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Well boys I never would have thought that there would be a fox that I felt was uncatchable but i may have met my match... a friend of mine some time ago told me about a fox that he had ran some 20 plus times and could not catch him. he had told me how the fox would run and how this fox was very predictable. I thought no way is he uncatchable and asked him to take me to the spot and just as he said we got the fox goin In the very spot my buddy had told me we would start him. He called the fox's every move before he made it there was no doubt this fox was a creature of habit and was no stranger to hounds. Needless to say at the end of the night results were fox 1 me 0. now I've ran this fox a dozen or so times and with a few different packs of dogs and still no luck we have seen the dogs run this fox off the bank in the same exact spot on several different races and still can't put him up. Now I'm not completely convinced there are fox that can't be caught but this fox has got me wondering... so what do you guys think? Anyone else have a fox that is near impossible to catch?

after today where we were beaten by the same fox 3 times today I believe there is such a beast. I hunted the same fox for 3 seasons before the dos got on terms with him eventually the dogs found him asleep in the long grass about 30 feet from his Brair patch he beat them out of so many times.

Never a horse that couldnt be rode.... Never a cowboy that couldnt be throwed.

Never say never : It sounds you have a very educated fox that can give you a lot of fun to play with. I would bet with everything right, the fox on a full stomach, the scent conditions perfect and a lucky break for the right dogs it just might be treed or caught on the ground someday. He sure will be a test for you fox hunters. Have fun with him. Dewey

easy for me to say put him on about a foot of lake effect

Mark that is very true and I think that's what keeps me goin after that fox. I do believe if everything is rite I may get him up but then again I may not as I'm running as many young inexperienced Hounds as I am seasoned hounds. I hope to put him up one day but I am afraid that he may be one of those fox that the dogs will catch and I sure would hate to see him go.

I'm not sure about uncatchable but if something beats your dogs several years it might aswell get the title. The thing about animals that do the same thing over and over is there's others that don't. I had the fortune of finding a female lion that would run pretty predictably depending on where she was. Great way to get young hounds going. But eventually I got a dog that wasnt just trailing but thinking and it figured out how to cut her off. I figured it was hard work first then just luck but finally realized it was just going where it knew she d go. I never saw him do it for any other cat but he was a real wide dog on track but had enough nose to work when he had to. It must be female lions get to know their territories better because I've been messing with one most of the year that keeps diving off in a rock piled canyon and winning eventually. If I could predict where she would enter the canyon or something similar she would be easy enough to kill. But for now she just gets my dogs hung up and raw footed

Brandon

You run that fox after dark or during the day time?

You trail it up or rig it red hot? I find some of those educated fox, you best be hooked up quick, you make a bobble it's hard to catch back up.

I had it explained to me this way. Think about how short those legs are on them fox compared to the hounds and you struggle to catch them....This is me on some of those educated fox

Last season I was with two other houndsmen and had about 15 hounds pouring the coal to one and the only thing that saved it was a den below the road where there was huge boulders for shoring up the road or the hounds would have caught it on the ground.

Nothing better than running gray fox!

Mike

Mike I have never ran this fox in the day light always in the dark some times I'll trail him up 20 minutes or so. Some times he's red hot or even standing in the road unfortunately the out come is always the same.

Brandon

That is exactly why I asked that question.

Try starting that same fox an hour before daylight or by first light and don't run it if you must trail a long ways or time. Many of those gray fox in your area have been run to death...When I see you in person I will relate who told me you can't tree those type fox after dark but can in daylight...

I'm having a hard time buying in on the analogy but worth trying...I need to meet up with you and hunt and try those theories myself! I have my own areas close to where you live or on my ranches a little further South West....The man said, on those type gray fox, they will tree as soon as the sun begins to rise....Why? I have no idea! The man is also retired and trees his share of bobcats in the brush country of Western Oregon, so I'm not going to dispute his wisdom.

I'm also sure the one we smoked last year we all but caught on the ground after a roaring race over five miles jumped and some serious country with 15 running walker style hounds that can move a track....Them little dudes can pack the mail when there life depends on it!

You want to make sure you leave those kind...They are the ones used to improve on your hounds and keep us humble!...Worth there weight in gold and very few people can catch them! I'm sure with your determination, you will get it caught in time.

Take care and hope to see you the next time you are up North!

Mike

You know Mike there is a couple real deal fox hunters in CA that have been telling me to try that same fox in the day light so there may be something to it I just haven't been able to get out and hunt the mornings, just evenings. When ever you wanna come down and run some just give me a Holler should be up north not tomorrow but probably the following Wednesday if all goes as planned

Brandon

I don't like tossing names around on here...I guarantee you will feel better once you find out who told me this! When you hunt with some of the top houndsmen in both States and they have something to say, I listen!

See ya soon! Maybe by then I can tell you how running coyotes is going!

Take care!

Mike

Look at all the fun you've had so far with this fox! Why in the h€££ would you want to catch it? What will you do next week? I grew up fox hunting at a place that about every fox would run for 8 hours ahead of packs of walker foxhounds before going to ground shortly after daylight. Every now and then they'd catch one and it was heart breaking.
Met some hunters that hunted about 100 miles from there said they caught every gray fox they ran. Said no way a fox could run over 2 hrs ahead of their dogs. They came and put in with us one night, in 3-4 hrs. all their dogs had quit and come to the truck while we ran the fox for several more hours. That place is all houses now.
Where I have to hunt now you're lucky to get 2-3 hours out of one.
Enjoy him while it last, those long races will make some young hounds, they can get more running in one night then you probably normally get them in, in 3 weeks.
But if you really want to catch him,(for some reason, that is beyond me) if you fresh pack him after 3-4 hours they'll probably catch him.

BrandonCombe wrote:Mark that is very true and I think that's what keeps me goin after that fox. I do believe if everything is rite I may get him up but then again I may not as I'm running as many young inexperienced Hounds as I am seasoned hounds. I hope to put him up one day but I am afraid that he may be one of those fox that the dogs will catch and I sure would hate to see him go.

Scrubrunner

When the word catch is used here in Oregon, we don't think about killing it on the ground as mentioned by Brandon. That would be a tragic loss, and that, we all agree...

Catch in Oregon is to "tree" the fox with enough applied pressure...Nothing more!

Mike

After you tree that fox once will he become easier to tree the next time?