Southern/Central Illinois guys see many grey fox?

Been hunting since I was 13, now 39. And had never seen a grey fox before. Knew there had to be a few since there is a season for them. Unfortunately the season isnt in as I spotted this on the side of the rode on my way to work this morning.

Any of you other central and southern Illinois guys see/catch many?

I hunt in Hamilton county and run trail cams year around and have never had one on cam. Get plenty of coyotes and bobcats but never any fox

I'm more western Illinois, Morgan, Cass, and Pike counties along the Illinois River. I have seen three in my lifetime, never have caught one.

Have hunted Willamson and Fayette counties for years and never have seen one.
Last one I spotted was in Lake county about 15 years ago.

Saw my first one last year. Im in brown county
J

My dad killed one rabbit hunting about 55 years ago.That was the
only one I have seen.It was in Peoria County.


Dan

Caught one in Woodford county about 35 years ago. That's the last grey one I saw.

Back in the 60's before the deer and coyotes moved in there was a lot of foxes here. Enough that in cool weather it was almost certain on any Saturday nite you could you go outside and hear the music of the local foxhounds. The old guys always told the story that a guy came down from Chicago and wanted to go on a fox chase so they invited him. They turned out and in a few minutes had a hot one going. One of the guys said listen to that music, the guy from Chicago said "I can't hear nothing for that bunch of dang dogs barking". They would never kill the fox and hoped the dogs didn't. One fellow used to run oil pumps about 50 mi from here and would catch ground hogs and bring them back here so they would dig dens and make resting spots for the foxes to go to when they got tired. The little greys would often go up a tree.
The hound guys would have different spots where they turned out and would have a fire where they would sit and drink and eat while listening to the chase. One such spot was up north of the highway a few miles. The dogs would be running and if they happened to go South and went too far, one of the hound men would yell "CATCH THEM DOGS". The camp like site would be abandoned of men and vehicles for a mad rush to catch those hounds. You see they had a fox that would go to the highway up on a hill and then run right down the middle of the highway for a 1/4 mi to the East to a creek and then go south right thru the middle of where some of RM's deer hunting ground is now. The guys had lost a few good hounds on that stretch of highway from the cars. They swore that fox knew what he was doing getting their dogs killed.

My first year of catching foxes, I caught 3 greys and 2 reds. That was in the 66-67 season. I caught one grey up in a maple tree in a 1 1/2 long spring that was set for a coon. Along about that time was when I would hear a lone coyote howl and I would once in a while see a deer track and hear of an occasional sighting. About 15 mi West of hear they would have coyote drives. We had a bounty of $15 on Willey. I caught my first coyote in '69 in a #3, I had seen a pair while quail hunting, only caught the one.

I have killed greys and reds numerous times while running my beagles in the 70's. I did catch several trapping in the high prices of the 80's.

Now the coyotes and deer are thicker than rabbits and the reds are as scarce as hens teeth. A red got ran over a couple weeks ago on the highway North of my house where a patch of pine is. I get a sickening feeling when I see a fox ran over. Apparently today's foxes aren't as smart as their dog killings cousin, lol. Haven't seen any greys for 4 or 5 years, but I hope they are still around.

The fox running was replaced by coyote running and since the coyotes run farther the use of vehicles was used and with that came all sorts of violations. The cb radio was replaced by the cell phone. The fox pens sorta replaced the free roaming ranges for the safety of the dogs esp. chasing deer. Things are always evolving including me. One of these days I too will cycle out, and while I may slow to a crawl before I go, at least I still get to listen to the Blood Hounds of Heaven.

i'm in Shelby county.......last gray I caught/saw was 1996

The 'yotes have put a hurt on 'em compared to the numbers of yesteryear, but there's still plenty of reds and greys across WI. Be surprised if they're not across IL as well.

This one was in williamson county just south of the franklin county line.

I haven’t seen a grey fox in white or Gallatin counties since I was a kid. And trust me that’s been several years ago.

Iroquois county used to be full of them in wooded areas. I caught my last one about 1980 or so , about when we started getting coyotes!

Grey's climbing tree

McLeansboro sports teams been called the foxes ever since I can remember. We had a stuffed grey that was often shown.

Have been seeing red foxes somewhat regularly the last couple years in franklin and williamson county. Have had a red on trail cam multiple times the last 3 years where we deer hunt. Until this one only saw greys on youtubr

I grew up in McClean and Woodford Counties in the 40's and 50's and farmed the family farm near Kappa in the 1960's before rejoining the FWS. During that time I trapped one grey fox and that was the only one I ever observed there.

Jarhead

Last one I seen...Randolph Co in 1985 wearing my #2 dbl. Longspring...she's still hangs in my livingroom...none since

brother and I use to catch 4-6 a year back when I was still trapping. I haven't trapped much in 8 years though.