This is topic The Rule Book in forum Predator forum at The New Huntmastersbbs!.


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Posted by Tim Behle (Member # 209) on October 04, 2003, 07:55 PM:
 
It’s getting to be my favorite time of the year here in the Desert. The nights have cooled down enough that my wife and I have begun closing some of the outside doors overnight. The young of the year coyotes have begun dispersing out on their own and are raising a ruckus all night. So I cleaned a summertime layer of dust off of the electronic caller and began thinking of getting out and doing some coyote hunting.

Then a few days ago, one of my boys asked me if he could get out and go Bobcat hunting with me soon. Having seen some of the prices offered for Bobcat skins last year, I really wasn’t all that hard to convince. So we went to the Friday night Football game and made plans to get up early and go and see what we could find. Unfortunately, work had other ideas for me and the phone got me out of bed and into town a little after two AM.

I returned home at seven to find a fourteen year old boy sitting on the couch glaring at me. We made a mad dash to get the hunting clothes on and load up in the truck. Having already lost the first hour of hunting light, we just went a few miles down the road, into some prime looking bobcat country. We made two good stands, but didn’t see a thing and as much as I’d love to tell you about the nice pair of cats we took on the third stand. It just didn’t happen, nor did we call in a lion or even a coyote.

But not all of the animals in this area seem to have read the rule books, and we managed to set up in a colony of Kit fox, who didn’t know they were supposed to be a nocturnal animal and not respond to a call in the daylight. Unfortunately for them, I have read the rule book and know them to be in season.

The first one arrived just a couple of minutes into the stand. Talk about your small fast moving targets! He finally held still, broadside at about 25 yards and my son took his shot. Nice quick clean kill! A few minutes later, I had another one run in on my side, wanting to let my boy take the shot; I tried to tell him to take him. Unfortunately, fourteen year old boys some days have a little trouble staying focused. He responded quite loudly with “Hey Dad, check out this lizard walking on my face mask, isn’t it cool!” The little fox turned and ran away. We continued with our calling, not seeing anything else until the last few seconds of the tape, a noise coming out of the wash behind us caused us to both quickly turn around, just in time to see another miniature fox run up and almost into the hip pocket of the boy. I don’t know which one of them jumped higher!

No more shots were fired, and we gathered up our prize, and did a quick field skinning before calling it a day and heading for home.

In the three years we’ve lived here, that was the first kit fox I called up. It’s pretty rare to even see one except making a quick dash across the road in your headlights at night. All in all, it was a great way to get calling season started off!
 
Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on October 04, 2003, 09:26 PM:
 
Man, what cool little critters they are. The Division of Wildlife out here claims they are endangered. BULL PUCKEY!! There are gobs of them. True, they are quite nocturnal but I have seen them laying half in and half out of little holes out in the middle of pastures. When I see them in the head lights, they usually look like a domestic cat with big ol' ears, a red fox shaped tail, and a kangaroo rat in their mouth!
 
Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on October 04, 2003, 09:28 PM:
 
Oh yeah, and that one year I poached the blue grouse, it turned out they were in season. I felt soooo guilty, I will never attempt a knuckle-brained thing like that again. As it turns out, it does pay to read the book. I was very accidentally LEGAL!!!
 
Posted by onecoyote (Member # 129) on October 08, 2003, 05:10 PM:
 
I've called in more Kit fox than Gray fox, I'm sure. Here in California, the San Joaquin Valley Kit fox is endangered. The next question is, what's the difference between a San Joaquin Kit fox and the rest of them in California? None at all, they are all the same animal. It seems years ago some guys from the California Varmint Callers Association took some DFG and US wildlife guys out to show them how it was done. They went to a place called Arvin California and called in about a million kit fox, some were jumping on the pick up trucks looking for rabbits. The DFG and the USFW decided these animals were too stupid to hunt and protected them. I've heard this story more than once and from more than one guy and it does make sense.
 
Posted by Lone Howl (Member # 29) on October 08, 2003, 08:33 PM:
 
Danny's right. I call em in all the time.Endangered my ass.

I will tell you what though, in my neck of the woods you dont even look at a kit fox or you will be bunking with Bubba.
 
Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on October 08, 2003, 08:34 PM:
 
About 50 million threads ago, I asked a question that I never got an answer to.

What is the difference between a swift and a kit anyway???? Geographic difference only maybe, like the San Joaquin flavored one?
 
Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on October 08, 2003, 08:36 PM:
 
...as I sit here pondering my own question, I keep thinking about that wierd post MULE did on the 19 different coyotes. LOL

So now we have atleast 3 different sub-species of kit fox.?!?!? [Confused] lol
 
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on October 09, 2003, 01:31 PM:
 
I've heard the same story as Danny. Am sure it's true.

Swift fox. It would be very hard to distinguish from a kit fox. They call them "swifts" in parts of Texas and Utah, but I wonder if it's the same animal as a kit fox? I don't bother killing them, even where it's legal, so it's very difficult for me to see the difference....if there is any?

Good hunting. LB
 
Posted by onecoyote (Member # 129) on October 10, 2003, 11:12 PM:
 
Leonard, I'm with you, I won't waste a bullet on one. A swift fox (Vulpes velox) is the same as the kit fox (Vulpes macrotis)in everyway. Some think the kit fox is a subspecies of the swift fox, [Confused] I think they are the same thing lol. [Big Grin] [Wink]
 
Posted by Rich Higgins (Member # 3) on October 11, 2003, 02:10 PM:
 
Taxonomists consider them to be different sub-species. I know the kit foxes here are pretty optimistic. I saw one chasing a jackrabbit that was a lot bigger than the fox.

[ October 11, 2003, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: Rich Higgins ]
 
Posted by Az-Hunter (Member # 17) on October 11, 2003, 03:25 PM:
 
Taxonomists do too.
 
Posted by Rich Higgins (Member # 3) on October 11, 2003, 03:41 PM:
 
Thank you for the spell check.
 
Posted by onecoyote (Member # 129) on October 11, 2003, 07:05 PM:
 
One thing about getting old, you just don't give a damn, do ya boys lol. [Wink] [Big Grin]
 
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on October 12, 2003, 10:21 AM:
 
I agree, Danny. Makes me think of something else that doesn't amount to a hill of beans; subspecies of coyotes.

Now, consider this. What if some biologist decided that one of the two varieties of coyote in your area became "threatened", and they decided to launch an effort to protect that species.

Imagine trying to "classify" a coyote coming to your stand. That girlie biologist wouldn't understand your frustration; I doubt it. [Smile]

Same goes for Swift foxes. I'd guess it depends on habits and geographic location, rather than physical differences....but, what do I know?

Good hunting. LB
 




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