Chonk

I used to be a Fox (Wood Badge).

Awesome pics!

Pro tip:
You can trigger an iPhone with an Apple Watch.

There are a ton of grey foxes in my neighborhood.

She was preggers.

Great pic OP.  I love gray foxes.

Almost every afternoon last summer, I would have one come trotting halfway through the yard to check me out.


Super cool critters.  Can climb trees as well.

Mine was not amused when I brought out some soft lighting.  He stayed just at the edge of it.  I was able to get better pictures but they are still grainy.  Also a single point of light will throw a bad shadow.  For better quality you will want a tripod or some type of mount and just let the camera run recording video.  For pictures some type of mount and remote trigger so you can get the camera closer, using the zoom will increase your f-stop which reduces how much light gets into the camera.  

Video of mine a little over a year ago eating a chicken quarter.  If I'm close he will grab it and run off, so I had to set the camera down recording and walk away.  

What a beauty!

@SWIRE

That's awesome! Thanks for posting.

I'm still trying to figure out how to set up my iPhone to shoot video remotely. Hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be.

The new video is great.

The favorite food of the one at my place is cheap hot dogs or chicken.  I haven't set them out at the same time to see which one is the top food item.

Do they come out where you can see them if you are outside?  If so you could try gently tossing bite size pieces of hotdog close to them and then stay still until they investigate.  Early on I had a bowl where I put out food scrapes and they would disappear.  I wasn't sure what was eating at that time.  Eventually I noticed the fox would show up at dusk and stay about 40 feet away just watching me in the evening.  I would put the scraps out and after I moved away he came to eat.  At one point I stayed about 20 feet away from the bowl and threw the food at it.  He would approach the food, grab it, and then run back to 40 feet away.  I learned I needed to throw underhand with as minimal movement as possible or he would run off.  Any noise or quick movement and they will get spooked easily.  

Years later I'm able to toss stuff about 5 feet away from me.  He will come that close to grab it and then take it to about 10 feet away to eat.  This picture was taken 2 nights ago after dark.  The only light source is the flash from my cellphone camera.





He was further away in this picture and looks like he was stalking me but he was focused on the food in my hands the way a dog will focus on someone holding a ball to throw.  





Picture from about a month ago and shows his minimum distance to me.  The flashlight is where I usually squat down and toss out food to him and he will come to that spot with me there.  In the bowl is cat food that I put on the ground (he likes it better than dog food), a hot dog, and and egg.  I got the egg idea from watching one of the fox rescue channels on YouTube.  

This is great! Thanks. You've given me a bunch of ideas to try. To date, with a couple of rare exceptions, we see them only when it's dark, and have only fed them peanuts. My Ring camera out back tells me when they're there. Wondering if things'll change though as the days get longer and they get more used to us. Hot dogs, cat food and eggs. Check.

Same here.  It has to be late dusk but usually dark before he shows up.  He follows the sunset and will adjust as the days get longer.  Sometimes he doesn't show up or will show up a few hours later, not sure why.  I assume he is off hunting somewhere else or he has heard noises or people along the path and just comes later.  

One thing I do know, if a neighborhood dog keeps barking he will head back home.  I have a big back yard and the dogs aren't even close but he has no tolerance for it.  Not sure if he is afraid of the dogs or understands that if the dog is barking then something else that shouldn't be there is in the general area.  He is very aware of every little twig that snaps within 100 yards of him.  

Last night a neighbor did something, the sound came from their yard but was a metal clank sound but a very unusual sound to here in my yard.  The fox lost all interest in food and just sat staring in that direction.  So I decided to walk the fence line and check things out.  

There are a couple YouTube channels with people filming their foxes.  They aren't interesting enough that I remember the names of them but they should be pretty easy to find.  The fox rescue channel is interesting but the foxes are penned in and pretty much domesticated like dogs.  I believe most of them were rescues from a fur factory that shut down.

Any updates on the fox?

In before someone says they'd like to shoot one.

Not really, other than the fact they're getting used to/a bit more comfortable with us every day. They'll now come right up to our slider, like 2 feet away from me, stare at me for a sec., then snag a peanut and walk away.

We had a few around when we moved in, and would see them relatively often. After a couple years someone sold a half acre plot down the road and a trailer went up, and soon chickens were running around, and I didn't see anymore foxes after that.

I get it, I ain't mad, but I liked watching them think they were sneaking to the water on the other side of the property.

I used to live out of town. There was a red fox that used to come to the back porch when I left scraps out. He got used to me and I liked watching him very cautious come and eat. This went on over 6 months and I would look forward to seeing him after work. I lived by myself then. Then one day on the way home I saw him lying in the road. Bothered me somewhat. Went home and had a few shots that night. I missed him a lot. Still think about it 23 years later.

Foxes are really cool when they're not eating my chickens.

Same here. When I see foxes is a good sign that the yote  population is down. Had one bark at me on the porch about a year ago. I was sitting still watching deer. He had no idea what I was. Barked several minutes.

Well dang'it, that kinda bums me out. However, also makes me feel a bit better though knowing that I'm going coyote hunting over the next two weekends.

Believe it or not.... They can climb trees... I have caught them in the trees thinking they were coons.  I think thats how they dont get eaten by the exploding population of yotes.

Any updates? Here is a picture to inspire you.  My fox isn't sure what to make of the light, that is about as close as he would get to it and stay still long enough for a picture.  







I ended up with a fox silhouette picture as he was trying to sneak around behind it to check it out.

That was a lot of time and scoping of the scene for a single peanut.

Those are great pics! Our foxes are getting braver/more comfortable with us every day. I'll try to get some new video tonight or tomorrow.

Thats awesome.......All I get is Possums and turkeys

Awesome picture.