Fox and Coyote dispersal time...

[morgan]

is now. Any of you guys who want to catch foxes and coyotes now [till end of the season] is the time to get your traps in the right locations. The colder and windier the night the better. If you can keep em working thru the rain. I have been killing flattails during the recent monsoon and am way behind skinning....

Good luck with em.

[THE DEER HUNTER]

I am new to trapping, so exactly what do you mean by dispersal time? Also, is there a good general location where you would set a trap for a fox?

[morgan]

Dispersal is when the YOY get kicked out of the family groups and are forced to travel to look for their own territories. It is also mating time for fox and coyotes, raccoon will be a little later. Canids will travel a looooog ways in search of vacant territory where they can establish. Coyotes more so than foxes are beginning to set up territorial boundaries and maintain them so as to keep others out.

I never look for sign when setting for foxes. I set on location knowing they will be there. Location is a much bigger subject than a few internet postings can cover but look at topo or sat. maps for barriers such as rivers, towns, major highways. The animals will tend to travel along these areas as they cannot go thru or across. A good micro-location would be the farmers road thru fields especially where it crosses a ditch and also a dry swale or grassy waterway thru a field. If these farms are up against the barriers I mentioned they can be spots that produce 10 to 40 foxes per season.
Help any ?

[davep]

I've been using Google Earth more and more the last few years for my hunting and trapping.
Helps give a broad overview, and then lets you narrow your search BEFORE you get there.Saves time, fuel, and walking!
Granted, some of the images are old, and I have gone into "woods" that had just been clearcut, or had houses spring up nearby, but still a useful tool.

Now if I could just get things back together enough to get back at it!
(hope to hit things HARD the last two weeks, but so far, my plans ain't been working out!)

[morgan]

Google Earth is great....unless all you can get is dial up like me.. .....then it [glow=red,2,300]sucks[/glow]. I use the Merlin system on the DNR Home page and it is okay.....the best part is that it shows property lines so you don't stray off your permission.

Now if I could just get it to stop raining I could bear down on the foxes.

[davep]

Dec 27, 2008 6:58:01 GMT -5 morgan said:

Google Earth is great....unless all you can get is dial up like me.. .....then it [glow=red,2,300]sucks[/glow]. I use the Merlin system on the DNR Home page and it is okay.....the best part is that it shows property lines so you don't stray off your permission.

Now if I could just get it to stop raining I could bear down on the foxes.

Most libraries have high speed.

And as far as all the rain, ain't it GREAT to just about have to wash off your catch to figure out what it is! ;D

[Hardcorehunter]

You know I saw a funny thing today. At 11 oclock in the morning, a pair of mature red foxes were running in a field parallel to a back road. I followed them trying to get a picture. I ended up splitting the pair and no picture. But they were ten yards from the road running through peoples yards in the middle of the day. My kids thought they were "pretty dogs" I was chasing.

[morgan]

I bet they didn't stay split long.....I drove up on a double couple years ago, this time of year. There was a 3rd fox laying in the field about 10' from them....wind was blowing and they did not hear me coming. I stopped about 100yd. from the location and tried to shoot the loose fox with my little .22 while he was mounting the female in the trap. Ended up shooting the trapped female and the loose male took off. Till the next day.....he just couldn't leave it alone.