With the warmer days and some sunshine this week, we decided to help my Gene as well as myself get some walking exercise for his back problems and my conditions. By we I refer to my sister Myra and her husband Lloyd Seals, all of Climax. We went walking around the line of our property near the wood which is still considered our yard.
Enjoying the warm sunshine and listening to the birds, we were jolted to a standstill as Lloyd said, “Stop there is a Fox’s den!” What lay before us appeared to be a hole in the ground, but upon further examination we could see the leaves and grass that had been used to make a bed.
Then Lloyd followed a ridge of dirt that continued under the fence a short distance into the woods, there he found another opening which he called the back door, a large mound of dirt was piled up to also help hide the entrance for escape.
Gene and I had seen what appeared to be red foxes in the distance of the field in front of our home, but they did not come any closer to the house, so we know this could possibly be a den, even though it was much closer to our house with the front door in our back yard.
Since Foxes carry rabies and several other diseases I thought we should let our readers know what is traveling around in the darkness of the night and early morning hours. From research we found that the red Fox is deep reddish brown to a yellowish red color with a bushy red tail tipped in white. It weighs between 8-14 pounds and is 36-45 inches in total length.
The Gray Fox is similar with the exception of having gray fur on the back; they have a dog like appearance with elongated nose and pointy ears. In some areas they are hunted for their fur and their ability to run and evade hunting dogs. Such as the hunts the English had at one time and possibly still do.
Both the red fox and the grey like their habit near wood land or forest with possibly a field nearby. The reason they like the woods or forest is they have the reputation of evading predators by climbing trees to escape from coyotes or other predators a feature unique among foxes.
Their dens can be made from old pipes under the roads that are not being used to plain holes in the ground with tunnels leading to other places some use the extra entrances as fake ones to mislead predators leading them away from their young ones.
So folks get out and enjoy these few days of early spring weather, but watch out for the foxes and other animals with the animals coming closer and closer to cavitation as their habit is slowly being invaded by mankind including the Climax reporter.