Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: BowEd on May 31, 2020, 06:22:17 am
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Some time ago earlier this spring I was seeing a red fox around the house.I finally found their den in a pile of rip rap over the fence on my neighbors ground.The young are pretty big already.
(https://i.imgur.com/d03qHzl.jpg)
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Cool. Looks like Mom found a good den site.
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The coyotes are hard on the fox around here.With the increase of varmint hunting with rifles around here the fox have been making a better stand from it all.I have dog running neighbors here too that run a lot of coyotes.
(https://i.imgur.com/F3Ghg7U.jpg)
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Cool picture Ed.
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They are excellent mouse catchers.As are coyotes but they are more of a threat and nuisance[killing cats and small house dogs],and we have plenty of field mice around here.Just an observation on the ebb and flow of the local wild life around here.
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Good turkey egg and polt eaters as well. They are nice and not as populus with all the coyotes abouts.
HH~
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They are my favorite animals to watch. Knew there were pups around when you showed that picture awhile back. Around here the red fox are making a decent comeback after years of torment from the coyotes. They seem to have moved closer to the humans and are less afraid of them than the coyotes.
Those pups look healthy.
Bjrogg
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The coyotes are'nt hurting our turkey populations but they try that's for sure.
I was in a tree stand the other day calling in 3 long beards.They were coming in on a frozen rope.Right at about 50 yards away a coyote trotted through between me and the long beards and messed things up.
Sticking close to the edges of town and farm yards is the way the red fox has been getting by in the past,but as for now they are expanding some.
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Nice I have some young ones in my back yard also, see them every now and then. We use to have a lot of reds and grays here, not so much anymore since the yotes have gotten so well established. Always liked seeing them, not so much with the coyotes.
Pappy
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We have way more grey's around than reds around. My dad lived in the U.P. of Michigan and he took a photo of a silver fox which are really nice looking. I took a grey one morning bow hunting with a recurve. Had a full body mount made. When I look at him I wonder how I hit him with such a small body.
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I've got a red mounted in the house too that my dad had made years and years ago too.A black squirrel too....Ha Ha.A silver is awful pretty too.I was always kinda going to get into taxidermy as a business when younger but was destined for farming.I did settle in to learning how to tan though.
Not many grays around but have seen them.Curious little things.One came within 30 foot of me once while leaning against a tree at night waiting for the hounds to strike.They are smaller overall than reds.
I traded a red fox hat I made for a wood carving of a treeing hound my friend made once.Mounted it on top of first kennel housing I made.Just 5 runs.Something I'm proud of.Mostly the hounds though.
(https://i.imgur.com/6WN4atK.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/b2YEeXM.jpg)
Made a more sophisticated kennel with 8 runs/a puppy excersize area/pad heated houses/and gutter and septic system later.
(https://i.imgur.com/KSgXTKA.jpg)
Moved the kennel with me when I moved too and remade excersize area for pups.Enclosed with 6' tall corn crib paneling made out of 1/4" galvanized rod.Think I took down 8 cribs averaging around 120' of 6' tall paneling from each crib.
(https://i.imgur.com/eUMEJOj.jpg)
Sign of credit to those deserving the credit.The hounds made me a ton of money back in them days [in the 10's of thousands] with all their winnings and titles with pups and stud fees.At least 7 generations of my own bred and trained winning hounds over 30 years worth.
(https://i.imgur.com/Ah72QaU.jpg)
All in all the hounds left the fox/coyotes/and deer alone [even possum] and just ran coon.I've got a modest cement 4 run kennel now where I live.I won't move again!!!
Outside
(https://i.imgur.com/eyuJVTI.jpg)
Inside
(https://i.imgur.com/kONq5rO.jpg)
Custom made professional sign traded for with a tanned hair on elk hide.
(https://i.imgur.com/pdxaRET.jpg)
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Nice layout there, Ed! Neat pics of the fox, too!
Hawkdancer
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It's a good hobby.It'll keep you in shape.
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Used to have room to let my Irish Wolfhounds exercise free, and run with them! A somewhat civilized event called lure coursing came about from the west coast and people were aghast when I asked "Do you get to run with the Hounds?" - hardly ever went back. But I was in good shape and Company SGM, and Ops SGT! The miniature Dachshunds don't run as fast, but they think they are Irish Wolfhounds in a fight!>:D (lol) (lol)! Of course, they get lost in tall grass!
Hawkdancer
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I've got friends that use grey hounds for fox and coyote hunting[sight hunters].Also others that love their beagles.Locally here there's an individual using labradors for shed hunting.Another friend uses a lab for blood trailing.
I've always been fascinated by a hounds ability to smell a track and decifer a trail.With treeing hounds it's the toughest but natural thing to fine tune.It takes a natural intelligence.The treeing part is mostly naturally instinctive and bred in.Evaluating them while training is and can be the fun part of training.Seeing them get better and faster with more experience.Not everybodys cup of tea.
My goal was to raise naturals at a young age with very little training involved just exposure and put in the woods.Lots of drive and hard going with determination.Lots of hunting also.With an older dog or on their own.I always loved seeing a young good prospect out shine an older dog.I would know then I've got a keeper.Tougher trailing conditions is where the sheep get seperated from the goats.
There is lots of training realized by the handler too to diagnose exactly what a hound is doing.Knowing how different weather conditions can affect trailing etc.Knowing the prey too and it's tendencies.I always figured if he or she did it's job it's up to me to do my job.
I learned a long time ago the money part in coon hunting was'nt in the amount of fur taken with them.Its all about the hound itself value wise.It's value is a lot more than any multiple number of coon hides' price.
Sold quite a few young prospects for thousands of dollars.Won many hunts large and small.Nationally and locally.Many good memories from a hobby like this.
My hounds are scattered all over these U.S states from coast to coast used on lion/bear/and bobcat also.
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I have noticed in working and judging Earthdogs, (terriers and dachshunds), that some have more instinct and/or drive, and some aren't interested at all. My male dachshunds would not go to ground to find the rats, and my bitch figured out the rats were over by the judge and would go there above ground! Both of them were used to Irish Wolfhounds, so size didn't matter. Nose and smarts are bred into the hound breeds, and they have at least 50,000 times better sense of smell than humans! We can detect skunk at 1 part per million, as a comparison.
Hawkdancer
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I've owned a smoothie fox terrier that would help train puppies for me.Very nice little dog.A few jack russels have been on the yard before too.They are wired different that's for sure.Very instinct driven.
The fox terrier I would actually call a pet/partner combo.My hounds were not.They were partners.Most all dogs I've had the pleasure of owning or staying around long had a job.Whether it be watching the gate for livestock/sorting livestock or treeing game.They did theirs and I did mine.They are more fulfilled with a purpose in life.Mutual respect is between us at all times.
I never let a dog demand things from me.I give praise or reward when due.I'm not a hard ass just respectful and demand that from them too.
It's something many animal lovers fail to establish with them to have a happy constructive life together.
Every dog is different.Tuning in to what that is is the key,and that takes handling/time/and observations remembered.Mistakes are made but remembered too.As hounds get better the standards get higher as to who stays around.Breeding the best to the best usually produces the best.
After years of breeding I could predict exactly how a puppy was going to be even before it was born.
It's a fullfilling type life coon hunting.About like raising kids.There are so many memories from this life style I could not state them all.All mostly in the woods where I feel most comfortable at.
I know this subject has gone way off track from it's original posting but it is something that I'm proud of because I know I've done it right.Not just my opinion,but the opinions of the many out there that have my dogs and the true litmus test on raising coon dogs.
To prove the worth of my black & tan hounds in the competiton hunts I looked up a few pictures from the past.These dogs won dozens and dozens of trophies all over this country.Anywhere from 1 foot tall to 5 feet tall.Most times I put hem in hunts where at least 300 dogs in them.All state or national hunts.Largest was over 1000 dogs.A national hunt [black & tan days/breed hunt].All different dogs but my strain,and finally a picture on the end of the very first coondog I ever owned back in 1980.A grade bluetick/birddog cross.
(https://i.imgur.com/kygqN80.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/PZ5VQFT.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/rcYteLh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/VobGvG7.jpg)
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