Fox family in my yard - an ethical question


Artista_co

New member
I have a family of foxes living in my yard. I would like to get their pelts. I have no qualms about shooting the adults, but they have 3 kits that are outside the den and hunting with them. I am not so sure that I want the kits to starve. Although, I am not sure I could shoot them as well. Perhaps trapping would work. I do not know quite what to do. The kits are just now starting to hunt, so if I did not get them right away - maybe they would not starve, and I could get them at a later date.

I have a 1 year old granddaughter living with us, and one of the foxes came to within 20 yards of my wife while she was sitting on the front porch. I was too slow getting the rifle at the time. Also, we want to get chickens this year, and they have brought some chicken carcasses (from the neighborhood) into our yard to feast. This will be a problem in the future.

Also, I assume that a 10-22 would be fine for a fox - less than 75 yards. Remington 22 Golden tip hollowpoints 62gr. 1280fps.

Any thoughts opinions appreciated.
 

I have a family of foxes living in my yard. I would like to get their pelts. I have no qualms about shooting the adults, but they have 3 kits that are outside the den and hunting with them. I am not so sure that I want the kits to starve. Although, I am not sure I could shoot them as well. Perhaps trapping would work. I do not know quite what to do. The kits are just now starting to hunt, so if I did not get them right away - maybe they would not starve, and I could get them at a later date.

I have a 1 year old granddaughter living with us, and one of the foxes came to within 20 yards of my wife while she was sitting on the front porch. I was too slow getting the rifle at the time. Also, we want to get chickens this year, and they have brought some chicken carcasses (from the neighborhood) into our yard to feast. This will be a problem in the future.

Also, I assume that a 10-22 would be fine for a fox - less than 75 yards. Remington 22 Golden tip hollowpoints 62gr. 1280fps.

Any thoughts opinions appreciated.


Personally, if the kits can hunt, they can survive. That choice is yours (of course if within the rules of hunting in your area).

As far as the .22 LR is concerned. Hell no unless you're shooting a heck of a lot closer than 75 yards. You better have one hell of a shot placement if you are shooting that far and using a .22 LR. More than likely you will just wound the fox.

A .22 mag or .17 hmr at that distance would be a better choice, most would say .223 would be a more humane kill. What other choices in caliber do you have?
 
Wait til they leave the burrow and put a sheet of weighted (cinderblocks) plywood over their burrow. When they come back and find no access to it they will probably move on to a new location. You get rid of them and nobody dies. We have a lot of fox in our county and it has worked for me.
 
Wait til they leave the burrow and put a sheet of weighted (cinderblocks) plywood over their burrow. When they come back and find no access to it they will probably move on to a new location. You get rid of them and nobody dies. We have a lot of fox in our county and I has worked for me.

But then the OP gets no pelts. :smile:
 
I want a fox pelt... with the fox still in it!


Happy little guy... lol

Love foxes... but no good around chickens.
 
As far as the .22 LR is concerned. Hell no unless you're shooting a heck of a lot closer than 75 yards. You better have one hell of a shot placement if you are shooting that far and using a .22 LR. More than likely you will just wound the fox.

A .22 mag or .17 hmr at that distance would be a better choice, most would say .223 would be a more humane kill. What other choices in caliber do you have?


The .223 will make one hell of a mess unless your using bullets that will NOT expand or tumble. .30-06 and all you will have left is fur for making dry flys. I have a 12x on my .22lr (Ruger 10/22). 75 yards is nothing. Quarter sized groups at 100 yards. .17HMR is a good choice too.
.
For .22lr, I would use CCI segmented. 1050 if you suppress, 1650 and Im afraid it will ruin the pelt.
.
Good pelts = SMALL holes
 
The .223 will make one hell of a mess unless your using bullets that will NOT expand or tumble. .30-06 and all you will have left is fur for making dry flys. I have a 12x on my .22lr (Ruger 10/22). 75 yards is nothing. Quarter sized groups at 100 yards. .17HMR is a good choice too.
.
For .22lr, I would use CCI segmented. 1050 if you suppress, 1650 and Im afraid it will ruin the pelt.
.
Good pelts = SMALL holes

Personally, I would use my .17 HMR at that distance. In my experience, the .22 LR won't have the energy that far out... a .22 magnum would also be a real good choice. Your mileage may vary. I agree the .223 should not be an expanding round used on a fox because it will make a mess.

However, he has only a choice between a .22 LR and a .223. If those were my only options and I didn't want follow up shots for the most humane kill out past 50 yards, I'd use the .223.

Personally, I'd borrow a friends .22 magnum rifle or .17 HMR rifle for shots like that if he could. Short of doing that, what choice does he have?

PS... I don't even want to picture what the .30-06 would do... can someone say pink mist and fur chunks.
 
The last fox I shot with a .223 had a 2" exit wound. In my opinion, unless you have enough open space to follow up better make head shots with a 22lr. Foxes near the house are bad news all the way around. Mange and rabies are the main problems but foxes carry other wild canid diseases which I wouldn't want around my home(especially with small children present). Be advised, the fur is only worthwhile during the coldest months and states determine the legal furbearer seasons.
 
:eek: Are you really that bloodthirsty!

Once upon a time, long long ago, I was. As a young man I was so frigg 'in nutz that I used to hunt deer with a knife. (Yes, I did!) I lived to hunt and fish. I killed so many animals, so often, that by the age of, about, 30 I actually began to dislike myself. Suddenly outsmarting the rest of The Good Lord's creation started losing its savor. The thrill of the hunt disappeared; and, instead of killing, I began to develop a healthy need to give something back to life instead of always taking something from it. I put the hunting weapons away: The guns, the bows, the knives, the traps, and wire snares. All of it. I always had dogs; so I decided that I wanted to breed and raise litters of puppies - Which I did; and, trust me on this, it was a lot of work! I used to sell the puppies for $1,000.00 dollars apiece; and, to this day, I still think the buyers got themselves a good deal.

Truthfully, it felt a lot better to be raising puppies than killing wildlife. Then, almost by accident, I became involved in domestic animal rescue work. It ended up costing us, 'a fortune'; and my wife and I saved a lot of homeless animals from, either, starving or being put down. (One cat cost us, '$1,800.00 to have its two broken legs fixed; but I enjoyed doing it. We kept the cat; and, wouldn't you know, the cat and I became best friends.)

Last year a stray cat came onto the farm and took up residence living in the crawlspace underneath one of the outbuildings. Turned out she was pregnant; and delivered 4 kittens into the world. I, pretty much, ignore her and the litter until, one afternoon, I sat down on a log next to a large wild rosebush; and, all of a sudden, a little kitten who would have easily fit into the palm of my hand came teeter-tottering out from underneath the bush, and tippy-toed right up to me! I could tell it was afraid; and I decided not to touch it for fear of putting it into shock. When I looked at the bush I realized that there were other (I didn't know how many.) very young kittens hiding in there, as well.

Those cats were completely wild; the mother (A very clever hunter) avoided coming anywhere near us; and she taught the kittens to behave the same way - Except for the one small cat I'd originally made acquaintance with. He continued to show himself whenever we sat out in the backyard. My wife, who has to be one of the gentlest of all God's creatures, decided to feed him. At first he wouldn't eat; but, little by little, she won him over. The end result is amazing! With the exception of the mother who will never be tame, all of the kittens finally accepted us; and, now, we're all the very best of friends! When I'm out and about on the farm I've got four, large, once upon a time, feral cats following me everywhere I go.

They won't go near anyone else, and will go into hiding if someone comes along; but with my wife and I they're perfectly at ease. There turned out to be a hidden benefit in all of this, too. During the first year I live-trapped each of them and had them spayed and neutered. It was time-consuming, difficult, and expensive; but we, finally, caught the mother and got them all done. Like most farms I knew we had a rodent problem; I mean there's grain and feed all over the place - Has been for years. Until these cats became active around the place I didn't appreciate just how many rats, mice, and voles we had. During the first year these five cats were catching as many as 5 to 8 rodents a day, each - EACH!

It's taken them more than 18 months; but, the daily kill ratio has finally started to fall off. Now it's an odd day when I see one of the cats catch more than 2 or 3 vermin. We used to get an occasional mouse (or even a rat) inside the house during the winter; but so far this year there ain't been nothing; and for the first time in 15 years I haven't seen a rat in the barn. The feral cats are now our feral cats; and we're letting them into the house during the coldest winter nights. They were, 'spooky' at first and would hide in the closet all night; but, recently, they've started to simply sleep on the floor.

A couple of months ago we decided that contact between the cats and us was so frequent and so close that they, all, need to be wormed and fully vaccinated. So, off to the veterinarian we went. (Boy, was the Vet happy when he saw the present we'd brought him! His four daughters are in college; and I'm sure we've, now, help pay this year's tuition!) Yeah, it's expensive adding 5 feral cats (The mother still shows up every morning looking to be fed.) to the 3 indoor (show) cats we already had; but, as I said to my wife the other day, 'Perhaps, in someway, this expense will compensate the planet for the extraordinary bloodlust of my youth.' - Perhaps!

(I remember, once, telling a Minister, 'If God doesn't allow hunting in Heaven then I don't want to go!' I actually said that!) :rolleyes:
 
Several years ago we had a family of foxes that burrowed under our front stoop, an entrance no one uses. We enjoyed watching them, the dad would go to the top of the drive and mom would get the kits out of the den where they would play and wrestle. If anyone drove by (we don't get much traffic) dad would sound the alarm and they would all dive back into the den. We could stand in the foyer and watch them through the sidelights.

About dusk we would see them take the kits hunting, one adult leading, one following, all going off single file. You will also have a lot less rodents around also.

Next year they were gone, and I filled the den in with dirt.

We still have them around, as we often hear them at night and see one from time to time
 
The last fox I shot with a .223 had a 2" exit wound. In my opinion, unless you have enough open space to follow up better make head shots with a 22lr. Foxes near the house are bad news all the way around. Mange and rabies are the main problems but foxes carry other wild canid diseases which I wouldn't want around my home(especially with small children present). Be advised, the fur is only worthwhile during the coldest months and states determine the legal furbearer seasons.

^^^Plus 1+^^^


-
 
:eek: I said to my wife the other day, 'Perhaps, in someway, this expense will compensate the planet for the extraordinary bloodlust of my youth.' - Perhaps!

I think many of us were blood thirsty in our youth and mellow with age.

I still like deer meat and will put one in the freezer every year but I am very careful to make a quick clean kill.

There is another doe fawn in the ram paddock again this year that I throw a little corn to every morning when I feed the sheep. She stands about 10 feet away and waits for her corn. here is a smart old doe that has dad her fawns in the field the last three years, she know our sheep guard dog wouldn't let the coyotes get that close to the sheep.
 
This thread is a year old and the OP hasn't logged in since August. Odds are those foxes are hats by now
 

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