Red Fox in the summer

[wyojrt]

Not coyotes, no, but they are predators for us. As I'd been asked a little about my terriers and hunting, thought I'd show some pictures of a particular hunt a few years ago. We tried one of my inexperienced terriers at the time, moved on to my friend's white terrier that was just a touch to big to get through the tube, and ultimately got two fox with his Patterdale terrier.

Friend's white terrier entering


The Patterdale just after we broke through to him...he is on the fox in this shot, though you can't see it.


If you look real hard, you can see the red fur....the dog has ahold of the fox at this time.


You can definitely see the dog drawing the fox here...we're poised to snare him.


Me holding the Patterdale and the landowner holding the snared fox.


Friend with his dog and the two fox that the dog accounted for that day.


Temps were in the 90's that day and we'd been told that you'll never find fox in the ground in the summer. Since then, the vast majority of the fox I've gotten with the terriers has been in warmer weather.

I tend to hunt alone, so pictures are usually pretty scarce for me!

[Daryl]

Do you train these dogs?? Maybe I should bring my guy out and leave him with you for awhile

[wyojrt]

Training ends up consisting of exposure, for the most part. The terriers were bred for that particular job...to go to ground for the quarry....and there are breeders out there that breed only working terriers in the hopes of keeping that working instinct. There's not really any formal training to be done....just some experience in the field and some care as far as not letting a pup that's too young get it's arse handed to him and ruin him, but that's about it. I've used rats to help make the connection with mouth to fur and help get prey drive kickstarted, but that's about it. It's much easier to bring an experienced dog for the young dog to watch. Sort of hard to explain, but not really anything that I'd truly call "training".

[lyonch]

Cool pictures Looks like it is an interesting way to hunt fox!

[LeviM]

sweet pics! Nice to see pics of your dogs at work!

[Prairie Ghost]

I gotta have me one of them!!!! Do you end up digging the dogs out most of the time or are they able to pull the fox out most of the time without digging?

[wyojrt]

Typically, they were bred to be a "stay and bay" terrier....the idea being that they enabled the mounted hunt to continue by either bolting the fox or keeping it in a stopend without injuring it until the terrierman could dig down and release the fox. That said, I've never dug to my stud dog. He's pretty hard and has brought each fox out to me, dead or near dead. I understand that HIS sire was that way as well as a sister. His sire was not used very much before he died at 4 years old, unfortunately. I'm planning a hunting trip to MO and another to NJ this fall and plan to take the two daughters that I've kept from my stud. All indications so far tell me they'll be pretty hard as well, but we may have to dig to them. Timing has just been off for the older bitch....days I've had her out, nothing has been home except for once and she killed a young fox then. Hoping to get on some coon and possum in MO and groundhog in NJ.

So...Reader's Digest answer....yeah, figure on digging to the terrier most of the time. Fortunately, for me, our settes aren't too terribly deep and the material has been like butter once you get past the first 4" or so. Some places have quite a bit of clay or shale....rocky areas aren't usually places we release a terrier simply due to impossible digging. Trees here are rare, so roots aren't an issue here like they can be other places, too.

[Prairie Ghost]

that would pose a problem for me i usually don't have the time or energy or landscape to do much digging. Sounds like they are truly amazing to watch though. Do you think with a shock collar you could get the dog to come out of the hole?

[wyojrt]

Truthfully, no...I think it would quicker ruin them for entering a hole at all. They are still bred to go in and get quarry and leaving it is a fault, so I think it's so much ingrained into them instinctually that a shock collar wouldn't do the trick.