Fox Cubs

Although things are going very slowly so far as Roos go I have noticed more Fox cubs running round this year than ,I've seen in years ! At the beginning of last winter I filled a contract for 200 skins to help out a Mate who's a skin buyer ! The price collapsed back in '85 & has never really recovered . So round here once I'd filled my contract we started a heavy Baiting program which we thought was quite sucessful ! Looks like I'm going to be flat out this season ! Even at $10.00 per pelt average price I'll be able to make a living with the numbers I've seen ,so far this spring ! :)


Dave

Seen a fox the other night coming back from Orlando. That's the frist one I have seen since I been in Florida. You would starve down here Dave.

That is kind of weird because we haven't seen many this year, one or two early in the year but not now, they are gone
TONY/BS/JR.X2

Dave if you were to come to Alberta it looks like the spring cubs faired very well here to so did those damn coyotes.
Ken.:animal26:

The only thing that I can put it down to is the fact that their moving down from up North for water & as there's plenty of Carion for them ! Our baiting program was very sevire last year with a second program about a month after the first which result in a lot of Baits being left ! Which made us think we'd got on top of the problem ! I'm already getting phone calls ,to see if I'm shooting next season as the drought is making thing a little tight when it comes to the expenditure of Baits ! The Gov does issue them but not in the quantities needed to do a good programe!

Dave

I have seen a lot of them this year, too. Few if any trappers working this area, and nobody seems into the smaller livestock they like to feed on anymore, so I would have thought food supplies limited for them. Normally I'll see four or five on or by the roadside, but this year I've spotted dozens.

Our coyote and fox populations have been way down for the past several years due to red mange, but are making a comeback. We did see a red fox this week while deer hunting, which is uncommon here. Our native fox is the gray fox and the swift fox. The swifties are on the threatened list now. Fur prices are so low that there is not much interest in taking any of the furbearers here, so we are over run with raccoon, opossum, and such. We trapped a large male bobcat last week that had been stealing a lady's chickens. Used a live trap with a live game rooster for bait. Dale

Thye skin market collapsed over here in 1985 & has never really recovered ! I got 18 per skin last year but made sure I had a fixed price contract most blokes only got 10 per skin for foxes

Dave

Caught a female bobcat this week in the same trap as we caught the big tom in. No wonder she was losing chickens! Dale