Species-Specific Management (SSM)

The Red Fox

The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is now an integral part of nature and related to most things in its environment. Some accounts list Vulpes fulva as occurring only in Canada and that Vulpes vulpes (introduced from Europe) interbred with fulva and now only V. vulpes is recognized. Other accounts indicate that fulva once occurred at least sparingly in the southeast and that it outcompeted V. vulpes and has expanded its range south with land clearing. This member of the dog family is important for rodent control, insect control, and seed dispersal. It is a predator to nesting songbirds, game birds and animals, and small farm animals (e.g., poultry). It is similar to the gray fox but has a more uniform color than that animal and a white-tipped tail.

There are different actions to be taken depending on whether a person wants to increase, stabilize, or decrease the local population, the available resources, the legal and other limits, the political limits, and the measures used to evaluate the success of the actions. Whether "money from pelt sales" or "hours of successful observation by the touring public" can make a great difference in how time, effort, equipment, and money are allocated.

Extensive detailed information (including select references) is available from http://www.dgif.state.va.us/, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

A summary of the things known about the red fox that are of management significance are as follows:

1. Red foxes usually den in open fields with sandy soil, woodlots, modified woodchuck burrows, abandoned barns, and areas near wooded streams and rivers.
2. Habitat with edges is preferred, also open habitat, and agricultural areas with interspersed crops. These are most abundant in small fields of an average size of 9-10 acres, with natural boundaries.
3. The red fox does not prefer dense woodlands. A wooded area with open canopy and abundant understory is better.
4. They require elevated points for surveying the area. These can be logs of any size, lumps of grass, snowdrifts, or sandhills.
5. They prefer a long thin home range, such as areas along railroads, rivers, and fences.
6. The home range is 1-5 miles per fox, depending upon the abundance of food in the area.
7. Snow depth during the winter inhibits the red foxes activity. Removing snow from some areas may allow it to forage for food.
8. The chief foods are small mammals, birds, fruits and insects. It is known to eat almost anything including carrion.
9. During the summer, the diet increases in insects, fruits, and berries. Primarily young foxes eat insects though insects do make up part of the adults' diet. Examples of insects eaten are crickets, grasshoppers, giant water beetles, beetles, moths, and flies. Use of insecticides in the area should be discouraged, to ensure abundant insects.
10. Thinning the forest overstory and applying fertilizers should encourage shrubs and trees that provide fruit and berries in the diet of foxes. Such examples in the diet are sarsaparilla, grapes, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, grass, and apples. They also eat melons and corn.
11. The major part of the foxes' diet is small mammals such as voles, mice, shrews, squirrels, rabbits, muskrats, lemmings, chipmunks, and woodchucks.
12. Birds that are injured or nesting are vulnerable prey.
13. What foxes eat is related to what is abundant each season. Therefore one should manage for different resources all year round.
14. The red fox caches its food when resources are abundant. This is during the reproductive season of its prey. A cache is usually buried at the base of a tree and covered with leaves and litter. Animals that empty the foxes' caches are skunks, opossums, dogs, coyotes, hawks, owls, and crows.
15. Foxes hunt mostly at night. To prevent foxes from preying upon poultry, put poultry in pens or houses during the night. Presence of a dog on a farm may prevent foxes from disturbing poultry.
16. To keep foxes away from barns or houses, eliminate vegetation that will act as travel cover.
17. Do not discard farm animal carcasses. This will attract foxes to farms and may stimulate them to prey upon farm animals.
18. Foxes are tolerant of human presence, but avoid items with human scent including nests of birds.
19. If planning to trap, sterilize traps to remove human scent.
20. The fox population is prone to rabies if the density is high. If this occurs, encourage trappers from a state agency. Do not impose bounties. When population density is reduced, rabies seems to be reduced.
21. If high population densities are desired, baiting with rabies vaccine can be done. Baits are taken up readily and are most successful when placed on edges of habitats. [A population model for predator population changes is being designed and will soon be available by clicking on a button at this place.]
22. Dogs are the principle enemy of foxes. Therefore feral dogs should be eliminated and domesticated dogs controlled.

Fox hound owners should be a major contact, both through their groups and through the kennel clubs.

A major wildland knowledge base program on the foxes and coyotes is needed to master these species for the people of the region. A preliminary research proposal is available by contacting Dr. Giles. A preliminary list of concepts is included under the description of the gray fox. Studies on these omnivores may provide new insights into ecosystem functions and into how biodiversity changes under their influence ... and how it changes when their populations are under modern faunal system management.

Economic status of foxes can be improved by:

• Encouraging use for sport hunting
• Educating the public about their aesthetic and economic value
• Developing nature-based tours
• Developing Coyotes, a nature-based membership group with special interests in the wild canids of the world
• Teaching good trapping, fur handling, and marketing techniques.

Contribution by Kevin Cox.

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision January 17, 2000.