i do pest control for farmers, and a big part of hat is crows, pigeons, squirrels, and foxes (we don't have coyote here, but the solution for fox should work with coyote too)
i use all my crows, squirrels, and pigeons (minus the pigeon breasts which I pan fry with garlic and bacon mmmm), as bait For foxes.
i set up a bait station, and bait it every night at exactly the same position, and then after the third night the foxes have become used to finding bait there.
on the 3rd or 4th night I start my shooting, but usually only take one a night so as not to scare them off.
If none find the bait station to start with, use a caller until they are used to finding where it is. Once one finds it, others soon follow his trail.
doing this I shot 28 foxes in five weeks, and still left 5, so as there were enough to breed. That means I always have a nice area of foxes to shoot. Do this on several different fields if you wish, but make them about 2-3 miles apart at least.
there are always far more foxes about than you could ever imagine (coyotes probably too) you just don't see them
a trail cam set up with the bait every night tells up how many are coming, and more important at what time too
Then you don't spend hours waiting for nothing, just set up an hour before they first appear, they are quite regular
If possible, use a lamp (red filtered is best) or even better night vision, and a moderator if possible Keep magnification low, and you should ideally have the bait station between 100 and 150 metres (yards if you like) from where you will be shooting. Avoild having he wind blowing from you down to them, and be very quiet, and all movement must be VERY slow, and as little as possible too
If you haven't got any shot bait, then use anything that's smelly and edible it works well. Fish oils, cheap dog or cat food, intestines from the butchers, fish, anything, and preferably a few days old so it's really smelly and starting to deteriorate, as they love soft juicy and smelly flesh.
-- Edited by Redditch on Saturday 24th of August 2013 10:23:34 AM
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If it moves and is legal but also moral, SHOOT IT !!
Trail cameras have really expanded our knowledge of the habits of varmints and sports species. No longer do we set up tree stands on trails that don't carry enough traffic to make it worthwhile, or areas that don't have bucks worth harvesting. The time stamp on the recordings are as valuable as the pictures in that it eliminates waiting on game without a clue of their habits (especially hogs). It's great that the camera prevents a hunter from over harvesting in a general area.
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"When you have shot one bird flying, you have shot all bird's flying. ...the sensation is the same, and the last one is as good as the first." E. Hemingway "Fathers and Sons"
Yep, I leave a few foxes always, never take them all, just take them down to normal numbers, u less a particular one becomes a problem. But having them to remove shot crow and pigeon is handy too
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If it moves and is legal but also moral, SHOOT IT !!
My father farmed for a living, and one of our major sources of income was hay. Several livestock producers would contract with us for the amount of hay they calculated their cattle would need in a year. All we had to do was cut, rake, bale, transport, and pack hay into their barns. One of the barns was particularly infested with pigeons that refused to leave the barn as we were working, and were generally making a mess of the hay with their droppings. We couldn't use a shotgun to kill any because it would destroy the roof of the barn, so my dad picked up a pitchfork and went to work. As the pigeons circled in the barn, he stood on the haystack and bayoneted them with his pitchfork while we picked up the dead and wounded (and dispatched the wounded by snapping their necks) in bushel baskets. Since he wasn't discharging a firearm, the pigeons didn't feel particularly threatened, and refused to leave the barn until most of them were dead. We never counted the pigeons, but I can testify that there were over 4 bushel baskets full. I seem to remember that we brought most of them home, and fed them to our hogs (another cash crop). This was just one of the examples of my father's efficiency when it came to killing. I wish he could hunt crows with me. I'll bet he could still teach me a thing or two!
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"When you have shot one bird flying, you have shot all bird's flying. ...the sensation is the same, and the last one is as good as the first." E. Hemingway "Fathers and Sons"
