Fox Predation On Muntjac Fawns

Cougar

Well-Known Member
Dog fox from this morning.

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I've always thought foxes must take a few muntjac fawns each year but never thought of them as a massive predator of them. But after what some of the you guys said about keepered shoots hammering the foxes and the muntjac population be high to the point of being a pain in the arse it does make a lot of sense, so I'm going to start giving the foxes around here a good going over from now on!
 
I was up a high seat once and saw a fox take a rabbit, the rabbit started squealing like a pig. Then this Muntie buck came out of a wood that was very close and gave the fox hell till he dropped the rabbit.

No doubt they do take Muntie fawns but I would not think very many.
 
Interessting point Cougar I have often wondered. The two pieces of evidence I have witnessed are as follows;

  • Out shooting foxes early one morning and on seeing a fox about 150yds of atempted to squeak it from behind the branches that blocked my shot. The Fox was totally uninterested to busy waching poults but a Munty Buck came roaring out the wood and set about the fox.
  • Set up a PIR cam on a fox earth with cubs in it. The earth was regularly visited by a skinny looking Doe who seemed very interested in the earth. I can only asume her fawn had been taken there and fed to the cubs.
 
I watch two foxes a couple of years ago harass a muntjac doe for 10 minutes one evening until she had had enough and bolted with her tail up.
 
I once had a hare sized muntjac run past a seat with a fox behind it then a doe muntjac then the buck , bit like the benny hill show ! this spring one of the lads found a litter of cubs and there was 6 young muntjac at the earth from rabbit sized to half grown , yep the take muntjac alright
 
A few months ago I watched(without the rifle)a litter of cubs and a Vixen harassing a Munty Doe with her kid,and after about 2 mins they got the kid seperated and the inevitable happened,but,on the upside I shot this lad with a still warm Roe kid...............

IMG_0560-1.jpg
 
A few months ago I watched(without the rifle)a litter of cubs and a Vixen harassing a Munty Doe with her kid,and after about 2 mins they got the kid seperated and the inevitable happened,but,on the upside I shot this lad with a still warm Roe kid...............

IMG_0560-1.jpg

Now thats the type of stuff the Bunny Hugging brigade need to see, maybe then they would see the real side of charlie and stop harping on about Bazil Brush. We all know they do take lambs and a Roe kid is not far of the size of some lambs


Ade
 
Bloody hell a roe kid thats a big meal! Your right there Ade thats the true side of Charlie.

Matt
 
There is a huge amount of reasearch data on fox predation on Roe kids (scandanavian) so i should assume munties are on the menu as are leverets. I think there is also some photographic evidence in Bucknalls latests book.

BASC printed/produced some data relating to fox control and hare numbers. So am pretty sure if you have good fox control the roe, munties and hares will prosper.

D
 
Shot a dog fox in the lamp last spring that was carrying a muntjac kid, which it had not long killed.
 
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