One of the most beautiful pelts and a joy to put up is the red fox (and all its color variations). For taxidermy, they're still bringing good money. To maximize your returns, learn to skin for the taxidermy market.


This is a typical cross fox from interior Alaska.



This one's a rather light-colored cross fox from Idaho.



This is a typical red fox color from east-central Idaho.



Although we caught many "cherry" reds in Alaska, this was a good color in central Idaho; not too good.


What colors are you catching?

The bottom one is what we catch around my home in North Central WI. 45 years ago that was our predator now we have very few around and I release any I catch. Absolutely beautiful.

some are light-colored here, but very pretty and well-furred. Elsewhere in the forest-steppe zone they tend to be more grayish-brownish. This particular one was so nice that even the tannery people admired it, and they see thousands of them. Big male (some of the marten in the picture are also very big, it's the Altai subspecies).


I think I've posted this one already. Not my catch, but I claimed it. Someone just wanted to catch some bunnies and handling a rabies vector was not in his plans.


My good mycological comrade Dmitriy Ageev is working in the Sikhote-Alinskiy Nature Reserve right now and photographed this one a couple of days ago. I thought I'd post it, because you are familiar with the location:

Love the red fox colours. They are among my favorite to draw.

As usual Sharon, fantastic!

Typical big male

My favorite animal to trap, put up, or just watch in natural habitat.

Very cool video Tatiana!

Love to see them jump like that, thank you, Tatiana.

And thank you, Jack, and Hoss. I always wait to get an assignment from my editors to do fox.

Someday, I'd love to do one of those Mongolian flatheads...those neat so different looking foxes high on the Himalayan plateau . I call them Flatheads

Sharon -

Sorry I don't have better pictures. I saw some corsac foxes (at a distance, going like mad) and took lots of Przewalski's Horse pictures (none too good also). I thought you may like. The corsac foxes were tiny (cat-sized) and were killed by rampant rabies. Hustai Park in Mongolia has the only wild populations of Przewalski's horses, which is the only truly wild horse in the world. Your name of corsac foxes (flatheads) is very fitting.

What great adventures you've had. Thank you for these pics too. Those early horses are all head length, like a Jack Russel Terrier. The cave paintings so well mirrored those horses, too.

Here are a few shots of Flatheads I found on the internet. And the native with his eagle has a cape of Flathead fur . With as small as they are that cape took some catching many foxes !

Those are some weird looking foxes.

In 2000 my family moved from Nome to Unalakleet. Improved my snaring skill there. Mostly with lynx, but also wolverine and fox. 2003 moved back to Nome. Realized that year that snares would work real well around Nome. 4 wheeler or snogo busting thru brush or grass made trails the fox would follow. Western Alaska has a lot of fox and they are big and well furred. Hooked up thru taxidermy.net with a taxidermist in Michigan. He bought the fox I caught and sold mounts on ebay. Learned to dorsal skin. Initially left the skull in, lower legs in, frozen and shipped express mail to Michigan, Skulls added weight so soon skinned out the head too. Hides with feet still in were frozen and shipped in boxes of 10 or more. For those who remember family trapper, he taught me to sell lynx the same way. Made a lot of extra money over a few years selling frozen dorsal skinned hides to taxidermists.
The 2008 increase in oil prices and resulting recession brought that all to an end.
Here's a few pics:
this little 340 snogo busted thru a lot of willow thickets right around Nome where I would set snares.


Nome version of the white 17 snare pole set:

Sharon, I think those flatheads are actually Tibetan foxes (Vulpes ferrilata), from very high elevations, but for some reason they're usually called Mongolian foxes in the Internet In most of Mongolia, it's just corsacs (Vulpes corsac). Mongolia is 550 miles to the south from here, and our nature is similar to some parts of Mongolia. We also have corsac foxes, but I've never trapped them because I'm rarely out in the steppes. They sometimes come close to human dwelling and I see some roadkilled ones occasionally. I salvaged one a couple of years ago and had it tanned, and its fur is very soft and really pretty, prettier than red fox fur in a way. It appears gray and almost bluish from a distance, but in reality it has deep reddish-brown underfur and white-ticked guard hair. Probably a challenge to draw! Here it is compared to two other common local steppe species, the forest-steppe groundhog and the steppe polecat.





Here's a link to a video with a very rare encounter with all three species interacting. Hopefully the link works.


https://vk.com/video-142733154_456244685

I think the eagle guy's hat is made of mostly of red fox feet, the Khanty also use fox feet (and sable feet) to make beautiful patchworked elements, but not hats, collars usually.

Tatiana -

Thanks much (spaceba bolshoi) for the education. Your posts are always valued and educational!

Tatiana,

What a great video. What were the chances of that to happen right where it could be videoed ?

I wish there were more close up videos of those Flatheads.

I really appreciate your input on the Falconer's hat. I wondered what that fur was. So, I suppose reds also occupy the same territory as Flatheads ? Or, of course, there is always trade among countries. I love that contrast of colours in his hat.

Thank you too, for the close up of that fox fur. And your description. I couldnt see that detail from the photos alone. I love that colour combo. Usually, underfur is grayish , in many species. The dark tones are on the top. This, however, is unique. How I would try that , is to put down the light blueish tones on paper first, then go over the top carefully, with dark red/brown , in the places where the fur parts , lesser on the smooth surfaces, and the most where the fur is seen straight on by the viewer . Time consuming, but worthwhile.

Any other videos you find, please toss them my way !

Ah, the rare Ballerina fox ...I hear they only dance in full moonlight. So videos of them are rare...

You never know how the Photo Phriday will produce. This one is really been a pleasure.
One contract that I had was to look for ticks that came into the fur buyers and look at them pre-drumming.
Bar codes and sections were easy to track once some ticks were found. Remember that this was pre-explosion of the Black legged tick ( Ixodes scapularis) and it's movement across USA and southern Canada.
3 tick species were found with a 5% infection rate
Those northern Alaska foxes were 6 inches longer and much more finer texture and stood out in the piles.
no photo so am I banned ?

Very nice thread Once again the trapper man crew lead the way in teaching us all there is to know about the beauty and variations that are a part of Mother Nature Herein PA our favorite or I should say most prevalent color of Red Fox is called a Straw Back That is because the back and rump are of the same color as a bale of PA wheat or barley straw And now a days the farmers probably getting paid more for a small square bale of barley straw than what a very good prime pelt would bring But they are fun to trap and always interesting to learn aboutA gain a great thread with the always wonderful pictures and a shout out to Sharo for her always first rate tat making her subjects took alive

Well said west side; Sharon's art is forever mind-blowing. Love the foxes. Not in this thread, but a favorite of mine is the fox that a not-too-good marksman has just missed. Great addition by Tatiana also!

Jack

I guess the Bolshoi Ballet went over everyone's collective head

Jack, I think you mean this one. It was to a story about a young trapper growing up, missing the shot by a little, from distance, and how the fox reacted to the snow blowing up in front of him. A good action image, among my favorites to do.

Thank you also , west side rd. Many videos of action and photos from kind trappers , with their permission, is what allows art in technical form . All Thanks and credit to them.

The top is the picture in its entirety, the bottom a cropped zoom of the fox in closer detail.

That's exactly the one. Thanks again, Sharon!!

You're welcome, sir. Always a pleasure and privilege to contribute to your threads.