Gray Fox Family...

[Anonym]

About a month or two ago, my wife started noticing something in our backyard in the early morning and late evening. One evening I finally caught a glimpse of it and identified it as a lone gray fox.

Last night, some friends were getting ready to leave and thought they saw a couple coyotes in our backyard, but I was suspecting it might have been our neighborhood gray fox again.

Well, this evening about 6:00-6:30, I looked outside and saw a beautiful gray female with two young foraging in the corner of our yard in the area where my wife throws out table scraps. I'm hoping they stay clear of our small chicken flock that we have because they are awesome to watch and I'd really hate to have to shoot them, but they don't have the reputation for killing chickens like the red foxes do, so we'll keep enjoying them for now.

Just thought I'd share. The grays don't seem to be too common these days. Hopefully I can get a picture or two of our growing family and post up for everyone!

Anonym

 

[Mgderf]

 

[AFA1CY]

I saw a very large grey fox alongside of I-70 the other morning. Thought is was a big dog at first.

 

[Jon Craig]

 

[Expat]

That would be pretty exciting and yes pics would be cool.

 

[Anonym]

Well, one of them came back tonight! Looked out to see my chickens free-ranging over most of the back yard and our cat having a stare-down with one of the gray foxes, just a few feet from each other. Our cat is rather large and isn't afraid of much (chases stray dogs from the property on a regular basis!), but I think they were more curious about each other more than anything!

Anyway, I had the rifle handy and the camera in hand, so I grabbed a few pictures. Enjoy!

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

Great pictures!

 

[econnell]

I would have shot it and got a closer picture

 

[baldguy637]

Great pics, keep them coming!

 

[rhart]

Nice photos, thanks for sharing. Glad you decided to use the camera and not the rifle

 

[Wheezy50]

Nice pics!! I've seen plenty of red foxes but i've not even seen a gray before. they're nice looking animals.

I'm a new chicken owner myself, i'd be awfully worried she was figuring out a way to eat the birds, but maybe they don't bother em??

 

[Mike H]

Way cool pic's!
Thanks.

 

[50apiguy]

nice pics. Brave cat!

 

[OAK]

Nice pic! I've seen red foxs growing up but I've never seen a grey.

 

[M4Madness]

Nice photos, thanks for sharing. Glad you decided to use the camera and not the rifle

+1

I've shot many a red fox in my day, but have only seen one gray fox in my life (it's mounted in my hunting room, along with a red.) Nowadays, it's a rare treat to see a fox in my rural area, so I let them walk when I see them. We've got a red fox that comes up on our front porch to eat cat food very late at night a couple of times a week. Years ago, I would have busted it good, but not anymore.

Coyotes, on the other hand, are dead anytime I catch one in range.

 

[Whosyer]

Great pics. I thought I was the only one getting a soft spot for the fox as I get older. Like M4Madness said, I will go out of my way to down a Yote, but I enjoy watching the foxes. Had a red out behind the house a few days ago. Saw a gray last year , the first one in the 17 years I've lived here. The grays are definitely cool.

 

[POC]

Great pics, neat to have in your area.
If I remember correctly....the Gray fox is no more closely related to the Red fox than it is to the Coyote. All three are canids, but different genus and obviously species. I think they can retract their claws and climb trees also.
(Ok, I did have to google some of that...)

Keep the pics coming!

 

[Anonym]

Yea, cheater, they're tree climbers! I can use Google too!

Haven't been able to get any more pictures of them, and actually hadn't seen them for a while until my wife and I were taking the kids out to throw out the table scraps. We were almost there when a little red-cheeked face popped up out of the weeds and greeted us. It obviously didn't stick around while we walked up and dumped more goodies out, and I kept an eye out and it never came back this evening. They're pretty and not very aggressive, and I still have all 6 of my chickens, even without closing up the coop at night, so I think we have new friends in the neighborhood!

 

[Jeffrey]

Cool

Nice photos, thanks for sharing. Glad you decided to use the camera and not the rifle

Totally agree. Really cool photos. I love predator hunting but I think you made the right choice.

 

[Redskinsfan]

NIce photos, thanks for posting.

Terry