Checking Up on the Fox in the Yard

My son came over late the other night, and said he saw two enormous bucks in the front yard -- both in velvet, and one at least a 10 pointer and the other at least six.

Not too much of a surprise really -- we have a 100-acre woods just a little ways from our house, and those woods are connected to about 150 miles of a narrow woody park stretching along the banks of the Potomac River going all the way up to West Virginia. Since there is no hunting (too many houses), these suburban deer get full-sized and pretty old (seven or eight), and the very largest almost never move except at night.

I have, on occasion, had as many as 8 deer in my backyard at a single time, which may not seem a big thing unless you consider that I live just one stop light from Georgetown. This is not "the country" -- it is closer to the city than the suburbs.

Below are a few pictures of my yard fox, whom I feed the occasional table scraps to (rice going bad, old dog food, bread going stale, etc.) They seem to be in fine fettle. They are not fed regularly -- setting out a little food once a week or so is more than enough to keep them returning to see if they might get lucky.

One thing I have learned from these yard fox is that simply feeding them is a cure for mange. If a fox has enough food, it can usually marshall its own reserves to fight back a small dose of this always-present mite. If a fox is red-lining from from lack of food, however, parasites find a larger toe-hold, and they can swarm and quickly take over. Consistent food, it seems, is a simple form of mange medicine.






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