Gray Foxes

[Mo hunter]

Hey Guys, I was wondering what you all could tell me about hunting the Grays with dogs. I know there are folks out there who tree 'em but there aren't too many posts about it on here. I'm trying to find out what I can about hunting critters other than coons and squirrels with my dog and figured I'd turn to the experts seeing as how in my area (Central MO.) I don't even run into that many coonhunters, much less hunters that tree other game.

Also, sorry if I posted this in the wrong place.

[TomJr]

Don't think we have a Fox section... are they considered big game? Anyhow they run about the same as a Bobcat, might have abit more wind on the jump but they go up just like a Bobcat.

I run Grey foxes, Bobcats and Lion... almost no coons up this high.

Caught this one on the last day of Lion season. The dogs were trailing out of an old lion kill area so I let them go hoping a lion had come back but turned out to be this guy.

Last day of lion season and they trashed in good form

I can almost never find a track on this ground so have to let them run until they tree or I can make a guess. A fox in a tree is better than nothing

[BLOODY REDBONES]

sorry to bust in on post but is that a redbone on the tree? if so what is the bloodline? i use to have a redbone that ran red/gray foxand treed grays. he also would run and treed bobcats by himself. never seen anothe one like him. would like to find another. nice picture tom. p.s this is the site for fox,bobcats and lynx.

[thunder 12]

i think it would be pretty interesting to run one of those

[julio25]

i live in NC. There are several people just in my area alone and all over the state that hunt greys years round. Tend to catch majority on the ground. Have had them climb or go in a hole before. Running walkers are used mainly. During the colder months when it gets hard to run a fox we start looking cats. Use the same hounds for both. Cats around here usually a coin toss as to whether you will catch him or tree him. I dont know what kind of terrain you got out there but usually the thickest places you can find is where the game is gonna be here.

[JasonBB]

thats a sweet pic tomjr

[Gary Roberson]

I really don't want my hounds to run foxes but I must admit that I sure like the race. As you know, grays will climb when the temp runs really hot. I never reward the dogs by shooting it out, rather call them off the tree.
It seems that my dogs tree them in streaks, treeing several in a week and then they will not run one for months. It seems that a gray is easy for a dog to run, running without dodging a lot. Down here it is fairly common for the fox to run a big circle and tree close to where the race started.
Adios,
Gary

[Mo hunter]

Thanks for the reply's fellas. So from what you guys are telling me, they seem to tree in hot weather and hole up in colder temps? Do coyotes affect their population negatively like they do to the reds? I asked an older guy who got me started coon hunting about them and was told that they were trash, end of story. To my way of thinkin, anything my dog trees that has a hide worth something is going to get shot out. So this rules out possums and thats about it. However I seem to be the exception in my neck of the woods.

Also, cool picture Tom Jr.

[BLOODY REDBONES]

BRAD THE GUY THAT SAID FOX WAS TRASH IS A COON HUNTER. HE IS LOOKING TO MAKE A EASY WALK TO A TREE FOR A COON OR MAKE HIS DOG A GRAND NITE CHAMPION ON PAPER.HE ALSO DOES NOT GO BY THE OLD SAIDINGS "ONE MANS TRASH IS ANOTHER MANS TREASURE.MOST FOX AND CAT HUNTERS LIKES A DOG THAT CAN COLD TAIL UP AND JUMP THERE GAME,RUN IT WITH DRIVE TO CATCH AND STAY TREE IF GAME GOES UP.THIS KIND OF HOUND USALLY WILL TRACK AND TREE BEAR/COUGAR IF PUT ON TRACK. BUT THE BIGGEST THINK IS FOX/CAT HUNTERS CAN HUNT DAY OR NITE AND HAVE LOTS OF TIME AND FUN WITH THERE DOGS. THERE

Thanks for the reply's fellas. So from what you guys are telling me, they seem to tree in hot weather and hole up in colder temps? Do coyotes affect their population negatively like they do to the reds? I asked an older guy who got me started coon hunting about them and was told that they were trash, end of story. To my way of thinkin, anything my dog trees that has a hide worth something is going to get shot out. So this rules out possums and thats about it. However I seem to be the exception in my neck of the woods.

Also, cool picture Tom Jr.

[TomJr]

Sorry to take so long to get back to this thread. In my deffence its been busy here. The monument fire destroyed most of the canyon above my house and took most of the apple trees in the orchard but my dad and I managed to save the cabins when the forest service pulled back. The day it came past us was 50+ mile an hour winds and it blew embers all over the orchard starting spot fires. Then the spot fires above our place converged and swept down the slope taking out Nicksville. It blew right over the top of the fire trucks they had manning the line between Nicksville and the mtns... We now have floods to look forwards to if and when the rains come next month.

Bloody Redbones that dog in the tree is a black mouthed curr from Bob Fogal of northern CA. Buster will be a year and a half in august and some days he looks realy good, that day he was looking like a super-star. Other days he is a little screw-off... and will leave the tree and mess around. That was the last time we could be out until august due to the seasons so he ended the season on a good note and maybe he will turn it on when we start up again August 1st.

I had been planning to look into a redboned pup but was given a nice red tick female thats really looking good. I may still try to find a redbone pup in the fall so if anyone knows of a good line in AZ thats being breed send me a PM. I sure like the looks of redbones, solid colors look good to me, My best dog atm is a walker/black-lab he is tri-color so I am not picky either.

Thanks for the kind words on the photo... I thought it was a bit busy but at least you can make out the fox and two dogs. Buddy's head(black-lab/ rotty) is at the base of the tree and I missed Rose(red-tick) she was up in the tree with Buster but I was too slow snapping the picture... Jake my best dog is off to the side watching and waiting for the fox to make a break for it, he caught 3 foxes on the ground this season when they jumped tree so he keeps hoping for a repeat That fox lived as I pulled the dogs and went home after the photo.