40 pound foxes.

[neil cooney 10,416]

Can our Red Fox reach 40 lbs ?

According to this weeks Fieldsports Channel a 40 pounder was shot in our own County Galway. The fox in the photo is without a doubt a big fox but it looks like a juvenile is holding it up.

Last year I weighed one very large fox at 19 lbs or so and the following week I dug one but didn't weigh it but reckon it was 23 or 24 lbs. Maybe the biggest I've ever dug. I once dug two 21 lb dogs and a monster 19 lb vixen in the same earth. Back when the Guinness book of records had records for fieldsports (nowadays it has records for eating the most cream crackers in a minute etc etc.) the record for a fox was 28lbs ,shot in Gloustershire if my memory is right.

IMO all the members on here combined have seen many thousands of foxes accounted for but IMO most would never have seen a 20 lb fox.

So is a 40 pounder realistic ??????????

[walshie 2,804]

Don't know about Ireland but a vet shot a 41lb er in Kent a couple of years back. I had a monster vixen a cage once so I got the fishing scales out of the shed and she weighed 25lb.

Since I've moved to the sticks they seem a lot smaller than that though. Maybe urban foxes get too much easy food. 

[Lenmcharristar 9,734]

i think the answer is the amount and quality of food that they can get is a biggest factor.  especially from bins, drunks and generally lazy messy people

[Rabid 1,936]

Biggest I've ever had was 23lb and it was massive, I've shot a lot of foxes, and this was by far the biggest I've ever seen

[dogmandont 9,805]

40lbs sounds huge and it wouldn't just be food source that would get them to that weight its proportions would need to be huge as well. An average sized fox that weighted 40lbs would be one fat fecker. Lol.

[rob284 1,682]

Bring a hill fox to the city and feed it on kfc and it wont be far off haha. If one was to be 40lb it would be a freak

[walshie 2,804]

None of the big ones I've seen have been fat. They were just like scaled up normal foxes but with great big heads and feet. Mate of mine who is a fox controller says they are getting bigger year on year in the cities.

[fireman 10,871]

A old pal of mine who i consider one of my closest friends so i totaly believe him snared a 29lb fox in warwickshire just 2 weeks ago,he showed me a pic of it and it wasn't a massive fox, when he picked it up it felt so much heavier than it looked so he weighed it with his fishing scales.One keeper round me on an estate has a 24lb fox he shot stuffed and has seen many times but can never get close to a shot on it a fox that is a third the size bigger than his stuffed one and this winter he shot a vixen just over 20 lb..

 

[boland 59]

40 pound fox's, one for the wheaten thread lol.

[Rabid 1,936]

26 minutes ago, walshie said:

None of the big ones I've seen have been fat. They were just like scaled up normal foxes but with great big heads and feet. Mate of mine who is a fox controller says they are getting bigger year on year in the cities.

Mine wasn't fat, it was just huge, held by its back feet I had it right up by my head before it's head was off the ground, bloody grrrt long thing it was.

[Busher100 739]

Maybe all the growth hormones in alot of discarded meats in urban areas (like fried chicken from the chicken shops) has something to do with it. 

[walshie 2,804]

9 hours ago, Rabid said:

Mine wasn't fat, it was just huge, held by its back feet I had it right up by my head before it's head was off the ground, bloody grrrt long thing it was.

But you're only 4'9". 

[Rabid 1,936]

7 minutes ago, walshie said:

But you're only 4'9". 

You must have seen me in my heels, or was you referring to WIDE

[Rabbit Hunter 6,613]

Weighing foxes is something I've never thought of doing, we've had the odd one where we'll say 'bloody hell that must be a 30 pounder' but they're more likely 22-23. 

Bugger the scales I'll keep guessing, we'll be turning into fishermen.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Rabbit Hunter

[neil cooney 10,416]

4 minutes ago, Rabbit Hunter said:

Weighing foxes is something I've never thought of doing, we've had the odd one where we'll say 'bloody hell that must be a 30 pounder' but they're more likely 22-23. 

Bugger the scales I'll keep guessing, we'll be turning into fishermen.

Terriermen and hunting men have always weighed their kills, particularly Otter hunters because hounds don't break them up like they do a fox. Manys a classic Otter hunt report ended with the weight of the Otter being mentioned. A small spring balance takes up no room in your pocket.

Guessing can make a liar of you. I snared a very large Fox a few years ago and took it home for a photo and to weigh it. It was 18 1/2 pounds. So with lads on here saying they've weighed foxes in the upper 20 lbs range you'd have to add another 1/3 of their size to even come close to 40 lbs. A 20 pounder is a very large fox so there's people claiming to have had Foxes double that.

IMO 40 pounders are either exaggerations or imaginations gone wild.