A repost from this blog, circa February 2005.
The picture, above, is from a trapper who lives about 12 miles north of where I typically hunt. In a 53-day trapping period this fellow brought in 1,220 fox.
Any question about whether Maryland and Virginia have the best fox country in the nation?
Regulated fox trapping does no harm to fox populations, as the fox populations compensate by having slightly larger litters, while mortality due to mange and starvation tends to decrease due to an abundance of food and less back-to-back den occupation.
That said, most fox do very little harm, as free-range poultry is increasingly rare, and the primary diet of fox is not farm stock, but mice, voles, berries, roadkill, gut-shot deer, beetles, bugs, and the occassional rabbit, rat, nesting bird and baby groundhog. For more about fox, see the review of David MacDonald's exellent book, read the squibs about both Gray and Red fox, and see the Fox Year page
Maryland and Virginia were the first states to import red fox to the U.S. and also were the first states to import fox hounds.
The state dog of Virginia is the fox hound, and the Master of Foxhound Association of America is located in Northern Virginia about 45 minutes from my house.
- Related Posts:
** Trapping and the Cull of the Wild
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