CAPTURING FOXES 



By F. E. GARLOUGH, Biologist, Division of Predator and Rodent Control 

 Fish and Wildlife Service 



CONTENTS 



Introduction . 1 



Foxes and their characteristics.. 1 



Breeding habits 4 



Food habits.. 4 



Rabies among foxes 4 



Fur qualities 4 



Methods of capture 5 



Page Page 



Trapping 5 



Traps and their care 5 



Locating travel ways 6 



Selecting trap sites 6 



Setting traps 6 



Den hunting 10 



Destruction of pups 10 



Bibliography... 11 



INTRODUCTION 



The increase in the population of foxes during recent years has 

 stimulated interest in methods of catching them and reducing their 

 numbers in areas where they have become too abundant. When they 

 are not held in check by sportsmen with guns and dogs and by fur 

 hunters, they often become very destructive to poultry, game, and some 

 other animals of economic importance. Heavy infestations of foxes 

 menace human beings and domestic stock through spreading, in infected 

 areas, the dread disease known as rabies, which may originate in an 

 area from domestic dogs. 



This circular summarizes general information on foxes and gives 

 instructions for trapping and other methods of taking them. The 

 suggestions on trapping may also aid the fur hunter. Den hunting 

 should be carried on only when a more or less extensive control 

 program is necessary. Foxes in moderate numbers are not excessively 

 destructive, and, in fact, do some good through consumption of mice 

 and other creatures that damage crops. Individual foxes, however, 

 that prey on poultry or other domestic animals should be removed 

 by trapping. 



FOXES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS 



In the territory to which this circular applies, mainly the United 

 States, there are found two genera of foxes: the red fox (Vulpes) 

 and the gray fox ( Urocyon) . Another genus, the Arctic fox (Alopex), 

 inhabits the northern wastes of North America from Greenland and 

 Labrador to Alaska. 



The red foxes are divided into 2 groups : The true red foxes (Vtdpes 

 fulva) and the kit and desert foxes (Vulpes velox). In the former 

 group there are in the United States and Canada 12 species and 



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