It is believed that the present day red fox that lives in Pennsylvania is descended from the European Red Fox which was brought over around 1750 for the purpose of fox hunting.
The red fox likes brushy areas such as old fields, the borders of pastures and rolling farm lands somewhat close to water. They also like to travel old roads through the woods. They don’t like thick, dense mature forests.
There isn’t too much a red fox won’t eat. Small mammals (mice, voles, rabbits, etc.) are high on their list, but they will also eat birds and their eggs, frogs, snakes, carrion, fruit, berries and grapes, spiders and other insects. They cache their food in the winter in small depressions dug into the ground.<.P>
Usually a nocturnal animal, the red fox is shy and nervous. It is a solitary hunter except during the breeding season when it hunts with its mate. Foxes mate for life. They remain together from mid-winter through the summer. In autumn they are solitary but reunite each winter. Pups are born in late March or early April after a gestation period of about 51 days. The adult male helps the vixen provide for the pups. Types of dens include hollow logs, caves, abandoned outbuildings, groundhog holes, and earthen dens on sunny slopes. In early autumn, the family unit disperses.
Predators of the fox include coyotes, gray foxes, large hawks and owls. Diseases include canine distemper,tularemia, coccidosis, rabies, septicemia, and mange.
Suggested trap sizes: 1 ½ to1.75 coilspring, No. 2 in winter. Also No.2 double long spring.
Suggested sets: Dirt hole, scent post set, hay bale set, water set, trail set.