Help!!! Foxless in Coyotesville

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OK, after years of struggling with an embarrassing personal demon, it’s time to come out of the closet and publicly admit my problem. At the very least, the admission may provide some degree of cathartic therapy – but with any luck, someone amongst you may be able to provide some help.

So here it goes … I have dreamed, for many years, of successfully calling in a red fox. While not an overly abundant species here in central Alberta given our high coyote population, we do have them. And more to the point, they do occur with some degree of frequency on some of the properties on which I hunt coyotes. Tracks and the occasional sightings while driving confirm this.

Yes, I hunt coyotes. Quite successfully. I’m probably batting a long term success rate of 50% or so, which I’m really quite happy with (ie: shooting 1 coyote for every two calling setups). While the learning never stops, I know my way around ‘yotes. But I’ve never, not once, had a red fox come in. And this is over the course of many years and an awful lot dead coyotes.

I’ve tried everything I can think of. Using rodent squeaks rather than rabbit squeals. Using electronic calls that produce injured bird sounds. Motion decoys. Extending the length of my calling sessions – even to the point of sometimes NOT shooting an inbound coyote simply to allow a fox more time to show up somewhere when I know one is on the property.

But for all of this – nada, zip. Not a one.

So my question to you, my brethren, is this: Have *ANY* of you in central Alberta ever managed to get fox to respond to your calls with any kind of regularity? And if so, how the hell did you do it?!?! :confused:
 
I am not in Central AB but I would suspect any Red Fox who has lived long enough to hear your predator calls has figured out responding to animal distress sounds draws in public enemy #1, the coyote and is a good way to get eaten! I would think you may stand a better chance hunting over a bait such as a road killed deer etc. I am sure Mr Red has figured out it is best to slip in quietly when all is clear and steal a few morsels then get the heck out of dodge before the cavalry arrives!!

Red Foxes here in Northern Ontario come in well to a dying rabbit squeal but there in most years more of them than coyotes. I have yet to have a coyote come to my calls here.
 
the spank said:
I am not in Central AB but I would suspect any Red Fox who has lived long enough to hear your predator calls has figured out responding to animal distress sounds draws in public enemy #1, the coyote and is a good way to get eaten! I would think you may stand a better chance hunting over a bait such as a road killed deer etc. I am sure Mr Red has figured out it is best to slip in quietly when all is clear and steal a few morsels then get the heck out of dodge before the cavalry arrives!!
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I don't disagree with your logic, particularly given how high our coyote population is around here. I have indeed tried hunting over bait as well. The last time I did it with a buddy, we had 7 coyotes approach the area over the course of a couple hours and shot 3 of them. With bait too, it seems like a fox is best advised to stay away from it. I'm beginning to think the damn things simply live in the middle of open fields where they can keep one eye open at all times and simply live off field mice under the snow. Truth is, virtually every fox I've seen out this way has been exactly in that kind of a setup -- usually sunning itself on a small rise in the middle of the bald-ass prairie.

the spank said:
Red Foxes here in Northern Ontario come in well to a dying rabbit squeal but there in most years more of them than coyotes. I have yet to have a coyote come to my calls here.
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I'm seeing a trip to Ontario in my future :)
 
I only live 1.5 hours from the op and may I suggest this to him...I have shot lots of foxes and you can find them around old grainieres,farm sites,abandoned out buildings and such.Usually when a fox dens up its not in heavy bush,cause the yotes are in there. Go to where the yotes dont like to be.A fox is a lot smaller then a yote and can crawl under a old out building way more easy.Also believe it or not,watch the sides of highways. watch for dens in the ditches. Dont shoot off the hiway of course,but gain access to the field that the den is located on and have at err!!
 
While I was crow hunting a red fox came in. I was in a small stand of trees using an electronic crow call. Dressed in realtree ap head to toe. Seen him coming from a ways away. He trotted in and right by where I was about 25 yards out. I never took a shot. I have an acquaintance that likes to shot them, says they eat his grouse.
 
icehunter121 said:
I only live 1.5 hours from the op and may I suggest this to him...I have shot lots of foxes and you can find them around old grainieres,farm sites,abandoned out buildings and such.Usually when a fox dens up its not in heavy bush,cause the yotes are in there. Go to where the yotes dont like to be.A fox is a lot smaller then a yote and can crawl under a old out building way more easy.Also believe it or not,watch the sides of highways. watch for dens in the ditches. Dont shoot off the hiway of course,but gain access to the field that the den is located on and have at err!!
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Much thanks for that, as it really does give me some fresh ideas about some of the places I often hunt. Yeah, you guessed it -- I usually try to get back into quieter/brushier parts of the property rather than calling around man-made structures in more open areas. Will definitely take your suggestions to heart! :)
 
Here in Manitoba at times I have the opposite problem....Lots of coyote sign and not too much fox sign and wouldn't you know it....In comes Fibber Fox.
I don't shoot fox as they don't bother the whitetail....Mostly use jack or cotton tail in distress and sometimes woodpecker distress mixed with raven and maggpie to make things more realistic....We farm in the parkland area so there is more bush then open....I call out in the open trying to draw varmints out....Never had too much luck in the bush as I think they circle round and sniff me out before I can see them....I wish I had your kill ratio on coyotes! Around here we are lousy with them but I think cause of all the bush they have the advantage and more then not wind me....I would estimate my kill ratio would be less then 10%.
 
Lastgun said:
Here in Manitoba at times I have the opposite problem....Lots of coyote sign and not too much fox sign and wouldn't you know it....In comes Fibber Fox.
I don't shoot fox as they don't bother the whitetail....Mostly use jack or cotton tail in distress and sometimes woodpecker distress mixed with raven and maggpie to make things more realistic....We farm in the parkland area so there is more bush then open....I call out in the open trying to draw varmints out....Never had too much luck in the bush as I think they circle round and sniff me out before I can see them....I wish I had your kill ratio on coyotes! Around here we are lousy with them but I think cause of all the bush they have the advantage and more then not wind me....I would estimate my kill ratio would be less then 10%.
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Maybe we should just swap hunts and take a day guiding each other :)

For what it's worth, you're quite correct that 'yotes in the brush will tend to circle around. It's mighty tough to be sitting back in the bush yourself and successfully get a crack at a coyote coming towards you from deeper in the brush. What's worked awfully well for me is to get away from the really big open spaces on a property, and try to find the smaller pockets of clearings -- perhaps part of a large field that broken up with rolling hills, or an extra 20 acres of clearing that's lined with bush on all sides. The idea is simply to be working a small field that has enough sheltering cover or obstructions around it that the 'yotes feel more secure stepping into it. I find that this doesn't matter much during the early part of the season, but does seem to as we roll into January and February and a lot of coyotes have become a bit more experienced with respect to rabbit calls followed by loud bangs :) Of course, truth be told, I also know a guy who claims to call from his truck -- which tells you how many yotes we must have around here.

Open fields or smaller ones, though, I think the single biggest thing that shot up my success record is spending time really looking at a property before deciding to hunt it seriously in the future. There needs to be some sort of cleared space -- a field, flooded creek bottom, beaver dam, etch. But there also needs to be nearby cover and -- most important in my mind -- there needs to be one or two very secure approaches. Think brushy draws, ravines, and brush-lined creeks. In part, I think this makes the yotes more confident in their approach -- but I think the difference it makes in my success rate is that more often than not, the coyote quite often appears more or less where I'm expecting it to.

One of more interesting experiments I tried in the field a few years ago was to take 10 minutes after each calling setup in which I failed to see a coyote and take a walk into the area behind me -- usually a block of brush, on the edge of which I had been sitting as I watched my chosen spot. More often that I would have thought, I would come across smoking hot tracks that approached to within 50 - 150 yards and then veered off. This then led to me looking over my shoulder a bit more, and did result in a few more coyotes being taken -- but the big lesson was that while I may be seeing coyotes about 50% of the time, those are only the ones I'm seeing. My approach rate is probably running 70-75%.

Oh, and one more suggestion -- take the time to plan your way into your calling setup. What's the best way to get in there unseen, given where you expect the coyotes to be? And most critically, what's the wind doing? I tend to be pretty religious on that one -- if the wind is wrong, I either use another approach or I don't hunt that location on that given day. Having a coyote see or smell you and then hear the sound of the call is going to not only result in a non-production session, it's also going to make that particular coyote a much tougher customer next time around.

Now, if I could just figure out foxes :)
 
I had one come in the other day to a high pitched Critt'r Call. I dont get many to the call just because I call where there are mostly coyotes and as we know coyotes kill foxes.
 
icehunter121 said:
I only live 1.5 hours from the op and may I suggest this to him...I have shot lots of foxes and you can find them around old grainieres,farm sites,abandoned out buildings and such.Usually when a fox dens up its not in heavy bush,cause the yotes are in there. Go to where the yotes dont like to be.A fox is a lot smaller then a yote and can crawl under a old out building way more easy.Also believe it or not,watch the sides of highways. watch for dens in the ditches. Dont shoot off the hiway of course,but gain access to the field that the den is located on and have at err!!
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That makes a lot of sense because even here in my neck of the woods we usually see them closer to buildings, houses, feed lots etc. Yotes here are bush runners. They will use the open areas but they do most of their travelling in th bush as witnessed by the tracks I find in the snow. I sometimes wonder if I would do better hunting yotes here from our deer stands in the bush? A buddy of mine got one that way last fall with his bow and he has had a couple others come to within 40 yards on his deer stands in the bush. May have to change my tactics too!
 
I too have called and shot foxes in Alberta, about 2 per coyote season.

Calling old barnyards is good advice. I've had even better luck around massive brush piles from cleared farm land. They're around, good luck.
 
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