Random pics

[snafu]

Red Fox kits within the city limits. Appears there is a lack of free range cats in the area, lol. No mystery I don't like cats.











Red laying by it's den hole. Pic was taken this yr.

[Hawks Feather]

Neat images.  I love the fact that they would eat cats - the other white meat.

Jerry

[snafu]

Jerry, there is a country walking trail through our small town. On that walk trail. Our dog found 3 dens in a 1/2 mile stretch. 2 fox dens & 1 coyote den. One of the fox dens & the coyote den was active. Near those den sites. Were the remnants of a few cats & a few coon each. Apparently they come into town at night to feed.

Red Fox do their share of hammering the cats & coon in my area. Especially when their pups are young. Red Fox in my area. Will cluster their den sites relatively close together. I've seen 3 active Red dens within a mile radius. I've watched a few adult Reds. Rear their pups from 5wks old to 3 months old. Most interesting observing them.

[FinsnFur]

 My o my...I'm loving these pics
What part of the country you from Snafu? I was thinking down south, but after seeing the snow pics, by god you, I say by god you cant be too far down there.

[snafu]

Iffen I told ya Jim. I would then have to kill myself...(I took an oath ya know).  North central plaines, land of the foothills.

[snafu]

Fox, Coyote, Bobcat & Otter tracks.

[snafu]

(resting) Coyote on a hillside


Red den hole


Coyote den (2 pups inside)

[FinsnFur]

That creek turned into a run way 

[snafu]

Some yahoo, dumped a deer carcass over the creek bridge. It brought quite a crowd.

[gravesco hunter]

Nice pics

[nailbender]

 Ya got 'em hooked now Ev!   Buncha pic junkies!

[Okanagan]

Great pics!  In the tracks photo, how many days since the last snow?  That's a LOT of tracks!

[snafu]

Okanagan, close to a wk if I recall. I was looking for puma sign along the river & adjoining feeder creeks all season. As a matter of fact. Today, I spoke with my ex-sister inlaw. She & her husband live in the area of the river & the creek above. I asked her about recent puma sightings in the area. She told me, that yesterday their friend seen one cross the highway in front of him. If it is the same? puma that I found tracks of. Its a big one. I want to hammer him.

[snafu]

Puma print I found last fall. It was walking around an over flow pond near the river bottom. Stepped off of the grass onto the mud bar. Then pulled its paw out & continued on around on the grassy area. I'm going to thump his carass eventaully or die trying. Arrow is pointing at the leading toe of the right front paw.

[snafu]

[snafu]

Red Fox spend most of the daylight hrs sleeping, most every day. When they are born their eyes are a dark slate blue. Their fur is brownish. As the weeks roll on their eyes start to turn amber. At around the 8 week marker. Their eyes are typically amber. Or dang near it anyway. When the pups are around 7-8 weeks old. The female will take a few of them out at a time in the late pm. On short hunts & or exploring. When the pups get around 12 wks old. The female lets them do whatever on their own. She also lets them go off on their own.

12 wk old pups in a dry culvert tube.

[FinsnFur]

That is so cool! I cant thank ya enough for sharing all these with us. I'm really enjoying em.
How the heck did you go about catching them in the culvert?

[snafu]

It was easy Jim. I met a farmer in town one day. We conversed some. I asked him if he has seen any fox pups this yr. He said, yup we have a few in our culvert. He told me where he lived & wallah! Yup there they are  Note the coon hide. It had a bad day I reckon.

[Okanagan]

Red foxes are sure pretty.  I've only seen a few in my whole life, a dozen maybe on various trips.  Never have lived where there are any.

Those are unusually good photos.

Good luck on the big cat.  If you can ever get a fresh clue as to where he is lying up, if he is within sound of a call it is pretty easy to get them to come and check it out.  Most of them are super sneaky on approach however and the hardest critter to see when they come to a call (unless you get a careless bold one.  If so, shoot it as a gift!)   Put 80% of your prep into thinking through a good ambush, and 100% of the rest into motionless execution.  They roam over a LOT of ground but there are certain places they seem to pass by and routes they follow for a short way each time.  Those places are worth learning and checking every time you go by.

I have hit the same cougar tracks passing through the same route 8 days later ( but not consistently enough to pattern).  A few other places we could go tomorrow and find recent lion scrapes along with old ones.  We have killed one called at a place where pumas have left scrapes scattered over a 100 yard patch and done it there for years.  That was almost pure luck, since a month or more can go by with no fresh scrape.  We know four corridors where pumas cross certain roads and have for years.  Trouble is, a man could sit there for weeks and not have one cross, then come back and find that two have crossed in two days.

Best of luck.  Let us know about your progress, not just the kill, though I hope you get that.  Lions are fun to hunt.

[snafu]

Thanks for the insight Okanagan.

Six winters ago I seen one sitting on a hilltop 1/2 mile away. There was deep snow on the ground at the time. I seen it with the naked eye ( I intially thought it was a x-large coyote.) Anyway I put my binocs on him. I was abit shocked to see what I was looking at. I thought a monster Bobcat? But it was sitting upright looking over a very wide creek valley to the North. It was sitting next to a fenceline. So I could see it's height while sitting, quite tall. Then I thought no way is that a Bobcat. I then put my spotter scope on it, looked like a puma to me. I was in denile, until it got up & turned away. That is when I seen its tail. Confirmed sighting. I was alone, it was getting dark & it walked into some standing corn. That hadn't been picked. Otherwise I'd been on him.

Since then I kept hunting coyotes, but also on the look out for puma sign. I found a few other tracks over the following yrs. Since my 1st sighting. I have either met & or conversed with around 30 people who have seen one in my hunt areas. One guy had two sightings a week apart. I tried to pattern these pumas, to no avail. Since my 1st sighting. I have read as much as I could find on pumas. From Biologists & lion hunters. 4 Winters ago after killing a coyote. As I walked across a wide foothill valley. I stumbled upon a pr of lion tracks.

So far, I haven't heard of a road kill or a hunter kill. So they are still out there I believe. 


Right rear puma paw print. I found on the river sand bar last Fall. The other tracks were to light to detect & or were muddled among other tracks.