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Coyotes vs. foxes: the numbers game has changed
StoryDiscussionBy BRIAN GEHRING Bismarck Tribune | Posted: Thursday, January 13, 2011 8:30 am | (0) Comments
Coyotes are considered by some as the ultimate survior because of their adaptability. .
..If you think you have been seeing more foxes lately, your eyes haven’t been playing tricks on you, and you’re not alone.
In many areas of the state, reports from game wardens and others indicate red fox numbers may be on the rise in the past couple years.
Conventional wisdom says when it comes to coyotes and foxes co-existing — they don’t.
Where you see coyotes, you normally don’t see foxes because they compete for the denning areas and some of the same food sources.
Normally the coyotes will push the foxes out of the area.
Stephanie Tucker, furbearer biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said populations of foxes and coyotes aren’t tracked like deer, but there is data to support the inverse relationship between the two furbearers.
Tucker said one of the measures of fox and coyote numbers since the 1950s has been a rural mail carriers survey that reports sightings.
From 1896 to 1962 or so, Tucker said data also was collected from bounty surveys so there is historical data to indicate that where you find coyotes you won’t find foxes, and vice versa.
Tucker said the balance turned in the mid-1940s, when coyote numbers dropped and fox numbers increased.
Around 2000, Tucker said the coyote numbers increased and the fox numbers dipped.
Of course fox numbers are not up in all areas of the state, but Tucker said there are pockets here and there, particularly north and east of Bismarck, where that is that case.
District game warden Tim Larson of Turtle Lake said he and others in that area have been seeing more foxes than in previous years.
But at the same time, Larson said he has not seen much of decline in coyote numbers.
There are a number of theories as to why the foxes have been making a comeback, but nothing concrete.
Larson said it could be that mange has been on the downswing in recent years.
Both species are affected by the disease, which is carried and transmitted by mites, but foxes are more susceptible to dying from mange than coyotes.
It could be a food source issue. One thought is that with the heavy snow cover the past few winters, rodent species like voles that use snow as cover have been surviving at a higher rate, adding more variety to the table, so to speak.
Or it could just be the natural cycle of the population dynamics on the prairie.
“It could be the cycle is now swinging back the other way,” Tucker said.
The Conservation Reserve Program also could be an indirect factor giving both foxes and their prey cover.
Coyotes are often regarded as the ultimate survivors, but the same can be said for foxes.
Foxes have smaller home ranges than do their counterparts, so their diets likely are more varied than coyotes’.
So what happens when the population shifts? District game warden Brent Schwan of Watford City said there are, without a doubt, more foxes in his area.
And like other parts of the state, Schwan said the coyote numbers still seem to be stable.
Coyote-calling contests and coyote hunting in general have become more popular in recent years.
Even so, that hasn’t put much of a dent in the coyote numbers in part, because the market for fur is not what is was a few decades ago.
A good coyote fur might fetch around $10, with a fox fur at about $8.
“It’s hard to get a good feel for the numbers,” Schwan said, because the last two winters, conditions have kept a lot of hunters out of the field.
“Getting around has been tough so there aren’t a lot of hunters outAnd this year, the snow might be as hard on the varmints as it is on the hunters, Schwan said.
This year’s snow is soft, fluffy and deep, making it hard for predators to get through as opposed to the hard snowpack of previous winters.
Schwan and others say what they have been seeing as a result of the numbers game is foxes denning in areas they normally would not. Larson and Schwan both have spotted foxes denning along road ditches, perhaps in abandoned badger dens or in culverts.
That doesn’t bode well for fox pups that are often casualties of road kill.
Similar reports have been coming in from farmers who have noticed foxes setting up house closer to buildings than before, even on power plant grounds in the Beulah area.
Whatever the reason, the numbers have a lot of varmint hunters talking, especially on online forums like http://www.coyotehunter.net.
And while the numbers may change and cycle, perception of the two species is harder to turn.
Foxes have been, and likely always will be, considered cute and cuddly, while coyotes will most likely regarded as varmints or vermin.
Tucker said if mange is a factor in population numbers as she suspects it is to some extent, the numbers will turn again in due time.
“With mange, the population drives the cycle,” she said.
“I expect in the next five years to see it pick up again.”
(Reach reporter Brian Gehring at 250-8254 or brian.gehring@bismarcktribune.com.)
