Fox question

[Rabbit_slayer16]

I have just been introduced to dog hunting last week. we got one coyote. And i really liked it. I wanna go out and try for some fox as well. I was wondering if you need to know where dens are to hunt them or if you can set up and call with out knowing that. I know their are foxes around where i am going. Do you just use like a rabbit call like for coyotes or do i need something else? Do you set up for 15 minutes and when nothing comes go to a new spot like with yotes or what?

[shagster]

I think the correct man to ask would be DAA, he is the varmint pro around here... :hail2thechief: He should be able to answer any questions you can think of... :2thumbs:

[DAA]

I really don't know a whole lot about targeting fox specifically. I get a couple, here and there as incidentals while actually trying for coyotes. Never get too many fox while targeting coyotes though, because if there are a lot of coyotes around, there won't be many fox (coyotes kill 'em).

I think I can help a little bit with some of your questions though.

This time of year, you don't need to know where the dens are. Fox and coyotes both, don't actually live in dens. They only use them during pup rearing. And even then, it's mainly the pups who actually live in the dens, not the adults. Once the pups are a couple of months old, the whole family abandons the den. There are always exceptions - you could find a fox or a coyote using a hole in the ground at any time of year, but in general, they don't, except to raise pups.

So, no need to know the specific den locations now, since they aren't likely using them at this time of year. It's sufficient just to know that there are fox in the area.

In my limited experience, calling red fox is pretty much the same as calling coyotes. The same prey distress sounds will work for both. And I'd make my stands about the same length of time too.

I do think that fox are less likely to be active in the middle of the day than a coyote is. Calling coyote at mid day is common, but calling in fox at mid day seems pretty unusual. I think concentrating on early morning and late afternoon/early evening would probably be the most productive. The guys I know back east, that really kill a lot of reds, do all their hunting at night.

I believe that the fox around here pair up and mate earlier than the coyotes do. The coyotes are just starting to pair up now, and won't be actually breeding for about another month. But I think the fox are usually about a month ahead of the coyotes, so they are probably paired already and starting to get into breeding season. I'm not sure how that might effect calling strategies for fox. But breeding season definitely adds an extra wrinkle, or layer of difficulty to calling coyotes. They seem to be less interested in the usual prey distress at that time of year and it may take some more creative calling strategies to produce good results. With coyotes, that may mean using more coyote vocalizations. For myself though, I quit hunting coyotes for the year once they start breeding, as I simply prefer to leave them alone during their reproduction and pup rearing cycles.

- DAA

[Rabbit_slayer16]

Hey thanks a lot for the help. I will be heading out to do fox when i get back from cali. I have a friend that his dad is a sheep rancher. They have tons of land up at wasatch and cotton wood thats private. Ill be giving him a call and going to hit them for coyotes also. Ill post up how i do. Thanks again