Fox "territory" HELP

ok everyone! I know there are some wildlife people around here so I could really use some help on this one!!!!

Thought it was odd a couple of weeks ago. Came home late from the drive-in and had stepped on something on the outside doormat. I was carrying a blanket, so I guess at the time I thought it might have been dragging and that's what I stepped on.

I haven't replaced the bulb in my lampost because I like the dark outside, and I haven't been using my other outdoor lights -in an attempt to conserve energy.

The following morning, I saw the dead squirrel on the doormat! All flattened because I had stepped on it (it was already dead when I stepped on it, of course). It didn't look like it had been mawled, so I figured it had met it's demise in an attempt to jump from the tree to the roof. I've had squirrels clinging to the outside window sill or whatever they can catch onto when they miss the roof!

Since then - I started seeing 6-7 foxes at the edge of the woods in the backyard at dusk. Driving in late the other night, I aimed the car headlights into the field and saw 3 pair of glowing eyes. An hour or so later...a frenzy of wildlife noises and a cat too.

And the morning after (yesterday morning) there was what appeared to be a fawn leg in my garden bed right outside my downstairs door. And at my upstairs door, remains of a small bird and and some scat.

At 5am this morning, I caught a fox feasting outside the downstairs door! ugh! I have yet to clean this up and like yesterday morning, lost my appetite and couldn't eat!

Did a search online and found that fox mark their territory with scat - but found nothing about them feeding so close to the house and just a step or 2 from my doors???!!!! Are they leaving me "presents" like a cat would?

Kind of wish they'd catch the chipmunks that have been eating my strawberries! Pretty sure now that the squirrel may have been killed by a fox and probably, I scared it away before it could feed on it. The fox I scared away this morning, didn't come back to finish feeding.

Anything that I can do to prevent them from leaving these remains?

Pam

[RM]

I can't answer your question, but your post evoked this memory :

I once had a cat (the runt of the litter) who was a real sweetheart. Now, she couldn't catch and deliver lizards or birds like the other 2 cats we had. She was much more thoughtful. At our back door we would find dish towels, bath towels, underwear, bras and the like. I don't know where she got them, so I could never return them. Anyway, just a memory.

that is toooooo cute/funny! I never heard of a cat doing that!!!

btw it just occurred to me that maybe, the fox is feeding and marking it's territory close to the house because it feels less threatened by me than other animals?

Went outside on my deck a little while ago and got freaked out when I saw two big glowing eyes looking at me from the woods. This is the same area where my son discarded the bird carcass. He said that while there, he saw a lot of small animal carcasses. I'm guessing that's the cache from the foxes. I meant to check it out during the day. Well now a bear is out there!

ok I'm ready to move back to the city now!

[charlene]

ugh..sounds yucky Pam.
I live in a residential neighbourhood that is 29 years old. backyards meet backyards etc. and the lots are around 50 x 120..in may when i opened the pool i looked out one morning and a large black bird (probably a grackel i think) was floating around, quite dead. i have no idea how or why it ended up dead in the pool..i forgot about it until the next morning and when i looked there was no bird floating nor had it sunk..hmmm..i went downstairs to the sliding doors that are near the shallow end of the pool and the stairs. on the mat right outside the door was a part of a wing and a few 'leftovers' of the bird! ugh ugh ugh..my question is - what animal got that bird out of the pool and then ate it at my backdoor..?? i have racoons come into my yard and there have been foxes and coyote and even the odd bobcat in the neighbourhood as there is a ravine on both sides and creeks. the area north of us used to be open fields and is now housing so the animals are losing their homes and hunting grounds and making their way thru the ravines..But whatever animal it was had to fish that bird out of the pool..and if i recall it was not up to the level as i hadn't started the pump etc..so the water was a good 16 inches below the deck level..odd odd odd..and my yard is fenced..altho the neighbour has his deck under construction and one side of the area is open to my yard..
those animal parts you found are beyond creepy..can you call the fisheries/gaming people or some animal group to find out what's going on? i almost lost my brekkie reading about it..

oh grrrrr that is so funky and to not know what animal did that!!! I did talk to someone at DEP wildlife, but they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

Sorry 'bout your brekkie . At least you couldn't smell what I was and with all the flies around! hehe ugh I couldn't eat all day those days! No presents yesterday morn or this. Maybe catching the fox in action scared them away from the house for good! Wish I could have gotten a photo while it was here though!

Going to by some mothballs today anyway. I'll sprinkle them around the edge out back.

[Kerstin]

Going to by some mothballs today anyway. I'll sprinkle them around the edge out back.[/QUOTE]


That's interesting about the mothballs. I thought people use them to keep snakes out of their yards. Let me know if it helps.
I don't think I could handle finding animal parts in my yard, that's for sure.

[Nightingale]

Hmmmmm.....I am wondering if you don't have more than one type of critter making kills on your property.
It's kind of hard for me to believe that fox could take down a fawn. They usually don't kill animals that big. Chickens, rabbits, chipmunks(that's bad, pam....lol) and that sort of thing would be more common meals for a fox.

Sure you don't have a coyote, wolf or(gulp) bear.... or some kind of big cat hangin' around there?

Geez, I wish my little wild cats would bring me clothing for "gifts".
They bring me birds and chipmunks and it's really upsetting.

I know, it's nature and all that, but still....it's sad.
I used to have so many cute little chipmunks running around my yard and now all I have is chipmunk tails. Guess cats don't like that part...

[Nightingale]

I also wonder about them feeding right outside your door. That is really unusual behavior for a fox. Actually, that would be unusual for any wild creature to do that.

What did the experts have to say about all of this...I am really curious to know.

Human remains and chimp heads???
That, I couldn't do.....nope, no way....lol.

[Jesse Joe]

One of these guys did it Pam !

[Nightingale]

I don't really think I would like to have bear in my yard....lol. I have a friend that lives in the up of Michigan that deals with bears at her birdfeeder and she sends me pictures...amazing creatures but a bit scary.

I think you are absolutely right about the fox feeding so close to your house because that's where it feels the least threat from other predators.
I am wondering if you might have a family of young foxes that have lost their mother and are trying to survive on their own. If they don't have much experience in survival they might be eating what leftovers they can find from the bigger predators in the area.
I suppose the fawn could have already been dead when they found it too.

I don't know of anything you can do except trap the poor things and take them elsewhere. The conservation officers around here will do that sometimes, it depends on the animal and the situation.
Maybe get a really big dog....dogs really help keep the wildlife population down in a yard.

I wish you luck and I am hoping you get some help. It isn't very much fun to have to deal with issues like dead animal parts and scat no matter where you live.

Keep me posted on what happens....I am really intersted to see if the foxes move on at some point.

[Nightingale]

That's a good thing!

Bad part is that I was all set to nickname you "Foxy Lady"...lol.

[timetraveler]

Originally Posted by podunklander

Went outside on my deck a little while ago and got freaked out when I saw two big glowing eyes looking at me from the woods. This is the same area where my son discarded the bird carcass. He said that while there, he saw a lot of small animal carcasses. I'm guessing that's the cache from the foxes. I meant to check it out during the day. Well now a bear is out there!

ok I'm ready to move back to the city now!

I know what you mean. Where I live, we have foxes, coyotes, raccoons, possums, skunks, several differant species of turtles, including the mean@$$#* snapping turtles, and there are times that I suspect that we may have been visited by a bear or two, as we have sometimes found our trash turned over & ransacked. Like you, I'm almost ready to head back to the city, but the only problem there is that my cats wouldn't be allowed to be themselves, also, in the city I'd feel so freakin' lonely there, not to mention the fact that I'd feel more afraid of the human animals than I would the four legged ones out in the country. Also, I'd miss seeing things like ducks & geese flying over head, along with the hawks, falcons, and other beautiful birds of prey that are out & about. So, all things considered, I'd really rather stay where I am.