep taking sweets from the sweet shop and you will end up with zero. You can waffle that what ever way you want.. As with this area i know there are certain folk who do not respect a closed season and are out shooting foxes every night with high powered rifles,,,, and then they complain there are no foxes.

I did not say there were no foxes, what I said is that we were not seeing them in the areas we normally do,and I can assure you I am not complaining about the lack of foxes,and the landowner certainly isn't,and as for a close season, well do you think the foxes observe a close season on the hens and a couple of dozen duck taken over the last year or two? and as for rabbits I have not shot a rabbit on this farm for 3 years, in an effort to give them a chance,their demise is down to brock pure and simple, disgruntled dog man or not you must understand that fox control in some areas is a necessity, and its not just a case of waiting for the "open season" so some sport can be had with the dog.

 

every one understands that some places need all year round fox control, like chicken farms ect but all animals need to be aloud breed and rare there young. the point of control or conservation is not to eradicate. 99% of the lads around here wont hunt fox till mid august. its not about waiting to have fun with the dogs no one wants to see an end to the fox.

[Lab 10,979]

interesting point :

 

mostly foxes do not eat healthy rabbits.

I'm intrigued too..............what are they looking for i wonder....rabbits with plasters on or a doctors line. Surely not the ones that are 'hoping'.................

[The one 8,511]

 

interesting point :

 

mostly foxes do not eat healthy rabbits.

I'm intrigued too..............what are they looking for i wonder....rabbits with plasters on or a doctors line. Surely not the ones that are 'hoping'.................

 

No rabbits at yours you feed them dont you ?.

[riflehunter583 58]

please tell us more rimmer.

 

 

 

 

I have seen many a fox walk right past a number of still rabbits in a field with night vision where the fox literally walks two feet away from one or two of the crouched bunnys with no change in the fox's walking pattern.

 

I think it is near impossible to eradicate foxs. they are born survivors.

Edited July 31, 2013 by riflehunter583

[Lab 10,979]

 

 

interesting point :

 

mostly foxes do not eat healthy rabbits.

I'm intrigued too..............what are they looking for i wonder....rabbits with plasters on or a doctors line. Surely not the ones that are 'hoping'.................

 

No rabbits at yours you feed them dont you ?.

 

No problems this year............freak year last year. In 20 years the field has never been hit by foxes like it was last. I'm putting it down to the weather which may have had an effect on other food sources for them.