September, 1943 
over 90 per cent in 1931. Other workers 
have reported similar findings. Predation 
on game is probably rather general, but, 
except perhaps locally, it is doubtful if 
foxes ever threaten game populations with 
extermination. Foxes are most destructive 
during the spring months when foraging 
for their young; at all seasons availability 
of prey largely determines the kind of 
food and the degree to which it may be 
taken (Errington 1937a). One of the 
best ways of protecting poultry, therefore, 
is to keep it out of the fields and woods. 
‘Trapping and hunting are recommend- 
ed as the best means of controlling red 
foxes; a well-trained dog will keep all 
foxes at a distance. The use of poison and 
gas, now illegal against fur animals in 
Illinois, is not recommended at any time. 
The payment of bounties and the killing 
of animals when the pelts are valueless 
invariably result in waste of money and 
valuable furs. It should not be forgotten 
that one or more prime fox pelts per year 
may cover, or more than cover, predation 
losses on the average farm. In the neces- 
sity of reducing fox populations over siz- 
able areas, more intensive hunting and 
trapping are suggested during the winter 
months when the fur is prime. During the 
trapping season local trappers often gladly 
aid in control. 
Populations.—In the opinion of nu- 
merous experienced trappers, an increase 
in the red fox population became apparent 
about 1931, and a peak was reached in 
1934-35. Since that time the population 
seems to have remained relatively stable 
except for minor or local fluctuations. 
The high 1938-39 catch probably does 
not represent a peak year in either value 
or number of pelts, for the following 
reasons: low fur price, better employ- 
ment than during the depression years 
and the generally prosperous condition of 
agriculture, especially in the corn belt. In 
1939-40, the decreased catch of about 37 
per cent below that of the preceding year 
may indicate a cyclic reduction in num- 
bers. Of a total of 165 expressions of 
opinion from fur-takers, 119 indicated a 
recent increase in red fox numbers, 23 no 
change and 23 a decrease. | 
Every region was represented in the 
catch during the survey, but the Glacial 
Lakes catch was extremely low, only 0.01 
red fox per square mile in 1939-40. Red 
Brown & YEAGER: SURVEY OF FurR RESOURCE 
483 
foxes were not represented in the data 
for this region the preceding year. The 
heaviest catch, 0.29 and 0.30 pelt per 
square mile, was taken in the River Bluffs 
and Bottoms Region. Thus, in no region 
did the catch average as much as one red 
fox per 3 square miles. The red fox and 
the weasel have lower averages for the 
state as a whole than any other fur ani- 
mals except the gray fox and other species 
that do not have state-wide distribution. 
Habitats.—Catch figures indicate that 
the best red fox habitat in Illinois is of- 
fered by the River Bluffs and Bottoms 
Region, and the second best by the Black 
Prairie. ‘The cover of the first region, 
with its timber, brushland, bluffs and 
steep narrow ravines, irregularly inter- 
spersed with fields and pastures, should 
be expected to provide good habitat, fig. 
26. Cover on the Black Prairie is fur- 
nished chiefly by timbered bottomland, 
woodlots and waste areas such as strip- 
mines and abandoned gravel pits. Strip- 
mines in Fulton and Vermilion counties 
are known to hold comparatively large 
numbers of red foxes. Hunters, on snow, 
often jump foxes in daytime in open fields. 
‘The intermittent nature of streams in the 
Gray Prairie, Central Sand Prairie and 
many parts of the Black Prairie lowers 
the general quality of the habitat in these 
regions. As reflected in the catch, the 
Glacial Lakes offers the poorest red fox 
range, but this indication is hard to recon- 
cile with the known cover, water and food 
resources of the region. So far as the 
writers are aware, red foxes here are not 
accorded special protection by fox clubs 
or other organizations. It seems probable 
that the method of trapping, wherein a 
great majority of the sets are made for 
muskrats and minks, precludes the taking 
of many foxes. Because of low price, little 
deliberate fox trapping was done any- 
where in the state during the survey years. 
Trapping and Hunting.—Approxi- 
mately one-half of the Illinois red fox 
catch was made by trappers and one-half 
by hunters, as determined in the survey, 
table 13. The degree of both trapping 
and hunting, however, varied widely by 
regions. “Trapping predominated in the 
Gray Prairie and Glacial Lakes regions; 
hunting was the more common method 
of capture in the Northwestern Sand Prai- 
rie, the Central Sand Prairie and the 
