Question,
Does anyone know much about why their is cross and silver fox in the west but not in the east? Is this like eastern coyotes have color variations and western bears have color variations. Usually we run 20% cross fox in my areas but this year we are running 76% cross and silvers so far.
Thanks
Rusty

I have no idea, but that is a pretty fox there.

I have only ever caught one cross here in MN and I saw another within a mile of where I caught the one. They sure are pretty critters though.

I’m just happy to have reds where I live. A lot of people say the coyotes decimate red fox populations and they don’t have em around anymore.
Nice photo, very pretty

Rusty -

I have heard that the preponderence of silver and cross foxes in Idaho and Alaska is a holdover from the ranch foxes formerly in those states. Here in east-central (near Salmon) we have about 25-30% cross fox, but very few silvers (i've seen but 1).

Jack

Anyone ever catch any cross or silvers at lower elevation (less than 2000 ft) ? Or notice foxes in lower elevations are riddled with fleas but not so much at high elevations?

I’ve noticed a huge difference between foxes in the valley floor and foxes a few thousand feet higher. An old timer once told me the ones on the valley floor were actually the offspring of European red foxes when they were all released when fox farming crashed back in the 20s or 30s. Not sure if there is any truth to that but it sort of makes sense that if they were European foxes they can’t handle the fleas as well as native sub species of fox that evolved with those fleas. Interesting topic nonetheless

The eastern reds have some British blood, brought over for fox hunting, 1800’s; the western reds are indigenous reds to the northwest U.S.
Perhaps genetics have a play in this???

This is what I understand

Looking at where they're found it's more of a climate/environment thing. They seem to be found in colder and more forested environments. You don't see much of it in southern latitudea unless they're escapees

This. Eric

North eastern Ontario is east and low elevation.There are cross and silver fox here.A little further north into the James bay lowlands north of Otter rapids there are as many cross and silver as reds.And they are big.

I went deer hunting on Kodiak Island last year and the fox were one of the coolest things there. I saw normal reds, cross and silvers throughout my time. All were seen at one point or another under 3 yards. There is no trees to speak of where we were. They were huge too, double or more of our Michigan fox.

This is Buster the camp fox. He was very well fed while we were there. Almost tame enough to eat out of your hand. I managed to sneak up on him sleeping in the grass and run my fingers through his fur to get a quick grade.

Michigander Offline
trapper Great phot and weird looking fox to me......jk

Caught 4 along the Canadian border,a friend west of me about 8 miles shot one sliver and caught two sliver,but no cross fox for him.In the 80's and 90's we would catch quite a few bas turd fox around here,2 out of 10.A good cross is a thing of beauty.

I have seen a handful of silver fox in Manitoba very close to the Manitoba/Ontario border. An hour West, I’ve seen only Red’s.

Wild cross and silver and reds from this area have much silkier fur than the ranch fox pelts.

As far as I am concerned, Cross/Silver fox are one of the prettiest animals out there. I was totally shocked to catch the cross that I did. It was on the same 40 as the house, yet I had never seen it on the cameras. It now hangs on the living room wall as will any others that I catch.

Great pic’s

I have spent a good deal of time fishing along the Manitoba/ontario border nearly up to the big bay and seen a number of silvers as well. Once 200 miles or so north of the US I see more Lynx than anything up in that area. I have seen an arctic or two way up, summer dark.

Osky

I wish I would have known about cross and silver fox when I was a teenager. There was either a brother or cousin of old WWII CMH/ S.D. Governor/ AFL Football Commissioner Joe Foss that went to our church. Anyway, this other Foss was a big fox/coyote aerial gunner back when that was legal in South Dakota.

He talked to me about their action a few times in the later 1970s when I think it had been banned or severely curtailed. In the 1960s, this guy shotgunned a lot of red fox out of a plane back when eastern SD was mostly fox country and not much 'yote. It would have been cool to learn how many cross or silver fox they shot. I suspect not many but I'm sure he would have remembered them...

I have caught only a few cross foxes and only seen one silver,

here they are smaller than a red fox

I believe these are an invasive species brought by ranchers to Kodiak. Lot of alien species, including the deer, on Kodiak.

"The red fox is common in most of northern North America. It is found throughout Alaska, except for some of the islands of Southeast Alaska and the western Aleutians and is rare in Prince William Sound. It is native to Kodiak Island but is an introduced animal on many islands in the state as a result of fox farming operations in the early 1900s"

Maybe not, or interbreeds?

The native cascade fox of Washington, Oregon, and I believe northern California are only found in higher elevation areas, generally from above timberline to about 2000 feet below timberline.
These are essentially the same fox that extend northward into Canada and Alaska. They come in all color phases. In Wahington at least 1/3 of them will be of a color other than red.

I believe that the color phase fox found in Idaho are from escaped or released ranch raised fox from many years ago.

Does there seem to be more fox in ID and WA now then there was in the early 1980's? I worked for Pacific Hide and Fur in Spokane 1980-82 and we did not buy many fox from WA or ID.

There are very few non-native red fox in the lowlands of Washington, just a few remIning pockets. There is a good population of cascade fox, but the antis who now run WDFW have put them on the protected list; no rational reason for doing so.

Back in 2013, I was contacted by a college lady that was doing a genetic study on red foxes. She asked for a small piece of hide from each fox ( rear leg/ankle sample) . I had over 200 that year, and lacked the patience to do the extra work.
I remember Phil B telling me he was contacted and participated in the sampling. I don’t recall hearing what that study ever determined.

Originally there were no red fox in the east only gray foxes. When chased by hounds the gray fox will go in a hole so the early English gentlemen imported red fox from England to do the horse chase with a pack of dogs type fox hunts. English red fox do not carry the recessed gene for the silver fox mutation so there are no silver fox in the eastern US. English reds often have little to no white tip on their tails. Within the last 50 years Canadian red fox which carry the silver fox gene have filtered into areas of New England.
The cross fox is the first step in the silver fox color phase recessive gene. They occur occasionally out of red fox matings provided both parents carry the silver fox gene. A cross fox bred to a red fox with silver fox genes will produce 50% red fox pups, 25% cross fox pups and 25% silver fox pups. A cross fox mated to a cross fox produces 50% silver fox pups ,25% cross fox pups and 25% red fox pups. A silver fox mated to a silver fox will produce almost all silver fox pups. A silver fox mated to a red fox with silver recessive genes produces 50% cross foxes and 50 % red fox. A silver fox (or a cross fox) mated to an English red fox produces all red fox pups of which 25% will now carry the silver fox gene.
Actually a silver fox is more accurately called a black fox as it is the melanistic gene.

Good info eric!