unwanted stray fox, what to do

docmartin

Hi folks, first time posting in this area, my query is, that in the past few weeks a stray fox has started coming around the house, normally after 10 o clock 1-2 nights a week, he goes down and walks about the garden for a while but scarpers as soon as he hears a noise,
now people might say he's doing no harm but i'm a farmer and in a months time ther will be young lambs in the area, has anyone got a foolproof idea for "getting rid" of this problem. i dont have a gun in the house and i'm in the donegal area

CJhaughey

1. Fox trap, use a rotten cat for bait.
2. Snare, check regularly.
3. Get a responsible experinced shooter to deal with it.

kildare.17hmr

Wait for the offers to role in, your problem will soon be sorted!

mayfly36

You know what they say, kill 1 and 6 come to its funeral, you have pm.

kildare.17hmr

CJhaughey wrote: »

2. Snare, check regularly.

Would he not need a gun tro finish the job?

jap gt

CJhaughey wrote: »

1. Fox trap, use a rotten cat for bait.
2. Snare, check regularly.
3. Get a responsible experinced shooter to deal with it.

why a rotten cat?

docmartin

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Wait for the offers to role in, your problem will soon be sorted!

thanks guys, and thanks for the pm mayfly, my fear is that my farm, which woud be about 6-8 miles away is fairly rotten with the wee red brutes, so maybe a swat team should be gathered up

kildare.17hmr

docmartin wrote: »

thanks guys, and thanks for the pm mayfly, my fear is that my farm, which woud be about 6-8 miles away is fairly rotten with the wee red brutes, so maybe a swat team should be gathered up

Is there no lads shootin your land?

CJhaughey

jap gt wrote: »

why a rotten cat?

Great for hiding your scent on the trap and around the area.
I guess foxes are habituated to eating dead cats (roadkill) so they see it as a valid food item

docmartin

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Is there no lads shootin your land?

not very frequently, maybe a few nights every two or three months

kildare.17hmr

docmartin wrote: »

not very frequently, maybe a few nights every two or three months

Ah sure ya mite get in touch with a few lads from your area on here who would shoot it more regular and keep things under control for ya! Do ya usually have much trouble with them when the lambs arive?

David Anthony

If you want to get rid of foxes, if you know where their earth is then get hold of some creosote and soak some old rags in it and then smear it all around the entrance to the earth, they will never return. That advice was given to me by a professor Steven Harris of Bristol University.:)

kildare.17hmr

David Anthony wrote: »

If you want to get rid of foxes, if you know where their earth is then get hold of some creosote and soak some old rags in it and then smear it all around the entrance to the earth, they will never return. That advice was given to me by a professor Steven Harris of Bristol University.:)

Good idea if they were in your garden or something but this lad sounds likle he needs to control the numbers not move them to a different part of the land

sfakiaman

Try getting in touch with your local gun club through the NARGC (National Association of Regional Gun Clubs). They get shooting, you get vermin control, it's a win win situation.

johngalway

If he's not lamp shy I'd say get in touch with some lampers from your area. If no one here offers, I reckon your neighbours will know who's out and about shooting. If they don't know, your local cop certainly will and maybe able to put you onto someone.

One or two good lads is worth a lot more to you than a dozen chancers. The chancers will leave you with a few lampshy foxes who are a nightmare to deal with.,

poulo6.5

If you were any closer to Tipperary I'd gladly help out but it's a bit far for me. As the lads said you should try your local gun club. And as johngalway says try and get someone that has some experience as a chancer might do more harm than good.

Birdnuts

Have u considered owning a Rhodesian Ridge back??:D;)

Half-cocked

David Anthony wrote: »

If you want to get rid of foxes, if you know where their earth is then get hold of some creosote and soak some old rags in it and then smear it all around the entrance to the earth, they will never return. That advice was given to me by a professor Steven Harris of Bristol University.:)

I'm glad some one else agrees that works. I used to paint creosote on my pheasant pen poles and I never had a fox anywhere near it while the stuff stayed smelly.

johngalway

Half-cocked wrote: »

I'm glad some one else agrees that works. I used to paint creosote on my pheasant pen poles and I never had a fox anywhere near it while the stuff stayed smelly.

Years ago it used to be put on the necks of lambs, so the fox would spit him out again.

I wouldn't do it as I'm not sure as to how it'd affect their skin, can't imagine it's great for them.

jayteecork

David Anthony wrote: »

If you want to get rid of foxes, if you know where their earth is then get hold of some creosote and soak some old rags in it and then smear it all around the entrance to the earth, they will never return. That advice was given to me by a professor Steven Harris of Bristol University.:)

Seeing as I'm on the side of the fox I will agree that this is the best solution.

The fox will be scared away and no one will be harmed.

And OP your conscience doesn't have to wonder if you killed a mammy fox looking for look and now you don't have to worry about cubs starving to death.

johngalway

jayteecork wrote: »

The fox will be scared away and no one will be harmed.

No, it won't. It will just find a different earth but otherwise continue on with it's life.

Foxes that are "shot at" and missed still revisit the same bits of land so the argument that creosote will scare a fox away fails.

It wasn't me!

jayteecork wrote: »

And OP your conscience doesn't have to wonder if you killed a mammy fox looking for look and now you don't have to worry about cubs starving to death.

Not a problem at this time of year. To be honest, I'd rather have someone in to dispatch foxes. If you move them on, they just become someone else's problem, which I find kinda anti-social.

meglome

docmartin wrote: »

Hi folks, first time posting in this area, my query is, that in the past few weeks a stray fox has started coming around the house, normally after 10 o clock 1-2 nights a week, he goes down and walks about the garden for a while but scarpers as soon as he hears a noise,
now people might say he's doing no harm but i'm a farmer and in a months time ther will be young lambs in the area, has anyone got a foolproof idea for "getting rid" of this problem. i dont have a gun in the house and i'm in the donegal area

Not the question you asked but thought it was interesting none the less. Sitting on our balcony in Temple Bar two months ago, down near the Corpo offices and a fox walks past. We saw it twice over a couple of weeks. Is that unusual I wonder.

kildare.17hmr

meglome wrote: »

Not the question you asked but thought it was interesting none the less. Sitting on our balcony in Temple Bar two months ago, down near the Corpo offices and a fox walks past. We saw it twice over a couple of weeks. Is that unusual I wonder.

Thats a propper urban fox:eek:

It wasn't me!

meglome wrote: »

Not the question you asked but thought it was interesting none the less. Sitting on our balcony in Temple Bar two months ago, down near the Corpo offices and a fox walks past. We saw it twice over a couple of weeks. Is that unusual I wonder.

No, loads of them about. Several seem to be resident in Trinity College, and loads of them all over the city.

kildare.17hmr

jayteecork wrote: »

Seeing as I'm on the side of the fox I will agree that this is the best solution.

The fox will be scared away and no one will be harmed.

And OP your conscience doesn't have to wonder if you killed a mammy fox looking for look and now you don't have to worry about cubs starving to death.

Did ya not read the part about the lambs that will be ariving soon? foxes are a problem around lambs so the more control in the area the better

johngalway

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Not a problem at this time of year.

Ye're both making the same point

I had to read it twice myself as I had half a reply written.

bunny shooter

jayteecork wrote: »

Seeing as I'm on the side of the fox I will agree that this is the best solution.

The fox will be scared away and no one will be harmed........

:eek: Freaky use of language ..........................

pedroeibar1

David Anthony wrote: »

If you want to get rid of foxes, if you know where their earth is then get hold of some creosote and soak some old rags in it and then smear it all around the entrance to the earth, they will never return. That advice was given to me by a professor Steven Harris of Bristol University.:)

I'm curious about this advice .
Firstly, creosote has been banned for quite some time; secondly, Prof. Harris was a leading supporter of the Ban against foxhunting in the UK and is on record as saying that 'propaganda and innuendo are used to portray the fox as a pest that needs to be controlled.' He maintains that the fox is not a pest and that farmers do not lose a lot of stock to foxes.

P.

pedroeibar1

It was banned in the UK in 2003, the following is from the UK HSE:
Why has the European Commission decided to take action against creosote?

The European Union has had concerns over the carcinogenic potential of creosote and coal tar creosote for some time. In 1994, to control the specification of the creosote in amateur products, they restricted the levels of one of the chemicals in amateur creosote products, benzo-alpha-pyrene, to less than 0.005 % by mass, and this was implemented in Great Britain via restrictions on the specification of products approved under The Control of Pesticides Regulations.
However, since then a recent study has led a EU scientific committee (the CSTEE) to conclude that creosote has a greater potential to cause cancer than previously thought, and that the level of the risk gives them reasons for concern.
To protect human health and the environment the European Commission have therefore taken action to prohibit amateur use of creosote products and to restrict the use of creosote treated wood.

Birdnuts

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

It was banned in the UK in 2003, the following is from the UK HSE:
Why has the European Commission decided to take action against creosote?

The European Union has had concerns over the carcinogenic potential of creosote and coal tar creosote for some time. In 1994, to control the specification of the creosote in amateur products, they restricted the levels of one of the chemicals in amateur creosote products, benzo-alpha-pyrene, to less than 0.005 % by mass, and this was implemented in Great Britain via restrictions on the specification of products approved under The Control of Pesticides Regulations.
However, since then a recent study has led a EU scientific committee (the CSTEE) to conclude that creosote has a greater potential to cause cancer than previously thought, and that the level of the risk gives them reasons for concern.
To protect human health and the environment the European Commission have therefore taken action to prohibit amateur use of creosote products and to restrict the use of creosote treated wood.

That and the fact that some people get "high" on it!!:(

Feargal as Luimneach

Creosote is irritant to the skin and would cause inflammation/pain to the lamb. It is also highly carcinogenic (to the person that would eat the lamb when it was eventually killed). You could also get a taint on the meat from it (it stinks like fvck),even it was applied months previous. I know if I was on the line in the factory and a carcase smellled like creosote, I'd throw it in the skip......

landkeeper

creosote works in repelling foxes there used to be a product called renardine which smelled very like it we used to soak rags in it and hang them around release pens to deter the feckers along with urine and other such lovelies
but putting creosote or similar on earths is a waste of time most foxes spend most of their time above ground, only at breeding time would they use one earth night after night and then even the scent of a human around it would mean the vixen would move cubs instantaneously to another

Birdnuts

I've heard that some zoo/safari parks in the UK sell Lion Poo as an effective deterent againt foxes,cats dogs etc. By all accounts is appears to work really well. Not sure Dublin Zoo flogs it though

Cass

Birdnuts wrote: »

Not sure Dublin Zoo flogs it though

They do. You just have to collect it yourself.

Birdnuts

ezridax wrote: »

They do. You just have to collect it yourself.

I thought you were serious for a minute:eek::D - I was there last year and got a good look at the male up close, the seize of his head alone was truely awsome!!:cool:

Cass

Well if i had to go into a cage with a lion i guarantee there would be s**t.

Anyway going off topic, as you were.

docmartin

thanks you folks for all the pointers, getting on to the local gun club seems to be my best option, i dont want to simply move the foxes to next doors farm and i fail to see how this would even work,
thanks though every one for taking the time to reply and send the pm's which i'll be replying to now