Red Fox in our country seem to prime up sooner than coyotes. They are certainly saleable by mid-October. They are also much easier to trap than coyotes. They are generally in the same habitats as coyotes. Therefore, not wanting to catch coyotes that early (before they are prime), we start fox trapping mid-October. By making "dirty" sets (no gloves, not clean traps, etc.), we are able to catch the foxes, and catch very few coyotes. In this mountainous dry desert country, the foxes aren't particularly good color, but sell real well on the taxidermy market or craft market if I skin with feet on and split lips, turn ears, etc.









Come on, Sharon. I know you have fantastic red fox art for this thread! Anybody else?

Jack

We are starting to see more of these guys again as the coyote numbers seem to be down.

Awesome photos
Love Reds

Red fox is what I grew up hunting. Was common to see 20+ a day mid 80s_to about mid 90s.
Then came mange which wiped them out. Then came coyotes and now it's almost rare to see one.
I also believe that bald eagles are tough on them.
Only pic I have of a red fox. Guessing about 1986ish.

Thank's for sharing red fox sure are fun to trap and put up.Color wise we have a decent colored fox,but lots of frosty rumps,one in ten might be a good dark semi cherry,those are very pretty.When our fox number were good we'd have maybe 10 % bas turd fox they were a good looking fox,some people might call them a 1/4 cross,then you have the cross fox they are amazing looking animals.I've been lucky enough to catch 4 real nice crosses.I haven't caught a wild silver up here,but a couple of friends have.Thank's for sharing.

When I get snow and the coyotes have decent pelts, I switch over entirely to snares. I use deer stops on the snares, at about 7 1/4 inches. The snare doesn't usually kill the foxes (their necks are too small with the deer stops), but most of my foxes are dead when I get there, with 100 or more needle-sized punctures in the hide. Still quite salvageable. These holes are from the high numbers of wintering golden eagles we have.

Man! To me, that is a pretty fox, scout. More like the color we had in Alaska, not like these straw-colored ones around here.

Most the red fox are skinable by 15 Oct here, but are not quite prime. Another week really helps them. Coyotes are about two weeks behind them. A so called blue phase Artic fox on Rootok Island.

back in the 50s red fox was my money maker in grade school. One reason why i chose RdFx as my call sign !

Fox colours are among my favorite things to draw. Especially in prime fluffy winter condition. I'm always amazed at the colour varieties of farmed reds. And how big they can get.
Glad you posted this subject, Jack. Never tire of foxes...of any species. Even the flatheads of Mongolia .

Nice!

We have so few down here I let every landowner I trap for that any release is at my discretion and Reds are getting released until I can catch more than one every couple of years. They are beautiful creatures. Last one I caught was in 2021.
Here’s the few that were caught and released. Thankfully they ain’t as feisty as Grey’s.

As a kid, one of the very first fox I caught was a dark cherry colored one. Probably one of the prettiest fox I have ever seen. I don't recall what I sold it for but I do know it brought above average for the time back in the mid 70's.

In the 1982-83 fur season I was working at Pacific Hide and Fur in Spokane WA. We bought five red fox form some one down around your area Jack. It was getting towards spring and we were about dune buying for the year. The fox were good prime fox and we shipped them to one the auctions in Canada doing our spring clean up of odds and ends. I can not remember which auction house it was, but those were the only reds we shipped and they graded Select Alaska Red Fox. We got way more then we should have for them. Way more than they were worth.

Yeah Mark. Even in this market, these foxes bring good money, especially on the craft/taxidermy market. They're usually a bit off-color (straw) but real heavy. Quite a high proportion of crosses in the mix also. We usually get 25-30% crosses. I've seen exactly one good silver around here, but have never caught one (except in Alaska).

Jack

You did a Photo Phriday-Red Fox before Jack. I don't recall the number but I think it was an early one.

It's all good though, especially since red fox are one of my favorite subjects.

I think this one was one of the prettiest reds I've caught.



And this was one of the angriest.



I caught eighteen fox off this farm in a month. I pulled for a week and saw this when I returned to reset.



A fox triple.



Another fox triple.



This one was rubbed, I let it go.





This one is not my photo. I just think it's a great pic.I saved it to my computer years ago.



A fox pillow I had made for my granddaughter.



Speaking of my granddaughter, this is one of my favorite trapping pics of her.

Great pics Lugnut!!!

Good post Gulo! Red Fox is my favourite animal out there!

I wish I could share some of my Red fox pics, but I recently moved all the pics from my phone and don’t have them easily accessible.

We bought quite a bit of fur out of ID back then, but not that many fox. It seemed like they were in small pockets. When I was in Galena, I felt there was 25% cross and 25% silvers and 50% reds. I have never seen a cross here in ND. I saw and caught a few in MT, but it was a low percentage cross. We have a straw fox here. If you catch them early in the season when they are just getting skinable, they are a little darker. Late in the season they run real pale.