Friday the 13th Foxes (with Ghost Fox!)

Had about an hour and a half before sundown on Friday (the 13th) so I headed out for some calling. Went out to a ranch that needs a little coyote thinning and setup on a ridge where I've dusted dogs in the past. My setup was great - sitting on the side of a hill with the sun at my back and a canyon rim in front of me. Just a few minutes into my calling this wee little gray fox comes in - probably the smallest fox I've ever called in. He's a little young and I want a coyote so I give him a pass. He runs around in front of me for a while making a big show of things and finally leaves. Nothing else ever shows so I head into the nearby canyon to see if I can draw out some dusk time coyotes.

As I'm walking in to the next stand, I look up on a rock about 80 yards away and see a fox laying there. I drop to a knee and look through the scope and sure enough, he's just laying there, but I swear he was dead. Laid out flat, head lolled over the side of the rock. How he got there, I couldn't tell right away, but I had more calling to do so I decided to investigate that later. I set up under a tree and start my calling and suddenly every cow in the area is on top of me in less than 5 minutes. All standing around me staring at me. I stop calling and lay my rifle in my lap - doesn't matter if anything does come in, I won't be able to make a safe shot. Then I hear a fox bark and look up on the hillside and about 300 yards out there is this fox barking at me. I put the scope on him and watch him bark out his nervousness about what I assume is the cows, and eventually he leaves. I'm still hoping that a coyote shows his face in a clear shooting lane when ANOTHER fox shows up about 200 yards out. He stands around barking and I've about had enough with all these curious cows and barking foxes. The cows have cleared away from being directly around me, and they're just milling around and 'mooing', so I line this very vocal fox up in my scope, make sure I'm shooting through a cow-free zone, and BAM! I dusted him. It was a rough hike to go get him straight up the side of a big hill, but he was a nice male. I was happy to have made a good clean kill at that range, which is well beyond what I normally have to shoot at.

Now the sun is down and the light is fading but I want to go check out the dead fox on the rock I saw coming in. What killed him? No one else really hunts this area, so was it a coyote? Unlikely up there in the rocks. A hawk? Natural causes? Nope - none of the above. When I shone my Surefire up on the rock . . . . he was gone! That little sucker was asleep and I thought he was dead! Must have been catching the last few rays of sunshine and didn't see or hear me, and then I woke him up and probably gave him a good scare when I started my calling. I find it so unlikely that I could walk past a sleeping predator in plain view, but that's how it went down.

It turned out to be a good evening for calling foxes in, and certainly provided me with some weirdness on Friday the 13th!