Report Gray Fox Sightings in Illinois Here 2021

TrappersReport has been asked by folks at the Southern Illinois University to post their Gray Fox Reporting Tool.

Please see here and bookmark if it will apply to you:

https://www.trappersreport.com/story/Report-Gray-Fox-Sightings-in-Illinois

That's cool. I would assume Dr. Clay Nielsen is working on this study. He was one of my sponsoring professors for my MS, and a leading expert on camera traps (scientific term for trail camera) as well as an expert in large cats.

Find out the end game of these studies there’s multiple States doing civet research not one has a plan to help them in any way that I know of in the end. I help them any way I can I just wish they had a relocation plan to help the species survive in it’s former range, we have good numbers in pockets that would make relocation efforts easy now but nobody will make that move. It’s like they will study them into extinction when they could be relocating them along the way.

There has to be places in MN and IA that have suitable protected habitats that would support them in some parks or historic areas and protect them from habitat loss as that is the problem here I believe. Take away the cover and the end comes quickly after that it looks like.

I tried to get our Game Dept started on a program and talked to 2 different people there neither could grasp the idea of relocating civets to a past location it was like a brick wall. I’m guessing they never watched Mutual of Omaha as a kid growing up. LOL

Sometimes it seems they want you to do the footwork so somebody can get their degree in the end, there should more to it. IMO

Just go into any city. If like here tons of them running around/ Meat keeps going up they might become extinct.

I believe he's advisor to the Phd student working on the project. They're working with the developer who runs the site for me in my office as a side project.

Think I saw where Indiana is doing something similar.

Jerry, I had talked to you about that,, and when I ran it by our state fur bearer bio, He said, "I can't let you do that"! I ask why, and he said that I'd be relocating diseases with the civets! I was willing to do what I could, but that just sounds like a cop out to me! I would love to see the little stinkers make a comeback, they were thick when I was a kid!

I'll pass it on. Thanks.

I know nothing about IL land usage but if its anything like around here small family farms are disappearing fast and big farming operations seem to remove all fence lines and clear connecting cover. They plant up to the road even between powerlines so the dispersion routes and denning sites are limited as is carrying capacity in many places. Not sure moving a few fox would do much to really improve the situation.

That being said a survey count seems like the first step to making a useful plan for reintroduction.

Interesting.

State bios have lots of reasons, many good ones, some nonsensical. I would go back and start beating the drum of civet recovery. Why has gotta be about more than harvesting them, something along the lines of we have a whole bunch of habitats but no civets - a native species. You may have to be willing to be a pain, willing to go ask the dnr commission why aren't we concerned about this species. IME field level bios & mid level managers have a lot less pull than you think. So its not totally unexpected that the field up approach is not working well. Eventually someone will get curious and ask you why its so important to? Then have a good answer. Always respectful. Always putting the well-being of the critter first.

Don't shoot the messenger but 95% of state employees are going to get suspicious if your first conversation is about trapping and hauling them in from out of state. I wouldn't hesitate to ask for more info on the disease issue. If its real there should be no hesitation to give that to you.

I live at the very bottom of Illinois, I've never seen a gray fox nor do I know of anyone who really has. We don't have very many reds around either, but I will see those once in a blue moon.