Reproduction

On South Soviet Union at the end of winter, usually in January and February, and in mid-latitudes in February and March, foxes begin their mating season - the rut. At this time, you can often hear a kind of hoarse barking. It's the foxes barking.

By listening well to the voices of several animals, you can notice differences in them. Three abrupt howls ending in a drawn-out monophonic howl belong to the female. The barking of males is more frequent, abrupt, does not end with a howl and is very reminiscent of the short-term barking of a small mongrel. Such barking by foxes characterizes the beginning of the rut.

With a large number of foxes and under favorable conditions of their existence, you can regularly hear the barking of one, and sometimes several foxes at once, every night for 2-3 weeks. This indicates that the animals have wintered well and their rutting is proceeding smoothly. In such a year, with a favorable spring, one should expect numerous fox litters with a large number of healthy puppies in each.

During the mating season, foxes often gather in groups and run in a line, forming so-called “fox weddings.” Such a wedding is usually headed by a female, followed by several males. Fights break out between males, which sometimes become violent. From the tracks left in the snow, one can imagine how fiercely the animals gnawed, sometimes standing against each other on their hind legs, sometimes grappling, how they rolled in a ball, leaving tufts of fur in the snow. If rivals meet in a hole, an equally fierce struggle ensues underground, usually ending in the flight of the weaker.

Mating in foxes, as in dogs, is accompanied by bonding, as a result of the formation of a bulb in the male - a thickening at the base of the genital organ due to the rush of blood to the cavernous bodies. The male and female can remain in a bound state for up to half an hour. If the foxes are suddenly frightened at this time, they will run away.

After mating, some pairs sometimes separate for a short time. In such cases, before whelping, males again compete with each other over pregnant females. After this, the foxes finally break into pairs, and the male, together with the female, actively participates in preparing the burrow and raising the young.

Foxes most often make pores in elevated, dry places with a deep groundwater level, digging them in a wide variety of landscape conditions. The burrows are fairly evenly distributed among fields and arable lands, in forests and forest edges, among hayfields and grazing meadows.

In steppe and desert zones with extensive open spaces foxes prefer the slopes of ravines, river and stream valleys, overgrown with bushes, where they usually dig holes or occupy free badgers.

In the spring, a pair of foxes sometimes clears several holes in their hunting area. This can be easily seen by the freshly raked heaps of sand and the animal tracks left on them.

In damp and swampy areas with a limited number of suitable places for burrowing, fox broods are often placed in adjacent burrows located at a distance of 100-200 meters. There are even cases of two broods settling in one burrow.

How often fox holes are found in various zones of the Soviet Union can be judged from the following data. In 1939, in the Spitsovsky district of the Stavropol Territory there were up to 50 burrows in an area of ​​40 square kilometers, and in the Arzgirsky district there were up to 100 burrows in the same area. In the Ural-Emben desert in 1935, only 3 burrows were discovered in the same area.

According to our research, in the Brovary district of the Kiev region there were 8-9 burrows per area of ​​40 square kilometers in 1948/49, and in the Moscow region (Losinoostrovskoe farm) in 1938 - 12 burrows.

In the taiga regions of Eastern Siberia (in the upper reaches of the Ushmuna, Borun and Zund-Jila rivers and beyond the Yablonov ridge to the valleys of the Gunda, Bulugunda and Chubuktuya rivers) in 1945/46 there was one fox hole per several hundred square kilometers.

Thus, the number of burrows in different areas is very different. This may serve indirect indicator how suitable certain areas are for foxes to live.

When building burrows, foxes use small hillocks, slopes of ravines, crevices in rocks, embankments of ditches dug to drain swamps, and even trenches and basins left after military operations. Burrows are less common on the gentle slopes of swampy depressions.

The underground labyrinth of a hole, as a rule, is located in the most pliable layer of sand, sandy loam or light loam, the depth of which can vary from 50 to 250 centimeters. The steepness of the passages, the structure of the underground labyrinth and the depth of the nesting chamber - the lair - depend on this.

In the case of subsoil layers reaching the surface (in ravines, trenches, ditches), foxes dig 1, less often 2 entrance holes directly in the slope of a ravine or ditch and make a short, 2-3 meters long, corridor at a slight angle to the surface of the earth. Burrows of this type apparently serve as temporary shelter, since animals do not visit them regularly and puppies are not usually bred in them.

More often, foxes dig more complex underground passages with 2-3 holes and a nesting chamber - a lair located underground at a depth of more than a meter. The underground labyrinth of such burrows consists of 2-3 corridors with a diameter of 25-30 centimeters and a total length of 6-10 meters, which serve as passages to the lair. In some cases, underground passages are complicated by blind (without access to the surface of the earth) burrows 1-2 meters long, dug away from the nesting chamber or corridor. Usually, fox holes, contrary to the opinion of many hunters, are very simple in design and have 2-3 straight or slightly curved corridors - passages to the lair, which are located underground at a depth of 1-2 meters.

Old foxes or badger holes occupied by foxes turn out to be more difficult. In these cases, up to a dozen snouts come to the surface of the earth, and the underground labyrinth is dug at a depth of 2-3 meters and can consist of several corridors and many blind snouts with a total length of up to 30-40 meters.

There are no sharp temperature fluctuations in the depths of such pores. It was found that when the air temperature on the earth's surface changed from -8 to +27°, the temperature in the burrow's den (at a depth of 120 centimeters underground) varied from -2 to +17°, and in the passages at a depth of 250 centimeters - from 0 to +14°.

It should be noted that during hot weather in residential fox holes at a depth of 1.5-2 meters and in the presence of an animal, the temperature did not rise above + 17°, and in winter cold it did not fall below 0°.

It is also important to note that the concentration of water vapor in fox burrows usually approaches saturated humidity even in dry steppe areas.

The sun's rays never penetrate into the nesting chamber. In a complex underground labyrinth, even the smallest amount of scattered light enters the lair.

Consequently, old, deep underground holes turn out to be not only a reliable refuge for fox cubs, but also a unique habitat for them, where on a hot afternoon they can hide from the heat, and on rain and cold - from bad weather. In this regard, it becomes clear why foxes and their litters primarily occupy deep and complex burrows.

Foxes become very attached to their holes. If they are not disturbed, they breed puppies in the same places year after year.

Often, in old, extensive holes with numerous dens, a family of foxes settles together with a badger. In winter, a fox that is wounded or pursued by a dog very often takes refuge in a hole where a badger sleeps.

Hunters know of cases where a fox survived a badger from its hole. Some attribute this to the fox's cunning tricks, others - simply to her untidiness. However, in areas with a limited number of places for denning (for example, in northern Ukraine), we observed the opposite picture: badgers and raccoon dogs survived foxes from the holes they constantly occupied.

There are cases when completely helpless fox cubs are found in a hollow or under the snags of a fallen tree, in a crevice between stones or under a haystack. Such cases can be explained by the flooding of a burrow chosen by an inexperienced young female, or the relocation of a disturbed brood. Old females usually give birth in pre-prepared, secure burrows.

Pregnancy in a fox lasts 51-53 days. In the southern regions of the Soviet Union, the whelping period occurs in the second half of March, in mid-latitudes (Kiev-Moscow) - in April, and in more northern regions (north of Leningrad) - at the end of April - the first half of May. In all these zones, whelping dates may vary within 10-15 days depending on meteorological conditions, the abundance or lack of food during the rutting period, diseases, etc.

Feed largely determines the number of puppies born. The average number of puppies in a litter does not exceed 5-6, sometimes it reaches 9 and, as an exception, up to 12.

Fox cubs are born covered in plump fur and weigh 100-150 grams. The primary hair coat is dark brown in color and evenly covers the entire body and tail of the puppy. The end of the tail of fox cubs is always white, which allows them to be distinguished from wolf cubs, as well as from raccoon dog and arctic fox puppies.

For the first 15-19 days, the fox cubs are blind. Their ear openings are covered with membranes. During this entire period, the puppies are completely helpless and are entirely dependent on their mother, who warms them and feeds them milk. By constantly licking the puppies' perineum, the female causes them to release feces and urine onto her tongue, thereby maintaining cleanliness in the den.

At the same time, the male’s paternal instinct awakens, and he regularly brings prey to the hole.

A month after birth, normally developed fox cubs weigh up to 1 kilogram. At this time, they are already constantly appearing on the surface of the earth and in good weather They spend whole days at the hole, not moving further than 20-30 meters from it.

It is interesting to observe such a brood, sitting in a storage shed built on the nearest tree, or simply behind a bush 20-30 meters from the hole (downwind). Usually, as soon as the sun begins to warm up, all the fox cubs, one after another, run out of the hole in a crowd and start a fuss. They play for hours, chase each other, tumble, forming a common ball.

Sometimes a low-flying crow or a bird fluttering nearby causes the most cautious little fox to mutter in alarm, which makes everyone else wary (Fig. 2). At this tense moment, it is enough for at least one puppy to sneak into the hole, and all the others rush after him, crowding each other. Half an hour or an hour will pass and the pointed ears of the most curious daredevil will again appear from the hole. After looking around, the puppy will quietly climb out to a spot in front of the hole. Everyone else will appear behind him. And the frisky game begins again.

Having played enough and tired, fox cubs love to lie down and take a nap on the sand under the rays of the morning sun. On a hot afternoon, they usually climb into the cool of the underground lair, and then silence and calm reign around the hole.

And in the evening twilight, at night or early in the morning, old foxes bring the foxes a wide variety of prey: a vole, a gerbil, a gopher, and sometimes even a hare, a chicken, etc. We had to observe how one fox managed to bring the puppies an uncrushed mallard duck egg. Often the fox delivers the victim to the hole while still alive. This develops hunting skills in fox cubs.

Arriving at the hole, the fox calls the fox cubs with a peculiar snort, often reminiscent of the repeated syllable “oof-oof.” At such a call, all the fox cubs immediately jump out of the hole. Usually the prey falls into the teeth of the fox cub that jumps out first. The strongest and hungriest puppy decides the further fate of the prey.

A fierce fight often breaks out between fox cubs over a gopher, water rat, etc. brought by their mother. Snatching prey from each other, the puppies become furious. Pouncing on each other with chattering noises, they gnaw, scratch with their front paws, or, grappling, roll on the ground in a ball, trying to push the opponent away from the desired prey with their rear. When the victim is torn to pieces and eaten, the fox cubs begin to suckle their mother. But at this time the fox already avoids feeding them milk, and usually, after making a few jumps to the side, hides from the puppies in the bushes, leaving the brood to its own devices.

If at this time a person or a dog approaches the hole, the fox will not hesitate to return back and in such cases often shows great dedication in saving the brood. With a sharp bark, reminiscent of the abruptly and hoarsely pronounced syllable “uhau,” the fox tries to attract the attention of a person, without at the same time catching his eye. The fox sometimes runs very close to the dog and, dodging its teeth, rushes away, distracting the dog from the hole.

The instinct of motherhood also manifests itself in foxes that do not have puppies. Thus, fox cubs, placed in a cage next to a single fox, awakened the instinct of motherhood in her. Such a fox systematically starved, and she carried the freshly killed jackdaws that were brought to her in her teeth all day long, constantly purring and trying in every possible way to call the fox cubs from the next cage to her. When a fox cub was brought to the bars of her cage, the fox willingly gave him the meat she had stored.

Fox cubs begin to catch small animals from the very first days after their first exit from the hole. While frolicking near the hole, they do not miss the opportunity to trample or crush a running lizard with their paws, to grab a descending May beetle or dung beetle in flight, or to catch a fleet-footed ground beetle. This is how they gradually develop hunting techniques.

At two to three months of age (for mid-latitudes in June-July), fox cubs become more independent. At this time, they begin to move away from their burrow several hundred meters to hunt for fillies, beetles, lizards and mouse-like rodents. At night they return to their den, as old foxes still continue to come to the hole and share their prey with the cubs.

Near the residential burrow, fox cubs destroy all small animals, including frogs. In this regard, young animals are gradually expanding their hunting area.

By August, the weight of the fox cubs reaches 2.5-3 kilograms. By this time, their hair becomes more luxuriant, similar to the fur of their parents. Such fox cubs become so independent that they can feed themselves. At this time, they move away from the hole to a distance of over a kilometer and do not always return, remaining in the field for the whole day and even at night.

Sometimes a lonely fox cub temporarily settles in the nearest neighboring hole. Such frightened fox cubs, frightened near their homes, often do not hide in a hole, but run into the bushes or reed thickets.

Old foxes still continue to stick to the breeding area. They often give away their presence by barking at a person who appears at the hole in which the fox cub is hiding.

In September and October, when the fox cubs finish replacing their milk teeth, the young animals have already grown so much that they appearance almost no different from adults. From this time until the end of winter (until the rutting period), young foxes lead a solitary nomadic lifestyle, adhering to the territory of their permanent hunting area. Of the 27 fox cubs that we banded in the summer of 1949 in the Brovary district of the Kiev region, 6 months later three foxes were killed in the same area at a distance of 12-22 kilometers from the place of release.

In winter, foxes do not have a permanent shelter - holes and burrow only in exceptional cases, escaping from danger or hiding in damp, inclement weather.

The period of raising young animals is not always calm for a fox. In many industrial and agricultural areas of the central regions of the European part of the Soviet Union, foxes dig holes not only in remote places, but also in arable lands, among crops, in meadows or on forest edges, often in close proximity to villages. As a result, local residents can easily spot fox litters. Often children, having found a habitable hole, stick sticks into it, throw in smoking firebrands, or simply stuff the holes with earth. Such a hole, as a rule, becomes uninhabited on the same day. In areas where a fox is heavily pursued by a person, it is enough for him to visit the hole once, especially in the presence of old foxes, for the animals to leave their shelter.

The fox carries helpless puppies in her teeth, and transfers more independent ones to a secluded place 2-3 kilometers away. If this happens in May or June, then the still fragile fox cubs during such a transition lag behind their mother, get lost and become victims of dogs, wolves and large feathered predators.

In areas where suitable places not enough for burrowing, such an alarmed brood is forced to wander for quite a long time without shelter, as a result of which the entire brood may die. In Ukraine in May, we observed many cases when from litters of 5-7 puppies, after they moved to other burrows, 2-3 fox cubs remained alive.

Daily lifestyle of a fox

Most foxes lead a crepuscular and nocturnal lifestyle. In summer and autumn, the fox goes hunting at sunset, when work in the fields stops and the shepherds bring the herds to the villages. All night and the morning of the next day, she freely moves through the harvested fields, visiting old stacks, stacks of straw and threshing floor, the tops of ravines, the edges of swamps and forest edges. If there is a lot of food, then the fox, having quickly sated, lies down at night, and at dawn resumes its hunt until sunrise, after which it leaves for the day.

However, there are also foxes who are not averse to hunting gophers and hamsters in the late morning or even during the day. In summer, animals with broods often linger during the daytime hunt. Sometimes they approach villages to catch a careless chicken from a careless housewife. In winter or in a hungry year, when it is difficult to obtain food, foxes usually mouse all day.

As a rule, foxes visit carrion at cattle burial grounds and bait only in the evening and at night.

Day-time places for foxes

On a quiet, clear winter day, the fox chooses a place to spend the day somewhere on a hill among wormwood thickets or in the stubble in the fields. She lies down in the snow or on some hill - on a hummock, a stump, a pile of brushwood, a woodpile or a stack. In mountainous areas, fox roosting sites often turn out to be a small balcony on a cliff or on a steep slope of a ravine. Even when the frost is below 15-20° and there is a strong wind, the fox prefers to lie down somewhere not in a swamp among hummocks, under the protection of reeds, in young forest plantings or in weeds, than to hide in a hole. In winter, it is sometimes possible to catch her in her hole only during a snowstorm with heavy snowfall.

The fox most often goes to bed without special precautions. She doesn’t do cunning doubles, sweeps and loops like a hare. Only sometimes, having made a throw from the trail, does he lie down so that he can see his trail. Curled up, she usually lies on her side, bringing her front and hind legs to her stomach and covering them with her bushy tail. Young and unafraid animals, especially if they are well-fed, sleep quite soundly, and it is often possible to approach them from the leeward side with a sure shot. Animals sleep especially soundly during the thaw after frost.

Old animals sleep more lightly and often raise their heads, listening and looking around. It is usually not possible to approach such “unrested” foxes without special precautions.

Along the black trail it often happens that a fox, seeing an approaching hunter, presses itself to the ground, trying to become invisible.

If a person walks straight towards a fox, it jumps up while he is still at a considerable distance and runs away. Sometimes, having let a person get quite close, she quietly gets up and, camouflaging herself with bushes, tree trunks and uneven terrain, tries to leave unnoticed.

Fox nutrition and fat sites

In spring and summer, when the puppies are being raised, the old fox spends most of her time searching for prey. At this time, she attacks any victim within her power, from a beetle, lizard, vole to a hare or even a young roe deer. The fox is no less dangerous for many birds, as it does not miss the opportunity to profit from their eggs and chicks. Often, adult moulting birds - ducks, black grouse and wood grouse - also fall into the teeth of the animal. There is a known case when a fox even killed a swan. In a hungry year, animals willingly eat carrion.

Thus, the composition of the animal food of the fox is very diverse. It changes from year to year, from season to season due to changes in the abundance and availability of a particular type of food. And yet there is no doubt that the bulk of the fox’s food consists of various small rodents. Every hunter has probably seen more than once in the fields with what enthusiasm a fox catches mice, or, as they say, “mouses.” There are many known cases when, during night plowing, foxes followed a tractor plow and looked for mice in the torn up ground. Once we went “out into the night” with a tractor driver, and we managed to kill such a mousey fox. The remains of 16 voles were found in her stomach. Numerous studies of the contents of the stomachs and feces of foxes collected in various zones of the Soviet Union have established that mouse-like rodents occupy a significant place in the diet of foxes everywhere. For example, in foxes killed in the forest-tundra of the Kola Peninsula, mouse-like rodents were found in the stomachs of all individuals, in the Moscow region - in 79% of cases, in the floodplain regions of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - in 76%, in the mountainous part of Crimea - in 61% and in the territory Caucasian state reserve- in 84% of cases.

Every hunter, having carefully examined the hard, almost black feces of an animal he encounters on a fox's trail or near a hole, can be convinced that small rodents are the fox's main food. In the feces, you can easily distinguish undigested short hairs and claws of small rodents.

In addition to mouse-like rodents, foxes catch a large number of gophers and hamsters. In some years and seasons, birds, carrion, berries and fruits have a significant share of the fox’s diet.

And in the summer, the feces of foxes, and especially fox cubs, often consist of only the chitinous remains of May beetles, dung beetles, locusts, grasshoppers and other insects. It should be noted that compared to all these foods, hares and game birds occupy a very small place in the fox’s diet (5-10%). In winter, the share of these feeds sometimes increases. This is largely explained by the absence of mouse-like rodents or the difficulties of catching them from under deep hard snow, as well as by the fact that the animal at this time catches wounded animals that were not found by hunters. In some cases, the number of hares eaten increases as a result of mortality among them from invasive (helminthic) and infectious (contagious) diseases.

With a lack of food (especially mouse-like rodents), the fox sometimes begins to systematically strangle poultry. At the same time, she often becomes so impudent that she breaks into the poultry yard during the day and drags away the chicken.

In autumn and winter, old or young foxes, already quite mature by this time, wander in the evening twilight and at night in search of prey in their hunting area. This territory, usually well studied by the fox during its daily wanderings, does not exceed an area of ​​10-20 kilometers in diameter.

It is interesting to walk through fresh powder, following fox tracks, stretched in stitches with the most intricate figures, through fields, meadows, forest edges, swamps, ravines and stream valleys. Sometimes such a trail stretches for 30-40 kilometers, and if you don’t cut the loops, you won’t always have time to reach the lying fox in a short winter day.

You will see a lot of interesting and instructive things on the fox path. The fox has several gaits. The most common is a jog, a medium-sized trot. With this move, the fox makes its usual journeys in search of prey. In a mouse-like fox, the trot often gives way to a walk, which indicates the tense state of the animal. Such steps sometimes end with several jumps and a hole in the snow, irrigated with a few drops of the blood of the captured animal. In deep snow or icy conditions, the fox is not always able to get to the bottom of the vole or mouse. In such cases, she has to switch to hunting for hare and inspect clearings and forest edges, where black grouse and hazel grouse usually spend the night in holes made in the snow.

The fox often visits the threshing floor, where she sometimes manages to crawl up to gray partridges or hare. At night, the animal often comes close to human habitation and picks up various garbage.

Foxes never eat to their fill, as wolves do. Usually 10-20 mice or one hamster are quite sufficient to satiate a medium-sized animal. If the fox is full and cannot finish eating its prey, it, having found a secluded place, tears off a hole with its front paws and, having placed the remains of its meal in it, buries them with its nose and carefully compacts the earth or snow with it. The fox usually returns to its storerooms the next day. Therefore, with such a find, the hunter will not miss the opportunity to set two traps in this place.

In the second half of winter, when there is less food and it is more difficult to obtain, the fox regularly visits carrion, although this predator usually prefers live prey.

A well-fed fox often catches mice simply to satisfy his hunting passion. In such cases, having caught a vole, it plays with it like a cat until it strangles it, then throws it away uneaten. Having discovered this kind of fox fun in the tracks, we can safely assume that the animal is full and will soon go to bed.

Enemies of the fox

Adult foxes have few enemies: wolves and large eagles. There are also known cases of attacks on foxes by lynx and wolverine. Fox cubs have many more enemies. They are attacked by an eagle owl, a goshawk, a raven and a pestering crow. Fox cubs often become victims of stray dogs. Many of them die in their burrows as a result of being smoked. Many fox cubs disappear in early spring from hunger and cold during the transition of disturbed litters to another place. Foxes often die from eating poisoned chemicals locusts and mouse-like rodents.

Sense organs

When hunting a fox, it should be taken into account that its hearing is most developed, followed by its sense of smell. Vision is less perfect. Calmly standing man Some foxes cannot distinguish at a distance of 10 steps. One day we had to observe a litter of foxes near a hole, sitting on a tree 4 meters above the ground. Half an hour after we arrived, an old fox came to the hole with a water rat in her teeth. Having given the prey to the puppies, she suddenly caught the scent of our tracks. With his head down, the animal walked back and forth along the tracks and sniffed at them. Sometimes he stopped right under the tree and, raising his head up, sniffed the bark on the tree for a long time, but, finding nothing, he went to the puppies. In the morning, warm air currents rise. Therefore, apparently, the fox could not smell us. This example suggests that the animal trusts its nose more than its eyes.

It is characteristic that the fox looks down at the level of its eyes. There is one more feature in the fox's vision - an underdeveloped sense of distance. Some attribute this to the beast's shortsightedness. However, this is not quite true. A fox often notices a moving or suddenly appearing person at a distance of more than 500 meters and, despite this, at the same moment rushes to run with such haste as if it were 50 meters away from him. Only by disappearing from sight or losing sight and not hearing its pursuer does the beast calm down.

It is impossible not to mention the fox’s highly developed powers of observation and visual memory. On her regular paths, she notices the appearance of the most insignificant objects or changes in the tracks. This makes the animal wary and often forces it to bypass the suspicious place. This is the main reason that foxes often bypass poorly disguised traps, although they are well processed and devoid of any smell.

Habits of a fox in captivity

Many fox cubs taken from a hole in early age(for example, suckers), with constant communication with people, they are well tamed.

Fox cubs especially get used to the person who feeds them, constantly picks them up and caresses them.

When artificially reared, fox cubs are fed cow's milk, mashed potatoes, various cereals cooked in milk or meat broth, all kinds of sweet berries and fruits, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, as well as insects, such as mayweeds. To avoid the appearance of rickets, it is necessary to add 10-20 grams of meat and bone meal, 10 grams of raw eggs and fish oil to the fox cub's food. Fox cubs always eat meat, especially freshly killed poultry, with great greed. A tame little fox does not lose its passion for hunting in captivity. Released, it pounces on poultry and with great dexterity can strangle a chicken and even a goose in an instant.

A tame fox treats dogs with complete trust. When a large shepherd dog appears at the enclosure, she runs out to meet her and, wagging her tails, crouching to the ground or clinging to the bars of the cage, expresses the most friendly feeling. The fox lives very friendly with young and playful dogs. Placed together in one cage, they often play all day long, and when they get tired, they go to sleep in the same den or burrow.

A well-tamed fox remains attached to its owner for life. She recognizes her nickname, the voice of a person she knows well.

There are known cases when such foxes ran away to freedom and after a day or two returned or ran out of the bushes at the call of the owner and approached him without fear, allowing him to pull himself together.

When the owner enters the cage of a tamed fox, she rushes to his feet, caresses and rubs against his dress, crouches to the ground, wags her tail and, pressing her ears, squeals joyfully. When playing with a person, the fox makes false movements to the right, left and unexpectedly jumps off in an unexpected direction. Caught by the tail or collar, she falls on her back, somersaults and, deftly dodging, bites the owner's finger or hand with lightning speed, but painlessly.

Foxes tamed from youth breed in captivity and feed their cubs well, as opposed to wild ones, who are too restless in cages and drag their pups to death in their teeth.

Fox- the first object of fur farming, which has been carried out since the end of the last century in Canada, and then in other countries. High prices for fur and breeding stock stimulated the development of the industry. With the development of mink farming, foxes began to be gradually replaced by them everywhere, and now fox farming has an insignificant share, although there is still a demand for fox skins on the international market.

Silver-black foxes are mainly bred. The average size of males ranges from 66 to 72 cm, females - 63 - 68 cm. The average live weight of males is 6 - 7 kg, females - 5 - 6 kg. Sexual maturity in foxes occurs at 9 - 11 months, they reproduce normally until 6 - 7 years, with maximum productivity at 3 - 5 years of age. The lifespan of foxes is 10 - 12 years. Average fertility is 5 - 6 puppies per litter. A litter of 14 puppies was registered. The fruiting period is 51 - 52 days.

Currently, the following color forms of foxes are known: silver-black, black-brown, white-faced-platinum, white-faced silver-black, snow and other forms with various shades.

The peculiarity of fox reproduction is that it is monoestric, that is, they go into heat and hunt once a year, and if during this period the female is not covered, offspring from her can only be obtained the next year. Foxes are prepared for the rut from August-September, when their follicles begin to grow weakly. Insufficient and inadequate feeding of foxes during this period can lead to underdevelopment of the genital organs, which will negatively affect the reproduction of foxes.

Like other predatory animals, foxes begin to decrease their basal metabolism from the end of July, and reserves accumulate in their bodies. nutrients, as a result of which live weight by December increases by 35 + 40% compared to the summer period.

From approximately January 15 to 25 and later (February 1 to 15), individual females begin estrus and the state of sexual heat. Estrus usually lasts 5-10 days, and in young and old females up to 15-20 days. During the period of estrus, changes begin in the uterus, the walls of which thicken and prepare to receive embryos. The outer edges of the vagina swell, the loop “cleans” and becomes clearly visible even with a superficial examination. With the onset of heat, it becomes almost round and elastic, and during the period of heat it softens.

The state of hunting in foxes lasts 2 - 3 days, during which ovulation occurs. After the end of the hunt, a period of rest begins, the ovaries become smaller, the corpus luteum matures, and the loop again becomes almost invisible in the hairline. The state of heat can only be repeated the next year. Only in very rare cases does the heat state repeat (even in coated females) after 5-7 days, and sometimes after 17 days. After secondary mating, the offspring in some cases appears from the first mating, in others - from the second. This is possible as a result of the non-simultaneous development of follicles in different ovaries.

Before the female comes into heat, the male usually does not pay attention to her. With the onset of estrus, the female and male become hostile to each other. Such animals should be connected 2-3 times. If the hostile attitude does not change, another male is selected for the female, otherwise she may remain uncovered.

When the female comes into heat, the male stays close to her and periodically sniffs her. In the following days, characteristic games begin between them, and even before the onset of sexual heat, some males make attempts to mate, but the female snaps and does not allow mating. The female, who is in a state of hunting, as the male approaches, takes a characteristic pose, turning her tail to the side.

During the rutting period, males are quite active and many of them can mate with females 2 times a day. Some males cover up to 25 females during the rutting period with normal polygamy 1:5 - 1:6. If the male long time not placed with females in heat, the function of his testes fades.

If a female needs to be covered only by the male attached to her, and the latter does not pay attention to her, despite obvious signs of sexual heat, then they resort to “inducing jealousy.” The female is taken to another male for 10 - 20 minutes, not allowing mating with him. After the female returns, the male usually covers her immediately. Blowing off steam is carried out in the morning, when the animals are most active. During morning feeding, the connection of males with females begins half an hour after feeding. It is most effective to cover the female on the second day of the hunt.

Mating in foxes lasts from several minutes to two or more hours.

Pregnancy of foxes lasts from 49 to 56 days. Pregnancy is delayed due to insufficient diet, especially vitamin B deficiency. With appropriate skills, on the 18th - 20th day you can determine pregnancy by palpation; on the 25th - 30th day, pregnancy diagnosis becomes easier. When palpated, single females are identified, which, if they have good pubescence, are killed. In pregnant females, molting begins earlier than in unfertilized ones.

On the 51st - 52nd day of pregnancy, maternal instincts arise in females, and a slight release of colostrum is observed. 10 - 15 days before the expected whelping, the female's house is prepared. The house must be protected from the cold, disinfected, and the nest must be lined with insulating material.

It shouldn't be hot in the house. Sometimes the entire house is filled with clean straw and the females make a nest in it themselves.

2 - 3 days before whelping, females begin to shed hair around their nipples. The females remove it and at this time you can see foxes with fluff stuck to their faces - one of the sure signs of imminent whelping. On the eve of whelping, females refuse food and do not leave the nest.

Childbirth usually begins in the morning and lasts 1.5 - 2 hours. The time between the appearance of the penultimate and last puppy can sometimes be up to a day. After the birth of each puppy, the female licks it, clearing it of the placenta, which she eats and places it on her nipples. Milk usually begins to come out during birth, and the puppies begin suckling immediately.

After whelping, the nests are inspected. Healthy puppies lie in a pile, dry. Weak pups are scattered throughout the nest. It is necessary to examine everyone and, if necessary, place the weak ones with nurses and feed them with a 3-4% solution ascorbic acid with glucose in a dose of 1 - 1.5 ml.

Newborn puppies weigh 80 - 100 g, are covered with short dark pubescence, their eyes are closed, there are no teeth, their ears are covered with skin.

To warm frozen puppies, “incubators” are built, where the temperature is maintained at about 20 - 25 ° C. The warmed puppies are placed near the nipples of the mother, who is held on the table with her muzzle tied up by two people. You can feed puppies with goat's milk heated to 30 - 35°C.

If the female cannot give birth on her own, she is provided with obstetric care, pulling up the emerging puppies in time with the attempts.

Sometimes women in labor exhibit cannibalism when, after eating stillborn puppies, they also devour living ones. In such cases, the surviving puppies are placed in an incubator, and the female is discarded. The cause of death of all puppies is determined and conclusions are drawn about the further use of the female.

Puppies grow and develop quickly. Until two weeks of age, they are completely helpless and feed on their mother's milk. The eyes open on the 14th - 17th day, at the same time teeth begin to erupt, which all grow by the age of one month. With teething, the muzzle, which until now was dull, stretches out. From the age of 3 months, the replacement of baby teeth with permanent ones begins; by 5 months, molars are formed.

In the first 4 - 5 months, significant changes occur in the puppies' physique. From being short-legged, they become long-legged, grow in length, and by 6-7 months the physique of the young animals approaches the physique of adult animals. By 7 months of age, the live weight of fox cubs reaches 5 - 7.5 kg. slight growth of foxes continues after the onset of puberty. Males are 5 - 10% heavier than females.

Summer pubescence of fox cubs after birth is black without silver coloring. With the growth of winter pubescence, the silvery coloration increases.

For the first 2.5 - 3 weeks, fox cubs feed only on mother's milk. When milk production is low, they are fed with heated goat's milk, and then cow's milk with the addition of egg yolk or good minced meat.

As soon as the puppies begin feeding, the female stops eating their feces and cleaning is necessary to maintain cleanliness in the cage.

At 45-50 days of age, the puppies are separated from the female. At sharp decline During lactation, female puppies can be deposited at 35 - 40 days. A gradual placement of puppies is practiced, when the weakest puppies are left under the mother for 2 - 3 days.

When transplanting, if possible, fox cubs of the same age and temperament are placed in the same cage. Breeding young animals are best kept in lighter cages. This promotes the timely development of genital organs in animals. They are fed in hopes of being well prepared for reproduction.

Culled young animals and adult animals are slaughtered in mid-November. Breeding young animals are transferred to a common diet with the main herd.

Breeding young animals can be purchased at the Obodovtsy collective farm in the Vileika district, the Baranovichi fur farm and other farms.

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Most hunters, especially beginners, dream of becoming the owners of such a valuable trophy as a fox in winter fur... For a long time I was not able to catch this smart animal, although from ambushes I have repeatedly seen foxes, guarding them on long winter evenings, nights and in the morning. I even shot, but it was unsuccessful.

The ambush is set up in a place where accumulations of rutting fox tracks were found. The proximity of the holes increases the chances of success. Photo: fotolia.com

Only on February 15, 1972 (when I was 23 years old) did the gossip finally part with her luxurious fur coat.

I remember that, having handed over the skin to the collection point and received about 10 rubles, I bought myself an electric glosser for photographs, and with the rest of the money I treated my parents to sweets.

Much water has passed under the bridge since then, more than a dozen foxes have been caught, but the first one is remembered as it is now!

The reason for those long-standing failures lay in the fact that I read somewhere: foxes must be shot with small buckshot. And so, having loaded five “zeros”, he missed or wounded more than one fox in the twilight.

There was no limit to the frustration until I became convinced that such a hunt required cartridges with the first or zero number of shot sprinkled with starch. It’s even better if the shot matches the narrowing of the barrels.

For my IZH-54, I then selected a matched shot separately for the right (poluchok) and left (chok) barrel.

Coordinated - when in the choke constriction of the barrel, on a powder gasket or wad inserted there, a number of pellets of one or another number are placed in an even layer, without gaps (do not forget to remove the wad from the barrel after this operation).

Loading the cartridges with the shot number selected in this way, carefully place the pellets on top of each other, layer by layer, sprinkling them with starch until the weight of the projectile reaches the selected value. It is better to use folder sleeves and seal the barrel using the “star” method. In severe frosts, they are more reliable than hardened plastic ones, in which occasionally a tubular part flies out of the barrel along with the projectile, which is extremely dangerous.

Now about the hunt itself. In the central part of European Russia, the rut begins in late January - early February, and ends in late March - early April.

Unfortunately, in March, at the height of the love affairs of the gossips, the hunt is already closed. According to my observations, over the past few decades, the rut is gradually moving closer to the spring period. If earlier, at the end of January, there were already clear signs of intense rutting, now it begins in early - mid-February.

What are these signs?

Foxes begin to take an active interest in each other's tracks and use roads and ski tracks more often; individual lines of footprints merge into paths, each bump standing in the way, a bunch of blades of grass, a column, a snow dump is marked with the urine of animals.

Males, just like dogs do, raise their paws, females sit down, leaving a few drops of urine, or even a pile of droppings in a visible place, thereby conveying information to other individuals about their readiness to mate.

In large clearings and fields you can see an abundance of racing tracks and jumps, a continuous snow field, sometimes even with scraps of fox fur lost in fights. At night, when hiding, you will often hear the fussing and squealing of animals, the rough barking of single males looking for females.

The male is constantly on the move and every 5–10–20 minutes indicates his location with a rather loud, dull, rude and prolonged three-fold, sometimes four-fold barking, which can be expressed in the syllables - aw, aw, aw.

In calm frosty weather in open areas, barking can be heard at 500–600 meters, in windy weather - at 150–200 meters. After 20–30 minutes, the barking stops or the animal leaves the hearing zone, but, as a rule, after the same period of time the barking resumes again. At a hiding spot, the hunter will immediately understand that the animal is nearby, moving towards him or moving away.

I have been constantly hunting foxes during the rut for a long time, but still, when I hear a bark and see an approaching animal, I get so excited that my teeth begin to knock out shot, my temples pound, and my hands shake so much that in the uncertain darkness of the night I sometimes shoot wide. For some reason, hunting elk or wild boar does not evoke such emotions.

At sit-downs, you sometimes hear a lot of new and interesting things, time flies somehow unnoticed. Left alone with yourself, among the icy silence full of stars, during the long hours of vigil you will put your thoughts in order, change your mind and remember a lot of good things, your friends who have already passed into another world, with whom you have gone through so much and experienced so much.

Sometimes you flinch in surprise when... severe frost tree trunks burst or the ice on the river settles and cracks with a terrible crash and roar.

Or in the morning you watch how everything around you gradually turns grey, the village wakes up, someone’s door creaks in the cold, roosters crow.

Despite the fact that waiting for foxes is often in vain, you go to the house on skis, to the distant lights of the village, in high spirits, stretching your numb legs, and imagining a hot stove in a heated hut and a warm, soft bed.

In mid-February, tawny owls and long-eared owls begin to call like spring, and hares cry like children. I remember one unforgettable night in the early 80s at the Uvarovsky hunting estate in the Moscow region. In a large field, during the full moon, on a quiet night with slight frost, foxes barked excitedly and at the same time a wolf howled a little to the side. Moreover, from time to time, at a distance of 300–400 meters, either foxes or a wolf were visible.

After sitting for five hours in a row, hoping for success, I left without firing a shot, without being upset at all. But the unusual concert will be remembered for the rest of my life.

Undoubtedly, the higher the hunter is located from the surface of the snow, the better, but this condition when hunting fur-bearing species, especially during the rutting period, is hardly feasible. Therefore, most often you have to guard the animals simply in the snow, behind some tree, stump, bale of hay, snow blower, or even a barn.

Previously, when there were large stacks of straw in the fields, best place and it was impossible to imagine. Wolves, foxes, hares and other animals invariably approached them, and sitting at the top, buried chest-deep in the hay and overlooking the entire surroundings, was warm and comfortable.

One day, an owl, a tawny owl, even sat on the head of a haystack, flying around for a long time and hunting for mice. Apparently she mistook the white hood for a snowy mound. And 20 minutes after that, a brown hare ran up.

You need to sit absolutely quietly, observing the area, and if you need to turn your head or raise your gun, you need to do this with slow, smooth movements.

In this case, it is better if the animal is behind a hummock, in a low spot, or has turned its head in the other direction. If you raise your gun with a sharp movement, you most likely risk missing, since your godfather immediately notices the movement, makes a sharp leap to the side and runs away.

Clothes should absolutely not rustle or have any strong odors. Mask suit is required. It is quite difficult to sit for several hours without moving, and if you are not used to it, it is impossible. A folding chair, polyurethane mats and, of course, the passion of a breadwinner help. It is best to wear simple rustic felt boots on your feet.

Don't forget to put a small flashlight in the inner pocket of your jacket so that the batteries don't run out in the cold. It will be very useful for inspecting the results of the shot, fresh transitions and will help to avoid unforeseen situations on the way back.

In order not to give myself away by movement, I record the time spent in ambush by mentally counting the number of inhalations or exhalations in a calm state of the body, having long ago determined their number in five minutes, an hour, etc. This is done automatically and does not distract attention.

While you are sitting, it seems that it is relatively warm, but as soon as you stand up, a terrible cold immediately covers your body, and only prolonged intense movement gradually warms it up, and after a while you no longer feel the frost.

At the height of the rut, it is better to come to your favorite place before dark, since foxes often begin to move and bark half an hour, even an hour before dusk, and sometimes finish in the morning at sunrise. By 11–12 o’clock at night, the activity of animals decreases and resumes at 4–5 o’clock in the morning.

The ambush is set up in a place where accumulations of rutting fox tracks were found. The proximity of the holes increases the chances of success. Taking into account the direction of the wind, they try to sit behind the shelter so that there is great review surrounding area and did not interfere much with hummocks, bushes, and grass. Do not leave unnecessary traces in the hiding area, they alert the animals.

It is safer to guard foxes away from the forest wall, then the air currents are less likely to change direction and there is less chance that the animal will harass you. Having sat down, mentally mark the dark hummocks, bushes, blades of grass and the distance to them, so that in the dark you do not confuse them with an animal and know the distance of reliable defeat. In cloudy weather and on a moonless night, the silhouette of a fox is visible only 30–40 meters away, in clear weather - 80–100 meters away.

Unfortunately, the use of any light devices for the capture of fur-bearing animals is subject to the Hunting Rules. recently forbidden. And their use would increase the effectiveness of hunting, reduce the number of wounded animals, and ensure the safety of hunting.

The more foxes are killed, the less likely the spread of scabies and rabies is, the more hare will remain on the land, bird's nests and broods. It is completely unclear what reasons the developers were guided by when introducing this point into the designated Rules.

In the dark, with a low landing, it seems that the distance is much greater and it is too far to shoot, but in fact the animal is within a reliable shot. During the rut, the male walks around his territory, barking periodically, along approximately the same route.

Therefore, after sitting in vain, the next evening it is useful to sit close to the tracks in the place where barking was heard the previous evening. It is interesting that village dogs react sharply to the barking of foxes, filling the surrounding area with heart-rending barking, while the foxes do not pay any attention to them and regularly go their routes right outside the outskirts.

As in any other hunt, the weather is very important, I would even say decisive. It is useless to go out to guard foxes in the snow, especially in a blizzard or rain - they sleep in bad weather, covering their noses with their bushy tail.

In strong winds they avoid open spaces, moving mainly through thicket forests, ravines and gullies. Air temperature does not have much effect on the intensity of the rut. Foxes bark at –25 degrees, and at –5, and at +3 degrees. A quiet moonlit and frosty night is preferable.

A light breeze is conducive to hunting. But the most successful ones will be sitting after prolonged bad weather, when there was a snowstorm for two or three days or it was raining during a strong wind and thaw.

Nature calmed down, in the evening it froze, and from behind the clouds the low winter sun began to peek timidly. Don't yawn here, hunter, don't miss the moment! The foxes lay down all their sides under the tree or in a hole, got hungry and yearned for love.

Occasionally it is possible to see two or even three foxes at once, walking at some distance from each other. In front, as a rule, is a female, followed by a male, from time to time chasing an opponent, or even fiercely fighting with him.

If you manage to disperse the love escort, in accordance with the direction of the wind, hide behind a tree not far from the female’s trail, but without crossing it, and wait for the male to appear.

Having recovered from the fright, after 30–50 minutes he will again follow the female’s trail to catch up with her. Hunting foxes during the rutting season is very exciting, although the yield is low. Try it - you won't regret it!

Fedor Fedorovich FEDOROV was born on March 3, 1949. Graduated from a forestry technical school, served in the GSVG (group Soviet troops in Germany) as a commander of a medium tank. Then he graduated from the Forestry Institute; He worked for 38 years in the Laboratory of Forest Game Management of VNIILM (All-Russian Research Institute of Forestry and Forestry Mechanization) under the guidance of Doctor of Biological Sciences Ya.S. Rusanova. Leading researcher, Ph.D. agricultural Sciences (topic of the candidate's dissertation - elk nutrition), now retired. Official hunting experience - 51 years.

Read the author's essay: Red-haired cheatand essays: Common fox: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

FOX BIOLOGY: Reproduction Yu.A. GERASIMOV(Zagotizdat, Moscow, 1950)

In the south of the Soviet Union, at the end of winter, usually in January and February, and in mid-latitudes in February and March, foxes begin their mating season - the rut. At this time, you can often hear a kind of hoarse barking. It's the foxes barking.

By listening well to the voices of several animals, you can notice differences in them. Three abrupt howls ending in a drawn-out monophonic howl belong to the female. The barking of males is more frequent, abrupt, does not end with a howl and is very reminiscent of the short-term barking of a small mongrel. Such barking by foxes characterizes the beginning of the rut.

With a large number of foxes and under favorable conditions of their existence, you can regularly hear the barking of one, and sometimes several foxes at once, every night for 2-3 weeks. This indicates that the animals have wintered well and their rutting is proceeding smoothly. In such a year, with a favorable spring, one should expect numerous fox litters with a large number of healthy puppies in each.

During the mating season, foxes often gather in groups and run in a line, forming so-called “fox weddings.” Such a wedding is usually headed by a female, followed by several males. Fights break out between males, which sometimes become violent. From the tracks left in the snow, one can imagine how fiercely the animals gnawed, sometimes standing against each other on their hind legs, sometimes grappling, how they rolled in a ball, leaving tufts of fur in the snow. If rivals meet in a hole, an equally fierce struggle ensues underground, usually ending in the flight of the weaker.

Mating in foxes, as in dogs, is accompanied by bonding, as a result of the formation of a bulb in the male - a thickening at the base of the genital organ due to the rush of blood to the cavernous bodies. The male and female can remain in a bound state for up to half an hour. If the foxes are suddenly frightened at this time, they will run away.

After mating, some pairs sometimes separate for a short time. In such cases, before whelping, males again compete with each other over pregnant females. After this, the foxes finally break into pairs, and the male, together with the female, actively participates in preparing the burrow and raising the young.

Foxes most often make pores in elevated, dry places with a deep groundwater level, digging them in a wide variety of landscape conditions. The burrows are fairly evenly distributed among fields and arable lands, in forests and forest edges, among hayfields and grazing meadows.

In steppe and desert zones with vast open spaces, foxes prefer the slopes of ravines, river and stream valleys, overgrown with bushes, where they usually dig holes or occupy free badgers.

In the spring, a pair of foxes sometimes clears several holes in their hunting area. This can be easily seen by the freshly raked heaps of sand and the animal tracks left on them.

In damp and swampy areas with a limited number of suitable places for burrowing, fox broods are often placed in adjacent burrows located at a distance of 100-200 meters. There are even cases of two broods settling in one burrow.

How often fox holes are found in various zones of the Soviet Union can be judged from the following data. In 1939, in the Spitsovsky district of the Stavropol Territory there were up to 50 burrows in an area of ​​40 square kilometers, and in the Arzgirsky district there were up to 100 burrows in the same area. In the Ural-Emben desert in 1935, only 3 burrows were discovered in the same area.

According to our research, in the Brovary district of the Kiev region there were 8-9 burrows per area of ​​40 square kilometers in 1948/49, and in the Moscow region (Losinoostrovskoe farm) in 1938 - 12 burrows.

In the taiga regions of Eastern Siberia (in the upper reaches of the Ushmuna, Borun and Zund-Jila rivers and beyond the Yablonov ridge to the valleys of the Gunda, Bulugunda and Chubuktuya rivers) in 1945/46 there was one fox hole per several hundred square kilometers.

Thus, the number of burrows in different areas is very different. This can serve as an indirect indicator of how suitable certain areas are for foxes to live.

When building burrows, foxes use small hillocks, slopes of ravines, crevices in rocks, embankments of ditches dug to drain swamps, and even trenches and basins left after military operations. Burrows are less common on the gentle slopes of swampy depressions.

The underground labyrinth of a hole, as a rule, is located in the most pliable layer of sand, sandy loam or light loam, the depth of which can vary from 50 to 250 centimeters. The steepness of the passages, the structure of the underground labyrinth and the depth of the nesting chamber - the lair - depend on this.

In the case of subsoil layers reaching the surface (in ravines, trenches, ditches), foxes dig 1, less often 2 entrance holes directly in the slope of a ravine or ditch and make a short, 2-3 meters long, corridor at a slight angle to the surface of the earth. Burrows of this type apparently serve as temporary shelter, since animals do not visit them regularly and puppies are not usually bred in them.

More often, foxes dig more complex underground passages with 2-3 holes and a nesting chamber - a lair located underground at a depth of more than a meter. The underground labyrinth of such burrows consists of 2-3 corridors with a diameter of 25-30 centimeters and a total length of 6-10 meters, which serve as passages to the lair. In some cases, underground passages are complicated by blind (without access to the surface of the earth) burrows 1-2 meters long, dug away from the nesting chamber or corridor. Usually, fox holes, contrary to the opinion of many hunters, are very simple in design and have 2-3 straight or slightly curved corridors - passages to the lair, which are located underground at a depth of 1-2 meters.

Old foxes or badger holes occupied by foxes turn out to be more difficult. In these cases, up to a dozen snouts come to the surface of the earth, and the underground labyrinth is dug at a depth of 2-3 meters and can consist of several corridors and many blind snouts with a total length of up to 30-40 meters.

There are no sharp temperature fluctuations in the depths of such pores. It was found that when the air temperature on the earth's surface changed from -8 to +27°, the temperature in the burrow's den (at a depth of 120 centimeters underground) varied from -2 to +17°, and in the passages at a depth of 250 centimeters - from 0 to +14°.

It should be noted that during hot weather in residential fox holes at a depth of 1.5-2 meters and in the presence of an animal, the temperature did not rise above + 17°, and in winter cold it did not fall below 0°.

It is also important to note that the concentration of water vapor in fox burrows usually approaches saturated humidity even in dry steppe areas.

The sun's rays never penetrate into the nesting chamber. In a complex underground labyrinth, even the smallest amount of scattered light enters the lair.

Consequently, old, deep underground holes turn out to be not only a reliable refuge for fox cubs, but also a unique habitat for them, where on a hot afternoon they can hide from the heat, and on rain and cold - from bad weather. In this regard, it becomes clear why foxes and their litters primarily occupy deep and complex burrows.

Foxes become very attached to their holes. If they are not disturbed, they breed puppies in the same places year after year.

Often, in old, extensive holes with numerous dens, a family of foxes settles together with a badger. In winter, a fox that is wounded or pursued by a dog very often takes refuge in a hole where a badger sleeps.

Hunters know of cases where a fox survived a badger from its hole. Some attribute this to the fox's cunning tricks, others - simply to her untidiness. However, in areas with a limited number of places for denning (for example, in northern Ukraine), we observed the opposite picture: badgers and raccoon dogs survived foxes from the holes they constantly occupied.

There are cases when completely helpless fox cubs are found in a hollow or under the snags of a fallen tree, in a crevice between stones or under a haystack. Such cases can be explained by the flooding of a burrow chosen by an inexperienced young female, or the relocation of a disturbed brood. Old females usually give birth in pre-prepared, secure burrows.

Fox hunting, especially if well organized or conducted by an experienced lone fox hunter, is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting winter hunts. Of course, I don’t mean killing on snowmobiles, the rich catch from which today’s newly minted “hunters” are so fond of boasting. This means, of course, hunting with flags, from the approach, from a tower near the bait and other fair methods. And you need to be good at the technique of these hunts to achieve success. However, the opportunity to shoot a fox can present itself on any winter hunt, especially in late February and early March. When the foxes begin the rut, you can often find a fox wedding or single males prowling in search of a mate. These encounters can happen by chance, but you must always be prepared for them. So, random encounters with foxes.

The bullet is not stupid

This happened in one of the richest hunting grounds located near Moscow.

It was the second day of the hunt. Over the previous day, a sika deer was also caught, and I was lucky enough to take two wild boars in a doublet. I hunted with a double-barreled Markel, because... the old Browning machine gun began to exhibit delays when reloading. Two true shots are enough to stop any beast.

The second day promised to be just as interesting. We had to shoot a few more animals. In the first corral, placing the shooters by numbers, the head of the hunting farm warned that there were a lot of foxes here, and recommended putting shot into one barrel. “This is some kind of nonsense,” I thought. “I’ll be good with a gun loaded with shot if wild boars or deer come out.”

Having loaded the Merkel with bullets and disguised himself as best he could, he calmly looked around the surroundings. Winter hunting is generally very beautiful, and especially in bright sunshine. I admired the sparkling snow and involuntarily imagined how picturesque it would look bright red fox against his background.

“Perhaps we should still load one barrel with shot? - a thought flashed somewhere deep. “No, nonsense, it wasn’t enough to lose because of this serious beast.”

A shot rang out from the depths of the pen, screams were heard - the corral had begun. I stood in a narrow clearing, carefully looking through the rather dense spruce forest located right in front of me. Turning his gaze to the right, he suddenly saw what he had imagined just a few minutes ago. Forty paces away, among the fir trees, sneaking not even a bright red fox, but a bright red fox.

“I won’t have time to reload,” flashed through my head. “I’ll shoot with a bullet.”

I know from experience that an unafraid fox will not immediately cross the clearing, but will definitely stop. When the animal hides behind a tree, I quickly direct the trunks to where the fox should appear. It happened just as I calculated. Approaching the edge of the clearing, the fox stopped and began to turn its head, examining the clean place. I shot at the head sticking out from behind a branch. Stretching out in the snow, the animal only waved its tail a couple of times.

“Not a bad shot,” I thought, not without complacency. And then again the thought: “Maybe I should load the shot now?” “Well, no,” I laugh at myself. “The shell doesn’t hit the same place twice.” He raised his head and almost choked on his own laughter. A fox is rolling straight towards me, this time bright red. I raise my gun and wait for her to approach. You'll have to shoot the bullet again. Fifty steps, forty, thirty... the fox stops and, raising his head, looks at me carefully: apparently, he noticed a suspicious object. The perfect moment to fire shotguns. I have to carefully combine the bar with the front sight, aim it right at the muzzle, and I don’t have time to press the trigger. A split second earlier, the fox, spinning in place, shows me its tail. Of course, I shoot past him.

I curse myself with the last words. After all, I noticed before when hunting with flags that if the animal is looking straight at you, it means it suspects something, and you need to shoot right away; if you hesitate, you miss.

I stand for quite a long time, holding two cartridges in my hand: one with a bullet, the other with shot. “Well, this is completely stupid, it definitely doesn’t happen three times,” I brush aside all doubts and once again load the bullet. The next twenty minutes pass quietly, and I stop feeling for the shotshell in my pocket. As it turned out, it was in vain.

The beaters were already approaching when, looking to the left, I, without surprise, saw a bright yellow fox on the wings, rushing towards the clearing. This one definitely won't stop. I aim at the tip of the nose and, having chosen a clear gap, shoot. The potential collar is turned over the head. A satisfied smile is still shining on my face when the fox, jumping up, disappears behind the trees in a few leaps. Completely stunned, I run to see what happened, since the corral has already ended. On the trail there are a few drops of blood and tufts of dirty, gray fur from under the throat. So, I was only wrong by a couple of centimeters. At fifty paces this is not so bad, but there is no animal.

The huntsmen and beaters approached and congratulated me on a good shot. Of course, killing a fox with a bullet is not so easy. I was terribly upset. When else will three foxes come out to the number?

Still, I think that I did the right thing by not loading the shot. You can't take risks when hunting big game.

Once while hunting for elk, after the signal “Ready”, a fox came out to me. She ran somehow strangely, making ridiculous jumps. The elk was shot, and I decided to shoot, since it was only about thirty steps away and the place was open. After the shot, the fox remained where it was. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the neck and front paw were wrapped in a steel noose. My shot ended her suffering. The bullet tore open the fox's stomach without ruining the skin at all.

Recently I went to see foxes in the Moscow region. Arriving at the place, I unexpectedly met a familiar group of hunters whose elk license was “on fire.” For several weekends in a row they have not been able to implement it. It was nearing the end of the hunt for ungulates, and I was asked to help with the shooting. This didn’t make me smile at all, I dreamed of hunting a fox with flags, but it was inconvenient to refuse. Besides, all the rangers were leaving with the elk hunters, so there was no choice.

Standing at the number, I sadly put the cartridges with shot away and loaded the bullets. And, as always happens, a red fur flashed in the distance at absolutely the wrong time. The drive had been going on for about forty minutes, but there had not yet been a shot at the elk, so I had no right to shoot the fox. There was a strict agreement on this matter. Before the elk is shot, neither the fox nor the hare is shot. Having paraded in front of me in the pen, the fox went back. After another 10 minutes, a doublet was heard in the chain of shooters, and immediately followed by a cry: “I’ve reached it.” And at the same moment I saw the fox again. This time she flew towards me as fast as she could. I no longer had time to reload the shotgun cartridge. I had to shoot with a bullet. Taking aim with a slight lead, he fired. This was one of my most successful shots. The bullet hit the fox in the head and did not ruin the skin at all. So, with a successful combination of circumstances, the bullet is not stupid.

Triplet

This happened at the end of winter. In the area where I often hunt fox, I had a bait laid out and a tower built. Foxes visited her regularly. But terrible bad luck followed me all season. To make it even more attractive, my partner and I threw in herring heads and chicken bones like a delicacy. All this was eaten with pleasure by the foxes. But there was no way to get even one. Firstly, the redheads got into the habit of wandering around the field near the hiding place all day long. At first I tried to sit on the tower at five in the evening, but the animals were already right there. Then he settled down at two o'clock in the afternoon or early in the morning - also useless: one or two patrol animals did not allow him to approach the bait secretly. Besides, they were just making fun of us. One day we saw a girl sledding down the mountain, and literally a hundred meters away from her a large male dog was quietly mousing. But as soon as we showed up, the tramp was immediately washed away. If I sat down, having first scared them off, it was all in vain, even if I was freezing half the night, the animals would not come.
We used all the recommendations we read in books and the advice of experienced fox hunters. They approached the hiding place, talking loudly, and then the partner left, singing songs, already alone. Nothing helped. My friend had a lot of fun, standing on a hillock and watching from the side as the fox poked its muzzle out of the bushes, then walked around my ambush and went into the neighboring field. That's probably how it would have ended if it weren't for chance.

That day I took my wife into the forest to show me the tower I had built and my “tame” foxes. It was the middle of the day, but, to my surprise, both visible fields were empty, although it was quite frosty. After looking for a few minutes, we, without hiding, moved across the field to the tower. I showed my wife the bait, chewed by foxes, many tracks and animal trails. Before heading home, I looked around the field one last time. I still can’t understand where it came from, but in the direction of the forest, on the edge of which we were standing near the bait, a fox was walking in large strides.

There were bushes in the middle of the field, but from our side they were visible right through. I had a gun, but the fox entered the forest about a hundred paces from us. While he was wondering where she had come from (a shot at such a distance was out of the question), and his wife was chattering enthusiastically about the beauty of the fox skin, the animal jumped out from the same place where it had disappeared and rushed to the bush. Literally a couple of seconds later a second one ran out after this fox and immediately a third one. Both rushed to catch up with the first. Without moving, clinging to the trees, we watched this picture - my wife was fascinated, and I was feverishly wondering what could be done. Finally the animals stopped among the bushes and began to play. Obviously, it was a female in heat and two males, since both pursuers were constantly squabbling among themselves. It was February - the time of the fox rut. An ideal situation was created: I ran 100 m through the forest and stood on the entrance tracks of the wedding party. It was clear that after the beater, going around the field, pushed the animals, they would rush into the forest in their wake, and you just need to go around them unnoticed.

The blow came from where I didn’t expect it: in response to my offer to go into the pen, my wife said that she wouldn’t go anywhere, because the foxes would pounce on her, bite her to death and eat her. Can you imagine my despair? My colorful pictures of three fiery red skins thrown at her feet did not help. The only thing that saved me was a categorical ultimatum: either go to jail or get a divorce. Wailing something through her tears, she still went on a mission. As best I could, trying not to make any noise, I rushed towards the expected course of the beast.

I just made it. There were about a hundred steps to the bushes, and from this point the animals were not visible, but as soon as I stood behind a lonely fir tree at the edge of the forest, all three beauties appeared. A small bitch ran ahead, and behind her, about twenty paces, were both males, noticeably larger than her. When making an oncoming shot, it is very important to choose the moment when the animal or bird, having seen the hunter, or after the first miss, no longer has the opportunity to turn around and go back or slip behind the hunter. In my situation, when shooting at the head fox, one or both males had a chance to go back into the pen, so I decided to start with them.

Having let the red-haired couple take thirty steps, I hit first one and then the other. Without looking at the result, he threw the gun at his feet, expecting to see a twig breaking through. If she had not changed direction, she would have had a chance to slip into the forest. But to my luck and his own misfortune, the fox shied away from the shots and, as the tank crews say, exposed the side. With the third shot I killed her, not allowing her to reach the forest. Both males remained lying a couple of meters from each other.

Hunting with decoy

Several years ago, while sorting out hunting belongings that had accumulated in a box for years, I came across a plastic decoy. He lay there for at least twenty-five years. The nostalgic inscription “price 40 kopecks” amused me, and I put it in my pocket, going to the dacha at the beginning of winter.

He uttered a plaintive meow, presumably imitating the cry of a wounded hare and, therefore, was a decoy for a fox. For two years it served me and my constant partner and neighbor in the country as great entertainment. As soon as he got off the bus and went deeper along the path into the forest, he shouted at him 2-3 times, as all the nearby jays, magpies and crows, grunting, chirping and croaking, rushed to his call. The young hunter assembled a gun and practiced shooting before a serious hunt. At the same time, we cleared the forest of all this hooliganism. But that year the decoy showed itself to be a professional precisely in the business for which it was, in fact, intended.

It all happened by accident. The weather was nasty. The bar has been at the plus mark for the second week. The snow that covered the ground in a decent layer melted and squelched disgustingly underfoot. The branches were dripping, and as soon as I entered the forest, within ten minutes I was soaked through. Suffering from idleness, a neighbor suggested going out to the edge of the forest and shooting, as the Germans say, black game. I agreed, but since I, with my 40 years of hunting experience, didn’t seem to be able to shoot forty, I didn’t take the gun with me, deciding that I would only beckon. How I regretted it! Slowly moving along the edge of the forest, I periodically uttered the cry of a hare in trouble. Those who wanted to feast on the free hare were found very soon. From the depths of the forest, the chirping of at least 4-5 magpies was heard, but, apparently, our silhouettes were projected against the background of snow that had not completely melted into the field, and the cautious birds did not fly up to us. Noticing a forest road, we turned onto it. My partner began to hide the chattering birds through the forest, and I leisurely walked along the road, occasionally shouting into the beacon.
Suddenly, something flashed in the forest, and ahead, about a hundred meters away, a real fox rolled out onto the road and moved towards me at a confident, easy gallop, apparently also counting on hare meat. Having managed to take a step to the side and pressing against the edge of the road, I froze like a pillar. Having run up about 35 steps, the fox stopped. Moreover, she was not looking at me, but in the direction of her partner, who continued to steal forty and had no idea about the guest. The moment for the shot was perfect, and I once again cursed myself for not taking the gun.

Finally, the fighter with the magpies cracked something especially loudly, and the animal instantly disappeared into the bushes. Having grieved enough about the missed opportunity, we went home without drawing any conclusions. What happened seemed to me to be a pure accident. I am a materialist and I believe more in red flags and a bait tower than in some kind of decoy for 40 kopecks.

The next day we ran out of bread, and in the late afternoon we went to the store along the same forest path where they usually shot the mob on the way from the bus. This time I took a gun, intending to shoot a few things for bait, while my partner, meanwhile, would run off for bread and back. He ran ahead, and I, reaching the nearest clearing, began to beckon. But since it was late in the evening and it had gotten noticeably dark, no one responded to my plaintive meow. Apparently the birds had already gone to bed. There was nothing to do, and after blowing into the decoy several times to clear my conscience, I sadly wandered off to meet my friend. He walked like this for several minutes, looking at his feet, until he raised his head and was dumbfounded again. A fox was again rolling towards me along the same path.

We noticed each other almost simultaneously and froze, looking eye to eye. The gun is on the shoulder, and the Browning is loaded with seven dispersants. Actually, it was because of her that I grabbed the gun.

A novice hunter, having missed magpies and pigeons several times with the “dispersant”, declared that it was impossible to shoot anything with this cartridge at all. I argued that for 15-20 steps sisar and magpie can be taken with anything, even buckwheat porridge. To prove this to him, I loaded a cartridge intended for close range. But the beast is not 15 steps away, and seven is too small a fraction. At best, it will be a useless wounded animal. Therefore, when the fox jumped to the side, I didn’t even raise my gun. But I thought about it seriously. The second case in two days is no longer a coincidence, but a system.

The next day, they tracked the hare in the neighboring areas to no avail. The rogue crawled under some barn and, coming out on the other side, calmly disappeared, leaving us in the cold. It seemed that luck had finally run out. Nevertheless, towards evening we decided to try the option with semolina. We prepared seriously. We dressed warmly, left our cigarettes at home to avoid temptation, and set out “to follow the fox.”

They decided where to keep watch in the afternoon, during the hunt for the hare. One corner of the field was completely trampled by old fox tracks. Besides, the remains of cows were once dumped here, so there were chances. Frankly speaking, I still didn’t really believe in the decoy and therefore positioned myself at the very edge of the field, taking a carbine with me this time.

The hope was for an idly staggering or mousing fox, which could be reached a hundred meters or more away. My partner walked deeper into the forest and stood with his back to me, controlling the approach. When everything calmed down, I began to beckon.

At intervals of 5-7 minutes, the evening silence was broken by the plaintive cries of a dying hare. Time passed, but nothing happened. The field remained depressingly empty, and darkness was inexorably approaching. Finally, I stopped distinguishing the front sight and lowered the carbine (I hadn’t shot the optics yet and went without it). Still he continued to beckon, because... The shot was not yet hopeless. At that moment, when I thought it was time to give the all clear signal, a shot rang out, immediately followed by another and, finally, a cry full of triumph from the forest: “Killed! Lying down! Fox!!!"
Three seconds later I was at the scene. The hunter's face shone with triumph even in the darkness. Of course, this was his first fox, and she lay about eight steps from the place where he stood. From the lucky man’s confused story, I understood that he saw the beast only twenty steps away. The fox ran strictly to the call of the decoy. The hunter was in her way. About 15 meters away, the “redhead” stood up and began to carefully examine his figure. The gun barrels were pointed in the other direction, but he could not move. At that moment, I once again shouted into the decoy, and the fox, rushing to the call, found itself three meters from the shooter. He missed with his first shot, at point-blank range, and only caught the animal with the second.

The return was truly triumphant. Neighbors flocked to us all evening to look at the trophy. Unfortunately, we had to leave for Moscow in the morning, but there was a whole winter ahead, and most importantly, we were armed with a miracle decoy for forty kopecks.

S. Losev. Magazine "MASTERGUN" No. 156