Foxes are not social creatures: wolves keep together in flocks, raccoon dogs in pairs, badgers in families but the redcoats prefer their own marked territory until midwinter; the young animals from this spring too have found territories for themselves. In the fluffy fur coat all look similar. They weigh from five to eight kilos, and old males are about one kilo heavier than the females. The behaviour of young foxes is perhaps a little shyer, and to start with, having little hunting experience, they have difficulties with larger prey – hunting rodents suits well, but they will learn from life.
The den isn’t used any more, maybe only when hunters-distressers must be mislead or shaken off from the tracks. Our village landscape with fields and forest groves suits the fox well. How many foxes are there? It isn’t known, some experts assume around thirty thousand, but go catch them ...
In daytime foxes slumber somewhere in a sparse copse. In the morning twilight the fox appears in a selected place, sits down and checks the surroundings extremely attentively. Having been convinced that no danger threatens it circles around, lies down and curls up so that the nose is in the direction of its own tracks. The fluffy, white-tipped tail is used to cover the legs and belly. After some time the fox raises its head, listening attentively – making sure that everything is in order. The behaviour is repeated a couple of times before it settles down to slumber. Whatever place is selected for resting it must always be able to check the surroundings.
By dusk the fox gets moving, the territory must be checked so that no stranger has left any tracks and the necessary border marks must be refreshed where needed. It knows the hunting areas as its own pocket, the path to them is quite direct. In the dark the colourful fur is no obstacle in hunting. Foxes have highly sensitive whiskers, good aides for someone moving in the dark to safeguard the nose as well as eyes. It may be that they are mainly means to support safe moving. When a permanent snow cover arrives we will see what the tracks tell us about foxes.