For fox sake

[trewern]

just want to get an idea how large the fox problems are on farms in different areas along with what problems there causing.. What kind of control is the best.besides shooting them... Only reason I say that is I seam to see them every time I haven't got the gun by they time I get it there gone and don't find enough time to bait them in hi seat there obviously about all year long but seen a few recently around the fields especially as the nights are drawing in... a few chickens have also disappeared over the past week or so But today the bugger was sat in the middle of the field at 10.30 when went to check the sheep seen me and was off... What are the cage traps like ?..best places to set them... are foxes actually stupid enough to walk into a metal cage... I know what it's like trying to get a dog in a crate when they never been in one... Any home made traps pics about ?

 

[phillipe]

put the right bait in the trap ie dead lamb,my mate caught half a dozen this year

 

[Sako75]

The bigger the trap the better,foxes don't like going in the small traps that are available on line,far better making your own! For me it's thermal imager and night vision!

 

[CopperBeech]

Hard to beat thermal imaging and a rifle for efficiency.

Personally used to like catching them with dogs or bolting them with a terrier.

 

[GTB]

Hard to beat thermal imaging and a rifle for efficiency.

Our neighbours shot three within an hour the other night in the exact same spot (next to a dead ram).

 

[Sako75]

Those were the days a good bull X. Still got the fell terriers to dig to!

 

[CopperBeech]

Our neighbours shot three within an hour the other night in the exact same spot (next to a dead ram).

Its frighteningly efficient Dai.

 

[Y Fan Wen]

One guy leaves a casualty sheep on the field in view of his bedroom window. Each one will provide 2 or 3.

 

[exmoor dave]

Hell of alot of young foxes around at the mo, I reckon they had a good spring and summer with the millions of rabbits about,

But with the mixy having been through I reckon the foxes are going to have a hungry winter.

 

[CopperBeech]

Those were the days a good bull X. Still got the fell terriers to dig to!

Proper foxing.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Have terrier, will travel!

 

[Guiggs]

Stick a live trap next to your chicken shed and bait it up, leave it there and you'll catch them given time.at this time of year every vixen you catch will bring you a couple of dog foxes over the following nights!

 

[Bones]

Shot 2 today ,flushed out of cover,doesn't matter how many you shoot ,always plenty about,made a cage trap onced,only caught one fox with it and that was in a scrap yard ,so the fox had no fear of steel or metal.apart from that one the cage was a waste of time.

 

[vinnie123]

Personally used to like catching them with dogs or bolting them with a terrier.[/QUOTE] ''tis as good as it gets!

 

[Dry Rot]

The most efficient control I ever saw was a mate who kept a few lurchers and ran them with terriers. Probably now illegal. He's gone now, so no worries.

But for me it has to be snares though there are so many silly rules now that you could probably catch them quicker with the red tape!

 

[Kidds]

Hell of alot of young foxes around at the mo, I reckon they had a good spring and summer with the millions of rabbits about,

But with the mixy having been through I reckon the foxes are going to have a hungry winter.

I'm not convinced a fox will catch a healthy rabbit very often. Might manage sick or young ones though.
Same tale here with the rabbits, there were loads but gone now.
Don't see many foxes but there's one around the place recently giving my geese more attention than I'd like.

 

[matthew]

Stick a live trap next to your chicken shed and bait it up, leave it there and you'll catch them given time.at this time of year every vixen you catch will bring you a couple of dog foxes over the following nights!

Heard a lovely story of a sheep farmer who did this. Left his bedroom window open, and gun local.
Fox came, chick chirped, bloke woke up, grabbed the gun and shot....


..... the chicken.

Better go to Specsavers

 

[Guiggs]

Heard a lovely story of a sheep farmer who did this. Left his bedroom window open, and gun local.
Fox came, chick chirped, bloke woke up, grabbed the gun and shot....


..... the chicken.

Better go to Specsavers

Just to be clear, I meant a cage trap baited with a dead animal not a live one!

 

[Dry Rot]

I'm not convinced a fox will catch a healthy rabbit very often. Might manage sick or young ones though.
Same tale here with the rabbits, there were loads but gone now.
Don't see many foxes but there's one around the place recently giving my geese more attention than I'd like.

There is an old study done by the now departed Department of Agriculture Fisheris and Food for Scotland (DAAFS) on the West Coast of Scotland done by a pro fox scientist who apparently had much the same idea as yourself. But after the study, he reported that a fox can kill a live healthy lamb up to 10kgs in weight. If you try Google, you might find that report because it is on line somewhere.

I have personal experience of foxes killing a very large North Country Cheviot feeder tup. The tracks were quite clear in fresh snow and there was a pool of blood under the corpse. A pathologist confirmed that a corpse does not bleed. But I suspect the sheep was probably ill, it was a very cold night in the Highlands, and foxes were hunting in family groups. Penty of reports of foxes attacking ful grown sheep incapacitated in some way (e.g. during lambing).

Foxes are survivors. They'll happily eat sh*t to survive. When times are hard forothersecies, plentyof corpses for the fox. Can't speak for your soft tame lowland foxes that would struggle with a rabbit though!

 

[Gator]

put the right bait in the trap ie dead lamb,my mate caught half a dozen this year

Agree, use trap all year round here. Lost count now seems the more you get rid off the more turn up. It's like a target, get rid of the 10 ring and the 9 ring moves in. Use lamb, rabbit and chicken.